So what do the true believers do? RBWR 
Denis the elder took off early on a loop around Fingerpost , Sorrel and Brinktop. Ten of the riders were milling around in the carpark watching large drops of water marking the tarmac in the carpark eagerly awaiting the the clock to tick over to exactly 9:00:00.000 for the off. Christian and Karina were hurriedly trying to get ready before the allotted time. They didn't have to do too much to catch up to us.
The course today was out to the highway on Fingerpost and then the ascent of Cole Hill and back to the bakery. The NWer was solid without being a nasty one. Just enough to make the turns reasonably short and keep the bunch together. Fingerpost and down wind we went. The pace was sensible with a few surges to the top to get the allotted bonus points that no-one seems to keep count of. Around the turn and back to a regroup at the top. So far so good. Oh yeah. Forgot about the head wind on the way back. I did note to Eddy, our newby for the day, that there was likely to be a lot said over coffee later because no-one was able to talk and keep in the slipstream at the same time. Christian did his bit and dragged us back to Richmond road with another regroup and the loss of one rider with a "knee".
And so it went for the next 17 or so kms into a gathering head wind. Christian bailed with a puncture and took Karina with him. Down to nine. And then - a paceline
It wasn't the best pace line ever devised but it was getting there until Daisy decided that riding on the road was getting a bit boring. Dropping a wheel into the gravel is likely to end up with the bike on its side - and so it happened. Rob tried his best to brake in time but managed to land on a soft spot - Daisy. And, of course, autumn leaf couldn't be left out and managed to fall off without being involved in the crash. So autumn leaves do fall in spring! - as well as every other season.
A bit of sorting of handlebars and two bunches headed for the turn. A regroup at the top and off we went - at speed. PMM Man had been conspicuously quiet to this point with a clear absence of his team being obvious. Never one to let that stop him he managed to pick out the only sharp rock on 40ks of road and ran over it to perfection. Pfffsssstttt. We waited while he and his support crew changed the puncture and off we went again. This was starting to get a bit of a worry as the tradition with the weather is that it breaks soon after the allotted finish time. We seemed to be trying to make up time and the group was humming along.
Through Campania t pace and then - Mr Irrepressible - PMM Man surged off the front. Impressive. We counted to the obligatory 10 assuming he would do his normal implosion and rejoin us quickly but he kept going. Impressive. We tried rally hard not to catch him but after 4ks off the front we reeled him in and the finishing surges started. Well done to those claiming victory across their sprint lines.
As expected the coffee chat was extended. master6 is back so the obligatory "mens' issues" were discussed along with much else. No Brian the younger today so no jokes were told.
We'll do it all again next week.
. Some very impressive average speeds were achieved and most of us survived unscathed to tell the tale. 
This kind of laughter has diminished recently as Nigels form has enabled him to inflict a bit of pain throughout the field. Yep, PMM Man does exist. The place would not be the same without him; in fact, about half the field would be shirtless if not for Nigels generousity. 
Just as he was about to put the effort in, one of the opposition 
