With ice on the roads a dcsion was made to run an e-ride at 9am on CADEsport for those with smart trainers who could get out of bed, with an 11am ride scheduled in case the ice thawed, albeit changed to the Tour de Hillingon route on the basis that it might prove less icy.

We ended up with five on CADEsport and Gautam Thakkar did the 11am ride solo, bravely as it was still icy at the time. A big hand to Hang Pang who volunteered to go down to the Polish War Memorial at 9am just in case someone hadn’t got the message!

Not everyone has a smart trainer of course, but the pioneering, swashbuckling, groundbreaking smart trainer owners who’ve signed up for CADESport were ready for the challenge. Joined by a new adventurous West London Cyclist in Dorosthy Teng.

A new platform will always take people out of their comfort zone but Dorosthy stuck with it and finally joined in, with Dave M dropping back to guide her through the new toy. This course had sweeping bends so the risk of crashing on corners is minimal. The scenery offers land, sea, farms, a town, the sea and tunnels and two 20km laps were quite enjoyable. With the audio on, we were able to have a social chat throughout the ride, albeit that Brett’s microphone didn’t seem to be working.