Meet at 10 am outside the Rose and Crown for more tea, cake and adventure. Weather looks fair, so get the bike out of the shed for some gentle cycling.
Monthly Archives: February 2014
Grumpy old men ride called off
In view of the awful weather forecast today and the number of riders who have already abandoned I have decided to pull the plug on the grumpy old men’s ride for today. We will have another go on a better day next week.
GOMAW Tour Series and Biggles Get-Together
GOMAW Tour Series
The GOMAW (Grumpy Old Men & Women) tour series continues on Friday in the absence of Mr B with a trip through the grounds of Gorhambury House near St Albans and lunch at the Italian Cafe in Chesham that we visited a few rides ago.
Meet at 10am at Pitstone roundabout on Friday 28th Feb.
BIGGLES 55TH ‘GET-TOGETHER’ RIDE – SUNDAY 2nd MARCH
David Lewis from the Slapton Wheelers is celebrating his 55th birthday with a ride out on Sunday and some of the ‘vinghoe Velos are planning to join him. Here is his email….
I said I’d be in touch nearer the time…
And thanks for the very positive response.
Having checked the long-range weather forecast for Sunday I think it is worth going ahead. If the weather turns bad then rules 5 and 9 apply!
As I mentioned before I see this as an opportunity for us to meet up and ride in small groups with friends and people we know through Strava and to have a few drinks in our ‘Clubhouse’ (The Carpenters Arms) afterwards.
And of course to commiserate with me for being another year older!
I am going to warn the landlord (Elliott) and ask him to put on some chips. Our very good friends at Ivinghoe Velos have been over to the ‘Carpenters’ before and I am hoping for a good turnout from them (Andys and John please pass this on).
It is not a race! (I can’t believe I am saying that) – although I expect a few characters will have a go at some ‘segments’ en route – rather an opportunity to chat and get to know one another better.
Who knows, in the future this may become Slapton Wheelers’ very own ‘Reliability Ride’ as a compliment to our existing summer sportive ‘The Slapton Wheeler’ – I hope so.
There are 2 routes on offer – a 55 miler and a half-distance (it is actually 29 miles). I will be on the 55 miler (naturally) but there is no shame in opting for the shorter distance.
Both routes are attached to this email an can be viewed in Garmin Connect. If you need the .gpx files for your gps let me know.
I suggest the 55 mile group starts at 0830hrs and the other group at 0930hrs roughly allowing 3:30hrs (@16mph) and 2:30hrs (@12mph) respectively and a combined eta at the pub of approximately midday.
With a bit of luck the two groups might meet up as they follow the same route towards the end.
If you are a visitor please make yourself known to me and/or any of the Slapton Wheelers/Wheelettes; They are a very friendly bunch and not at all precious as can be noted by some of the ridiculous ‘nicknames’ on the back of their shirts.
Looking forward to seeing you all.
PS As previously stated feel free to bring along a friend/club member and if you can spot that I have left anyone out of the ‘addressees’ please feel free to forward it on.
PPS For those of you who want to drive to Slapton, there should be enough parking in the pub car park at that time on a Sunday morning
Regards
David (aka ‘Biggles’)
The GPX files for David’s rides can be found:
and
The routes are also available on Garmin Connect:
And
Velos Rides for Sunday 23rd February 2014
Rides on Sunday
We have three distances to entice you with this week. First off, a number of the Velos are going to ride the Luton Cycling Club Reliability Ride, part of the Chiltern Classics Series of early season sportives. It’s 100km (62 miles) in length and officially starts from Edlesbourough Village Hall at 8:30am. We will be meeting at the Rose and Crown at 8:15am to cycle to the start. The plan is to ride as a group averaging 15mph and we would very much welcome anyone who wants to join us. The details of the ride can be found on the Luton CC website.
If a 10am start suits you better then we have two other rides on offer.
Long Route – To Chartridge and Back
As always, we meet at the Rose & Crown. Please bring a copy of the route with you either on paper, or in your chosen electronic gadget.
Audax Rides
A number of our group led by Jayne Raynor are planning some Audax rides this year. Please do let Jayne know if you are interested in joining them for one of these events which will we guarantee will be a lot of fun.
“As you probably know, every year a few of us do the Stevenage CTC Start of Summertime Ride. This year it’s on 30th March 2014. There are three distances, 62km, 115km & 210km. Details can be found here http://www.stevenagectc.org.uk/summertime.php. We also do the Emitremmus ride in the autumn too.
We’re also going to do the Wessex CTC Coastlet 100km Brevet Populaire Ride on Sunday 13th April 2014, details here: http://www.wessexctc.org/dcldetail.htm
Some of us have booked in to Swanage YHA for the Saturday night ready for the ride on Sunday (accommodations is proving difficult to book due to Easter) and we’ll be travelling home sometime in the evening after the ride.
Lastly, we’re also doing the Gridiron on 12th October (this will be our third year – time flies) details here: http://www.wessexctc.org/grdetail.htm
These are not the all guns blazing sportives, they have a time limit but are not timed and they are really nice sociable events for all sorts of abilities, bicycles and ages and a great camaraderie. Even better, really nice refreshment stops.
Jayne.”
Please me, Teas(e) me, Breeze me!
Ivinghoe is definitely THE place to be this Saturday morning!
The all important 10am congregation at the Rose & Crown for the ever-pleasing Tea Ride will take place as usual. But this week we are joined by Jayne and the Breeze ride too who will be heading Aldbury-wards for a nice rolling, 15 mile route, around Tring, Wilstone and swooshing back through Long Marston.
The Tea Ride. The bit of cycling that really should be in the Winter Olympics ‘cos it takes more than a bit of wet & snow to keep us indoors….
GOMAW Tour Series & More!!!
GOMAW TOUR SERIES
Meeting on Wednesday at Pitstone Roundabout for a 10am start the GOMAW Tour Series continues with a little trip out to Haddenham for a cup of coffee
GoSkyride Breeze meets the Tea Ride!
This Saturday Jayne Raynor is leading a Breeze Ride from the Rose and Crown meeting for a 10am start and this will bring Breeze together with the Tea Ride
ONE FOR THE DIARY – The Chilterns Cycle Challenge Sunday 23rd March
It was tremendous to see so many riders out last Sunday with some 29 people out. We were particularly pleased to welcome back, after some time away, Steve Herring who sadly lost his wife Sue after a long period of illness a few weeks ago. Steve remembers how Sue used to go cycling with him before she was taken ill with cancer and inspired by this memory of happy times together and motivated by the 24-hour responsive care that Sue received from Rennie Grove Hospice Care he will again be riding this sportive and would he says be “honoured” if other members of the Vinghoe Velos joined him to help remember Sue and help raise money for this great Charity. Full details can be found in the above link
White van incident approaching Billington
For any of you that witnessed the awful intimidation by a vehicle this morning:- This was an incident that needs logging with the police, and I suspect that the more of us that report what we saw the better- as we witnessed different aspects of the incident according to whereabouts in the group we were.
Velos Rides for Sunday 16th February 2014
The forecast is unseasonably calm on Sunday so we thought we would line up a trip to Woburn for the long route riders. Mr Hetherington has kindly mapped out where we will be travelling so please download the route on to your GPS thingy or print out a copy.
We very much welcome people sending in routes so if you have a few moments, please do try out Mapometer and send us a link via the website contact us form.
As always, we meet at the Rose & Crown from 9:45am and push off around 10am. See you there.
Short & Sweet….
Roses are red
Violets are blue
We’re cycling tomorrow
Why don’t you come too?
Saturdays, 10am, The Rose & Crown, Ivinghoe.
Takes more than a bit of wind to stop The Tea Ride.
GOMAW Tour Series
Setting off from the Pitstone Roundabout at 1000 on Thursday the Grumpy Old Men and Women are heading to Harpenden!!