Monthly Archives: March 2022

Ivinghoe Velos Rides For Sunday 3rd April 2022

Three Routes to choose from this week plus some other bits to have a look at for future weeks.

The 9am route was reserached last week by myself and Richard and I can recommend it as a nice flowing travel through the Aylesbury Vale. 58 miles https://ridewithgps.com/routes/38858781

At 10am we head towards Chesham before looping back across Ashridge and over the beacon. https://ridewithgps.com/routes/38917575

Our 10.30am route is a lovely 20 mile excursion to Cublington via Wing and back through Wingrave https://ridewithgps.com/routes/38917602

All routes start outside the church in Ivinghoe and finish with optional reward & refreshment at the Rose and Crown pub. Please arrive before the expected start time. We have a poll on our facebook page “the rear hub” to gauge rider numbers & encourage others to join rides. So if you are riding give us the heads up via the poll.

We will be adding extra pace options for our longer 9am rides in the coming weeks in case the usual 9am speed is a barrier for riders to enjoy these options

We would love to see more ladies enjoying our rides, so if anyone has any suggestion in how we could support local ladies to join our outings it would be good to hear from you. Should we advertise a ladies only route?

The mythical Ivinghoe Velos Saturday tea ride gets spoken about on street corners, but we are not sure if this still happens on a regular basis, if someone would like to voluneer to resurrect it, or promote it, please come forward!

Our lovely Ivinghoe Velos kit gets praise from everyone who sees it. We would like to see if there is demand for a new kit order, we’ve added a poll on our facebook rear hub page, please vote if you are keen to place an order.

Tuesday saw an introduction to cross country riding up in Ashridge for a group of seven MTB/Hybrid riders, as this is a lovely way to pass a light spring/summer evening, we will be organising more “offroad adventure rides” in the coming weeks. Easy cross country rather than dare devil downhill. No one gets left behind!

Ivinghoe Velos Rides For Sunday 27th March 2022

Here are our rides for the weekend! We need to be mindful of the clocks going forward this Sunday otherwise you might be riding with the wrong group, or worse still on your own!

9am BST ride nearly 60 miles in the Aylesbury Vale https://ridewithgps.com/routes/38858781

10am BST ride nearly 40 miles with a couple of hilly bits, noticably going over Dunsmore https://ridewithgps.com/routes/38848504

10.30 BST ride Tring Orbital ride, 22 miles https://gb.mapometer.com/cycling/route_4381380.html

Looking through the summer we have some real highlights to look forward to, here is a summary of planned events in early summer, inclucing local sportives some of our riders may be taking part in. Please join in when you can, riding together is better and no one gets left behind (until the final sprint)

24th April Hemel Hillbuster, local hilly charity ride

8th May: canal ride back from London with refreshment stops!

20th-23rd May: Tewkesbury Weekender, 3 days riding in The Cotswolds/Marvern Hills relaxed road rides, book your own accomodation in Tewkesbury and join the velos rides Sat, Sun, Mon.

22nd May Ride Chartridge, local sportive around the Chesham area

29th May Ride London, closed road event in the capital

12th June Wheatley Windmill Ride, outing to a Windmill open afternoon with tea and cake

12th June Tour De Vale 2022, a classic velo outing around the Aylesbury Vale from Stoke Madaville stadium.

In the pipeline we have a planned awayday (weekend?) to Norfolk to have a ride with old ride buddy Nick (19th June)

In July there is a plan to take on some gravel trails in the new forest (Monday 18th- Wed 20th), find your own accomodation in the Brockenhurst area.

We will also be back out on weeknights during the lighter evenings and continuing the ever popular Thursday coffee rides

So plenty to look forward to it 2022, stay safe and enjoy the ride.

Ivinghoe Velos Rides For Sunday 20th March 2022

Good to see a big crew out last week and at last the weather looks very favourable for a nice ride in the fresh air on Sunday 20th March, so hopefully everyone can get out and enjoy a group ride. This week at 10am we are at our Witts End! Don’t worry it’s not our emotional state, it’s a hamlet in Bedfordshire that we will cycle through! At 10.30 we have a 22 mile ride which skirts around Tring. The 9am route takes the glorious Gaddesden Row to Codicote and back through Witwell and along the stunning Lilley Bottom, some great cycling countryside!

10:30am https://gb.mapometer.com/cycling/route_4381380.html

10am https://ridewithgps.com/routes/38792504

9am: https://ridewithgps.com/routes/38797248

Ivinghoe Velos Rides For Sunday 13th March

The usual three main group rides to choose from this weekend. As always rides start at Ivinghoe church and we will have a facebook poll to allow people to indicate when they are riding.

The 9am route gives riders a chance to complete 100km while celebrating the birthday of Thomas Fredrick Bidlake. Mr Bidlake was born on 13th March 1867 and was a racing cyclcist on bikes and trikes. At a time when bikes were even less popular on the roads than now (due to scaring horses) group racing on roads was banned. Bidlake invented a race to avoid this ban by setting riders off 2 minute intervals in reverse handicap order- the time trial had been invented! A memorial prize honouring contributions to cycling was set up after Bidlake passed away following a cycing accident, winners include Beryl Burton, Tom Simpson and Chris Boardman. As Bidlake raced on the Great North Road our destination on Sunday is his memorial at Sandy. It’s an out and back route rather than our usual circular fare. it’s not too hilly with 2,500 feet of climb and we will stop for a short break at the memorial so bring a biscuit!

9am Bidlake 2022: https://ridewithgps.com/routes/38528018

We have a 10am and 10.30am options for shorter rides and also we’d like to point riders to the Berkhamsted CC reliability ride leaving Musette Cafe at 9am (£16 in advance, £20 on the day). Good luck to any Velos joining this reliability ride. Thanks as always to Dave Bembridge for coming up with the 10am and 10.30 routes!

The 10am route of 33 miles takes riders up to Heath and Reach and then Brickhill, up to Soulbury, through to wing, up to Wingrave and then a fast decent into Long Marston. It’s a little over 50km of lovely rolling country roads https://ridewithgps.com/routes/38734739

The 10.30 route of 21 miles climbs up to the back of Shootersway before doubling back towards Wiggington, taking in a loop at Hastoe and then a fast decent of hemp lane and through Aldbury, all good fun https://ridewithgps.com/routes/38734765

The usual bit

We are a group of friends who ride together rather than a club so we don’t have any hard and fast rules, preferring to enjoy the journey rather than worry about our sock length. There are no fees to ride with us, we just ask for some considerations to be made so everyone can stay as safe as possible and have a good ride experience.

If you get out and ride it will encourage others to continue, if you sit at home on a turbo trainer, or in front of the TV there may not be anyone to ride with when you want company in the future!

Ivinghoe Velos rides are routes suggestions based on local knowledge built up over years of riding. Suitable for road bikes and often using quiet road options. Occasionally we need to re-route due to road closures and mapping errors. As a group please solve these problems as safely as possible. Anyone is welcome to provide a ridewithgps course for us to follow in future weeks.

Those who lead out a group, the route planners, those who send the postings out each week in no way make any assurances as to the safety of any rides organised under the ‘ivinghoe Velos’ banner. Each participant is wholly responsible for their own safety, road worthiness of their steed, legal requirements to abide by the highway code and any insurances each individual feels are necessary.

Rides are usually between 14mph and 17mph depending on elevation. When rider numbers allow we split into groups based on pace. Generally our motto is ” we leave no one behind” but riders need to be realistic when joining a group with an expected pace, it’s no fun for anyone if one riders pace is considerably slower than all the other riders. Equally if a couple of riders push the pace beyond what is expected, the rest of the group might not be having fun.

When riding in a group the main benefit is the draft effect, saving around 25% effort when tucked in behind other riders. We expect riders to take a turn on the front when they able to do so and “hold the wheel” of riders in front on flat sections and shallow climbs. Looking over your shoulder and moderating your pace to ensure riders behind are still attached to the group is important wherever you are within your group and communicating if it looks like a riders has become detached (why not drag them back to the group rather than pushing on yourself?). On the flat the group should be close together so everyone benefits from the draft, work as a team, if there is a few bike lengths between riders you are not doing it right! On hills we wait at an appropriate safe spot to allow slower climbers to rejoin, you might want to make sure you are past the strava segment end!

Occasionally we have ridden in large groups with rider numbers in double figures. It’s important to remember we are quite a big obstacle to overtake, splitting into two small groups on main roads allows vehicles to overtake in stages. If you are mid-group take responsibility to manufacture this split- that’s you riding in position 7 in a group of 12. If a rider has manufactured a gap for this reason, don’t overtake and close the gap.

We have a stylish Ivinghoe Velos team kit which allows the public to identify us. Please be considerate, courteous and respect our reputation when riding in our groups. Shouting at motorists is unlikely to achieve anything other than a raise in your blood pressure. Smile and wave at other cyclists, even those too pro to wave back.

Occasionally due to traffic or mechanicals there can be splits in groups and we lose visibility of parts of the group. For this reason and for your time you spend on the front it’s important that every rider has a full understanding of the planned route.

Please arrive before the expected start time of our rides. We currently meet by the bus shelter outside Ivinghoe church. There is usually a poll on our facebook rear hub to establish who is out and riding which route.

Mudguards are much appreciated on winter rides, without them the rider behind you might as well be riding in the rain.

As we ride in a group, pointing out hazards is vital, riders within the group wont get much notice of dangerous pot holes, gravel and other slip hazards and maneuvers away from the usual line, please give visual and audible signals and also let other riders know if cars are unexpectedly close by.

Stay safe, have fun and enjoy the journey.

Ivinghoe Velos Rides For Sunday 6th March 2022

Three routes this week, all starting from Ivinghoe Church. Great to see lots of riders out last week enjoying an improvement in the weather, the 10am route split into several pace groups which got riders round in good time. Please add your expected ride choice to the facebook poll on the rear hub so riders have an idea who is out and about. Arrive before the ride start time and get yourself into your realistic pace group and work together to get the group round.

9am 46 miles: https://ridewithgps.com/routes/38628865

10am 28 miles https://ridewithgps.com/routes/38683618

10.30am 23 miles https://ridewithgps.com/routes/38683643

Calendar dates:

In the coming weeks we have some events for riders to consider, Sunday 13th March we have an option to take part in the Berkhamsted Sportive from Musette (fee to join). Our usual 9am ride is a 100km ride https://ridewithgps.com/routes/38528018 to celebrate the birthday of the inventor of the time trial, Thomas Bidlake out and back to Sandy.

In April there will be some riders looking to take on the Hemel Hillbuster, a local sportive (fee to join) including some of the biggest climbs in our area.

From 20th to 23rd May we have a weekend trip planned including some great rides from Teweksbury. Riders should book their own accomodation and join rides on Saturday, Sunday and a Monday recovery ride. Full details are on the events tab on our facebook rear hub page, with a variety of ride options and a relaed pace to enjoy the sights. Also that weekend, for those staying at home on 22nd May there is a local sportive from Chartridge (fee to join) which riders may be familar with, 60km suitable for newer riders and 100km for riders looking for a big challenge.

We also have our canal ride out of London to look forward to on 8th May!

When taking Part in organised events try to wear our team kit.

Once into April, as day light hours extend we will look at reinstating our Tuesday evening rides. Fast and furious with a beer at the pub as a reward!