The usual three options this Sunday, with the longer route having a coffee stop option. There is no getting away from the hills this week…..

10.30am https://ridewithgps.com/routes/47803860 24 miles via St Leonards.

10am https://ridewithgps.com/routes/47803802 31 miles over to Chesham & down Aston Hill.

9am https://ridewithgps.com/routes/47820054 55 miles out to the Chalfonts with cofee at Blackwells in Chipperfield, or if that’s a miss in the garden at Little Heath Tea Room.

This is going to be Brill!

The 9am ride this week heads west to take advantage of the forecast westerly wind for the return leg, heading over Brill hill the easier way and descending past the windmill, this route is fairly low on climb ratio and a great chance to bag a fairly easy 100km. Our 9am crew moderate the pace to enable everyone to join the train. We may chose to stop from refreshments when passing a local shop or tea room depending how energy reserves are going.

The 10am route is a bit spicy with hills over towards Chesham, including The Hale and Asheridge Road, This is a great BBC ride (Buckland, Bellingdon, Cholesbury). Good to get some elevation in the legs up and down some quiet country lanes

At 10.30 we have a shorter version on the 10am ride heading in the same direction but saving the riders from the deep dip into Chesham

10.30am route https://ridewithgps.com/routes/47722614

10am route https://ridewithgps.com/routes/47720808

9am route https://ridewithgps.com/routes/47722549

Rides Leave Ivinghoe Church at the stated time, we aim to leave no one behind, so please have the route plumbed into your headset computer and try not to deviate from the course!

As we come to the end of three weeks of watching the world’s best cyclists ride around France we can enjoy the feeling of riding in our own little Peloton, while the word actually means “ball” it’s most often used to describe a twisting snarling mass of racers cutting through the coutryside, looking after leaders, getting sprinters into the right position, or just clinging on at the back! Fear not once the TDF finishes we move straight into the Olympics, with the time trials taking place next weekend and the road races the weekend after that. (and plenty of track and BMX mixed in too). Football never did come home, but cycling is always “a la maison”. While in some sports the olympic gold is the pinnacle, it’s easy to say that the Maillot Jaune is well above a medal when it comes to the cycling pecking order, with this in mind, all eyes will be on 33.7km individual time trial on Sunday from 1.40pm onwards, will the “race of truth” change any of the standings? After 21 days of racing over 2,174 miles will it come down to the stopwatch in Nice?

Back on home soil, we have three routes to test your racing ability, are you planning on being a domestique, a leader or maybe saving yourself for the final sprint? I’m afraid there will be no team cars, but as usual the velos will look out for each other out on the roads.

All three routes head in the same direction and have the same expected finish time, well before the first TDF rider leaves the start ramp in Monaco.

9am 50 miles https://ridewithgps.com/routes/47610201

10am 33 miles https://ridewithgps.com/routes/47609663

10.30am 25 miles https://ridewithgps.com/routes/47610363

Rides start at the advertised times from Ivinghoe church and return to the Rose and Crown for refuelling purposes.

9am https://ridewithgps.com/routes/47519520

10am https://ridewithgps.com/routes/47495688

10.30am https://ridewithgps.com/routes/47495759

The usual three options this Sunday, the 9am route is 46 miles, the 10am route is 28 miles and the 10.30 route is 22 miles.

Anyone wishing to try something different can join the Ludlow explorer weekend with rides starting at 10am on Saturday and Sunday https://ridewithgps.com/routes/46934552 & https://ridewithgps.com/routes/46916954 hotels and B&Bs still available for Saturday night!

Diary date. The Tour of Britan visits Northampton on Saturday 7th September. There is a chance to see the start and finish of the penultimate stage of the race as well as get in a local ride while the riders complete their course. Potentially parking outside the town and riding in to the start/finish area

Ivinghoe rides all start from the church in Ivinghoe, Ludlow rides start by St Laurence church, conveniently next to a Greggs bakery.

As it’s the first Sunday of the month the longer ride includes a coffee stop. For July we reprise an old favourite, the Benson Finger. Starting earlier than usual at 8am, this route takes us through the chiltern hills to the waterfront cafe in Benson, hopefully passing the Benson Veterans cycling club heading out of Benson on their anual rally (it’s worked for the last two years)

The 10am route also heads in that direction with the theme of hills to start and flat on the way back and if riders would like a coffee stop there is an option at Orchard Farm in meadle.

The 10.30am route tackles some hills before dropping down into Aston Clinton and could stop at coffee at 108.

8am The Benson Finger https://ridewithgps.com/routes/43457092

10am Not The Finger https://ridewithgps.com/routes/47395953

10.30am Not The Not The Finger https://ridewithgps.com/routes/47396000

Rides Start from Ivinghoe church and we could be split into pace groups if there are too many riders to safely ride together, otherwise riders will stick together and look after each other on the rides.

The following weekend we will post usual Sunday rides but there is also a chance to see some different scenery with a trip to Ludlow, three rides are planned, Friday, Saturday and Sunday, riders can come along for a single ride, two rides or stay for the whole weekend. This is a fact finding misson before next year’s full group trip in May where we test routes and hospitality!