A Message from Bono

First off this week, we have a message from one of our regulars, Mark Wilson.

I’ll be riding 250 miles between May 30th and June 2nd to raise funds for Help For Heroes. This great charity raises funds to support and improve the treatment, rehabilitation and ongoing help for British service men and women injured in conflict. The charity has already achieved great things but the demands on it’s resources continue.

The ride I’m on will leave the National Arboretum on the Thursday and join up with 2000 other cyclists at Blackheath on the Sunday. The 2000 will then cycle into Whitehall making the largest single group of cyclists ever riding through London.

 If you would like to sponsor me please go to www.bmycharity.com/markwilson . You can see the details of the ride at www.pedal4heroes.co.uk . And you can follow my training on my Facebook page .

Thanks for any support you can offer Help For Heroes.

Mark (Bono)

This Week’s Ride

Looking at the forecast, we might have just missed the worst of the hail and rain – we have our fingers crossed.

Sarah has kindly volunteered to lead out the ‘steady’ paced group this week. The route is 20 miles and has just a couple of small ‘bumps’. This group rides at the pace of the slowest rider so should be good for all abilities.

The main ride is going a different route (28 miles) and likely to split again in to two teams : the ’13 mph average’ group and the ‘fast lot’. At the time of writing this, we don’t yet have a pre-ordained leader for the main group. If you fancy being the lead, please let yourself be known at the start of the ride. If you can’t lead us this week but are able to offer your services in the future, please use the contact form on the website to put yourself forward and we will create a rota.

As always, we meet from 9:50am and depart at 10:00am from the Rose and Crown, Ivinghoe.

Sarah’s Steady paced Ride – 20 miles

The rest of us Ride – 28 miles

First up, a big thank you to everyone who came out with us last week. We had one of our biggest crowds for a long time with almost 30 riders participating.

One of the things that led to such a great ride last weekend was the ‘relaxed paced’ group led by Dave Bembridge. We are blessed again this week as Dave is going to lead out another ride of similar pace and length. We don’t have full details of his route yet but we believe that it will head towards Wing, round to Whitchurch, Weedon, Wingrave, Long Marston and Marsworth before returning to the Rose and Crown.

The “13 mph” group will follow the route detailed below.

The Route 

While the forecast isn’t set to be as wonderful as today was, it does look to be dry and we should see that big yellow thing in the sky for at least some of the ride. As always, we meet at the Rose and Crown from 9:50am with a view to heading off at 10am.

These two chaps that we spotted near Wing last week were riding a very interesting tandem – it had mountain bike tyres ! Well done lads.

Quiz Night this Sunday evening at the Grand Junction Arms in Bulbourne.

Please join us at The Grand Junction Arms this Sunday evening at 8pm to test your brains and have some fun whilst fundraising for Action Medical Research. 7pm for 8pm (curry served between these times). If you cant make it please pop along for dinner this week when Mick is kindly donating money from the sale of Cheesecake to AMR 🙂

Shorts & Tee-shirts at last ?

Our thanks this week goes out to Jayne for sending in a suggested route to Dunstable and back. We always enjoy riding new routes so please feel free to send them in via the contact form on the website.
While not scorchio, the forecast is for warm weather so time to breakout the shorts (and rain jacket as there is still a 10% chance of rain). The main group this week will be sticking to a 13 mph average. As always, we meet at 9:50am outside the Rose & Crown.

The Route

The weather forecast for Sunday predicts a blistering 8 Degrees Celsius so in celebration we are planning on doing one of Mr Thompson’s training rides to Great Horwood. It’s almost 40 miles in total but anyone who fancies a shorter ride can turn back at Stewkley.

As usual, we meet from 9:50am at the Rose and Crown.

The Route 

P.S. We would like to wish everyone who is riding the Basin to Brownlow charity canal path ride tomorrow the best of luck. The route is an impressive 50 miles all in which is no mean feat. If you aren’t riding you can still donate to a very worthy cause whilst showing your support for our Velo Regulars in their quest.

It isn’t often that we admit defeat, but this weekend just might be a first for the hardy Vinghoe Velos. The conditions are not just horrible, they are positively nasty. Many of our members were planning on riding the Iain Rennie Chilterns Cycle Challenge but we note that is has now been postponed due to the bad weather conditions.

So it is with a heavy heart that we not going to put a ride out this week. If you are able to wear something that makes the cold, sleet and slush bearable, by all means turn up with your mountain bike at 10am tomorrow – if someone else is mad enough to join you then a ride over some bridleways might be in store. Alternatively, stick the fire on and snuggle up at home confident in the knowledge that at some point spring has to begin – apparently.

As we are riding on St Patrick’s day this Sunday, we thought it appropriate to ride one of our normal routes in the reverse direction. The weather forecast is also giving us a flavour of Ireland with decidedly damp “under tyre” conditions predicted.

We plan to continue with our new 13mph standard.  Hegs has volunteered to lead this week’s ride.  As ever, we shall be meeting at the Rose and Crown, Ivinghoe from 9.50am for a 10am departure.

The Route

The ‘Legend of the Hills’ Dave Howe has kindly both submitted this weeks ride and will be leading the “13 mph average” main group. As is usual these days, anyone who would prefer a faster or slower ride is most welcome to join us and form their own teams to ride together. We meet at the Rose & Crown from 9:45am and plan to start around 10am.

The Route

Another great ride last week, chaps & chapesses !

The new format of keeping the majority together at a 13 mph average is working wonders so we plan to try and keep it up this week.

It looks like it will be a dry ride too without the threat of ice – ideal for those rolling Chilterns hills!

So this is where we are off to…..

If you were one of the 22 people who joined us for the ride last Sunday I think you will agree that it was one of our best rides. The weather was fantastic for the time of year and the lead-out by Mr Howe worked really well.

While the weather might not be as favourable this week, we do hope to keep the momentum going and appoint a leader for the main “13 mph average” group on the day (it should be Hegs so long as the manflu doesn’t get any worse).

The route is a modified one from a few weeks back. The change was just to keep it around the 25 miles mark. As usual, we meet from 9:45am outside the Rose and Crown, Ivinghoe and plan to start just after 10am.

The Route

After last week’s rain, sleet and freezing temperatures, we look forward to much better conditions for our Sunday ride. In fact, Mr Sun looks to have his hat on and is threatening to come out to play.

Dave “Don’t mention the hills” Howe has kindly sent in a new ride this week. He will be leading the main group which will be averaging around 13 mph and will remain as a group for the duration of the ride.

Those wishing to cycle faster or slower are most welcome to ride with us too, but there may not be a nominated guide/fix-it bod for either of those groups.

Tomorrow’s entertainment looks like this.