Two rides and two start times this week.

9am start 49 miles loop via Whaddon

10am start 29 miles loop via Great Brickhill

See you at the Rose and Crown.

Meet at the Rose and Crown at 10 am prompt for more cycling, tea, cake and adventure.

We leave at 6:30pm from Pitstone Roundabout.

The Route

Please bring a copy of the route with you.

Three rides on offer this week for what looks like it should be a dry Sunday morning –

8am start 62 mile loop around Leighton and Luton

10am start 31 mile loop via Berkhamsted

10am start 21 mile loop to Great Gaddesden

As usual, we start and finish at the Rose and Crown, Ivinghoe.

Meet outside the Rose and Crown for more tea, cake and adventures. Bring a raincoat just in case…

Good luck to Elke and Jose who are off to the Isle of Wight to do 100 miles whatever the weather. Have fun!

Carrying on from our recent rides on a Tuesday evening with Richard and Trevor from the Bossard Wheelers, there had been talk of Time Trials and wondering what it would be like to ride one. Trevor has kindly sent us this message about a local “open to all” event that only costs £3. Don’t be put off by thinking this is something only for the super fast – 10 mile time trials are a long lived tradition of British Cycling and how better to celebrate the Tour starting in Britian this weekend by giving something new a go.

Here is the invite from Trevor –

Greetings All

Well the grapevine tells me that you had a really good ride on Tuesday evening and your enthusiasm to have a go at the dark art of time trailing is fired up!

I spoke with Tony Farnborough who organizes the North Bucks Road Club (NBRC) evening events and he is very happy to designate next week’s event as a “come and try” to enable non affiliated riders to take part.

We meet outside the new McDonalds (was known as Kelly’s Kitchen) by the A5/Watling street roundabout at this end of Milton Keynes at 6.30pm on Weds eve. We then “sign on” at Tony Farnborough’s car and are issued with a race number. Cost is £3 for non NBRC riders

You don’t need any specialist equipment and any bike is allowed provided it is roadworthy. Helmets are not compulsory, but I would always recommend you wear one.

We warm up along the course and up towards Brickhill until the event begins, after that it is considered bad form to be warming up on course. As there are normally around 20-30 riders it is generally not a problem getting the warm up done before the event start.

Riders go off at 1 minute intervals, with first rider off at 7.15 the start is just round the corner from the meeting point. The course then runs straight over 1st 2 roundabouts before turning left onto the Stoke Hammond bypass at the next roundabout then turn at the first roundabout up bypass and retrace turning right at next roundabout and straight on at following 2 roundabouts to finish opposite the start point.

http://gb.mapometer.com/cycling/route_3883305.html hopefully this link should take you to a map of course. It is relatively straightforward, from a ride point of view the key points are:- 1st and last roundabout, tight on way out and bad road surface on way back. road rises from 2nd to 3rd roundabout and again on way up to the turn. It is then fast for 1st bit of return and then the sting! the rise up to the 5th roundabout and the warning lines just add to the pain!! It is then a fast run down and along to the finish.

The basic rules of time trailing are very simple, it’s an individual un-paced effort, each rider starts one minute apart and normally the faster riders are interspersed within the field to avoid any pacing. If you are caught the rule is that the overtaken rider ensures there is a sufficient gap to avoid any charge of gaining assistance.

Normally if you are caught the overtaking rider will pull away without any need for you to slow, occasionally this isn’t the case and it may be that you find you are recovering and able to go faster. It is ok to re-pass them provided that you are able to do so and make distance on them.

The classic mistake made by novice riders is to go off too fast, 10 miles is further than you think when you’ve burnt all your reserves before the turn! Everyone is different and it is vital that you ride your own race. It is a cliche, but you need to work within your limits and don’t worry about other riders. 

Always remember your safety not your ride is the most important thing, don’t take risks, we have all occasionally been held up and delayed, when this happens remember there is always another race.

Yours in sport
Trev

As is usual for a Tuesday, we meet at Pitstone Roundabout to depart at 6:30pm.

25 mile evening route

Rides

Sticking with our ‘three ride Sunday’ formula, our early adventure this week takes us past Cranfield Airport.

9am Start 53 Mile Route

10am Start 35 Mile Route

10am Start 25 Mile Route

As always, we meet at the Rose & Crown 10 minutes before the start time and please bring a copy of your chosen route in either digital (Garmin) or analogue (Paper) formats.

Dave Bembridge

Hot on the heels of the amazing Martin Sisley who raised over £3,000 for the Air Ambulance Service last week, Dave Bembridge is planning to ride from John O’Groats to Lands End starting on the 12th July. The knowledgeable ones amongst you will have spotted that, unlike Martin who rode ‘up’ the country to John O’Groats, Dave’s journey is essentially down hill all the way. To make up for this, Dave is adding a few miles just to make it that much tougher for him. In fact, his route includes 1,500 miles of cycling. No mean feat and all to raise money for a fantastic cause, Cancer Research.

Dave does a lot for our club – and cycling in general, so please do sponsor him if you can. He is also inviting his fellow velos to join him on the various legs – if you are interested then please have a chat with him.

The Herts Cycle Challenge

Also undertaking a challenge is Angela Hollands, who is riding the Herts Cycle Challenge on Sunday 6th July.  She would love some company if anyone fancies giving this one a go.  Starting in St Albans, there are two circular routes to choose from – 25 miles or 50 miles.  All the details, routes and the registration info can be found here on the Rennie Grove  Hospice website.

And now the Tea Ride vow is very sacred
Sal B has put us together
Now you oughta come and ride together
Come on, come on and stick together

You know we made a vow
To leave one another never

But now you never lose your friends even if they go by
Come on now cyclists give our ride a try
We stick together
Come on, come on please ride together

You know we made a vow
To leave one another never

Now if you’re stuck for a while consider our ride
It’s always happy with its tea and cake
We stick together
Come on, come on let’s stick together

You made a Tea Ride vow
To leave one another never

The Tea Ride.  As fast as the slowest rider and We Stick Together.
10am, Saturdays, The Rose & Crown.

Now that England have confirmed their flight home from Brazil, going out cycling this Tuesday seems like a really good idea. We have something a bit different planned for those who fancy trying something new. Richard (from the Bossard Wheelers) has suggested we try developing our group riding with a couple of laps of the of the Mentmore TT circuit. It will give us an opportunity to work on our chain gang skills and might result in some interesting average speeds.

If you would like a more usual Tuesday evening ride, we have a flat 25 miler that includes some of the TT route so you can wave hello as you speed past them.

25 mile route

Both of these groups will be gathering at Pitstone roundabout with a view to depart at 6:30pm.