As the Red Arrows lose a plane, the Chinese lose a train, some poor soul loses control of their automobile causing traffic chaos on the M1, the fleet of new bikes continues to grow at the Vinghoe Velos

Rumour has it 2 new speed machines will be on display tomorrow, with Andrew “I don’t like White bikes” being one of these!

So where to tomorrow? Gary after a week of underwater camping heads off to Italy to plan for the Giro whilst Jose is leading a Skyride Local in Aylesbury in readiness for the MK Skyride next week!

Longer Ride

Shorter Ride

Finally if anyone is thinking of buying a ‘pirated’ cheap import jersey think again.  Our new member Mr M Arrow says the fit isn’t great although we are surprised he didn’t come with a china tea cup!

MAry Saintey has asked us to remind you that she is once again riding the churches ride on 10 September 2011. She is looking for friends to join her on the day, and has routes already planned. Details will be available on forthcoming Sunday rides.

I have also recieved information From Mark and Izzy Robinson who asked me to put this out:

Fast road ride. Leaves Pitstone Roundabout 7.00PM

Challenging off Road leaves Rushendon Furlong 7.30PM

All return to the Rose and Crown for Isotonic Ale afterwards. Remenber the faster you ride the quicker you get there.

Well its certainly been quite a week, some might say its been a riot. But here in Vinghoe and the surrounding villages life meanders pretty much as normal. Chickens munch toothless on yesterdays scraps, children play in the leafy parks, Dogs are walked, the hanging baskets are watered, the swinging parties continue, and the streets are littered with the blue of the MIGHTY VINGHOE VELOS.

And so we continue with our weekly tour of the surrounding countryside, with no fewer than three rides on offer this weekend. They consist of the usual long and short routes, as well a new off-road route for those of you looking to give your mountain bikes a workout.

Now at this point we would normally give you details of the proposed routes, however I tried to log on to mapometer this morning, only to find their account is currently suspended. We will review this again later today, but if normal service is not reviewed, we will head out on one of our previous rides relying purely on memory to guide us.

Should the mapometer situation be permanent, if you have details of any other websites offering a similar service, please let us know.

Looking to the future (This is not the Septic Meg sections) Mary Saintey is looking to undertake the Churches ride on 10th September and is extending an invite to all. We have lots of information on this and will post details later this weekend.

See you all tomorrow 10.00am.

Here at the

Another great turnout yesterday. Not all of us managed to avoid the rain – but then again, what did we expect – it is summer !

Road Bikes :

Tuesday 7pm at Pitstone Roundabout. Fast-ish pace, hopefully without the monsoon we experienced last Tuesday.

Off Road Mountain Bikes:

Tuesday 7.30pm from Rushendon Furlong. Can be quite challenging from a technical perspective but a lot of fun.
Thursday 7pm from Ivinghoe Beacon car park. General trail riding suitable for most people. We do need to warn riders to be aware that there are some very aggressive badgers around Ashridge that have been known to attack cyclists with a view to stealing their bikes. Let’s be careful out there.

Longer Route

Shorter Route

So that’s it a dog chews through Internet cables a couple celebrate their wedding anniversary and the wheels nearly fall off, not us!!!!!

Pinch, punch, first day of the month (no returns).

OK, now we have that silliness out of the way please see below of our mid week rides.

Road Bikes :

Tuesday 7pm at Pitstone Roundabout. The illusive Dave ‘The Hill’ Howe will be leading this one so expect a decent workout.

Off Road Mountain Bikes:

Tuesday 7.30pm from Rushendon Furlong. Can be quite challenging from a technical perspective.
Thursday 6:30pm from Pitstone Roundabout (calling at Ivinghoe Library @ 6:40pm and Ivinghoe Beacon car park at 7pm). General trail riding suitable for most people.

Better late than never I guess.

Rumours continue that the press will be arriving in Ivinghoe tomorrow morning to get a shot of the mighty Vinghoe Velos in their smart new jerseys, this rumour has to be true as Gary was seen rushing to London to meet his stylist to ensure he looked his best for the cameras (watch out tomorrow for the eyeliner and red eyes!)

Tomorrow is the last opportunity to order the super new
Jersey, please contact Andrew should you need (or are now allowed to have!) one.

Longer RideShorter (hangover) route

Not content with sticking a glass to our front door and listening in to the messages on our binatone answerphone, whilst our children mourn the sad loss of their hamster Gerry, Beacon News News Hack Nigel, wishes to do a follow up expose on the Vinghoe Velos. Now you will know that the velos do not seek nor court publicity of an inproper nature, however I have, despite my inate shyness, agreed to a further interview on behalf of the club. As you would expect I have stipulated a very strict criteria to the interview and a copy of the proposed questions in advance. This includes no questions relating to the hamster.

I appreciate that many of you value your privacy within the club and I promise not to give out any names unless asked to by Nigel. I feel confident that I can resist for several seconds the surface probing that this experienced news hack will apply. Nigel has also agreed that the final article can be approved by us before publishing, so if anyone knows a vet available for this please let me know.

In addition to the written works, Nigel is also bringing a photographer along on Sunday morning at the start of our ride. I am unclear wether the photographer will be among us or hiding down the road with his telephoto lens. So remember, although we are finely honed athletes, cheap topless shots will not meet with our family friendly ambitions. So please if you’ve got the Vinghoe shirt get it out for Sunday.

One last thing before I leave you. Now that Gerry has gone his cage is empty, I guess that makes him Gerry the Spacemaker.

Thanks to everyone who came on the ride Sunday. It was another great outing with pretty much perfect weather for spinning around our wonderful local countryside.

And so, on to our mid-week rides –

Tuesday 7.30pm off-road from Rushendon Furlong. Can be quite challenging from a technical perspective.

Wednesday 7pm road ride with route by Dave ‘The Hill’ Howe so expect the odd climb or two.

Thursday 6:30pm off-road from Pitstone Roundabout (calling at Ivinghoe Library @ 6:40pm and Ivinghoe Beacon car park at 7pm). General trail riding suitable for most people.

Team Ride in September – The Wiggle Rut

A couple of members have expressed an interest in riding the Wiggle Rut which takes place on Sunday 25th September. This is a challenging ride of 74 miles but it is not a race so the pace will be set by the participants (i.e. for us -leisurely and supportive). If you decide to enter, make sure you state your group as “Vinghoe Velos”. Also, let me (John Hegarty) know and we will see if we can organise a car pool to get us and our bikes there and back.
Fear not, for those not interested in the Wiggle Rut there will be the usual Velos ride on this date.