Weekly Round-up: 22 Dec 2024
All the latest news, events, and results from NFCC Members from this week’s two-wheeled adventures…
Saturday Club RideDear Santa, all I want for Christmas is a bigger barrel! With an iffy weather forecast for light rain and strong winds, a low turnout should mean that it’s hard to find candidates for the barrel. But commeth the hour commeth the NFCC faithful. Phil G opened up the barrel bidding by turning up with some (presumably) fake antlers affixed to his helmet. Whilst this type of tomfoolery is okay, nay encouraged on the Boxing Day 10 it has no place on a club ride. Claiming that Lucy made him do it is no excuse! |
 Six hardy souls left the start dead on 0900 BST (Brockenhurst Standard Time), they were soon joined by Phill B and Axum who were late on parade as they were unfortunately on LLT (Lymington Late Time). The ride continued as a single peloton with the work on the front being shared by all. When we reached Winkton, we suffered the first of many punctures which were not unexpected given the wet roads. Phil G was the unlucky rider, but a new tube inserted with aplomb and we were on our way. Shortly afterwards Matt K cried “mechanical” and found a big lump of stone sticking out of his front tyre. Amazingly Matt had the right spares with him, he inserted a Dynaplug (in the tyre) and we were on our way in no time. |
 Never one to be left out of a puncturefest, Phil H was next as we went through Harbridge. Phil has regaled us of tales of these wonderful lightweight puncture-proof inner tubes he bought. Luckily, this was the last of the eight he bought to perish so they will be joining the Harris Landfill Site for discarded bike ephemera which is visible from space. He promised this was the last time he would buy gear from www.gulliblecyclist.com. Route master Barry is not out of the woods with barrel potential this week. After Phil G’s puncture, half the group followed the planned route and half the route Barry had in his head. Luckily, the group reformed ten minutes later as we approached Crow. |
 We passed Graham’s house as we went north through Poulner. The group shouted words of encouragement that were not printable as we heard him on his turbo as we passed. We cut the route short with a diversion to Fordingbridge as we were a little late for our reservation at The Potting Shed. There to nobody’s surprise, we were joined by café habitues Lucy and Richard P. Replete with cake and coffee we headed back over to Red Shoot. The route had an optional shortcut in case the weather worsened but luckily for us the rain didn’t come and the very high winds hadn’t materialised, so we did the extra loop across the airfield and around Furzey. |
 Coming back across the airfield we were into the block headwind and were very grateful to Phill B and Phil J who did most of the hard work on the front. As we hadn’t had any punctures for a while Barry decided to join in the fun. Luckily his was a case of putting some CO2 into his tyre (three times) and he was able to limp home to effect a repair in the garage. Karma being what it is, after Phill B’s boast about how good his cheapo tyres were, he bought the number of riders with punctures up to the 50% mark as we approached Brockenhurst. With a ride where nearly everybody had a claim for the barrel, who’s got the strongest case for barreldom this week? Obviously, it’s all those who looked at the weather forecast and decided not to ride. You know who you are!Merry Christmas all. Barry |
Sunday Club RideThe forecast said it would be cold with high winds so a gravel ride was planned this week. The cold didn’t disappoint and the wind chill was pretty brutal but the sky was clear and blue. 12 riders made the start and we all set off together onto some pretty mucky trails. Those of us who had assiduously cleaned their bike after Saturday’s club ride quickly realised that that hadn’t been time well spent. Progress was delayed for the ‘Dirty Dozen’ when Bill M flatted and most of the group waited shivering at the Canadian war memorial. After about 15 minutes Axum showed his leadership potential by suggesting we wait in the sunshine, a full 10 metres away. |
 Soon after we got going again John B headed for home and we made our way around Burley and down to the old railway. Strictly speaking, this wasn’t the route I had planned, not even not very strictly, but it did seem like a good idea at the time. Alan W had dropped a chain but full of confidence urged us to carry on and ‘he’d catch us up’, easier said than done when everyone else changes to a different route. We also mislaid Phil G and Lucy G and I will share some of the blame for these losses as they were entirely my fault. |
 Meanwhile the ‘Hateful 8’ made our way to the cafe, waving off Axum, Ray and then Paul C we became the ‘famous 5’ and then eventually joined again by Phil G and Lucy, the ‘Magnificent 7’.As it’s the festive season conversation naturally turned to Thai strip bars and tricks you can do with ping pong balls, Alan W reappeared to adda delightful story on a similar vein concerning Christmas lights. It felt like time to get going at about this point. Great to see everyone as always, a fun if chilly ride in the winter sunshine. – Phil H |
Get Involved:If you find yourself out and about representing NFCC, don’t forget to jot down a few words, snap a few photos and send them over to press@newforestcc.co.uk. |
