Weekly Round-up: 13 Oct 2024
All the latest news, events, and results from NFCC Members from this week’s two-wheeled adventures…
Gravel ‘n’ Grog TuesdayA damp ‘Gravel ‘n’ Grog’ ride for only two on Tuesday evening. Phil G & Joe O met up at 5.45 in Lyndhurst car park ready to set off at 6.00. The route down to Brockenhurst is pretty easy riding with a handful of gates to navigate. The gates proved a handy way of keeping the pair entertained into the darkness. |
Saturday Club RideWith an iffy weather forecast for Saturday this week’s club ride was planned as a slightly shorter 113Km ride keeping us close to home in case the 14,457MPH winds forecast by an errant BBC computer on Thursday came to pass. With such a short, simple ride surely there wouldn’t be much to report. But with the thirteen riders that turned up there was of course plenty of material. |
 Firstly, Ben T regaled us at the start with stories of how he trashed the closure on his overshoes with all the dexterity of an elephant wearing boxing gloves. We headed off towards Burley and were soon joined by Ben G. How the father of a three year old and a new born baby can oversleep is beyond me, so he makes his debut in the barrel this week. Luckily for Ben, with his power on the bike catching and passing group two and joining up with group one was a simple task for him. |
 After a loop around East End we headed north towards Lyndhurst. Group one were stricken at the side of the road whilst Joe dealt with a nasty puncture. Further investigation showed that his lightweight inner tube had more holes than Swiss cheese. So, a lesson to everyone to replace inner tubes for winter with heavy duty ones. We met up for coffee at The Potting Shed and were joined by Neil S. Neil was doing a Richard P and riding out for coffee and then going home. Group two were still ahead of group one at this stage due to the aforementioned puncture. We said adios to Michael who was on his first club ride for a while and was close to home at this point, and also Joe and Ben T so resumed as a single peloton. |
 At this point it is only fair to point out some superb ride planning… With all the weather apps showing the possibility of just some light showers, we had to hunker down at The Potting Shed through some torrential rain and were very grateful for the shelter. The ride was planned 48 hours ahead. Not with the Met Office Supercomputers and modelling software, but by a two-hundred sixty year old in Brockenhurst with nothing more than a piece of old seaweed hanging up in the garden to predict the storm with millimetric precision, and time the rides to be under cover at that time. Although it must be said he wasn’t bright enough to bring his gloves and bandana inside so had to put on soaking wet gear afterwards! |
 The peloton headed south towards Bransgore and were waved down by a lady on a mountain bike. Her companion was stranded with a puncture further down the road. We met her and left her with a trio of Phil(l)’s to help whilst the other riders headed to a safer place. Two of the Phil(l)’s were there to help and the third regaled her of stories of how he once managed to fix a puncture in 42 minutes on a Sunday ride once and numerous other times of being covered in “tubeless sealant”. It was a good deed but sending Phil H to help fix a puncture is like sending an arsonist to put out a fire with a five gallon can of petrol. Luckily the other Phil’s were St Phil of Lyndhurst and Lord Phill of Lymington, so the puncture was duly fixed, and the cyclist made her way to Ringwood. |
 The ride was heading back towards Burley and there was a mutiny in the Phil(l)-heavy peloton who demanded a second coffee stop. We decamped to Shappen’s café and whist waiting for Neil to devour a bowl of soup so large that some of the club’s triathletes could do lengths in it, there was a commotion with dogs barking and going crazy. Being the New Forest this was nothing more than a pig having got into the cafes garden. Phill B and Barry with experience akin to herding cats getting the club rides into groups managed to shepherd the errant porker out of the garden and back to wreak havoc in the village instead. We headed back to Brock without further ado. Graham and Phil H rounded up to yet more century rides.Just another normal Saturday club ride. – Barry |
Sunday Club RideWe started the day with 11 riders, putting us on the verge of needing two groups. After some brief discussion, we agreed to split, though there seemed to be a touch of hesitation in forming a faster first group. In the end, only four riders were brave enough to take on the heavy burden that comes with the title of “Group One”. |
 The weather was dry and windless, though a bit on the chilly side—perfect autumn riding. Unfortunately, Tom, who had joined Group One, was battling gear issues from the start. With little enthusiasm for riding single-speed all morning, he soon decided to call it a day on Boulderwood. Down to three, Group One merged with the others at the top, and we continued together over Stoney Cross, where we picked up Peter and made our way down Bramble Hill. |
 From there, it was a pleasantly uneventful ride, aside from the usual New Forest wildlife avoidance maneuvers. Once again, we encountered the pig on Furzley Lane, who has now made a few cameos on our club rides over the last month. He was in his usual spot, mooching along in the middle of the road, seemingly muttering to himself with constant grumpy snorts. Thankfully, unlike the Saturday ride, no pig-wrangling was required. |
 As expected, the group fractured on the notorious Col du Pipers Wait, but we regrouped at the top. Phill G took the chance to position himself in a roadside ditch, for the obligatory group flyby photo. Most riders capped off the day with the standard Sunday stop at the Setley Ridge café, rounding off what was a thoroughly enjoyable ride. |
Wessex CX 24/25 – Rd.5: SouthamptonRound 5 of the Wessex Cyclocross League made its way to Southampton on Sunday. The fast, flowing course is a favourite for club riders and NFCC’s Jay T capitalised on this securing another incredible 3rd place finish in the V40 open race, with Matt Knight a very respectable 36th. Emma Shepherd finished just 19 seconds outside of the top 10 in the Women’s race crossing the line in 11th place, with Joe Shepherd finishing in 20th place in the Senior Open race. |
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. |
