Weekly Round-up: 14 Apr 2024
All the latest news, events, and results from NFCC Members from this week’s two-wheeled adventures…
NFCC Road Bike TT Series Rd.1: P311The first NFCC Road Bike TT was held on Tuesday evening on a blustery P311. Reece Dawson got the better of the rest of the field with Sien van der Plank crossing the line as the fastest woman. Full results and a link to images can be found by CLICKING HERE. |
BikeShed Race Series @ Thruxton: Rd.1Despite the relentless winds at the start of the week, Round 1 of the BikeShed Race series at Thruxton Motor Circuit still went ahead. NFCC’s Phill Brown made the two and a half hour round trip to the circuit and lined up for his first time this year in the E/1/2 field. Despite starting the race, it seemed he wasn’t able to finish it, with his chain dropping and jamming between the cassette and chain-stay on just lap 2. Better luck next week! |
Saturday Club RideWith mass participation sportives being run in the forest this week we decided to take avoiding action and take ourselves out of the way of strung-out pelotons, angry motorists and dangerous overtaking. Our route, a hilly 130Km ride around Stockbridge meant that we were riding in the opposite direction to the sportive until Beaulieu and then we didn’t see them again. A warmish forecast meant that for the second week running there was flesh, albeit pasty in colour, on display. There were eleven of us at that start, so we decided on a one group peloton and headed east to Beaulieu and then north to quieter roads. We picked up Richard P around Awbridge. Richard can always be guaranteed to join us for the part of the ride that involves coffee and cake especially when we’re in his area. |
 We were grateful for a south westerly cross tailwind for most of the journey out and made rapid progress. All went to plan until a downhill stretch in West Tytherley where Barry hit a pothole at speed. This caused a minor puncture, but the tubeless tyre sealed and only lost a little pressure. Worse was the fact that the jolt loosened his handlebars. Not having a support car to pass him a 4mm allen key like Lotte Kopecky in last weeks Paris Roubaix a quick stop was required to tighten his stem bolts. Onwards to the coffee stop at the Community Shop in Broughton and we were caught by last weeks Paris Roubaix hero, Axum. We also said adios to Rupert who was on a tight deadline. A week is a long time in NFCC, and hero to barrel in one week is easily achieved. Axum said he missed the start by one minute and had to give chase for the next 64Km to catch the group. The value of a group working together, and a favourable wind made us hard to catch even for a Roubaix finisher. One of the defining characteristics of Axum is his legendary capacity for onboarding calories. When we were in the queue for the cakes at Boughton one of the shopvvolunteers saw our hero and said “I remember you from last time”, presumably as he was the one with the shopping trolley for his mid ride snack. We did notice that the conqueror of Roubaix still had the sticker on his top tube showing the 29 sectors of cobbles. Either that or they were his 29 feed stops for the event we weren’t sure. |
 After coffee we said goodbye to Phil G who was uncharacteristically cutting the ride short this week. Those of us who attended the clubs 90th Anniversary Dinner later in the day found out why. Phil was resplendent in a three-piece suit and tie and obviously needed many hours to assemble this garb that was well outside his norm. It is on record that Phil can change a groupset blindfolded with one hand tied behind his back quicker than doing a tie knot so needed that 6 hour prep time. Onwards after coffee, a puncture for Ben G, quickly dealt with then another one for Axum. The tyres that had triumphed over Roubaix cobbles couldn’t deal with the rough roads of Kings Somborne, but again tubeless sealant did it’s job and after a quick inflation we were on our way again. The return leg was a little slower as we had headwinds for most of it. We took in some new roads for the club ride to the west of Awbridge which were decidedly rustic in nature but very pleasant. I can’t say where these were as it was so rural there aren’t any place names on the map! |
 We continued back to the forest and braved an incessant headwind across Ocknells Plain. The only good part of this was that the noise of the wind was the only thing that could drown out the mechanical clanging form Adrian’s chainset which was dispelling the myth about Di2 being self-adjusting. At Milkham, Smithy who has not been in the barrel for some weeks now so is overdue for something momentous, and Adrian peeled off towards Red Shoot. At Bolderwood Neil V headed towards Lyndhurst and the remainder dodged tourists driving up Bolderwood and made it back to Brockenhurst as planned.Lots of kudos to hand out this week, Adrian and Matt K rounded up to 100 miles, Jay to over 200Km. But a huge thanks to all those that did some big turns on the front today in the wind, especially Matt M who did a solid hour at the start of the ride.Thanks all for another great and memorable Saturday. Barry |
NFCC 90th Anniversary DinnerThanks to everyone who managed to attend the 90th anniversary dinner. A great time was had by all and it was lovely to meet everyone from all aspects of the club. It was particularly interesting and enjoyable to go back in time and view the photos and memorabilia as far back as the 1950’s Congratulations to all our prize winners both serious and alternative prices! Thanks again for raising £181.50 for pedall charity. We hope to use this event as a springboard to continue to raise the social profile of the club to match the excellent cycling profile. Watch this space for summer barbecues and next year‘s awards ceremony… A full list of award winners and photos from the evening can be found by CLICKING HERE. A huge thanks to everyone involved for such a wonderful evening, and to all the Members of NFCC for making the club quite so special… here’s to another 90 years! |
Sunday Off-Road Club RideThe mild weather attracted another bumper attendance on Sunday’s club ride, with 22 making the starting gate. We split into three groups, fast, medium and rare. With Spring in the air and summer bikes making an appearance 11 opted for the faster of the groups and headed off with 7 in group 2. It was lovely to welcome Henry back into the fold after a long absence.The group meandered it’s way along familiar roads, albeit in a slightly different order. Group two at least kept a pretty leisurely pace as some of us had tired legs from the Saturday ride and were still slightly ‘tired and emotional’ following the clubs anniversary bash the night before. No drama’s or incidents of great note occurred but a couple of small mechanicals and flats occurred in the various groups meaning that everyone arrived at the cafe at more or less the same time. It was great to see about 18 club members sitting together in sunshine at the cafe, many in club kit, elegantly stuffing themselves with cake and once again, adding to the already overflowing coffers of the Setley ridge shareholders. |
Wessex Sporting Time TrialSien van der Plank was in action again this weekend and if racing a 24-mile “sporting” time trial wasn’t enough, Sien also tagged on the ride there and back in true tester style… Rounding up to just shy of 90 miles for the day! Crossing the line at 1h05m32s, Sien was not only the fastest road bike women, but also the fastest women overall. |
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. |
