Weekly Round-up: 14 July 2024
All the latest news, events, and results from NFCC Members from this week’s two-wheeled adventures…
NFCC 10 Series Rd. 8 – P164Round eight of the NFCC Ten Series was cancelled due to adverse weather conditions. |
Saturday Club RideThis weeks route was a 125Km ride within the New Forest. Taking the opportunity to ride local routes before the main school holidays and the inevitable crowded roads. Twelve riders made the start including Chris H, Neil V and Paul H who were making their first Saturday appearance for a while. We also welcomed back Matt K and Matt M from their Etape du Tour exploits. With no enthusiasm for a Group One speedy ride, it was a single peloton that headed east out of Brockenhurst towards Hatchet Pond. |
 Last week we had the barrel sorted in 45 minutes thanks to Mark’s lack of preparation. This week we had two riders thinking about how could they better that. Up stepped Chris and Neil S who went to the front while Barry was faffing with his cameras. With less than 45 seconds of the ride they managed to ignore the data from 31 operational GPS satellites, the meticulously planned route, the finest technology from Garmin and Wahoo and lead the group astray within 500M of the start. Chapeau to the pair of them for adding the to clubs ever growing catalogue of incompetence. |
 Phill B quietly joined the back of the peloton as we continued for a tour of the roads around East Boldre, East End (AKA Royston Vasey) and then towards Lymington where Brown was seen chasing off Ben George who attempted to hide at the back of the pack on his TT bike. After Boldre there was a short reprise whilst Neil S sorted out a puncture on Rope Hill. Then it was westwards through Burley, Bransgore, Winkton and then to coffee at Dan Tanners in Bransgore. We parted with Matt K who being very close to home claimed Etape du Tour fatigue and wimped out. |
| Onwards to Burley, up Bolderwood where the group patiently waited for Smithy to ascend the climb. He rewarded this act of camaraderie by riding straight on and heading home rather than continuing the ride. After that it was Emery Down, Lyndhurst (inevitable traffic jam), Beaulieu Road, Isley Cross. The group then split whilst navigating past some ponies who decided that forming a roadblock was their preferred way of spending a Saturday. The front of the group diverted to Beaulieu to refill water bottles and the rear of the group missed the unplanned detour and we never saw each other again. Heading back to Brock into the headwind, Phil J sensibly suggested thorough and off so the remaining five formed up in close formation and shared the work. Thanks as ever for the good company, bonhomie and sharing turns at the front. |
Sunday Club RideDespite the great weather only eleven of us showed up at Brockenhurst for our ride to the west of the forest. We formed two groups and four younger speed merchants led off and reportedly did a four up tt round the route! Even allowing for a few wrong turns this fantastic foursome averaged about 19 miles an hour and were ready to leave the cafe as the second string arrived. Colin unfortunately suffered a puncture on his new bike thanks to a piece of broken glass but this was quickly repaired and we made 16 miles an hour back to Setley Ridge. The café was busy and had stopped providing hot drinks! Disaster! But the service for cake was quite quick and on such a day cold drinks were not a problem. Much talk ensued about Bill, Ray and Stuart’s upcoming audax LeJog adventure, and lots of recounting/reminiscing about previous long trips. |
 Sotonia P612 OpenOn Sunday three NFCC riders made their way up to Andover for the Sotonia hosted P612/10. The P612/10 is an out and back course almost entirely on the A303 dual carriageway. Prior to the TT, the Windy weather app was predicting dry roads, temperature of 15 degrees and a westerly wind of just 4knts. The post ride MyWindsock report gave a weather impact of just 2.3%. On the drive to the TT, I observed a light but constant flow or traffic. Everything seemed to be in place for fast times… …and indeed, everything was in place for fast times, with the course record being broken by 19 seconds in a time of 17:47. From a New Forest perspective there were mixed fortunes. Russ Osborne missed the first turn almost instantly which cost him at least two minutes then once back on track didn’t have the legs having had the flu during the week. He sat up early on but still clocked 24:52. I was very pleased with my ride. This is my first season time trailing, so I was happy to deliver another set of consistent numbers and with the excellent conditions stopped the clock at 21:30, a new pb. Sadly, I didn’t see Robert to speak to but he looked strong when I saw him out on course and stopped the clock in 32:18. The CTT write up of speaks of Sunday as a “float day”. Whilst I don’t fully understand the term, I think the jist is that many riders will be annoyed that they didn’t enter, especially as the course is only used once or twice a year. |
Southern XC MTB Rd 5 – IoWJay T got his passport out this weekend, promised clear blue seas and golden sandy beaches, then set sail to the Isle of Wight… Instead of a relaxing mud-spa for his significant other, Jay treated them to a dust-bath in a field on the outskirts of Shorwell for round five of the Southern XC MTB series instead. A frustrating day for the duo, not only to miss out on the relaxing day off, but although Jay smashed the technical downhills, he was slowly overtaken on the long uphills, managing to salvage an excellent P6 on the day. This leaves Jay joint points for 3rd place in the series overall, but unfortunately loosing out by just one position from today’s event. |
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. |
