Weekly Round-up: 26 May 2024
All the latest news, events, and results from NFCC Members from this week’s two-wheeled adventures…
NFCC Road Bike Series: P182Damp conditions for riders at another round of the NFCC Road Bikes only TT series, this week on P182 from Landford. The rolling course is known for being two miles down hill and the final eight back up, but that didn’t stop the 10 riders who completed the events. Full results can be found by CLICKING HERE. |
RCR Goodwood #3NFCC’s Phill Brown finally found his legs for round three of the RCR Goodwood Series 2024. The relentless pace, pushing an average of nearly 48km/h, didn’t let up for the full race distance and Brown finally managed to stay with the bunch for the full duration. Getting his elbows out on the final lap, Phill held his own through the final chicane and rolled over the line in 9th place – finally securing his first E12 point of the season. |
Thursday Evening Chain GangJust a trio of riders for an alternate Thursday evening Chain Gang due to roadworks on the usual course. Phil G, Reece, and James stuck to the plan and used the Roundhills to Hatchett Pond course for team-time-trial style evening ride. Hopefully the roadworks will be finished and the session can return to normal next week. |
Saturday Club RideBarry set us a glorious route, based on a hilly loop (yes hilly, where was Barry!) out to Broughton and Stockbridge. In the absence some of the usual club ride leaders, Graham F agreed to “facilitate” the Group 2 ride as long as he could then run a post ride focus group and table top review over coffee at the end. Glorious sunshine saw 2 groups of riders set off with both groups collecting and despatching additional riders along the way as they peeled off for domestic duties (also known as “climb avoidance”). |
 With some bank holiday traffic about, Group 2, at a peak number of 12, decided to split into 2 smaller groups, as such a large group (without Barry’s “disciplined” guidance), was struggling to maintain a tight pack and at risk of upsetting our friendly car driving road warriors. The subsequent regroup at the delightful Broughton coffee shop, saw group one reduced to one rider, as others had peeled off (you know, probably the hill thing!!), so the second half of the ride continued as one group. |
 As ever, Phil Grant took on the role of photographer and as he disappeared into the distance to set up the photo opportunities, Matt Knight suddenly appeared at the front of the pack, having applied make up, brushed hair and generally made himself look gorgeous for the whir of Phil’s camera shutter (only joking Matt, you did a good few turns at the front). But an excellent route, great coffee stop, glorious weather saw everyone safely home on completion of an incident free, thoroughly enjoyable Saturday club ride.– Graham F. |
Sunday Club RideAnother good turnout for the Sunday ride with well over 15 riders participating (I lost count). We initially split into two groups: six riders set off first in the “faster” group, while the remainder formed the second “fast-ish” group. Notably, we had four female riders—Jane, Eloise, Lucy, and Juliet—which may be a record for a club ride. |
 Everyone seemed to enjoy the ride, with most riders chose to stop for refreshments at the café. The weather was mostly favorable, except for a challenging but fairly predictable headwind on the last leg from Hatchet Pond to Brock. Congratulations to Eloise, who completed her first-ever 100km ride, including her ride to and from the start. Juliet did really well; although a newcomer to cycling, her running background and clear enthusiasm for fitness suggest she will do well in her upcoming sportive. She hopes to join us again in a couple of weeks. Understandably, the pace of group rides tends to increase as regular riders improve their fitness, and it’s great that we now have enough riders to form faster groups. However, it’s important to remember that the Sunday ride aims to accommodate a diverse range of abilities, especially serving as an introduction to group riding for newcomers.– Phil G. |
Hounslow and District Wheelers: 55th Ron Brown Memorial 100m TTHounslow and District Wheelers were proud to present the 55th Ron Brown Memorial 100m TT with NFCC’s Gary Lock & Sien vdp representing NFCC. The five-lap circuit saw riders navigating a trio of roundabouts, dual-carriageway and short section of single carriageway near Bentley in Hampshire. The TT gods were not on Gary’s side as he was unable to make the full race distance. Sien battled mechanical issues to finish as the 4th fastest woman, and the fastest woman road bike in 4h38m33s – a new NFCC club record that hasn’t been broken since 1991! |
Southern XC Round 3: Crow HillOvernight heavy rain created my favourable conditions for some, with Graham Sharman enjoying the light surface mud at round 3 of the Southern XC series at Crow Hill. Graham engaged all of his bike handling skills to keep up with the pack as mud surfing is a skill he appears to have mastered. It was even the case that those who are used to racing against him let me through to gain time and follow his lines n the slippy stuff this week. It was also great to be able to ride the two technical A lines – both were steep drop offs, the second being vertical and a good few metres high. These skills allowed to Graham move from the back of a group to the front on the opening lap, much to the frustration of the riders who had recently passed him on the climb. The usual cat and mouse of gaining and passing through on the single track then defending on the open sections resulted in 21st position for Graham. Jay Tarrant raced later in the day and despite reporting that he hadn’t had the greatest day out, he still finished 6th in Open vets category – we’re sure he told us he was an electrician!. |
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. |
