Longish Ride Report by Alan Not that anyone cares that much, but I did have to drag myself out of bed this morning, suffering from the lurgy (not Covid) to make it to Holt Drive. I mentioned all my symptoms to Marcus on Monday but as he keeps on reminding us, he has retired and is therefore unable to offer any advice on medical matters. A deep sense of loyalty to John Catt and the promise of the warmest day of the year spurned me on. I was rewarded with 8 fine athletes joining me to Hill Top Farm: Rob 1, Rob 2, Mick, Vic, Marcus, David and the two wimmin Trish and Margaret. On leaving Holt Drive the first mini crisis occurred on the Forest Road where Terry’s group had stopped (presumably for a rest). As a consequence both groups intermingled all the way through town, stopping at N traffic lights where N is a very large number. Safely separated, “Group Alan” proceeded on to Burton on the Wolds via Barrow Road and from there to Wymeswold. The first slope of the day came at Narrow ...

Short Ride Report by Keith The threatened rain seemed to have reduced numbers at Holt Drive, so this group set off with just six on a hilly trajectory out to Belton and Thringstone, then across Charnwood. Keith led, with Tricia, Bryan, Brian, Philip and Rob S. Through the University and then following Cycle Route 6 along the Garendon trail to Shepshed. Bryan and Phillip decided to challenge their Strava section times between there and Belton, whilst the rest of us used our breathe for a good chat! Bryan left us here to visit some friends towards Melbourne, so we headed to Osgathorpe then to the Ashby Road at Thringstone, where we started the long haul up to Mt St Bernard’s Abbey. Here we passed John Catt and Ariadne going the other way! St Joseph’s tea room proved to be shut, one of the folk there explained that they had been hit by Covid and had to close. So it was off to Bawdon Lodge for our refreshments, with still no rain, just a misty dampness. The warm café revived us, th...

Long Ride Report by Alan With Carol, the BBC weather woman, promising a rise in temperatures from the beginning of this week, Holt Drive saw a good turnout from 9.15am onwards. Trish, Mick, Brian, Phil, Dave and Bryan opted to accompany me to the Pip Tree Cafe at Collyer’s Nurseries outside Borrowash. With a strong following wind the group made light work of passing through Stanford on Soar, Normanton, Sutton Bonington and Kingston on Soar. Just outside of Kegworth we turned right into Long Lane, skipped past a huge pile of fly tipping to emerge at Sawley Marina. The coffee stop was about 4 miles from here with ample outside space to rearrange the furniture and settle down in the sunshine. The service was prompt, (apart from Trish’s toasted tea cake) and it wasn’t too long before the conversation turned to how much prices were going up in these cafes. The Russians, Brexit, Covid have much to answer for. To reinforce this point, on the journey home I saw diesel priced at 177.9p a...