Wednesday 9th March 2022

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 litre!!

Before setting off I couldn’t resist taking a photo of Mick who was doing his best to look like either Bill or Ben (The Flower Pot Men) if you remember that far back.

The journey home was a different kettle of fish entirely. Strong winds were coming up from the south and it meant us with a battle all through Evaston, Ambaston, Shardlow, Cavendish Bridge, Hemington and Lockington. At some point Bryan and Dave peeled off the reach home via Melbourne. Was that wise I wondered in this strengthening wind?

Passing through the Lockington led onto a raised plateau to reach the giant Amazon warehouse. It was here that the wind seemed to be a constant 30 mph at least. Thankfully signs to Loughborough began to appear and after passing through Long Whatton the remaining group split up on the A6 by the golf driving range. The ride to the outskirts of Loughborough was 34 miles, most of it was reasonably flat. In less windy weather there is an option to divert via Shepshed from Long Whatton which would add another 3 miles to the total and include a couple more hills.

Intermediate ride report

by David

With good weather in prospect, there was a respectable turn out of riders and leaders. The extra warmth of the day (at least compared with the previous day) presaged that Spring is on the way.

Keith led an intermediate ride taking us along some normally quiet roads via the Race Hub. He was accompanied by Andrew, Rob, Margaret, David and Andy. It was Andy’s first ride with the group, although he was familiar with the roads.

We set off from the shelter of Holt Drive, and soon discovered it was quite a windy day by the time we reached the higher altitude of the Fairmeadows estate. It was a pleasant ride down the path to the Allendale roundabout. After turning towards Quorn from the One Ash roundabout, we traversed a coned off section of the road that forces both carriageways to use the same stretch of road without traffic lights to determine right of way. Then we turned right and made our way to Woodhouse, rather against the wind and persistently uphill. After a short break, out route took us more easily into Swithland. Swithland reservoir was calm and populated by water birds, and daffodils were in flower on the verges. We continued along The Ridings and through Rothley, crossing the traffic lights on the old A6 and speeding under the new A6 towards Cossington. Margaret had been feeling tired, and decided to head for home as the rest of us made for the Humble Lane hill.

At the top of Humble Lane a waft of countryside greeted us before we turned down Ratcliffe Road with a lorry rumbling along behind us. We took Main Street leading into Thrussington. Already there on the green was Howard, Vic et al, from another cycling crew already smelling the coffee and inviting some of our loyal crew to mutiny. But we remained steadfast and cycled off in the direction of Hoby. This is a pretty village and mesmerizing for its succession of double bends. On the last one we headed for Ragdale. This involved a long climb, then a steep dive, a couple of sharp bends, then a steep climb. So, we can consider we earned our refreshments when we covered the short section of Six Hills Lane to get to the Race Hub.

There is a lot more seating here and rows of huts at the edge of the water. The coffee, maple and pecan cake was generous with the pecans and I reckon the coffee was better here than at Thrussington. Some wild swimmers were getting ready to take the plunge.

We resumed the ride back along Six Hills Lane and turned onto Paudy Lane. A little further along, we took the narrow lane to Seagrave. The sun was bright and spring lambs were bouncing as if they had springs attached to their feet.

In Seagrave the village centre was quiet, but shrill screams from the primary school playground gave us incentive to move swiftly on. We followed Big Lane to the Seagrave Road turning that led past the Sunrise Farm egg emporium. From Seagrave, we crossed the low ground to Mountsorrel and marvelled at the groundsmen’s skills at Sileby cricket club. The ride down the old A6 was plain sailing. The 31-mile ride was completed by 1 o’clock, so meeting prior commitments of some of our riders. We averaged 11.2 mph and gained altitude of 1375 feet. Thanks to Keith for an interesting ride.

Short Ride

Report by John

After the other three rides had left, just Ian, Eric and John were left to decide where the short ride should wend its way. Consideration was given to both Cossington (too close to home for Eric) and Ulverscroft (too hilly for Eric's bad knee and more of a challenge than wanted for Ian) so it was decided to revert to a reliably pleasant ride to Bradgate Park.

The three riders headed out past Mucklin Wood to Beaumanor and then onto Swithland and Cropston, taking the road along the dam wall of the reservoir to the entrance to the park. The track to Newtown Linford was comparatively empty and, apart from the wind, the riders had an easy path through to the Jade Cafe, where refreshments were taken outdoors.

Returning through the park, the riders took a left to Roecliffe Manor where Ian carried on towards Belton while Eric and John took the right turn towards Swithland, proceeding home via Woodhouse and Quorn, where Eric took a turn to the south and home.

Medium Ride Report

by Robert

On Wednesday morning Howard was offering a ride to Thrussington and Keith was going to the Race Hub. Robert, John, Vic & Paul decided to go with Howard, and Pat almost went on Keith's ride but she finally decided to come on Howard's ride as the return went through Wymeswold. Since both rides were starting on similar routes We left after Keith's ride. We Followed a southerly direction, taking one of the usual routes through the estates to Quorn making sure not to be mixed up with Keith's ride. We carried on south in the Soar valley, with a headwind, along the A6 to Rothley where we turned east. passing under the A6 bypass and on to Cossington. On our way from the Soar valley to the Wreake valley at Ratcliffe, Vic pointed out, Tilton, Houghton and Burrough Hills from the ridge that we passed over. On to Thrussington for coffee. 

As we were enjoying our refreshments on the Wooden sofa (so named by Vic) on the green in Thrussington, Keith's ride passed by, on their way to the Race hub. Some of Keith's companions almost joined us but Keith managed to keep them together. After Thrussington we carried on to Hoby the wind was now behind us as we went through Ragdale to Six Hills. After Six hills Vic and John took a different route, Four of us carried on quickly to Wymeswold assisted by the wind. Pat left us here of course.Howard, Paul and I went to Hoton, along the A60 to Cotes, where we turned right to Stanford on Soar returning to Loughborough along Meadow Lane and through the industrial estate where Morris cranes once was. 27 miles Sunny conditions with a strong wind from the south.