Loughborough Wednesday Cyclists

Short Ride Report by John On a rather dull and chilly morning just John, Eric, Rosalind, Mick and John remained at Holt Drive after the two larger groups had left on longer ridws. It was decided to head north aiming for the Community Shop at Normanton on Soar After John had phoned Ray to let him know where we were going, the group headed off trhrough the Universitym over Garendon Park and arriving in Long Whatton, agreed to take the longer route up Kegworth Lane From Kegworth they headed for Kingston on Soar and then decided to take head further north and take a route south via West Leake. However this was not to be as Rosalind suddenly found that her ride was no longer smooth. The outer skin on her tyre was ballooning and it was decided that this dictated the direct route south to Normanton and home. Refreshments were taken outside the shop at Normanton, where they were joined by Ray. The riders were made very welcome as we hadn't visited since December.  The final leg was

Shortish Ride Report by Graham A cool start to the day, but a good forecast brought swathes of riders to Holt square, with all two other rides leaving before ours as we faffed and chatted about our route to Castle Donington. Once under way, our party of 6: Pat, Vic, Eric, Marcus, Brian and myself had only gone through one junction when we found ourselves mixed up with Howard's ride, who’d left before us but via a wizardly devious route. We played leap frog with them all the way through Hathern, although they overtook us by pretending to be proper roadies, taking the main A6 whilst we took the scenic path through Hathern village. We’d almost caught them by Long Whatton, but they headed north towards Keg’orth while we continued through Diseworth, then through the airport, with its lovely industrial scenery and country smells of kerosene. Still, it beats the main road, and we skirted the west of airport before dropping down into Castle Donington and our stop at Tylers cafe

Medium ride to Race Hub  Report by Graham. My first time with LWC for quite a few weeks, and with leaders in short supply I offered a circuitous route to the Race Hub at Six Hills. So our party of 7: Trish, Pat, Vic, Paul, Rob (Smith), Keith and myself left Holt Square and made our way through town and out via Meadow Lane and Stanford, before skirting the rehab centre and heading along the main road (A6006) east towards Rempstone. After crossing the A60 at Rempstone we escaped the traffic by going left up Wysall Lane, a quiet and poorly surfaced road, rarely featuring on an LWC ride, which took us to Wysall (of course!), which we left via Widmerpool Road before turning right to Willoughby. At Willoughby we went straight over the crossroads south along Hades Lane. I’m not sure what the underworld connection is, but this is another section rarely ridden by LWC. Possibly that’s because it spat us back out onto the A6006, but only for a short stretch before we went left onto Gibson’s

Short ride via Zouch and Beacon Hill on 6th April 2022 Report by David There were few people at Holt Dive prepared to chance the April showers and gusty wind. David led a ride of 22 miles, accompanied by Vic, Trisha, Andrew, Lee and Betty. The centre of Loughborough was unusually quiet as we sailed through green traffic lights for most of the way to Meadow Lane. Then we started to get held up, and Betty’s brakes were binding. After a brief stop near the railway bridge just before Stanford on Soar, we managed to free Betty’s brakes and continue through the village to Fox Hill. As we turned the corner at the bottom the hill, we came to face the wind head on; so were relieved when we got to the shelter of Normanton on Soar village. When we reached the junction with the A6006, Betty was able to pop home briefly to fetch her helmet. This gave us chance for a brief chat.  Then David led down the A6006 path to Zouch, and we went onto the road when the path ran out. Some of us r

Short Ride Report, by Brian. A shortened short ride. A ride was proposed to East Leake with the proviso that we could hurtle back to Loughborough should the expected rain come early. Once the roles had been sorted out, Tricia (leader), Marcus (deputy), Mick (raconteur) and me, Brian (scribe), we set off down Epinal Way to Hathern. Marcus expertly lead us through the back streets of Hathern, affectionately known as Howard's Way' and on to Zouch,  Sutton Bonington, West Leake and coffee stop at East Leake .  Coffee, cakes and a bacon bagel were excellent at the cafe opposite Chef's cafe on Gotham Road (nobody could remember it's name("Bryer's", Brian)). Spots of rain were spotted so a change of route took us back to Loughborough via Stanford. Arrived home at 11.45 after 19 miles and no rain. Result!