Wednesday 13th April 2022

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 Lane, yet another quiet lane not featuring on any regular LWC schedule.

3 sides of a rectangle later we were back on Six Hills Lane and turning right into the Race Hub. I‘d hung back to make sure all 7 of us had made the turn in, and when I arrived at the cafe I was greeted by forlorn faces; Vic had tried the door and it was closed! As we started to think of alternatives I thought, that’s odd, because my wife’s car was in the car park and I could see her and my daughter inside. Not only that, Pat is a regular and knew it should be open, so a bit more force was applied to the door and lo, it yielded, the bemused staff wondering why we’d been hovering outside in the cold!

Safely indoors, cakes, cobs and coffee were consumed and the conversation meandered as usual, today alighting on the topic of hair raising flying experiences, and I made a mental note never to fly into Madeira Funchal.

On leaving the Race Hub we split, with 3 taking the direct route back down Paudy Lane, others sticking to the plan down through Ragdale, Hoby, Thrussington, and Cossington, where we peeled of one by one leaving Rob the only one to complete the ride all the way back to Loughborough.

Long ride to Market Bosworth 

Report by Alan.

Q. What is worse than cycling up and down the notorious Priory Lane ?

A. Cycling up and down Priory Lane in torrential rain.

The second cyclist to appear at Holt Drive this morning announced that there would be heavy showers at midday. “Nonsense” I said. Look at my BBC weather app, it forecasts dry weather all day. His weather app begged to differ. Who was I to believe? Giggly Carol on the BBC this morning or a different app? 3 hours later I knew the answer. The BBC weather app has now been uninstalled from my phone and Carol needs to stop flirty with Dan in the morning and pay more attention to the weather charts.

Brian, Bryan, Mick and Howard were not put off by my warning of “some hills” and set off with me to Market Bosworth. For the first 5 miles we faced a predominantly uphill climb (Nanpantan Rd and Abbey Rd to Hugglescote). From there it was undulating through Ibstock, Heather, Shackerstone and Bilstone. We looped around the Bosworth Battlefield Heritage Site to add a couple more miles before entering Market Bosworth.

Instead of the normal coffee stop in the market centre we tried “Jaspers” this time, inside the grounds of Bosworth Hall. The staff were rushed off their feet and we had to decamp to a table, a good 50 yards, from the entrance. The two Brians waited a fair time for their cholesterol bacon rolls to turn up. The stop was extended further as Mick had to get a blue top on to become part of the blue cycling fraternity this week.

Suitably fuelled up, we departed for the journey back. This took in Barlestone, Bagworth and Stanton-under-Barton. Just outside Markfield, we bade farewell to Bryan who is incapable of seeing a route through to its completion. It was then the heavens opened up and flying down Priory Lane at 35 miles per hour, in a downpour, is not for those of a nervous disposition. Alternatively climbing up Priory Lave at 4 mph, soaked to the skin, is also not the most pleasant way to spend any Wednesday midday. However, let the record show that we made it.  71 km and 823 metres ( metric units for those of you who voted against Brexit). Take that Mr Strava.

The star of the day must be “iron man Mick”. He hasn’t even heard of the internet so I can safely say he won’t be reading this. 79 years old. The man is a cycling god. No hill is too steep and he does it all by talking nonstop. What a legend. 

Short ride to Oaklands 

Report by Terry.

Betty, Lynn, John, Marcus and myself (Terry) were the last to leave Holt Drive on the short ride to Oaklands at Kegworth, although Betty thought Howard said Oakham and her first question was how do we go the Oakham and back in 25 miles!!

We left via the Greenbelt  to Epinal Way over the crossing that NEVER responds to a button press until there are no cars for miles around!

I forgot to go down Blackbrook Road, again, but Alan Moss Road is not much further and on through Garendon Park to Shepshed.  Crossing the motorway there was a definite dampness in the air which got steadily worse through Shepshed.

Along Whatton Lane to Kegworth, going down Whatton Lane in Kegworth is soooo much easier than going up! As we reached Oaklands the rain stopped. Bacon and sausages butties and cake were enjoyed in the sporadic sunshine but no rain.

We left Oaklands via Dragwell and Nottingham Road to Station Road and passed the old Kegworth railway station, straight on at the crossroads towards the Star at West Leake. Just passed the Star we turned left to East Leake and left again at the end of Brickyard Lane up Woodgate Road and right towards the new estate on Rempstone Road. Onward to the short stretch of the Turnpike and left down Leake Lane. What a contrast this road now is, the first hundred yards is dreadful then the new section is great then back to dreadful down the hill to Stanford.

John left us at Stanford carrying straight on towards Cotes, Lynn left on Meadow Lane and Betty at the Barrow Street Leicester Road Junction. Marcus and I completed the ride to Holt Drive!

A total of 22 miles.