Wednesday 23rd November 2022

The forecast on Tuesday evening had been for heavy rain overnight with light rain showers in the morning. However the heavy rain had persisted and only five rather wet people gathered at Holt Drive.

Short Ride

Report by John

Three already dampened riders (Derek & the two Johns) departed Holt Drive in pouring rain heading for Rothley Court. Derek wanted to complete the booking for the Xmas lunch. The direct route through Quorn and past the Quarry was adopted as the riders welcomed the thought of getting out of the rain. As it turned out the sun started to appear as they arrived in Rothley.

Having ascertained that there were no cakes on offer and once Derek had sorted out the booking, It was decided to head for Bradgate Park as it was now a beautiful sunny morning. Arriving at the park the riders found that the rain had put off most of the walkers and it was almost deserted. Riding through a herd of deer ran parallel with the riders for a while.

Derek & John in Bradgate Park

Refreshments were obtained at the Jade Cafe and the riders returned via Swithland with Derek peeling off in Woodhouse and John in Quorn.

Medium Dry ride

Report, by Graham

I'd opted for a later start today because: a) rain was forecast until mid-morning, and b) I wanted to visit the Race Hub before it shuts down (or as we now know, before it moves), and it was open 12:00-13:00 today.

So after a flurry of WhatsApp-ery, I was joined at 10:30 by Vic, Dave C, Rob Smith, Marcus, Alan, and Mick, who was riding his granddaughter's vintage Carlton 10-speed. We 7 made our way out towards Cotes, passing under the new rail bridge behind the Brush, which was still being installed, heavy plant very much in evidence. The rain had stopped, in fact the sun was shining, but it was very wet underwheel as we made our way through the back lanes to Burton and Wymeswold, where Pat was waiting for us. Then some more W's: Wysall, Widmerpool, Willoughby, over the A46 then across the top of Old Dalby and via Gibson's lane to the Race Hub, where Eric was waiting for us.

Vic, Dave, Rob, Pat, Marcus,Mike, Alan & Eric at the Race Hub (Six Hills).

There were many swimmers in the water, quite a few brave souls not even in wet suits, obviously making the most of the last few sessions. However, we learned that the Race Hub's plans to relocate to Frisby are well advanced, and will include a cafe, so there's another one for future expeditions. They are also selling off lots of stock, with bikes 25% off; Pat was looking longingly at a brace of Liv road bikes, whilst I picked up a couple of Christmas presents for the family. Lucky them to be getting cycling gear!

We turned right out of the Race Hub, then left onto Paudy Lane, waving goodbye to Pat, then left again onto Berrycott Lane, which was blissfully traffic free all the way to Seagrave. Down to Sileby where Vic and Eric peeled off, while the rest of us continued to Barrow, which was very congested as the 2 downstream Soar crossings were both flooded. Over the slabs to Quorn where I headed up to Woodhouse and the Loughborough 5 continued homewards along the old A6 (I hope).

I'd ridden about 35 miles on a lovely but breezy morning, and best of all had stayed dry.

Long Ride

Report by Jeff♀

We'd been watching the weather forecast for Wednesday all week this week, as we hadn't been certain about the rain situation. In the end, the rides were on as normal but only 5 showed up for the 9:30am start since it was still raining. Presumably the sensible people had opted for the 10:30am medium ride, after the rain had stopped.

Of the 5 gathered at Holt Drive, only Howard and I chose the long ride. Howard offered to do a shorter ride, but since the rain was expected to stop soon, we decided to do the full trip to Shackerstone.

We headed out to Quorn quite carefully because of the rainy conditions. There, we went right at the traffic lights to Woodhouse then Woodhouse Eaves. Howard claimed to be able to see blue skies while we were in Quorn, and it took me a while to see the tiny sliver of a gap in the clouds. By the time we got to Woodhouse Eaves, the rain had stopped and the sky was significantly clearer. We pulled over to take our waterproofs off, in preparation for the uphill section of the ride.

We left Woodhouse Eaves through Maplewell Road (hill) then up Priory Lane (more hills). Normally Howard leaves me in the dust on the hills, but this time I kept up with him, maybe since his 6-day break from cycling made him rusty. (or the rain)

The hills were not over yet though. Howard forgot about the hill up to Thornton, and there was another out of Thornton. Phew.

Jeff♀ & Howard in Barton in the Beans

Our ride photo was taken at Barton in the Beans. I did some research on the name of this village, and apparently it's in the "Beans" because Leicestershire is known for us all eating so many beans. According to Wikipedia, there's an old saying: "Shake a Leicestershire man by his collar and you'll hear the beans rattle in his belly". I didn't try shaking Howard by his collar since he wasn't born in Leicestershire. Maybe I'll try it on Mick some time.

"Do you see the canal in the distance?" Asked Howard, as we apparently approached a bridge I couldn't see. "No," I replied. When we got closer to the bridge, Howard realised it was the wrong bridge, though the canal bridge shortly followed. The original route took us alongside the canal as a shortcut to the cafe, but this time we took a look and the path was too muddy so we set off the long way around.

Maybe it was a wasted effort, as the café was at the end of a muddy gravel path with giant untrustworthy puddles. Howard cycled through one muddy puddle taking up the width of the whole path despite having just told me to never trust a puddle unless you can see the bottom. I opted to tiptoe around the edge of the puddle, but got caught in some thorny vines.

At last, we arrived at the café. We removed our wettest layers, and headed in, where there was an open fire and quite a sociable atmosphere. My steak pastie was full of meat, but Howard's cheese and potato pastie seemed to just be a pasty with an entire plain jacket potato inside.

The fire warmed us up, and we chatted to a motorcyclist stranger about the best roads and cafes in the county. A passerby told us of his failed family cycling adventure. I checked the weather, which predicted a bit more rain, so I put my hands by the fire for a last taste of warmth before we headed back out and reapplied the waterproofs.

On the way out to the cafe, we'd noticed some flooded farm lands and banks of streams. However, on the way home, we noticed even some dry roads! The sun had been hard at work.

Exiting the café, I decided to go straight through the untrustworthy puddle, following Howard's lead. I didn't fall into a hidden pothole or portal to a different, muddier version of the ride home.

We passed through the tiny Odstone, and by that point the expected rain appeared to be far away so I removed my waterproof coat again: getting moving had gotten me a bit too warm.

The wind was also behind us on the way back and it was a very windy day, so the ride back certainly felt shorter. We flew through Ibstock and Ellistown, going so fast the cars were hardly going faster. A speck of rain started, but not enough to make me crack and put my jacket back on. It very slowly built up as we entered Coalville, to a point where I would have put my jacket on if it had started that heavily. Still, I resisted. Then the rain stopped and the sun came back out, just in time for us to go over the oaks in Charnwood / St Bernards abbey hill (Meadow Lane, Abbey Road).

Arriving at the edge of Shepshed, we took a right turn onto the bike path that lead us straight back to Loughborough. Just as we arrived into Loughborough, I nearly fell off my bike as I braked on a wet manhole cover. Luckily my bike corrected its balance for me.

Total distance for me: 59.99km. A slower average speed than normal due to the combination of hills and wet conditions.