Wednesday 22nd March 2023

Short Ride

Report by John

With a lot of water stiil around Eric, Rosalind, Myles, Derek, Vic, Lee, John and Paul decided to head up into Charnwood Forest. The riders headed out through the University and then skirted Shepshed to Tickow Lane and then on up Charley Road. Lee was having problems with his transmission and decided to head for home when the group reached Nanpantan Road.

Rosalind on Charley Road

The Riders carried on climbing up Charley Road before turning north on Beacon Road and then west to descend Shepshed Road to Deans Lane. A sharp ascent and descent saw the riders gathering a the junction with Breakback Road. From here they climbed to the Outwoods Cafe where they were greeted by Andrew.

After sampling some of the excellent fare on offer the riders returned via Woodhouse and Quorn with riders departing the group at various points.

Medium Ride

Report by Alan

On a breezy morning I decided to opt out of Howard’s 45 mile odyssey to Stathern as his return time was around 2.30pm and I wanted to watch the “Greased Piglet” --- aka Boris, give his definition of a party to a Commons Select Committee starting on TV at 2.00pm.

Plan B was therefore to go to Pip Tree Cafe at Collyer’s Nurseries in Borrowash, a round trip of 35 miles. Accompanying me were Bryan, David, Mick, Rob, Keith and the two wimmin Margaret and Trish. In the past I have bemoaned the prevalence of traffic lights that crop up on every street corner of Loughborough and, as a result, the time it takes to leave the town. On this ride we seemed to go to another level. It appeared that every village we went through a group of men were peering down a hole in the road, which necessitated holding up the traffic with temporary lights. This was never more so than on Meadow Lane where a 4 way set of lights caused tail backs in all directions.

Finally on leaving the town our journey took us through, Stanford on Soar, Normanton, Sutton Bonnington, Kingston on Soar, Kegworth and Draycott. Arriving at the cafe, no room was found inside as the place was packed with pensioners. This was surprising as Jeremy Hunt had asked them all politely to return to work. Luckily for us the weather was still bright and so we found a bench outside in the warm sunshine. Here we settled down to hear Uncle Mick regale us all with stories of times gone by. The subject this time was how he was present around the first appearance of the tea bag on the Isle of Wight. Not to be outdone I embellished the story with tales of my poverty stricken childhood on the very same island. There wasn’t a dry eye left from the enraptured audience.

Keith, Mike, Margaret, David, Bryan, Alan, Tricia and Rob at Pip Tree Cafe at Collyer’s Nurseries in Borrowash,

The return leg took us through Elvaston, Ambaston, Sharlow, Hemmington and Lockington. It was with some trepidation we viewed the climb up past the Amazon warehouse colossus but luckily for us the strong wind was a cross wind rather than full on. The final leg of the journey saw us pass through Long Whatton and finally Hathern. 60.06 km and a measly 304 metres to reach home.

Longer than usual Long Ride.

Report by Howard.

Having advertised the ride as being longer than usual and that we'd probably not be back before 2:30 it was no surprise that only 3 (Jeff♀, Dave, and Lawrence) joined me for this little excursion.  

The ride started well, through the centre of town, avoiding 3 way traffic lights and going directly out to the A60. With little traffic and a strong tailwind we quickly arrived at Hoton, from here it was downhill to Wymeswold, and the Willoughby Roller Coaster to the A46. Over the A46, and down again, to Lower Broughton, a little up to Nether Broughton with a huge articulated lorry breathing heavily behind us as we climbed the steep slope. Thankfully being able to turn off as we reached the top. On to Long Clawson through Hose, Harby and to our destination Dove Cottage. All this time with a rattling strong wind behind us, meant we had arrived by about 11a.m. 35Km in one hour and a half including some stops, not bad.

Refreshments; there was a little confusion between a Chocolate Brownie and Chocolate Cake, Jeff eventually getting the desired Chocolate Cake, Dave and Lawrence both going for big slabs of Walnut Cake while I settled for a Fruity Flap Jack.

It was decided that on the way back we had better fit in another Cafe, as from here on, we would be fighting the wind all the way back plus we had the 'Stathern Climb Long' to do. In total  approx 100m of ascent in the space of about 2Km, and most of that in the last kilometre up the ramp known as Mill Hill.

Lawrence had in the meantime been chatting to one of the volunteers, and not in English but their native Dutch, or some close dialect of same, both having lived within 1 mile of each other whilst in Holland, though not necessarily at the same time. (Somewhere near Delft I think, not to be confused with Delph near Rochdale).

A notice on one of the tables read something along the lines of, "Dove Cottage will be closing on the 30th March, fearing the worst we looked closer only to see someone had hand written in ball point next to it "for one day only". We agreed it would have been better if it had said "will be closed on..." , rather than ", closing" English lesson over, Jeff persuaded one of the customers to take the customary photo.

Jeff♀, Howard, Laurence & David at Dove Cottage

After completing with some effort the 'Stathern Climb Long' we continued along the top of the ridge from Eastwell to Scalford, occasionally getting blown across the road in the strong wind. Spying a left turn that would take us down off this windy ridge we headed into Melton Mowbray. The plan had been to turn left further on and then drop down into Asfordby, but confusion on my part and the enticing relief of going downhill and reducing the impact of the wind had taken over by this point.

Reaching Melton Mowbray we were now 50Km into our ride. Straight through the middle of town and out on the Asfordby Road we were soon passing the The Mountain Restaurant on Asfordby Hill, often referred to as the Alpine Ski Lodge. We were not stopping, our second cafe of the day was to be The Lake Cafe at Race Hub at its new venue in Frisby on the Wreake, once the home off Melton Mowbray Sailing Club.

At Race hub whilst waiting for coffee to arrive Jeff practised balancing a wooden spoon on her nose for want of something better to do. At the table next to ours happy birthday was being sung to one of their party and most of the people in the cafe joined in. Also noted on some mugs for sale was the

"Cyclists guide to running" this read as follows:
1. Put on running shoes  
2.  Stretch  
3. Take off running shoes  
4. Put on cycling shoes   
5. Go out for a ride.

Leaving Frisby I expressed a wish to turn right at Hoby and go through Ragdale over to Six Hills. However it was made plain to me that others on the ride didn't fancy the idea of more steep hills. Keeping this in mind eventually meant extending the ride by about another few miles or kilometres but having covered 60 odd K by the time we reached Hoby what would another 20 plus matter?

So it was Thrussington, Seagrave and Sileby, before crossing the River Soar to Mountsorrel and home to Loughborough on the old A6. It need hardly be said that 'personal bests' galore had been amassed on the outward leg, with probaby none on the return, I think we arrived back about 3 p.m., in the main because of the 2nd cafe stop, however I'm not sure I'd be here to recount the tale if we hadn't stopped. 

All in all we'd covered about 50 odd miles (83 Km) and 2165 feet (660m) of climbing, at an average pace of about 19+Km per hour 12mph, (probably about 15mph on the outward leg and less tha 10 on the return).
Now then, where can we get to next week?