Wednesday 3rd January 2024

A cool morning with the possibility of showers saw a somewhat reduced turnout for the start of the year with two groups setting out.

Shortest Ride to Rothley Station

Report by John

John had proposed a short ride to Ellis's Tea Room at Rothley Station and was joined by Andrew, Myles, Marcus, Dennis, John N. and Ian. The riders headed south with the intention going through Quorn and then climbing out of the Soar Valley past the Quarry. However, just outside Rawlins they were flagged down by Neil Parr who advised them that the road in the centre of the village was under two feet or water.

The riders reversed course and headed west through Woodhouse and then along Brand Lane before taking the climb up to Roecliffe.

John N. leads Ian, Dennis, Myles and Andrew up Brand Lane

From there it was largely a swift descent to Cropston Reservoir where the riders stopped to look at the reservoir overflow that was in full spate.

Andrew, Marcus, Dennis and Myles with Cropston Reservoir Overflow in the background.

The Tea Room was suffering from a staff shortage but they managed to serve the group although the drinks came in paper cups rather than the usual china.

Andrew, Myles, Marcus, Dennis, John N. and Ian at Ellis' Tea Room

The riders returned via Swithland and Woodhouse arriving back in Loughborough around 12.30pm.

Short Ride to Snibston

Report by David

During the 24 hours before the ride, there was a lot of information and pictures about flooding in the Charnwood Borough: I have never seen it so flooded!

This 10 o’clock ride was over the hills to Coalville, and was largely dry with a light wind that seemed to help us on the A512 out of Loughborough.

David led the ride, accompanied by Rob Seager, Mick, Keith, Phil, Brian and Trisha. As we emerged onto Forest Road, we were immediately confronted with road works and a white van steaming through the traffic lights on red, so we retracted into the safety of Holt Drive. It looked like there was a route through on the opposite pavement; but then a large grab descended onto it and we all chose the relative safety of the main road. Further relief was found in Ashley Drive for a habitual route through the university. Part of this was coned off for tree felling – there has been a lot of that recently, often involuntary due to strong gusts of wind or, as Rob Smith reported from India, where a large branch was chucked spear-like from a palm tree onto the road below. Perhaps that explains the shortage of white van men in India.

After following the University Road onto Oakwood Drive, we cut though onto the A512. We crossed at the traffic lights near Old Ashby Road and crossed the M1 roundabout. In Shepshed, we went right onto Leicester Road using the path at first, then crossing by the roundabout with Fairway Road. Our route then went left along Cambridge Road, Oxford Road and Anson Road. After turning left onto Tickow Lane, I did wonder whether the preponderance of potholes would have made the new Buttercup Lane a better option.

We emerged again onto the A512 and crossed the Black Brook, which wasn’t really visible from the main road, and continued uphill to the turning for Swannymote Road. This is a very straight road, with hills, including one that seems to get ever steeper until Cademan Wood. After turning right, the Loughborough Road passes the Man Within Compass. We immediately turned left down Cademan Road. Next to a garage, there is a cycle track that leads down to Grace Dieu Brook. Even here, the water was running gently and we followed a man with a dog up the footpath to Market Place, Whitwick. We crossed to Church Lane, where cars parked on both sides of the road made a bottleneck. In New Swannington, we took Thornborough Road and came to the roundabout with the A511, where KFC and MacDonald’s were on offer.

But we were hoping for better and carried on into the sun and through the darkness under the old railway bridge to the centre of Coalville where we waited by a red traffic light to turn right. The car in front of us took off like Max Verstappen, and made me wonder how long this phase of lights would give us. We were soon on our way to Grounds, the Snibston Colliery Park café. It was cheerful service whether one had cake or Pigs in Blankets unwrapped then wrapped in doorstop bread. The sun came out, and simultaneously a shower of rain fell.

Brian, Rob, Tricia, Mike, Keith, Phil and David at the Grounds in Coalville.

It was a time for the type of chat we had mostly missed over the past few weeks: we reminisced about last summer’s annual outing and Mick was sporting the biathlon trophy he won at the Christmas lunch over his new kit. Nobody was rushing to see what hilly route back home was in store. Other cyclists from Nottingham had joined us. The rain had stopped. When the time came to leave, there was the possibility of joining youngsters on the pump track, but nobody was feeling foolhardy.

We returned along the main road through Coalville, although the leader belatedly considered joining a quieter parallel track by turning into Kinghorn Close when we were held up by a traffic light. He had not appreciated that this was a ‘close’, so we all had to return to the main road. We continued to Broom Leys Road, and were joined in the cycle lane by a car rocking back and forth at the traffic lights. I presume this was not ‘Max’ again, because the driver was not so fast away as the previous one in Coalville.

The increasing gradient, although steeper and less prolonged than Swannymote, was no problem for any rider, and we enjoyed the downhill on Abbey Road. Keith and Phil left us at the junction for Oaks in Charnwood and a large lorry made the turn for the rest of us more complicated.

We continued up Charley Road to Beacon Road, then over the summit for the log ride (no, long ride) down to Quorn. At Beaumanor, we stopped briefly to check who was going where, and everyone continued at least as far as the Quorn crossroads. As we waited at the traffic lights, a couple of dogs in an adjacent car embarrassed their owners by engaging in doggy patter with us.

The return trip to Holt Drive covered 22.7 miles with an elevation gain of 1611 feet. Our average moving speed was 10.1 mph, and most of us should have been back by 1:15 pm.