Wednesday 28th August 2024

Short Ride

Report by John

The short ride proved popular this week and John was joined by Dom, Rob, Myles, Elaine, Dave, David P., Derek, Tricia and David G. on a ride to the Flying Goose Coffee Shop at Six Hills.

The riders exited Loughborough via Shelthorpe and headed for Barrow before climbing up to the Salt Way and heading east for Six Hills.

David leading Elaine, Derek and Myles

The day being a little cool, the group remained inside at the Flying Goose and was joined, shortly before departure, by Eric.

Dom, Rob, Myles, Elaine, John, Dave, David P., Derek, Tricia and David G. at the Flying Goose Coffee Shop, Six Hills.

As good time had been made on the ride out, the riders opted for a longer return leg, heading south through Ragdale before turning south-west through Hoby and Thussington along the Wreake Valley. After climbing from Ratcliffe the riders descended into the Soar Valley and headed north through Sileby and Mountsorrel, arriving back in Loughborough at 12.30pm.

Medium Ride

Report by Jeff♀ (felt like the long ride)

At Holt Drive, Vic was offering to lead a ride to "Buttercups or Twyford". In terms of hills, he offered "there are no hills in Leicestershire". Expecting a length of 35-40 miles, and an unknown amount of hills, we set off as a group of eight - Vic, myself, Betty, Stuart, Rob, Caroline, John???, and Andy????. Apologies here if I've got some of the names wrong.

Once out of town, we pulled over to discuss which of the two cafes we'd go to. I don't recall anyone caring either way, so Vic decided we'd go up to the "welcome cafe", aka "the one that's on top of a hill. Oh, but there's no hills." Here we go... 🙄

Quorn, Mountsorrel, across to Sileby, down to Cossington.
Although there was a large group, the pace was fast and I had to put in effort to keep up. All work and no cycling makes Jeff a dull girl. Says Vic. As I took 2 minutes longer than everyone else to make it to the top of a tough ascent, Humble Lane, (totally not a hill)! Rob offered me some juice which I gratefully accepted as I'd forgotten my water bottle.

Chitter chatter as we continued, including Stuart apologising for not writing the ride report last week (or this week apparently) ;P

Cossington, Rearsby...
Unfortunately, Rob had to take an important phone call shortly after we crossed the A607. He asked us to go on without him, but he kindly gave me his water bottle, just in case there was much more ascent. Foreshadowing!!
A bit further on, at Gaddesby, we stopped for a minute, just in case he'd decided to try and catch us up. No sign of him. "Do we want to take a nice route?" Asked Vic. Mixed reception, based on the possibility of more elevation, and Vic's claim that it's more fun in the other direction anyway. I guess it was meant to be off road.

 We carried on on the tarmac without Rob, only his Juice to remember him by. Up, up, to Ashby Folville. "See that valley?" Yes, I saw the massive valley ahead. Whee, all the way down to Twyford! (Turn right in Twyford.) And, argh, all the way up and up and up the other side.

The cafe signs kept taunting me up the hill. Cafe this way! Cafe up the hill! Cafe next right! Cafe 200ft! How far is 200ft?! Must be 2 foot to the mile. Well, finally, I cut across to the cafe as everyone else was locking their bikes, and Vic was waiting to congratulate me and tell me I could even have 2 slices of cake if I fancied.
We sat outside at the cafe. Everyone had cake, even the resident athlete who initially just bought a coffee was seduced into it. It was a delicious cake, I only had one slice. See how good I am.

Jeff♀, John, Stuart, Betty, Caroline, Vic and Andy? at the Welcome Cafe, Twyford.

Then it started raining on us even though we were only half done, so we ran inside and finished up at a cute little table.
"They've insulated the place."
"It used to be freezing in winter."
LWC awaits reports on the temperature of Welcome Cafe in the 2024-2025 winter season.

Cakes scoffed and coffees quaffed, we set off as the rain'd become soft. Hehe.

I thought the cafe was on top of the hill, but apparently there was a bit further up to go. Then, we went down through some farm track, zipping past the sheep, dududududu'ing over the cattle grids. Avoiding the original planned route, which would have had us going over the cattle grids at a dangerous angle and potentially dangerous speed, especially given the recent shower.

Resident athlete (Andy?) had places to be, so went ahead of us only minutes after the cafe.

Past Hungarton, Beeby, Barkby. Through Watermead. That's when people started splitting off, and from there the crowd thinned a lot. My route home went Cossington, Sileby, Barrow, Quorn.

It may sound like there were a lot of hills, but they were all on the way out. Overall the elevation was only 2/3 of a percent. I struggled personally because I've been out of the saddle more or less for a couple of months, but I'm back at it now. I appreciate the challenge, and the Wednesday cyclists who always wait for the last person.