Short Ride Report by John On a rather dull and chilly morning just John, Eric, Rosalind, Mick and John remained at Holt Drive after the two larger groups had left on longer ridws. It was decided to head north aiming for the Community Shop at Normanton on Soar After John had phoned Ray to let him know where we were going, the group headed off trhrough the Universitym over Garendon Park and arriving in Long Whatton, agreed to take the longer route up Kegworth Lane From Kegworth they headed for Kingston on Soar and then decided to take head further north and take a route south via West Leake. However this was not to be as Rosalind suddenly found that her ride was no longer smooth. The outer skin on her tyre was ballooning and it was decided that this dictated the direct route south to Normanton and home. Refreshments were taken outside the shop at Normanton, where they were joined by Ray. The riders were made very welcome as we hadn't visited since December.  The final leg was ...

Shortish Ride Report by Graham A cool start to the day, but a good forecast brought swathes of riders to Holt square, with all two other rides leaving before ours as we faffed and chatted about our route to Castle Donington. Once under way, our party of 6: Pat, Vic, Eric, Marcus, Brian and myself had only gone through one junction when we found ourselves mixed up with Howard's ride, who’d left before us but via a wizardly devious route. We played leap frog with them all the way through Hathern, although they overtook us by pretending to be proper roadies, taking the main A6 whilst we took the scenic path through Hathern village. We’d almost caught them by Long Whatton, but they headed north towards Keg’orth while we continued through Diseworth, then through the airport, with its lovely industrial scenery and country smells of kerosene. Still, it beats the main road, and we skirted the west of airport before dropping down into Castle Donington and our stop at Tylers cafe...

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 Gibso...

Short ride via Zouch and Beacon Hill on 6th April 2022 Report by David There were few people at Holt Dive prepared to chance the April showers and gusty wind. David led a ride of 22 miles, accompanied by Vic, Trisha, Andrew, Lee and Betty. The centre of Loughborough was unusually quiet as we sailed through green traffic lights for most of the way to Meadow Lane. Then we started to get held up, and Betty’s brakes were binding. After a brief stop near the railway bridge just before Stanford on Soar, we managed to free Betty’s brakes and continue through the village to Fox Hill. As we turned the corner at the bottom the hill, we came to face the wind head on; so were relieved when we got to the shelter of Normanton on Soar village. When we reached the junction with the A6006, Betty was able to pop home briefly to fetch her helmet. This gave us chance for a brief chat.  Then David led down the A6006 path to Zouch, and we went onto the road when the path ran out. Some of ...

Short Ride Report, by Brian. A shortened short ride. A ride was proposed to East Leake with the proviso that we could hurtle back to Loughborough should the expected rain come early. Once the roles had been sorted out, Tricia (leader), Marcus (deputy), Mick (raconteur) and me, Brian (scribe), we set off down Epinal Way to Hathern. Marcus expertly lead us through the back streets of Hathern, affectionately known as Howard's Way' and on to Zouch,  Sutton Bonington, West Leake and coffee stop at East Leake .  Coffee, cakes and a bacon bagel were excellent at the cafe opposite Chef's cafe on Gotham Road (nobody could remember it's name("Bryer's", Brian)). Spots of rain were spotted so a change of route took us back to Loughborough via Stanford. Arrived home at 11.45 after 19 miles and no rain. Result!

Longish Ride Report by Alan Not that anyone cares that much, but I did have to drag myself out of bed this morning, suffering from the lurgy (not Covid) to make it to Holt Drive. I mentioned all my symptoms to Marcus on Monday but as he keeps on reminding us, he has retired and is therefore unable to offer any advice on medical matters. A deep sense of loyalty to John Catt and the promise of the warmest day of the year spurned me on. I was rewarded with 8 fine athletes joining me to Hill Top Farm: Rob 1, Rob 2, Mick, Vic, Marcus, David and the two wimmin Trish and Margaret. On leaving Holt Drive the first mini crisis occurred on the Forest Road where Terry’s group had stopped (presumably for a rest). As a consequence both groups intermingled all the way through town, stopping at N traffic lights where N is a very large number. Safely separated, “Group Alan” proceeded on to Burton on the Wolds via Barrow Road and from there to Wymeswold. The first slope of the day came at Narrow ...

Short Ride Report by Keith The threatened rain seemed to have reduced numbers at Holt Drive, so this group set off with just six on a hilly trajectory out to Belton and Thringstone, then across Charnwood. Keith led, with Tricia, Bryan, Brian, Philip and Rob S. Through the University and then following Cycle Route 6 along the Garendon trail to Shepshed. Bryan and Phillip decided to challenge their Strava section times between there and Belton, whilst the rest of us used our breathe for a good chat! Bryan left us here to visit some friends towards Melbourne, so we headed to Osgathorpe then to the Ashby Road at Thringstone, where we started the long haul up to Mt St Bernard’s Abbey. Here we passed John Catt and Ariadne going the other way! St Joseph’s tea room proved to be shut, one of the folk there explained that they had been hit by Covid and had to close. So it was off to Bawdon Lodge for our refreshments, with still no rain, just a misty dampness. The warm café revived us, th...

Long Ride Report by Alan With Carol, the BBC weather woman, promising a rise in temperatures from the beginning of this week, Holt Drive saw a good turnout from 9.15am onwards. Trish, Mick, Brian, Phil, Dave and Bryan opted to accompany me to the Pip Tree Cafe at Collyer’s Nurseries outside Borrowash. With a strong following wind the group made light work of passing through Stanford on Soar, Normanton, Sutton Bonington and Kingston on Soar. Just outside of Kegworth we turned right into Long Lane, skipped past a huge pile of fly tipping to emerge at Sawley Marina. The coffee stop was about 4 miles from here with ample outside space to rearrange the furniture and settle down in the sunshine. The service was prompt, (apart from Trish’s toasted tea cake) and it wasn’t too long before the conversation turned to how much prices were going up in these cafes. The Russians, Brexit, Covid have much to answer for. To reinforce this point, on the journey home I saw diesel priced at 177.9p a...