Group rides and club runs

  • NVCC Sunday club runs

  • club run cb watercolour

Sunday group rides

Newbury Velo organises weekly club runs at 08:30am, leaving from the Clocktower at the north end of Northbrook Street in the centre of Newbury (Google Maps). You are welcome to try a few rides with us before joining the club.

There will be road rides for all abilities; 12-13 mph rides of 1.5 hours and 2-3 hour rides of 15-16mph and 17-18mph. All rides will be non-drop. Following demand we also have a 20+mph training ride* - whilst this is a friendly ride, please be aware that this ride is more of a "training ride" and is at a fast pace and is suited for those with an advanced level of group riding experience.

We have five rides going out from the Clocktower at 08:30am, with speeds suited to all! We'll be finishing up all rides at Mrs B's cafe on Faraday Road. Rather aptly for cycling, our rides have a coffee theme:

  • Mochaccino (beginners 12/13mph) 1.5 hours (approx)
  • Latte (14/15mph) 2-2.5 hours (approx)
  • Cappuccino (15/16mph) 3 hours (approx)
  • Machiatto (17/18mph) 3 hours (approx)
  • Espresso* (20mph+) 2.5 hours (approx)
  • Dirty Chai (off road) 2-3 hours (approx)

Which coffee type are you?

As we become more established we will be starting MTB and/or gravel rides, departing at the same time.

Weekday daytime

We know that in the modern working environment, many people do not work a strict 9-5 day anymore (or have the luxury of flexitime - or are enjoying retirement). We will therefore be running daytime rides on Tuesdays and Fridays:

  • On Tuesdays, there will be a 45 mile ride at 16-16.5mph leaving from the Starting Gate, Speen at 09:15am. These rides will commence on 7 January.
  • On Fridays, there will be a beginners/improvers ride, again leaving from the Starting Gate at 09:15. These rides will commence on 10 January. This will start with a 25 mile ride and gradually build the mileage over a period of 6 to 8 weeks to 45 miles.

Both the Tuesday and Friday rides will initially be run by Irwin Fairclough, although we will be looking to build our list of riders who are willing to help with these rides, so please let us know if you'd like to have a go at leading (we anticipate these rides to be fairly small to start with).

Weekday evenings

Thursday night rides will meet at the Clocktower every week once the clocks change. Further details will be outlined nearer the time.

For those wanting to test themselves, there will be two chain gang groups with the faster of the two groups setting off 5-10 minutes after the slower group, in a pursuit.

For those who would prefer a more social ride there will be a led ride at a more sedate pace.

Events and one-off rides

We would also love to see the Newbury Velo shirt being represented at local sportives and Audaxes (or further afield!). To name a few locally there is the White Horse Challenge, the Wiggle Magnificat, the Kennet Valley Run and the Harlequin Hack.

We will also organise at least one 100 mile club ride during the summer; date to be confirmed.

Club ride leaders

In order to successfully run these rides, we will need a pool of volunteers who are willing to lead groups. A rota will be drawn up for each of the different rides. If you would be interested in leading rides then please get in touch with myself, Craig Gardner (info@newburyvelo.cc).

Saturday rides

The rides mentioned above are all the club-organised rides. On Saturdays there is the Banjo shop ride leaving at 8am, with a post-ride coffee back at the shop.

We'll also be issuing guidance for club runs in the near future, so watch this space!

Spond

Newbury Velo uses Spond to manage its group rides and sign-ups. If you are a member and want to take part in the rides, please follow the instructions below to sign up to Spond:

  1. Download the Spond app from either the iPhone Appstore or the Google Play store*.
  2. To join the Newbury Velo group, click on this link (https://group.spond.com/UZHIC). Alternatively, search for "Newbury Velo" on the app, and request to join. If you're asked at any stage of the process to enter a code to join a group, the code is UZHIC.
  3. Enter your details on the app. You can choose to keep your contact details confidential (only available to ride lead organisers) if you prefer. Note that some fields such as next of kin and medical details will not be made public by default.
  4. You're done! Each week, you'll receive an invite to the group activities for that week, and you just need to go in and accept that invite. You can even chat to people within that "event" about any details you want to (are other riders planning to go out dressed as flamingos that week, for example).
  5. By default, you'll receive invites to all club events. If you find, after time, you're not interested in a particular activity (e.g. timetrialling - but we hope that's not the case!) then we can just remove you from receiving updates on that category.

* Don't worry. If you don't have a smartphone, you can log into Spond on the internet at http://www.spond.com