Weekly Round-up: 16 Nov 2025
All the latest news, events, and results for NFCC Members from the previous week of two-wheeled adventures…
Gravel ‘n’ GroggEscaping into the darkness of the New Forest again this week, a group of four set out from Lyndhurst and made their way onto the moist trails of the “original” G’n’G route. The first half of the ride to rendezvous point two in Brockenhurst went without any issue again this week, despite many a race to see who could be crowned the biggest “gate-boy” by the end of the ride. Collecting a further three riders in Brock, the now group of seven seemed unable to restrict their pace through the second half of the route, catching a few riders off-guard on the longer gravelly drags through the trees. Following a full debrief and refreshment break at the Non-Descripts Club, the drama then ensued on the way out. A few hardy souls who chose to ride to/from the start point had to endure a torrential downpour all the way home. As if being wet – or as Phill J called it, “lovellyyyy” (in his finest Welsh accent) – wasn’t bad enough, Phill J managed to slip in the beer garden on the way out and land on a table, potentially cracking a rib in the process. All the while, he had been avoiding an oncoming rider from the eMTB group who was desperate to park his bike and return to assist one of his fellow riders who had slipped off while turning into the club, and might have ended his evening with a broken hip! Fortunately, despite being VERY wet, everyone else made it safely home in one piece! |
Saturday Club RideThe pleasant autumn weather was still holding for this week’s club ride. As a result there were still some riders still keen to show a bit of leg and their fading tans. A dozen riders made the start for the 107Km ride around the forest. Just as we were leaving Smithy returned to old habits and turned up on the dot of 0900. Before we reached Hatchet Pond, we decided it would be safer and more considerate to split into two groups so that was the format for the day. We then picked up Steve at Isley Cross as planned. Nothing to report on the first half of the ride apart from some great autumnal vistas and plenty of pig spotting. |
 We all met up at The Potting Shed for refreshments as planned. The aforementioned Smithy (OB) (order of the barrel) has been pilloried in this post many times before (with good reason). Today to was back to form with his tea order. We are all familiar with his exacting peccadilloes, whether ordering tea or coffee. His affectations are now getting worse and he’s turned into Little Lord Fauntleroy now insisting on bone china crockery and completing the look with an extended little finger. This is enough in a period of a group of riders showing exacting standards of bike preparation and sartorial elegance to be sufficient for the barrel this week. |
 We set off for the second half of the ride in the same two pelotons. The first group were delayed when Matt M suffered a puncture at Poulner. This took five riders to fix. Matt to deal with a replacement inner tube and four others to hold Matt K down to stop him showing his usual disloyalty and leaving one stricken group to join a passing group. Chapeau to those who managed to restrain him. The ride then started to shed riders close to home as usual and it was just three remaining for Second Coffee Club at The Absent Pony. Looks like it might be full on winter riding next week so we might now see those bare legs for a while.Thanks as ever to everyone for making another fun Saturday ride. – Barry. |
Sunday Club Ride13 riders ignored the slightly grim forecast of cold and wet conditions to brave this weeks Sunday club ride. In reality, despite a chilly start in Brock and rather bracing outward leg it wasn’t too bad. Praise be, Tomasz Schaffernacker and his chums at the Met got it wrong again. It stayed dry. Group one all swore blind at the start, as they usually do, that todays ride will be an easy pace and no one’s going to race up the hills and for once appear to have kept their oaths despite the late appearance into the group of short-hill monster Mr Biggs. Group two got to the half way mark averaging a modest 24 kph but as almost every metre of that had been into a headwind we knew the pace would liven up on the return leg. Once the dreaded Col de Piper’s Wait had been summited it was easy sailing all the way back to Brock with a particularly easy coast back along the old airfield on Ocknell Plain. We eventually averaged exactly 26kph, which rather satisfyingly, was the plan. |
 We bade farewell to a couple of riders on route to the cafe to meet up with group one who had been joined by Rich W. They seemed to be making the most of the breakfast menu. Interestingly, or not, regulars in group one always seem to consume more than group two at the cafe. Expert level Protein loading perhaps? Sitting down outside it became hard to ignore the damp and biting cold. One couldn’t help musing over one of the great mysteries of club rides. Why do we always sit outside? I don’t know, perhaps it’s one of the rules laid down by the velominati ( who no doubt live somewhere warm) in any case I am pretty sure that wrapping ourselves in Rosie Lea’s complimentary blankets would have gotten myself and Alan W a turn in the Saturday club rides barrel. Luckily I am a more forgiving soul, especially when handing out the pardon’s to myself.Great company as always. – Phil H. |
Off-camber XCWith no local cyclocross this weekend, a duo of the club’s elite off-roaders made their way to the Inside Park in Blanford for a cross-country MTB race hosted by OffCamber Cycles. The tight and twisty course had a new section added this year, making the loop/lap time longer than riders have previously experienced. Graham Sharman fitted specific mud tyres in the week, only for it to stop raining before the event, with no need for them on the well-draining mud-free course. Graham had an excellent race, clinching 9th place in his age group, and 17th place overall – just 0.3 seconds ahead of 18th place! As he ages less gracefully than he’d like, Jay “Fenton” Tarrant took his wife’s eMTB out for a spin this weekend, resting his weary little legs. Jay managed to holeshot the start before settling into a comfortable rhythm – he almost felt guilty lapping analogue bike riders who were on the same course, but soon remembered he had a heart of stone. All was going well until showboating and big on one of the jumps on the final lap, where he landed heavily and punctured! Using his finest cyclocross skills, he had no choice but to run the last quarter of the lap to get to the finish to make it count. In true Fenton fashion, of never doing things by half, he only managed to finish a mere 11 minutes 15 seconds ahead of second place… |
Get Involved:If you find yourself out and about representing NFCC, don’t forget to jot down a few words, snap a few photos and send them over to press@newforestcc.co.uk. |
