Weekly Round-up: 1 Nov 2026 - New Forest Cycling Club

Weekly Round-up: 1 Nov 2026

2nd November 2026 Latest news

All the latest news, events, and results for NFCC Members from the previous week of two-wheeled adventures…

Saturday Club Ride After last weekend’s storms temporarily saved us from ourselves, normal service resumed with a modest 105 km around the forest, without too many hills. “Modest” being the word club cyclists use when they want an unreasonable proposition to sound like a quick trip to the shops. Axum arrived at 09:00 precisely, bringing military punctuality to a club whose departure policy is “if you’re on time, you’re late”. Presumably his platoon training exercises go something like this: “Team, synchronise your watches.” “Yes, sir. What time does the exercise start?” “Oh, about nine-ish.”
Thirteen riders assembled, including a couple who had interpreted the mudguards request as an optional consultation document. Names were duly noted: the club ride may struggle with departure times, but petty bureaucracy remains a core strength. With no obvious group one, we agreed on two groups, neither officially fast. This reassuring fiction survived until somebody had to join the first one. Suddenly, everyone became a 1990s shoegazer, inspecting their footwear as though the answer might be printed on a BOA. We eventually produced groups of five and eight. Basic arithmetic had been invited but, like the mudguards, had chosen not to attend.
The plan was to meet at the café, then form a single peloton once three riders had made their scheduled escapes. All had legitimate excuses, an irritating technicality. Phill B was racing the next day. St Phil was going camping in November, because being cold and damp on a bicycle apparently left too many comfortable hours in the day. Luke had Halloween commitments as a Ming the Merciless lookalike. Seasonal work is seasonal work, hence the beard that Bus Pass Graham is prepping for December. Keeping the Halloween theme alive, Matt M supplied an alternative to the GPX file. Nursing a cold, he marked the route with luminous green snot rockets for the second group to follow. Less “breadcrumb trail”, more “public-health incident”. The navigation industry can probably relax: material supply was excellent, but the user experience left something to be desired.
Against the considerable weight of club precedent, the plan worked. Both groups reached The Potting Shed, where Coffee Shop Richard was in his customary position, saving everyone the trouble of wondering whether anything in this world was dependable. The opening 72 km prompted complaints about the distance between breakfast and cake. Quite right, too: nothing undermines a perfectly good cycling club like being expected to cycle. Perhaps next week we could ignore the planned route and go straight to the nearest café? Planning an extension to the ride, Axum ordered scrambled eggs and a large slice of apple cake, reserving the cake until after the eggs. A perfectly ordinary sequence of events, unless you happen to be sitting near Neil the Buffet Slayer. Having demolished his own provisions, Neil watched the unattended slice with the professional interest of a lion spotting a limping wildebeest. Unfortunately, this was Axum, not Adrian. There would be no leftovers, no redistribution and absolutely no humanitarian cake corridor.
The barrel remains open for business, because a club without trivial grievances is just a collection of people enjoying themselves. Colin supplied this week’s fashion exhibit with a colour scheme best described as “Bertie Bassett chic”. His 2025 outfit had set a formidable benchmark, but apparently that was merely the warning shot. We await the winter collection with interest. An unusually long spell without mechanical trouble had left the report dangerously short of material. Phil H kindly addressed that by slipping his chain at Wilverley on the home leg. Unfortunately for the prosecution, he had fitted winter tyres and mudguards, so the banishment to the barrel had to be waived.
Sean and Phil J peeled off at Wootton Bridge, signalling their usual diversion to The Rising Sun. Sean would adopt Mrs Doyle mode, while Phil would reluctantly take one for the team, then presumably another in case the first had failed to register. Sean had announced he was giving up beer for November. An admirable declaration, although treating October’s final afternoon as an opportunity to build a buffer to see him thought November did rather take the shine off the sacrifice. The riding itself? Rather good, actually. Sorry to bury that beneath the important business of mudguard enforcement, cake surveillance and crimes against colour. Thanks, all, for the riding and company. Another excellent day out, despite our collective determination to make a straightforward bike ride require a repository for petty grievances. – Barry.
Sunday Club Ride After a spring and summer that most won’t forget, Sunday morning really had the feel of the first real winter club ride of the year. It was cold, dry but with a bracing wind. I had been held up on the ride down so didn’t have either the time or composure to do a head count. Let’s say there were about 18 at the start and three pretty even groups set off in one minute intervals. Most had respected the edict for mudguards although they were pretty redundant on almost completely dry roads.
Group three is leaning happily into winter pace mode, good to have group three regulars Jane and John B back and new club member Eric S. Groups one and two still appear to be ‘pushing the summer’ with a lively pace. Dan S took some punishment for coasting in the pack across Hatchett pond into a headwind at, needing to take a comfort break the others did what all right minded folk would do in the circumstances and gently put the hammer down.
Some of Group one chose to give it some beans on the back of Bolderwood where Dan S, James A and James W all posted the days fastest times. Dan clearly hadn’t burned too many matches catching the pack as he posted the fastest time of the day. Meanwhile, thoughts and prayers for Rich W who in a state of baby inspired sleep deprivation and little riding shot out of the gates like a man possessed then held on like grim death to the group. By the time he reached the final straight back to Brock he had developed the kind of thousand yard stare normally reserved for Vietnam vets and people who are forced to endure Halloween themed parties. Group two also set a decent pace, even without stalwart Stuart W who is due to go under the knife any day now. Good luck Stuart. – Phil H.
Wessex CX Rd. 7: Kingsclere Despite having raced there in previous years, the course at Kingsclere was a total mystery to everyone in attendance this week, as you couldn’t see from one side to the other thanks to dense fog. The hillside course on the egde of the North Downs drains well, and despite all the recent rain, the cyclocross die-hards were disappointed once again with no sign of any mud. Four riders in the Open Race, and just Emma Shepherd in the Women’s race this week.
The Open Race starts just before midday and the heavy fog had no intention of shifting, so the race got underway in the gloom. Cheering every on the line up, Joe Shepherd as proudly wearing his birthday badge and sash, celebrating the start of his 29th lap around the sun. Not long after the whistle the course hits a long draggy uphill where even on lap one the race started to fracture into small pieces. Battles ensured in the various groups around the course, with off-camber transitions, tight slippy corners, and flowing fast lines punctuated with logs and hurdles to hop (…if you’re brave enough!). NFCC riders were evenly spread throughout the 74 rider race which includes the junior, under-23, senior & V40 categoris, with Howard Jarrett 69th, Jack Donaldson 61st, Joe Shepherd 49th and Phill Brown 7th. When the age-categories are sifted out, this left Jarrett just behind Donaldson in 18th and 19th, with Shepherd 14th, and Brown on the podium again in 3rd.
Big Kudos has to go to Emma Shepherd this week for welcoming the boys over the line with freshly-baked celebratory birthday cake shared everyone who could manage to wrestle a slice away from Joe! Later in the day when Emma’s race came around, the course had worn in nicely in some parts, but others had became incredibly slippery. Skill and strength kept Shepherd upright, and her experience meant she successfully navigated the whole course without dismounting like a number of the other riders in her race. Fifth in the overall race and 4th place in the U23, Senior & Masters Women – just one sneaky junior getting ahead of her, chapeau!
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.