Weekly Round-up: 1 June 2025
All the latest news, events, and results from NFCC Members from this week’s two-wheeled adventures…
Ten Series Rd.4 – P163Round four of the NFCC Ten Series was cancelled due to adverse weather conditions. |
RCR Goodwood Summer Series Rd.3Back at Goodwood, despite the weather conditions for round three of the Goodwood Summer Series, for Phill Brown again this week. Driving rain and brutal cross winds made a difficult race even harder for Brown, who ended up on the wrong side of a split in the bunch. Forming a 5-man group, the chase was on for Brown, but despite the little group working exceptionally well together, the quintet never made it back to the main bunch, and for the second week in a row, Phill crossed the line in 15th place. |
Thursday Evening Chain GangA small team assembled at St Saviour’s Church in Brock for the usual Thursday Night Chain Gang training session. Starting off with a pace that would only inevitably grow, the group worked reasonably well together, with just a few small moments when the lines became a little disrupted, but made their way to Burley in one fine piece. After the long drag from Burley back to Wilverley, the inevitable happened with Phil H slipping off the back and Phill B sitting up to keep him company. The race back to Brock was accelerated thanks to a helpful tailwind, and when regrouping at the end, it was obvious that Phil H’s troubles were… His saddle had decided to send him downhill! |
Saturday Club RideA near-perfect weather forecast drew 15 to the start line for this week’s Saturday club ride. Nice to see Ben T’s new Bianchi steed in the flesh, sparking some philosophical debate about the true meaning of ‘Celeste’. Unusually, it was group one that started with the highest number of riders this week, and with the scent of suncream in the air, a ten-to-five rider split meant two groups made their way east to Beaulieu before heading due north and out of the forest. The initial 30km on this route is pretty flat, so Phil H was happy to take the lead in group 1, but then it really starts to kick up, and it was then that he started to rue that rookie mistake. |
 Group one has become pretty pacy of late, partly due to a demographic change in its make-up, a number of younger riders have joined, leaving old timers like Rob (the machine) S, Joe O and Phil H feeling nostalgic for the auld days when every ride was exactly 28.4 kph. The next hilly 40km or so to coffee proved somewhat testing. Group two took full advantage of Phill B’s presence and stuck him on the front for the whole of the ride – which explains why even group two made it to the cafe with a 29km/h average (nothing to do with the wind, honest Guv). |
| Reaching the cafe at Broughton, we settled down for some well-earned vittles before saddling up and heading off for the second half. Before group two departed, a momentary pause to investigate skipping gears on Phil J’s summer special bike revealed his freewheel had unscrewed itself, resulting in the cassette being able to freely move side-to-side – many congratulations on swerving the barrel this week despite your lack of promised maintenance. |
 Going on the return leg was fractionally easier despite what felt like a tailwind on the way out. Matt K (who else) did manage to get a puncture, which coated Phil H from head-to-toe in sealant, but it more or less sealed before Matt dropped off to perform a more effective repair. After a bit of Chaingang across Ocknell plain for group one, Joe, Michael, Robert, and Ben split off, leaving just Will G, Jack P and Phil H to draft unapologetically on James N’s wheel back into Brock for cafe stop number two. Adrian F in group two mentioned something about an ice-cream van at Stoney Cross, and without a second thought, the group ditched the right turn into the wind and chose sunshine and ice-cream instead. |
 Despite not evening being present this week, our gracious Saturday Leader earned a well deserved place in – or under – the barrel this week… for a man who’s NHS record includes 26 fractures and 8 concussions, reporting their absence due to “a box falling on my head” causing concussion number nine feels the the lamest of excuses… we hope to have you back soon. This was Jack’s first ride over 100K, so he acquitted himself very well, just starting to feel it over the final few K. Cracking ride with at least Will G, Robert S and Chris F rounding it up to a magic imperial century. |
Sunday Club RideAnother beautiful day in the forest and another great turnout for this week’s Sunday club ride. 15 or 16 made it to the start, and we picked up Aleks on route. Two groups set off, with the first 15K speeding by in no time due to a helpful tailwind. Even group two was averaging 30kph at this point. We were inevitably to pay the consequence for this later in the ride, but in truth, the feared headwind only came into play on the return leg from Hatchett Pond to Brock. At this point, Bill M suddenly surged to the front to take the brunt of the wind before disappearing from both the front and the ride. Never seen again. |
 It was one of those rides when all felt right with the world. Good company, weather and well-behaved motorists (for group two anyway) and covering the route at pace without much effort. All things come to an end however, as if you want to make the cafe, all routes from the East finish with a climb of the short but vicious Church Hill. I thought I was going well up there this week, but was caught and easily passed by Peter N and Andrew B, who had clearly been inspired by Yates’s Giro heroics the day before. A very busy cafe coped heroically with both our orders and one rider’s colourful clothing combination.– Phil H. |
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. |
