Weekly Round-up: 12 June 2022
With the sun (mostly) shining over the forest this week, NFCC Members have been more active than usual. Not only have a number of race victories been made in red and green, but course records have been broken, personal achievements been ticked off, and more importantly, it seems great fun has been had by one and all.
Heavy Metal Truants Charity RideAs reported previously, the two NFCC Members have now both completed their distance goals for the Heavy Metal Truants Charity Ride in aid of Teenage Cancer Trust, Childline, Nordoff Robbins and Save the Children. Edd covered an obscene 1071km/666miles and Julie a whopping 283km/175miles. If you didn’t get chance to donate to support their efforts, CLICK HERE |
Tuesday Night Time TrialIt was a record breaking evening for Tuesday’s Time Trial with Club Member Paul Lockyer breaking his own five year old P164/15 Club Member course record. With an NFCC 1,2,3, on the podium too, read all about it, see the results and browse the photos by CLICKING HERE |
FWCC Summer CX: Rd.1Round 1 of the FWCC Summer CX at the New Forest Outdoor Centre was described by some as a ‘grass crit’ fast, grippy, and a bit bumpy. NFCC were represented in the women’s race by Emma Shepherd and Catherine Pascoe and they put on an exhibition, finishing 1st and 2nd on course and 1st in their respective categories. |
Thursday Night Chain GangA solid team of four met this week for the Thursday Night Chain Gang. Still unable to use the traditional course due to road closures, the Roundhills to Hatchett Pond course was in full swing once again. |
Moreton Race Series – Rd.3Phill Brown and Matt Todd escaped the forest once again on Thursday evening for round three of the Moreton Series hosted by Bournemouth Cycleworks. The handicapped race had an additional group this week meaning the ‘scratch’ riders had an almost a full lap to catch the leaders on the road. The determined group of nine worked well together and passed all the groups up the road, picking up the stronger riders on the way through, including Matt Todd who started with the intermediate group, for a bunch sprint at the line. Brown got stuck in and crossed the line eight with Todd being squeezed to 14th in the final push. |
Saturday Club Ride – NFCC Tour of the AirfieldsA big thank you to all that supported the NFCC Tour of the Airfields this weekend. 17 riders turning up for a century ride as well as a lot of other Club Riders racing and doing other challenges this weekend was a great turnout for the club. Thanks to those that donated to Julie’s collection for Teenage Cancer Trust, Childline, Nordoff Robbins and Save the Children. |
Hardest Hundred SportiveSaturday saw a big challenge taken on by Club Members Joe Shepherd and Ben Tsabet who both rode the ‘Hardest Hundred’ Leith Hill – Brighton – Leith Hill sportive. 180km with 2,500m of elevation is a tough day out however you look at it. The course took in Ditchling Beacon, Devil’s Dyke, Barhatch lane (with 160km in the legs) and two of the ‘easier’ ascents of Leith Hill itself. Both riders came home with excellent times on the segments along the way. |
TrashMile SummerSlamLondon based cycling club TrashMile hosted their first criterium racing event at the Lee Vally Velo Park in the shadow of the 2012 Olympic Velodrome on Saturday Afternoon. Phill Brown made the journey up the the big smoke to take part and got properly stuck in to racing with some tough “London Boys”. |
Sotonia Summer CriteriumSunday saw the best NFCC turnout at a criterum for decades at the Sotonia Summer Criterium (laps around a park’n’ride car park for the uninitiated). Ben George, Joe Shepherd, Jonathan Chadwick, Emma Shepherd, Charlie Hill and Phill Brown made it 6 New Forest riders on the start lines of the different races. Chris Sanders was also on the sidelines cheering on his teammates and getting himself prepared to be back racing soon. |
 The 4th category race was skilfully and tactically controlled by NFCC Members Joe Shepherd and Ben George with Jonathan Chadwick taking part for the first time. As usual with a Cat4 race, it was full gas from the whistle with a rider from Southampton University CC hitting warp speed into the first corner. The boys in red and green caught him and soon had everything under control ready to make their own attacks. Sadly, none of the breaks were allowed to stick but Ben saw his chance on the final lap to put in a huge effort on the back straight and found some distance between himself and the peloton. Only millimetres from coming undone in the final corner, Ben somehow managed to stay upright and pushed hard to the line to take the win. Joe pushed on in the sprint and after a big day out on the bike on Saturday, still snatched 4th place. Jonathan pressed on hard in the race but once a bit of space was between him an the main pack, it was too difficult for him to close down and pulled out to avoid interfering with the final sprint. |
 The 2/3rd category race saw Charlie and Phill take on some very quick riders and after 45 minutes of taking it in turns to chase back on to the main group, Phill finished 8th overall and 3rd in his category. Charlie took a pummelling at the hands of his team mate after toiling to get back onto the slowing pack. Phill dropped a watt bomb mid race and spent the next few laps off the front by himself, putting all of Charlie’s hard work to waste, which made great entertainment for the New Forest fans on the sidelines cheering them on. Charlie collected the last point of the top 10 by managing to outsprint the riders around him in the uphill drag to the line. |
| Big thanks to our friends at Sotonia and their team from Omega Racing for such a wonderful event and for being so welcoming to the NFCC Riders – looking forward to the next one. |
Sunday Club Ride – 3rd JuneThis weeks Sunday ride was attended by 10 road cyclists and one mountain biker who was so keen to join Catherine’s inaugural off road Sunday ride that he arrived a week early. He wasn’t helped by the fact that it was another fast-for-Sunday ride and he had neglected to put more than one cog on his bike. Whilst the rest of us enjoyed a relaxed jaunt in warm temperature and sunny intervals Stuart was at race level effort and made a strong early claim for the clubs Lanterne Rouge award 2022. The ride concluded at Barry’s gaffe where we attempted to polish off the left overs from Saturdays Tour of the airfield ride. Thanks Barry and Julie. |
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. |
