Weekly Round-up: 17 Aug 2025
All the latest news, events, and results from NFCC Members from this week’s two-wheeled adventures…
Road Bikes TT SeriesBack to the road bikes on P182 this week. Results from the evening can be found by CLICKING HERE. Overall series standings can be found by CLICKING HERE. . |
Alta Via Goodwood Summer SpecialAlta Via Bicycle Components hosted a one-off race with the team from RCR at Goodwood Circuit on Tuesday Evening. NFCC had two riders in attendance, with Jack Phillips taking part in the Cat4 race, and Phill Brown in the Cat2/3 race. Having a spot of hard luck earlier in the season, being caught up in incidents out of his control, Jack was convinced it was the night to right his wrongs, and rode a solid race. Staying put in the first third of the race, Jack got involved int he final sprint and took thrid place over the line, chapeau! Phill’s race was the biggest of the season and a complete sell-out with 100 riders crossing the start line. Brown got stuck in as usual, trying to force the pack to split, but there were simply too many people involved to allow this to happen, and after a rugby-like scrum through the final chicane, crossed the line in 16th. |
Calshot Velodrome Track TrainingThe club’s velodrome sessions continued this week with a Level 3 session on Wednesday night. We had 7 riders there, some who’ve done Level 3/4 before, and some that have come up through the club sessions this summer. It was great to see everyone developing their skills and hopefully soon we will have a good group of riders ready to take on the Stage 4 sessions. There are currently discussion going on about track racing there, this winter if anyone is interested. Keep an eye out for more track updates. |
ChainGangA little short-staffed again on this week’s chain gang with just 5 turning up to enjoy the type 2 fun and games. After the lead out of the village by Dan S, Thursday evening’s average speed potential was instantly crushed by some particularly irritating ponies and an unfortunately considerate motorist who insisted on waiting in the middle of the road for them to seek pastures new. After what seemed an age we got moving again and picked up pace, riding pretty smoothly if, admittedly a tad ‘surgery’ at times. We stayed together until Wilverley rise, Matt M hanging on longer with the fast group than he has before. I ( Phil H) as usual then felt the heat somewhat and lost ground but luckily Dan, Glenn P and Chris were in charitable mood and let me back on, although I had to kill myself to do it. Almost at the moment I took a breath of relief Glenn P laid down a 750 watt power bomb. Not sure Chris or Dan were expecting that and it wouldn’t have mattered whether I was or not so Glenn disappeared into the distance with Dan and Chris following behind at a good pace. By now I had written the evening off and decided that tonight wasn’t going to be one of my glory days so coasted home. |
Saturday Club RideOnly ten riders rolled up at the start this week, just under the numbers to justify splitting into two groups. A few muttered concerns suggesting the pace might creep above the usual Group 2 level, and the first few miles over the early rises threatened to prove them right as the bunch strung out. Fortunately, once over the lumps, the pace settled, helped by a flatter route. The promised sunshine hadn’t materialised, with heavy cloud hanging around for most of the morning. |
 It was good to see Joe O back in the fold after a spell off with injury. He sensibly eased himself back in, riding the first leg to Beaulieu before turning for home. We picked up Robert S at Calshot. Turns out he’d indeed ridden to the start, only to realise he’d been riding for over an hour without a helmet. Cue a detour of shame all the way back to Fritham, then a chase across the Forest to intercept us mid-ride. Such absent-mindedness made the “Barrel” award a formality, with Robert taking the honours almost unopposed. The only other possible contender was Barry, who was not actually there, but whose “route planning” for this ride included 12 km of off-piste gravel. But since no one was fooled into leaving the tarmac, it hardly counted as a serious challenge. |
 After the café stop the clouds finally broke, sunshine streaming through just in time to pair with a glorious tailwind on the second half, with several PRs achieved on the road to Ringwood. Riders gradually peeled away one by one, until the last of the group split at Crow Hill. Only Neil S completed the full route back to Brock, though his ride ended on a sour note, being struck from behind by a car as he arrived back at Brockenhurst! Thankfully, early reports suggest no major injury to Neil or serious damage to his bike. Wishing him all the best, and hopefully we’ll see him back on the road soon.– Phill G |
Sunday Club RideYet another beautiful Sunday morning and stella turnout. Lovely to welcome some of the regulars from Emma and Lucy’s occasional women’s ride to the Sunday club ride. Group one was a little light on volunteers this week so a couple of extras had to be press-ganged into the fold. With 26 attending the start line two additional groups of ten set out on one of our exciting new routes. Few things can match the buzz of riding a section of road in a slightly different direction. |
 A perma-headwind slowed progress down the reverse side of Bolderwood to the point that it felt like we were going up and in truth we never seemed to get rewarded with a tailwind at any point on the ride. Each group seems to have got around at pretty much exactly the expected speed this week and without incident. That is until the gravelly entrance of the cafe when two riders came a cropper ( must add that to the risk assessment). Luckily no lasting damage was done to bike or body so the most important part of the day could be undertaken without the sounds of sirens.Great to see some new faces and such a broad demographic of riders. – 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. |
