Calendar

Jul
7
Thu
Thursday Night Social Bikes and Butties Ride @ Jovial Monk
Jul 7 @ 7:00 pm – 9:45 pm

Every Thursday night there is a social ride out from the Jovial Monk pub in St Andrews Ridge. The ride is between 16-20 miles, depending on that week’s ride, but always at a pace to suit all those that attend.

After the ride there’s chip butties on offer for £2 a pop – well you’ll have earned them by that point!

Helmet’s a must. Lights also still required at this time of year, but if you don’t have any drop us an email or message – we’ve normally got a spare set knocking around for the evening.

Eating butties

Jul
14
Thu
Thursday Night Social Bikes and Butties Ride @ Jovial Monk
Jul 14 @ 7:00 pm – 9:45 pm

Every Thursday night there is a social ride out from the Jovial Monk pub in St Andrews Ridge. The ride is between 16-20 miles, depending on that week’s ride, but always at a pace to suit all those that attend.

After the ride there’s chip butties on offer for £2 a pop – well you’ll have earned them by that point!

Helmet’s a must. Lights also still required at this time of year, but if you don’t have any drop us an email or message – we’ve normally got a spare set knocking around for the evening.

Eating butties

Jul
21
Thu
Thursday Night Social Bikes and Butties Ride @ Jovial Monk
Jul 21 @ 7:00 pm – 9:45 pm

Every Thursday night there is a social ride out from the Jovial Monk pub in St Andrews Ridge. The ride is between 16-20 miles, depending on that week’s ride, but always at a pace to suit all those that attend.

After the ride there’s chip butties on offer for £2 a pop – well you’ll have earned them by that point!

Helmet’s a must. Lights also still required at this time of year, but if you don’t have any drop us an email or message – we’ve normally got a spare set knocking around for the evening.

Eating butties

Jul
28
Thu
Thursday Night Social Bikes and Butties Ride @ Jovial Monk
Jul 28 @ 7:00 pm – 9:45 pm

Every Thursday night there is a social ride out from the Jovial Monk pub in St Andrews Ridge. The ride is between 16-20 miles, depending on that week’s ride, but always at a pace to suit all those that attend.

After the ride there’s chip butties on offer for £2 a pop – well you’ll have earned them by that point!

Helmet’s a must. Lights also still required at this time of year, but if you don’t have any drop us an email or message – we’ve normally got a spare set knocking around for the evening.

Eating butties

Jul
26
Wed
Wednesdays After Work at Croft @ Croft Cycle Trail
Jul 26 @ 5:45 pm – 8:00 pm
Wednesdays After Work at Croft @ Croft Cycle Trail | England | United Kingdom

Our usual Wednesday visit to Croft will incorporate some skills practice this week.

After a warm up lap, we will do a development lap. This will involve doing a lap of the trail stopping at certain obstacles to practice our skills: rock gardens, cornering & small jumps. There is also an option to practice drops if anyone fancies that too.
After that we will finish with a quick lap to blend all the practice together.

Meet in the car park at 5.45pm

You will need a helmet, but not lights.

Aug
2
Wed
Wednesdays After Work at Croft @ Croft Cycle Trail
Aug 2 @ 5:45 pm – 8:00 pm
Wednesdays After Work at Croft @ Croft Cycle Trail | England | United Kingdom

Our usual Wednesday visit to Croft will incorporate some skills practice this week.

After a warm up lap, we will do a development lap. This will involve doing a lap of the trail stopping at certain obstacles to practice our skills: rock gardens, cornering & small jumps. There is also an option to practice drops if anyone fancies that too.
After that we will finish with a quick lap to blend all the practice together.

Meet in the car park at 5.45pm

You will need a helmet, but not lights.

Dec
5
Wed
CANCELLED – Wednesdays After Work at Croft @ Croft Cycle Trail
Dec 5 @ 5:45 pm – 7:00 pm
CANCELLED - Wednesdays After Work at Croft @ Croft Cycle Trail | England | United Kingdom
APOLOGIES EVERYONE, BUT TONIGHTS EVENT IS CANCELLED
Sorry, but due to ride leader unavailability (due to sick child!), I’ve had to cancel tonight’s ride. 
=========================================

We’re back for a Wednesday Night session at Croft.
The trail takes on a different vibe in the dark – loads of fun still with a bit of extra spice that comes from riding with lights 🙂
The tight nature of the trail keeps you on your toes too!
 
We’ll be taking easy as usual for Wednesday nights, so perfect if you’ve not been night riding before and going round as a group boosts the available light too.
 
Needless to say you’ll need lights for this ride, a helmet as always and current forecast suggests waterproofs as well.
 
Meet in the car park at 5.45pm
Jan
24
Thu
Thursday Social Ride @ The Jovial Monk
Jan 24 @ 7:00 pm – 9:30 pm
Thursday Social Ride @ The Jovial Monk

Thursday’s ride will start from the Jovial Monk Pub on St Andrews Ridge and led by John Jefferies.

Planned ride is weather dependant. There may be a more urban ride if it’s too wet and cold. We will leave @ 7pm and head out through blunsdon, stratton & Stanton woods to south marston ind est. from there through a nice little single track to south marston. A bit of road to Nightingale woods for a lap or 2 then back to the Jovial refreshments. It may be cold and wet, so dress appropriately.

A helmet, lights and a serviceable bike required.
Nice steady pace to suit those in attendance – nobody will be left behind.

May
24
Fri
The Peaks Weekender @ The Peak District
May 24 @ 8:00 pm – May 27 @ 12:00 pm
The Peaks Weekender @ The Peak District | England | United Kingdom

The Peak District is simple awesome for mountain biking – stunning scenery and brilliant riding.
I’ve done lots of riding up there and am putting together some of the best in one long weekend.

We will be based in the Hope Valley, which has a great selection of campsites, B&B accommodation, cafes and bike shops. Personally I’ll be camping and will make a recommendation for a campsite after sampling a few, but there are plenty of great B&Bs for anyone that doesn’t like camping.

For the riding, we have 3 days:
A scenic starter, along the Monsal Trail. Starting at Bakewell Station up to Blackwell Mill and back. This is a former railway line that has been converted into a bridleway, using all the old features, including a number of viaducts and 4 tunnels through the Peaks. This gives us the chance to soak in the gorgeous scenery along the route, as well as a stop to enjoy them with a drink.

Day 2 is an epic XC ride starting in Hope and heading over Mam Tor out towards Derwent Water and back. The views on this route are even more stunning than the previous day, but the riding will be amazing too, with some epic descents – this one isn’t flat! 😉 We will be doing 25-30km with 1200-1500ft of climbing (depending on the weather), but the pace will be relaxed.

The final day will be a trip to the brilliant (but short) Lady Cannings trails, which we will use to end a 10km loop of the local Blacca Moor, which is another Peaks “must do”. That should see us finish at lunchtime, on the Bank Holiday Monday.

If you are planning on coming, please register either on the Facebook group event or by sending an email to adrian@swindonmtbenthusiasts.co.uk – just so we know to keep an eye out for you before setting off anywhere.

Jun
9
Sun
Cotswolds Pretty Rocky Ride @ The Carpenter's Arms, Miserden
Jun 9 @ 10:00 am – 3:00 pm
Although we go south of Swindon lots, but we’ve not yet done a trip to the north, so let’s change that!
Starting in the village of Miserden, just north of Cirencester, we will do a 20km lap of some fantastic scenery and riding. The views are driving the route, but there are some epic downhills as well. It’s graded as Red for technicality (due to the rocky descents and climbs) and Red for fitness, as there is over 500m of climbing involved.

We will start and finish at the Carpenter’s Arms in Miserden. It’s a great pub with excellent post ride sustenance and even a sweet shop inside.

Helmets are compulsory as always and knee pads are advised.
Full suspension bikes recommended – the uphills are just as rocky as the downs!