Calendar

May
24
Tue
Magical Mystery Tour – Wroughton XC Ride @ The Brown Jack, Prior's Hill, Wroughton
May 24 @ 6:30 pm – 8:30 pm
Magical Mystery Tour - Wroughton XC Ride @ The Brown Jack, Prior's Hill, Wroughton | Tomball | Texas | United States

This will be a local XC ride, pump up to Barbury, Ufcott (perhaps Bicknoll), Mill Lane, West Swindon and Wroughton.

There will be some hills involved 🙂

Jul
17
Sun
Swindon Cycle Fest @ County Ground Athletics Track
Jul 17 @ 10:00 am – 4:00 pm
Swindon Cycle Fest @ County Ground Athletics Track | Swindon | England | United Kingdom

We have a stall at the Swindon Cycle Fest, so come and say hi!

We’ll have a tombola, prize draw for a bike, static bike competition and lots about the club on show.

Here’s what else is there:

Enthusiasts to commuters, Children to Adults – we have so much going on to showcase the Cycling world all in one venue. We have teamed up with Swindon Borough Council, Sky Rides, breeze, Swindon BUGS to organise a 1 day festival located at the County Ground Athletics track & field, Swindon.

Briefly for your entertainment:
Local cycling clubs (each club has ‘Come try activity’) / Swindon Travel Choices / Sky Rides / British Cycling breeze / Top cycling Brands / Stunt Riders / Gita from Lapis Lizard Face & Body Art / Bouncy Castle / Local Gyms (Spin Instructors) / Bike Fit Specialists / B1KE Shoretrax Pumptrack / Team Mitchell Cycles / Swindon Cycles Road Team / Pothead & Panface (Home made delicious food) / Rays Wholesale Ltd (Ice Creams) / Swindon Bowls Club / Old Town Brewery

Dec
28
Fri
Xmas Motivator @ The Three Trees Cafe
Dec 28 @ 9:30 am – 12:00 pm
We haven’t done a midweek motivator ride for ages, so, this isn’t one either!
But it’s close – a fairly short XC ride to release those endorphins and get you from Christmas to New Year.
 
Starting and ending at the Three Trees Cafe, we’ll head out on the Ridgeway, up the gentler climbs to the top of Barbury Castle. Then over the top, down Smeathes Ridge, back along Smeathe’s Bottom and back home via Gypsy Lane and the old railway line.
Nothing too taxing – 19km and 195m of climbing, a couple of fun descents in there too. 
 
You’ll need a helmet and appropriate clothing for the weather.
 
We’ll set off from Three Trees at 9.30am
Aug
31
Sat
MTB-Marathon – Hope Valley @ Hope Valley College
Aug 31 @ 10:00 am – Sep 1 @ 6:00 pm
MTB-Marathon - Hope Valley @ Hope Valley College | Hope | England | United Kingdom
We did the MTB-Marathon in Hope last year and loved it. The whole series are brilliant events, incredibly well organised and supported with fabulous routes too. And free camping as well!
So we’re going to do this excellent final round in the amazing Peak District in 2019.
Although the main event is on the Sunday, there are also a Ladies Ride on the Saturday morning and a night marathon on the Saturday night, which has a choice of distances and light hire available from Exposure Lights.
On the Sunday 3 distances are available – Mini (25km), Half (45km) and Full (65km!). Bear in mind it’s in the Peak District, and the hills are big too, as well as the distance!
We’ve got members booked on the Half, but all routes start out together.

Full details here:
https://www.mtb-marathon.co.uk/events/1st-2nd-september-2018-hope-valley-peak-district.html

May
23
Sat
May Weekender 2020 – Exmoor @ Porlock
May 23 @ 10:00 am – May 25 @ 2:00 pm
May Weekender 2020 - Exmoor @ Porlock
Our annual May Bank holiday trip will be to the fabulous Exmoor in 2020.
We have 3 days riding planned and you can do all or just some of them.
 
Day 1 – the big day out. Starting from Porlock we will do a 28km loop of some of the best hills and scenery Exmoor has to offer, including Wootton Courtenay, Ranscombe and Horner. There will be amazing views of the hills, sea and Wales, epic descents and glorious woodland. There will be options on the route as well, including a cut off near the end to remove 300m of climbing, to enable more people to have a go at the route. For the “adventurous” there will also be a chance to take in one of the tracks from the Southern Enduro champs along the way (that is optional and the alternative is still a great descent, just firewood instead).
 
Day 2 – lazy Sunday. Well sort of! We will start with a considerably shorter ride (9km) to the top of Bossington Hill, for the epic view, on our way to Horner. After a lunch at the excellent tea rooms we will then do 3 uplifted descents. First we will take in a long run from the top of Dunkery Beacon, followed by an epic singletrack run from the top of Porlock Hill. Finally we will return to Porlock Hill and take a super fast fireroad route down to Porlock Weir for a pint by the sea. Up to you if you do all 3 descents or 2 or 1, but the final one is suitable for all and takes us home, so if you’re only going to do 1, it should be that 1!
 
Day 3 – Big trees. To finish off on Monday we will decamp to the outskirts of Minehead (about 15 minute drive) to Dunster Castle. Here we will ride a nice woodland route out to England’s tallest tree and back.
 
Accommodation is DIY, but I would strongly recommend Sparkhayes campsite (which I will be at). It has excellent facilities, and lovely relaxed atmosphere and great views of the hills and sea. It’s also on a few minutes walk from the pubs and shops.
There are many B&Bs in the town if you would prefer a solid roof though.
 
Outside of your accommodation and food, the only cost will be the uplift, which will be around £10 per person in total. Exact price will be confirmed nearer the time.
 
All routes will be led by qualified ride leaders, who are also first aid trained.
Jul
2
Sun
3 Trees, Rockley and more @ Three Trees Farm shop & Cafe
Jul 2 @ 10:00 am – 1:00 pm
My first weekend ride of the year 😊 (which ironically is the same as I did 2 years ago!)
This is an old classic which takes in parts of the recent Castles ride routes.
From the 3 Trees we will head out on the Ridgeway out to the bottom of Barbury Castle. This is further out on the Ridgeway from where we will drop down into the beautiful Vale of Rockley. A short sharp climb takes us to the top of a byway down to Ogbourne Maisey and then home along the old railway line cycle route.
Meet in the 3 Trees Car park at 10am.
Please note the 3 Trees have recently introduced charges for their car park. However there is a small public car park next to it and some in road parking too.