Frosty morning riding

A frosty morning called for special care to be taken by cyclists on Sunday and it caused the cancellation of the Wiggle Royal Flyer sportive at Fakenham that Mark Richards of Velo Club Baracchi would have ridden.

Fortunately the organisers let him know before 5.45am when he would have left home and instead he rode just before 8am with Liam Gentry and Lee Cook to meet Joe Skipper at Bungay for a 60-mile ride.

He said, “The roads got much worse as we moved away from the coast. The return was much nicer as the sun got out and brought the temperature up a bit.”

John Thompson spent a long weekend putting the finishing touches to measuring the distances with his Garmin for another audax event he is planning.

On Thursday afternoon, he rode to Norwich and was based there. On Friday, first he rode to Aylsham, where he put the Garmin on and he said, “I went via Saxthorpe, Briston, Reepham and Barnham Broom to Wymondham, where I spent some time in the café I will be using as a control.  I then rode via Gt. Melton back to Norwich – about 60 miles.”

On Saturday he rode to Downham Market against the strong side winds and sometimes heavy rain, to stay there.  He then rode to Wymondham, as he had a little more work on the route to do.

He added, “I then went via Deopham and Little Ellingham to Watton, where I had a café lunch, and then through pleasant lanes via Saham Toney, Great Cressingham and Gooderstone  to Downham Market – about 55 miles.”

Sunday’s frosty morning seems not to have deterred Thompson, who started with “a nice ride alongside the Great Ouse from Denver through to a village called Ten Mile Bank” in pleasant sunshine.

Thompson returned via Southery, Feltwell, Brandon and Thetford to Diss, where, after a café lunch, he continues homewards via Harleston Bungay and Beccles – about 75 miles. He said he enjoyed a pleasing long weekend, covering a lot of new ground.

Neil Turner of Pedal Revolution has announced a new dedicated cycle park for Norfolk that may be of interest to local riders as well.

He writes, “With the help and support from Norfolk’s leading cyclists’ café, The Olive Branch and Norfolk’s prominent race series organiser Ken Joliffe from Lotus Racing League, Pedal Revolution have arranged a long term lease and licence of a three mile road circuit and have created the Pedal Park vision at Scottow Enterprise Park to transform the iconic RAF Coltishall operations building into a full cycle centre.”

“The Pedal Revolution Pedal Park will offer a wide range of riding, coaching, racing and social weekly events throughout the year. This venture will be run by Pedal Revolution’s social enterprise as a not-for-profit scheme to transform the regions cycling facilities and participation levels in racing, time trials and recreational riding.”