Getting out and about before the reliability ride

Mike Rainton’s 100-mile charity ride, already reported on this site, was probably the longest Velo Club Baracchi ride in the week.  Our photo shows one of his rewards on returning to Lowestoft!

Four riders on the club run rode about eighty miles on Sunday, turning back for home after taking a very indirect route to Eye and Yaxley, meeting at the Bungay café with a fifth rider who had doubled back from Eye to limit the distance to about 70 miles.

A further group of riders split from these and doubled back to limit the distance to 45 miles or do.

As the longer distance group rode through the Saints they saw another group of three Baracchi riders heading towards them on a different ride.

Perhaps all this activity in wonderfully sunny weather was working up to this Sunday’s 50-mile reliability trial from Blundeston to complete the Holmes Cup competition with Gt Yarmouth CC.  The Yarmouth club has a large membership nowadays so the VCB lead of ten points may be swamped by numbers taking part.

A new route for the ride has been devised by Pat Harbord and now agreed with Gt Yarmouth CC, going inland to Loddon and Bungay and then to the south and east before returning via Oulton Broad.  It goes nowhere near the traditional Walberswick/Southwold “rough stuff.”   Route sheets will be available at the Plough in Blundeston for the 9am start on Sunday October 23.

Despite the accidental clash between this ride and John Thompson’s Audax event, he reports that he has received entries from 53 riders for his Audax ride.

Thompson was also out on the bike on Sunday and seems to have been over much the same ground as some of the other club members, notching up about 55 miles.

Anyone with a trophy to return should now do so please!