Cycling UK Wantage | Programme of Rides and Events

Past Rides

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Mon Jul 6th 2020

Cycle Treasure Hunt 24 June - 6 July

Leader: Steve Swanton	Start Time: 8:00 pm	Start Location: A place of your choice
Description: While we are unable to cycle together as a club, a cycle treasure hunt can provide us with a common goal for individual or household cycling. To participate, all you need to do is find the answers to any three of the clues while riding over the coming two weeks (between now and 8pm, on Monday 6 July). Do share your experiences of riding to collect the answers with the club on Facebook or by email to Steve. For this hunt, there are 12 clues distributed from Wantage to the north and east, roughly in the triangle formed between Wantage, Abingdon and Didcot. Each clue is provided on the interactive googlemap accessed through the link below. Just click on a checkpoint to reveal the clue. No route between the clues is provided. It is for each rider to plan their own route(s) to collect the clues, depending on their starting point. All clues are located in quiet, readily-accessible public places. Most clues are intended to draw attention to points and places of interest that we sometimes cycle through or past without really noticing. Do take the time to take in and enjoy your surroundings. Click on the interactive map here 1. The clues are in no particular order. You could collect them in a single ride or on several rides over the two weeks if you want to. 2. Please do share your experience on the club Facebook page. 3. But please dont give away the answers! 4. If you do have trouble finding the answers, please let Steve know. 5. Please email your answers to Steve by 8pm on Monday evening (6 July), 6. The answers and results will be given out at the Virtual Pub Night on 7 July and subsequently through the website, 7. There are no prizes for being the first to complete the challenge but it may merit a mention, as might the most interesting, longest or shortest routes. 8. Above all, have fun, enjoy cycling and stay safe.
Riders: David Jackson David Smith Nick Portsmouth Peter Hallowell Roger Postbeschild Ros Hallowell Stephanie Haddrell Ursula Hallam Riders = 8 Weather: Report: Two windy weekends made hunting down the clues rather more difficult than you'd normally expect mid-summer. Congratulations to Ursula and Dave who blitzed all 12 on a very windy Sunday. Cycling over from Newbury, they were the only riders to complete the full treasure hunt within the time limit. Awesome!! (Peter and Ros completed the set the following day). Sadly, the answer to the West Hendred clue, shown in the picture below went missing during the fortnight and couldn't be found despite strenuous searching by several riders. It is evident from Ursula's picture that the gate remained open. Nice to hear that some riders had visited places not visited before. The Millenium Green at Kingston Bagpuize and Dry Sandford Pit were new to us when Lorna and I visited on one of our weekly rides and we will certainly return to both for further exploration. We hadn't explored Alfred's Well off Lock's Lane previously either! The checkpoint map remains open via the link above for anyone to use as a spur for riding and exploration. Enjoy!
The treasure in West Hendred, which sadly went missing during the fortnight of the hunt. The gate to West Hendred churchyard remained open
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Tue Jul 7th 2020

Virtual Turbo Session

Leader: Jon Townsin	Start Time: 6:00 pm	Start Location: On ine
Description: A weekly 40 minute Virtual Turbo workout to make up for the loss of the normal Tuesday evening group ride. You will need your own Turbo set up, a mobile device / laptop and Zoom version 5 installed on your device. The session will include various combinations of hill climbing, sprinting and, of course, some recovering(!). More details on the night.
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Tue Jul 7th 2020

Virtual Pub Night

Leader: Steve Swanton	Start Time: 8:30 pm	Start Location: On line
Description: Do join us for an hour or so of convivial chat (some of it cycling related). While we can't meet and ride as a group, it's a chance to keep in touch and to share our news from the comfort of our own homes. Please BYOB so we can pretend we are all in the pub together! If you would like to join us, please drop me an email and I will forward the link. Looking forward to seeing as many of you as can make it. With thanks to Jan Mc for hosting.
Riders: Carin Tranter David Jackson Gareth Smith John Tranter Lorna Swanton Nick Portsmouth Peter Hallowell Roger Postbeschild Stephanie Haddrell Steve Swanton Riders = 10 Report: 90 minutes of wide-ranging chat. Topics varied from battling the invisible hill (i.e. the wind), the Parkinson community garden in Lockinge, an update on the informal Thursday group meets, thoughts about restarting rides and the results from the last Treasure Hunt. See you next week...
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Tue Jul 14th 2020

Virtual Turbo Session

Leader: Jon Townsin	Start Time: 6:00 pm	Start Location: On line
Description: A weekly 40 minute Virtual Turbo workout to make up for the loss of the normal Tuesday evening group ride. You will need your own Turbo set up, a mobile device / laptop and Zoom version 5 installed on your device. The session will include various combinations of hill climbing, sprinting and, of course, some recovering(!). More details on the night.
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Tue Jul 14th 2020

Virtual Pub Night

Leader: Steve Swanton	Start Time: 8:30 pm	Start Location: On line
Description: Do join us for an hour or so of convivial chat (some of it cycling related). While we can't meet and ride as a group, it's a chance to keep in touch and to share our news from the comfort of our own homes. Please BYOB so we can pretend we are all in the pub together! If you would like to join us, please drop me an email and I will forward the link. Looking forward to seeing as many of you as can make it. With thanks to Jan Mc for hosting.
Riders: David Bridge Gareth Smith Jan McCabe John Tranter Jon Townsin LeeAnn Norris Lorna Swanton Nick Portsmouth Peter Hallowell Roger Postbeschild Steve Swanton Riders = 11 Report: Really nice, wide ranging chat this evening. Good to have Lee Ann with us for the first time. Topics covered included the use of rollers for training, haircuts, feedback on the cycle route sheets, social prescribers, active travel discussions for Wantage and Grove and the state of some of the local Sustrans Routes. Jon also filled us in on the currents status on the members survey on resuming rides. Thanks everyone for your congenial company and see you next week.
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Mon Jul 20th 2020

Cycle Treasure Hunt 10-20 July

Leader: Steve Swanton	Start Time: 9:00 pm	Start Location: Your choice
Description: While we are unable to cycle together as a club, a cycle treasure hunt can provide us with a common goal for individual or household cycling. To participate, all you need to do is find the answers to any three of the clues while riding over the coming two weeks (between now and 9pm, on Monday 20 July). Do share your experiences of riding to collect the answers with the club on Facebook or by email to Steve. Once again there are 12 clues with answers to find, this time with many of the checkpoints to the south of Wantage. So there is a bit more of a challenge to reach the furthest points (at least for those starting north of the Downs) . Each clue is provided on the interactive googlemap accessed through the link below. Just click on a checkpoint to reveal the clue. No route between the clues is provided. It is for each rider to plan their own route(s) to collect the clues, depending on their starting point. All clues are located in quiet, readily-accessible public places. Most clues are intended to draw attention to points and places of interest that we sometimes cycle through or past without really noticing. Do take the time to take in and enjoy your surroundings. Click on the interactive map here 1. The clues are in no particular order. You could collect them in a single ride or on several rides over the two weeks if you want to. 2. Please do share your experience on the club Facebook page. 3. But please dont give away the answers! 4. If you do have trouble finding the answers, please let Steve know (one of the answers is temporary in nature, but was there on 12 July). 5. Please email your answers to Steve by 9pm on Monday evening, 20 July,. 6. The answers and results will be given out at the Virtual Pub Night on 21 July and subsequently through the website. 7. There are no prizes for being the first to complete the challenge but it may merit a mention, as might the most interesting, longest or shortest routes. 8. Above all, have fun, enjoy cycling and stay safe.
Riders: Gareth Smith Nick Portsmouth Peter Hallowell Roger Postbeschild Ros Hallowell Val Smith Riders = 6 Report: A more challenge group of checkpoints and with some previous participants away, a slightly lower take-up this time round. But sounds like those who did, have enjoyed discovering new places and hidden corners (I really enjoyed discovering them too - seeking clues has been a lovely objective during some of my lockdown rides). Congratulations to Roger who completed the full hunt and gave the correct answers in the allotted time (12/12) . Pete and Ros (11.5) also reached all 12 checkpoints but took the wording of the Kingston Lisle clue too literally and missed the obvious answer! Nick (11/12) was in contention but realised too late that he'd missed a clue... Gareth (8/12) and Val (6) also used the hunt as ride objectives . Thanks to all for taking up the challenge and particularly for Nick and Roger who shared their experiences on Facebook and inspired others to visit some of the checkpoint locations. The next Treasure Hunt will be aimed at families during the school holidays - further details soon. The checkpoint map remains open via the link above for anyone to use as a spur for riding and exploration. Enjoy! 4/8: Interestingly, there have been 120 views of the map since the hunt finished - do get in touch if you've been using it as an incentive for getting out on rides.
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Tue Jul 21st 2020

Virtual Turbo Session

Leader: Jon Townsin	Start Time: 6:00 pm	Start Location: On line
Description: A weekly 40 minute Virtual Turbo workout to make up for the loss of the normal Tuesday evening group ride. You will need your own Turbo set up, a mobile device / laptop and Zoom version 5 installed on your device. The session will include various combinations of hill climbing, sprinting and, of course, some recovering(!). More details on the night.
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Tue Jul 21st 2020

Virtual Pub Night

Leader: Steve Swanton	Start Time: 8:30 pm	Start Location: On line
Description: Do join us for an hour or so of convivial chat (some of it cycling related). While we can't meet and ride as a group, it's a chance to keep in touch and to share our news from the comfort of our own homes. Please BYOB so we can pretend we are all in the pub together! If you would like to join us, please drop me an email and I will forward the link. Looking forward to seeing as many of you as can make it. With thanks to Jan Mc for hosting.
Riders: David Bridge Gareth Smith Jan McCabe John Tranter Lorna Swanton Nick Portsmouth Roger Postbeschild Steve Swanton Riders = 8 Report:
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Tue Jul 28th 2020

Virtual Turbo Session

Leader: Jon Townsin	Start Time: 6:00 pm	Start Location: On line
Description: A weekly 40 minute Virtual Turbo workout to make up for the loss of the normal Tuesday evening group ride. You will need your own Turbo set up, a mobile device / laptop and Zoom version 5 installed on your device. The session will include various combinations of hill climbing, sprinting and, of course, some recovering(!). More details on the night.
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Tue Jul 28th 2020

Virtual Pub Night

Leader: Steve Swanton	Start Time: 8:30 pm	Start Location: On line
Description: Do join us for an hour or so of convivial chat (some of it cycling related). While we can't meet and ride as a group, it's a chance to keep in touch and to share our news from the comfort of our own homes. Please BYOB so we can pretend we are all in the pub together! This week there will be the opportunity to discuss the plans and protocols for the resumption of club rides on Tuesday 4 August. To join the meeting you will need to install the Zoom App. Then copy the attached link into your browser. https://us02web.zoom.us/j/ Meeting ID: Looking forward to seeing as many of you as can make it. With thanks to Jan Mc for hosting.
Riders: David Bridge Gareth Smith Jan McCabe John Tranter Jon Townsin Lorna Swanton Nick Portsmouth Peter Hallowell Roger Postbeschild Steve Swanton Riders = 10 Weather: Report: This eveningÃ¢ï¿œï¿œs discussion ranged from the experiences of riders at local cafÃƒÂ©s, Sustrans route changes, the results of the members survey on resuming rides and the arrangements for the resumption of a reduced rides programme. On the cafÃƒÂ© front, Benson Waterfront cafÃƒÂ© and Aston Pottery were particularly recommended for their social distancing arrangements. Several of us had been disappointed by the arrangements at Bampton Garden Centre (where there is no outside seating and you need to mask-up to walk through the one-way system through all the displays to reach the cafÃƒÂ© and take-away counter at the end). However, they were offering Ã‚Â£10 discount vouchers for those spending Ã‚Â£5+ - one thinks this may not last long! With the planned return of Tuesday Evening Rides next week, we decided this would be the last of our weekly virtual pub nights for the time being. However, given the difficulties inherent in meeting as a wider group at a pub, we may have occasional (monthly?) chats, in particular, to get feedback on the rides, etc. Keep an eye on the website for details. WeÃ¢ï¿œï¿œve had a regular group for these weekly chats. It has been good to keep in touch and chew the cud over various cycling- (and non-cycling-)related matters. Thanks everyone for your company over the last few weeks, and especially to Jan for hosting each week . Keep cycling and keep safe everyone.
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Ride Filter

Start Locations: WMP
Wantage Market Place; OMH
Old Mill Hall, Grove

Categories: 1* - Suitable for irregular, social, beginner or family riders, pace will match the slower riders. Not hilly or long. Expect rides up to 3 hours. Gentle exercise.; 2* - Suitable for regular riders who prefer to cover some distance but at a more relaxed pace. Likely to be half-day rides. Solid exercise.; 3* - Suitable for experienced riders, may be hilly, long, quick, or any combination! Likely to be half or full-day rides. Challenging exercise.; 4* - Suitable for athletic riders who can ride safely above the 3* standard. Quick rides for the fit.; More Information

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