CTC Cambridge

10 Jul: Centenary tea and rides

On Sunday 10th July we held a special social event to celebrate the end of the club's centenary year (so 101 years since our first ride), with multiple rides of various lengths, all leading to a classic club tea at Haslingfield Village Hall.

After several months of planning, Haslingfield village hall was booked for the tea, Sue, Sarah, Angela, and the Barrington Rainbow mums were on hand to bake cakes, and we had six rides lined up:   

Yasmin would lead a 14 mile family frendly ride from Brookside. Read Yasmin's ride report.
Ian would lead a 35 mile afternoon ride from Brookside
Shiela would lead a 40 mile afternoon ride ("for tea" miles !) from Haslingfield
Ray would lead a 101 km (62 miles) leisurely-plus ride from Brookside via Furneaux Pelham. Read Ray's ride report.
Rachel would lead a 101 km (62 miles) moderate ride from Brookside via Clare
Simon would lead a 101 mile ride from Brookside via Sturmer (sadly
cancelled due to the heat!)

Rupert and his team had planned the routes, which you can find in the route library as the 101 Birthday Collection.

The family-friendly ride on Trumpington Meadows. Photo: Yasmin.

When the rides arrived at Haslingfield Village Hall, freshly-made sandwiches were scoffed, complemented by delicious homemade cakes.

Haslingfield Village Hall, the tea venue. Photo: John S

Huge thanks to all involved! Angela, Sarah, Sue and others for giving up their day to make sandwiches and serve hungry cyclists; Ray and Rupert for their route guidance and sorting the technical side; Ian, Rachel, Ray, Sheila, Simon and Yasmin for leading rides on the day.

Everyone seemed to enjoy the event, and the opportunity to meet up with club friends beyond their regular riding groups. After the success of this event and the one at Wicken last year, we hope to make gatherings like this a more regular occurrence rather than waiting another 100 years to hold the next one!

John Seton, Ray Miller, Yasmin Emerson

Our rides in the "new normal"

Our programme of rides is starting to get back to something like it was before the pandemic. It's been a long time since we were last operating normally so we thought it would be a good idea to give you an overview and update of our plans for club rides over the coming months.

We are hoping to get back to a regular programme of weekly rides, featuring all our old favourites. But we also want to continue with some of the changes that have emerged during the last two years such as smaller groups and the use of booked rides. We'd also like to continue to offer shorter one-stop rides and some new intermediate-level rides.

Here's a summary of the current plans.

• Our popular Saturday Social rides now take place every week. We want to keep this as a regular weekly ride.
• We want to have two rides every Thursday: one ride starting from Cambridge, and a second ride starting from a village to the south.
• We want to have the traditional Sunday club ride as a regular fixture in the calendar.
• We want to add more of our new easier rides to cater for a wider range of interests and abilities.

As we come into spring, we are introducing some longer rides to visit some of our favourite cafes a little further afield. This means you'll see more Thursday and Sunday rides with two stops. We know that some of you prefer a shorter ride so there is also the option of leaving a ride early and making your own way home after coffee: just make sure the leader knows your intention. Ask the leader if you would like help planning your route home.

Here’s a quick introduction to some of the new rides that you may have missed:

Social meet on second Tuesdays

We have a monthly club social event on the second Tuesday of each month, There are no led rides - just make your own way to coffee and meet up for a chat. There's usually the option to join with others for an ad-hoc ride on the way home. Our next social gathering is on September 13th, meeting at Hot Numbers Roastery in Shepreth at 11am.

Social ride on first Thursdays

On the first Thursday of each month, Yasmin is offering an additional Thursday Social ride: these set off from Brookside at the same time as the Thursday city ride so there's an opportunity to chat with the other riders at the start. These rides are slightly longer and faster than the Saturday Social rides, but slower than our usual rides on Thursdays, so are a good intermediate ride for anyone wanting to step up from the Saturday Social or returning after a break from riding.

Sunday Loiterers

The Sunday Loiterers rides offer another intermediate ride for new and returning riders: like the Thursday Social rides, they are a bit faster than our Saturday rides but slower than the usual club rides. They start from Brookside at the same time as the normal ride and often share a coffee stop with it. The loiterers will then return to Cambridge while the normal ride carries on to lunch.

Taking a Lead

Our programme of rides is dependent on a small pool of volunteer leaders and we are always on the lookout for new people to lead rides. If you are new to leading rides and want to get involved, or would like to return to leading after a break, please contact Rupert, the Runs Secretary. We'd love to offer a Thursday Social on the third Thursday too if someone was up for leading that, and John and Ian would welcome some help with the Saturday Social rides - between the two of them they have managed to lead a ride almost every week over the last two years!

Find Out More

Keep an eye on our Rides list for details of forthcoming rides. Join our news and discussion email group. Follow us on Twitter.