Tutoring this evening, and planning for next year

Looking forward to 5pm tonight, 19 June, out tutoring a chap who hasn’t ridden in a few years. So, taking it easy and heading out towards Bibury I think, on nice roads with a few gentle corners. Its also a great place to stop, debrief and carry on again from.

Things I look for on a first ride such as this:

• Cornering
• Positioning
• Systematic
• Safety
• Stability
• Gear changing
• Rural and Urban riding

I also consider the 4’S:

The 4 S’s

Lots to think about, but really looking forward to it.

Planning for next year

Touring is a bit of a write off this year, but Stuart and I were chatting this week about trips next year. Got some ideas forming so please pop back soon, with the first one around Easter, or even earlier in March! Mix of continent and UK based.

If you have an idea of a trip, let us know what you like to see and do and we can sort out the planning for you.

Some cornering fun!

Not a fast ride, but we had fun going round some interesting corners. Lyneham Banks, Ford, and leaving Stroud seemed to be either downhill or uphill where the most fun was had.

The intervening roads between those that are shown also had some great corners too – these were much faster and smoother. Often, you pick the best line through a corner (using the system of IPSGA) but that line is thwarted by the road surface!

Cornering fun!

Route was from Cricklade, Purton, Wootton Bassett, Lyneham, Chippenham (A420), Bath, Stroud, Cirencester and home again.

Nice round trip of an hour and a half or so!

Exploring the Cotswolds with Sally as pillion

What a great day it was today! Went back to Adlestrop following last week’s route through the back end of Fairford and along those quiet narrow lanes overlooking the Cotswolds! Plenty of cyclists, walkers and horses out enjoying the June air.

After Adlestrop, we stopped in Bourton on the Water to buy a couple of pasties and headed back to the Rollright stones – https://www.rollrightstones.co.uk/ – a collection of neolithic stones, around 3,800 years BC so older than Stonehenge and Avebury, and the most easterly stone circle in the UK.

Sally at the Rollright stones

From here, we decided to go via Northleach which is the setting for the mockumentary “This Country” – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/This_Country

Northleach back to Cricklade – set the sat-nav to “windiest” route so we could explore and it didn’t disappoint! We did go through Stow-on-the-Wold four times in the end with our to-ing and fro-ing, and at one point I was leading a group of bikers on their club rideout!

This is a nice ride, not too fast as the roads are narrow, but very pleasant. Some pot holes but but not as many as I would have expected so all good from that perspective. Not a ride for everyone I guess as its more of a pootle than a blast, but I do enjoy exploring whenever I can and there is so much to see on our doorsteps!

Only around 100 miles or so all told, maximum.

But fantastic to go for a leisure ride and spend it with Sally! Happy days!!

Training back on!

Update 6 June – already been out a couple of times in the evenings. Making a difference! Feels great!

Update 3 June – training back on!! Limit to two people at a time though; available for evening sessions or whole day. We can help you prepare for the Advanced Riding test, or coach you for any areas you want to improve upon such as cornering and even just a return to riding tune-up.

Look forward to hearing from you.