Update 5th January:
Following yesterday’s Government announcement we have to suspend our previously advertised leisure ride program with immediate effect, so we have taken the January rides down from the club calendar. We will look to re-schedule the rides later when it’s safe to go back to group riding. For now we need to play our part in controlling the spread of the virus.
For the latest guidance from British Cycling explaining what you can do to keep riding please see the link below. Keep pedalling everyone and stay safe.
January Leisure Rides & Audax Series 2021
Our January rides are now published in the calendar on the club website. Following the latest Government COVID-19 announcement (30 Dec) Wiltshire has now become Tier 3. As a club we continue to follow the guidance from British Cycling on the interpretation of the Tier rules. See the link below explaining what we can and cannot do now that we are in Tier 3:
We have carefully checked our January routes to make sure they comply with the Tier 3 rules. This means we have to stay within the current Tier 3 areas (Wiltshire, BANES and South Gloucestershire). Note that we cannot cross into neighbouring Tier 4 areas (currently Cotswold, Swindon and West Berkshire) and we can only stop at cafés within our own Tier 3 area (Wiltshire).
Some of our regular cafés may be closing under Tier 3 rules, but we’ll try to check in advance to make sure there’s a café on our route serving take-away refreshments. We can’t guarantee there will always be one open so it would be wise to bring something to keep you fuelled for the ride just in case.
We have tried to plan a wide range of rides for January, starting off with an easy ride out to Rowde this Sunday 3rd Jan. On 10th Jan we’ll be riding a new route out through the Two Tunnels from Bath to Wellow (lights required in the tunnels). On the 17th Jan we have a hilly ride out to Marlborough to stretch the legs.
Audax Series 2021
We are going to attempt to run our traditional audax series in a COVID-safe manner, starting with the 50km Audax on 24th January. We’re hoping to find a local café or pub to provide some take-away refreshments, rather than the usual indoor catering we provide. We’ll publish the route nearer the time, so keep an eye on the website. The Audax series is a great way to stretch your distance, starting with the 50km ride and then increasing the distance by 25km each month finishing with a full 200km Randonnée in July. For further details on the Audax series please see this link.
You could even use the 50km Audax as part of your distance towards the Ride a Winter 100 miles for the NHS, if you would like to help raise some money for NHS Charities Together. The Challenge runs from 23rd to 31st January. For further details see this link.
Keeping ourselves COVID-safe
We’d like to thank everyone for your efforts to keep ourselves safe these past few months, but with the change to Tier 3 and the new strain of the coronavirus it’s now more important than ever we follow the COVID rules. Please remember to practice social distancing during our rides, particularly at the start and when we stop and to follow our COVID-19 Code of Conduct which you can read when signing up for the rides.
A Happy and Safe New Year to all!
