Club News - July 2026
In this edition:
Dates for Your Diary: Calendar for Away days and other events including: Century Challenge; Split ride 2; Green Plus Weekend.
WhatsApp Community
Hot weather protocols
Century Challenge
Split ride 2
Family bike ride
Women’s taster ride
Mechanical evening & kit sale
Dates for Your Diary
Provisional Calendar for 2026
Set out below are the events, in addition to the usual route schedule, that we are planning for 2026.
Sept: Split ride 2 (Sun 13th Sept)
Sept: Green+ weekend Dorchester (19th/20th Sept)
Sept: Century Challenge (Sun 27th Sept)
Dec: Christmas do (Fri 11th Dec)
Dec: AGM (date tbc)
WhatsApp community
Over the last few years, we’ve been making and working together in various WhatsApp groups. It’s been a bit tricky to keep track of them all, so we’ve decided as a club to use a rather new tool from WhatsApp called a WhatsApp community.
Think of it as one place where you can see all the communication channels of the Corsham Cycling Club. The only channel you really need to pay attention to is the announcements channel, where we’ll share updates about ride schedules for extreme weather warnings and post polls and surveys. Also, there’s a route and events schedule group, where you can see the upcoming rides.
Only community admins can post messages, but Corsham Cycling Club members can add comments to posts as needed. You’ll also notice other WhatsApp groups for the various events we run throughout the year. Access to these groups is mainly restricted to those members who are actually attending those events. You can request to join a group if you wish to attend.
We’ll keep adding new groups as the Community grows. If anyone has any trouble joining or any questions about the WhatsApp group, please contact T E White for help and support, either in person during a ride or via a direct WhatsApp message.
I would urge you to keep any replies to any post courteous and polite. It is possible for us to remove members from the WhatsApp committee.
To join the community please see the link in the email version of the newsletter, or ask a committee member when out on a ride.
Hot weather protocols
With the increasing regularity of extreme heat conditions during the summer we are introducing hot weather protocols. These are:
Red weather warning - club rides cancelled
Forecast temperatures to exceed 30C - Sunday rides to be moved to an 8am start
Century Challenge
We have moved the Century Challenge from it’s traditional slot of July to Sunday 27th of September. The challenge is an opportunity to ride either a 100km ride or a 100 mile ride. The 100 miler will start at 8am and the 100km at 9am.
Split ride 2
On Sunday 13th September we have two rides going to Salisbury. The café stop is the Rifleman’s Table on The Close opposite the Cathedral.
The long ride
Starting from Springfield at 8.00am is 165km with 1559m of climbing (102 miles 5115ft).
The short ride
Starting from Mere at 9am is 88km with 705m of climbing (55 miles 2313ft). There is free parking at Salisbury Street Car Park in Mere, postcode BA12 6HF, toilets are available. According to AA route planner it is 29 miles from Corsham (Springfield) and a 53-minute journey. Please liaise with other members to share transport.
Both routes are now available on the club website.
Family bike ride
After the success of last year’s family bicycle ride event, Corsham Town Council are once again running this event on Sunday 23rd August starting at 9.30am from Springfield Campus.
The event is FREE and open to all ages and abilities (as long as able to complete the 10k route).
The bike ride is a guided ride of groups of about 10 riders, around Corsham parish, to encourage cycling to local destinations such as schools, etc.
All children MUST be accompanied by an adult
Tickets must be booked as numbers are limited: Book here
More information, including the route, can be found on the Eventbrite ticket booking site using the above link or the QR code on the attached poster.
If anyone would like to support the ride by leading one of the groups or marshalling at a couple of key road crossings please get in touch with Tom Winskill.
Women’s taster ride
Our second Women's Taster Ride on Sunday 14th June was another great success, with four new riders joining us for a relaxed 24 mile route. This time the weather was much kinder, making for perfect riding conditions.
A well-earned café stop at The Flying Monk halfway round gave everyone the chance to refuel, chat and get to know each other before heading back.
Its been fantastic to see so many women giving cycling a go, and the feedback has been overwhelmingly positive. Here are a few of the lovely comments received:
"Thank you for organising the ladies taster ride last weekend. I really enjoyed it, I was made to feel very welcome and it was a nice introduction to the club."
"Huge thanks for the ladies ride on Sunday, thoroughly enjoyed the ride. I rode with J, A and L who were lovely and very welcoming. Really loving being part of the club".
Even better, the taster rides have already led to a significant increase in our women's membership. A very big thank you to everyone who helped make the day so welcoming - we're looking forward to seeing even more new faces on future rides.
Mechanical evening & kit sale
On Tuesday 9th June the club held an informal mech evening covering basic maintenance and how to deal with issues on the road, primarily how to fix a puncture. It was an enjoyable and informative evening with some useful advice passed on. Many thanks to all those who helped out, in particular Bob Greenwood for his practical demonstrations.
Gravel weekend New Forest 27/28th June:
Fourteen members of Corsham Cycle Club returned to the New Forest for our second club gravel weekend on 27th and 28th June. Although the weather was hot, it was thankfully cooler than the previous week, making for ideal riding conditions.
The weekend kicked off on Friday evening with amazing burgers at a local pub, providing the perfect start to two great days in the saddle. Saturday's 45-mile ride took us through beautiful woodland, with plenty of wild ponies and a few challenging climbs along the way. We had all definitely earned the delicious evening meal at a local Italian restaurant and also celebrated a birthday with yet more cake. Sunday's shorter 30-mile route still had a few surprises, including some particularly unforgiving gorse!
As always, the weekend was about more than just the miles covered on two wheels. New friendships were made, plenty of laughs were shared, and the feedback has been overwhelmingly positive. A fantastic weekend of great riding, good company and excellent food - we're already looking forward to the next one.
