Club News - June 2025
In this edition:
Membership renewal
Dates for your diary
Reports on recent events - The Belgium Trip and The Challenge Ride
Membership Renewal
Big thanks to everyone who has renewed their membership and a warm welcome to those of you who have recently joined for the first time. If you need to renew your membership, just follow click the ‘Join us’ button at the top of this page to review membership options.
Dates for your diary
Provisional Calendar for 2025 (updated June 2025)
Set out below are the remaining events, in addition to the usual route schedule, that we are planning for 2025.
July: Green+ Weekend (5/6 July); two rides from Hereford
July: Century Challenge (Sun 20 July): Ride 100 miles or 100km
Aug: Flat 200k/120k (Green+ oriented) (Sun 17 Aug)
Sept: Split ride 2 - tbc (Sun 14 Sept)
Sept: Evening event (Thursday 25th September) Physio and Nutrition
Dec: Christmas do (Friday 5th December, venue Cricket Club)
Dec: AGM (Monday 8th December)
We now have one event remaining which involves a stay away from Corsham: The Green Plus Away Weekend (5/6 July) which is now full.
Coming up soon is The Century Challenge (Sunday 20 July) which offers the opportunity for riders to complete a ton (100 miles) or a tonne (100km). While open to all club members these rides are designed for improving riders who would like to achieve one of these milestones. These rides do not have big hills - no Bowdens or Bannerdowns - and have plenty of opportunities for cafe stops. If you typically ride Green plus or Orange, maybe with a bit of extra training under your belt, one of these rides could be for you. N.B. the 100 mile ride starts at 8am, the 100km ride at 9am. Route details for these rides can be found on the ride schedule on the club website or at the links below:
On Thursday 25 September we have a presentation by ‘Ascend Endurance’, who are ‘a small, multi-disciplinary team, offering a remote integrated coaching service that helps athletes get everything they need in one place. Essentially removing the gaps between services by bringing together endurance coaching, strength and conditioning, nutrition support, and physiotherapy into one connected ecosystem.
Whether you are wanting to build endurance, speed, or power on the bike, or you are keen to enter cycling events, maybe Duathlon/Triathlon events - these are all elements we can support you with. Our website, linked here: Ascend Endurance has a link to book in a free discovery call, or ask us when out on a ride with the club.’
In addition, Ascend Endurance is happy to offer a 10% discount on their monthly coaching service for members of Corsham Cycling Club.
On Friday 5 December we are holding our Christmas party at the Cricket Club. There will be hot food, a bar and a disco. Club members and partners are welcome - more details to follow nearer the date.
Equally exciting is the Annual General Meeting which is pencilled in for Monday 8 December. It’s never too early to start considering nominations for the coveted Garlic Award. We’ve probably already got some candidates for Riders of the Year too.
Reports on recent events
Belgium
Between 15-19th of May, 9 of the club’s members rode in Belgium, cycling many of the iconic climbs and routes that feature in the Spring Classics. Based in Oudenaarde (2 hours East of Calais), the team undertook 3 great routes starting from the Ronde Van Vlaanderen (Tour of Flanders) Museum each day. There are several Tour of Flanders routes, of varying length and ascent; each is colour coded and very well marked.
On day one, the team rode the Red route, 115Km and 1600m of climbing. The road surfaces are generally excellent, except for the cobbled sections which are as demanding as they look (but great fun!). Climbing the Koppenberg, Patterberg and Muur van Geraardsbergen has a ‘playing at Wembley’ feel about them. These are the climbs where cycling icons such as Merckx, Gilbert, Boonen and Van Der Poel have clinched victory in the Spring Classics.
Day 2 involved a ride from Oudenaarde to Roubaix, 110km but only 672m of climbing but including the Oude Kwaremont and the Koppenberg (which is brutal). Roubaix is, of course, the home of the outdoor velodrome which is the finish to Paris-Roubaix, one of the five cycling monuments (along with Milan-San Remo, Tour of Flanders, Liege-Bastogne-Liege and Il Lombardia). The velodrome is ramshackle but a cycling mecca!
On the final day, the team rode the RVV Blue route, only 80km but with 750m of climbing, returning to the classic climbs of the previous days for a chance to improve our Strava times. Cycling in Belgium is fantastic; the drivers are considerate, the scenery is stunning and the climbs, especially the cobbled ones, sharp and challenging (but avoidable!). Oudenaarde is a great town, steeped in cycling culture and, of course, Belgian beer!
The following pictures illustrate the cobbled climbs, the velodrome in Roubaix and - not for the faint-hearted - Tom Boonen’s legs!
The Challenge ride
Just before 6.30am on Saturday 14 June a half-dozen riders and their support driver met outside Springfield to start this year’s Challenge Ride. Bags were loaded up and with a minimum of faffing about they were off, making good progress through Urchfont and Upavon with a first cafe stop at Wilton just outside Salisbury.
One of the party then had to return home for personal reasons, leaving a smaller but still tight group to carry on. More ups and downs were duly dealt with on the way to Wincanton for lunch, via such metropolises as Berwick St John and Donhead St Mary.
With a couple of further visits to the flapjack box and the water bottles in the car, the team rolled into Taunton in good time. Although several of the party were meeting each other for the first time the group worked well together.
The two pictures below show the group looking confident at the start of each day.
Following a more than decent Indian meal and recovery drinks, Day 2 started at the more agreeable time of 9am. Again, with very little faffing, bags were sorted and off they went.
On the first day, the group had been quite complimentary about the route which was heartening as the route planner was also the support driver. On day 2 the main challenge was a little hill called Crowcombe Combe. After the ascent of Crowcombe Combe in the Quantock Hills, the group’s opinion of the route and it’s planner changed somewhat, with questions asked of the parentage of the route planner. They still ate the flapjack though.
The next two pictures show why there was some disquiet about Crowcombe Combe: it’s very steep!
After several kilometres of mainly downhill and flat terrain riders consumed lunch at The Avalon Marshes cafe on the Somerset Levels. They made short work of the second big climb, up Deer Leap to the top of the Mendips. Big climbs done, and with some long downhill stretches on the way home they got the job done in good time and in good spirits. Chapeau all!
The Challenge Ride in Numbers
Total distance: 331 km (207 miles)
Day 1 distance: 203km (127 miles)
Day 2 distance: 128km (80 miles)
Total ascent: 3576m (11,802ft)
Day 1 ascent 2005m (6615ft)
Day 2 ascent: 1571m (5187ft)
Steepest ascent: Three ramps on Crowcombe Combe each at 25%
Second steepest: The 20% sections between the 25% sections on, er, Crowcombe Combe
Day 1 typical average speed: 24.6kph (15.4mph)
Day 2 typical average speed: 23.7kph (14.8mph)
No. of punctures: 0
No. of pieces of flapjack consumed: 19
No. of riders sharing the one pot of Sudacrem: possibly at least 2