2018 ride plans

Greetings all,

Happy new year to all our members. Both those who’ve ridden with us in the past, and those who are thinking of riding with us in 2018.

We’ve already got the season off to a great start, with both our regular Saturday Club Run and Coffee & Canvas rides logging some glorious kilometres this month.

Subs
A reminder that annual subscriptions for club membership are due 1st March 2018. The good news is fees remain unchanged at £25 for full membership, and £10 for second claim. We also offer a discounted rate for under 16s.

To whet your appetites ahead of sub renewal, we wanted to remind you all how regular ColVelo rides are structured, as well as what’s new for 2018.

Saturday Club Rides
The Saturday Club ride remains a staple of the club’s regular offerings; a variety of routes exploring the lanes of East Anglia with short 70km Tendering loops extending out to 140km rides to Orford, and everything in between. Whilst not a structured ride, the focus is on steady progress whilst maintaining a “no-drops” policy. Naturally during winter shorter rides are prevalent in order to keep spirits high, with the distances lengthening once the clocks spring forward! Of course a coffee stop is always scheduled. Rides meet at Crouch Street Bakes at 0800, wheels rolling at 0830 unless notified otherwise.

Coffee & Canvas
ColVelo’s flagship rides, running all year round. Coffee & Canvas is a great introduction for newcomers to the club, and a way to meet and get to know your cycling brethren. As a socially oriented ride, distances are generally between 40 and 65 kilometres, with a relaxed pace of around 23km/h. Rides go out from the town centre every Sunday morning at 9am, returning by lunchtime and hopefully allowing for a bit of a chat along the way!

We are also hoping to develop C&C to offer the odd all-day ride over the summer, visiting some historical points of interest or maybe just the coast for some ice cream.

The ethos behind C&C is cycling as an activity, not a sport, so we look forward to seeing you for some social cycling.

ColVelo Espresso
An evolution of our Summer Sunday offerings. With ColVelo Espresso we want to offer something a little more spirited to compliment our Coffee & Canvas Rides.

Starting in May, we’ll be running regular, shorter, sharper rides on a Sunday morning, without being as structured as a chain gang. The rides will be around 90 minutes, on some well surfaced roads with an eye on being home before anybody knows you’ve gone!

These rides are a chance to stretch the legs and get your lungs working even if you’ve not got a lot of time. Keep your eyes on our Strava club page for more details in the not too distant future.

ColVelo GraVelo
The original and best GraVelo! At the start of Summer 2017 we began experimenting with our now popular GraVelo rides.

Recent years have seen the rise of the gravel bike and dedicated events springing up more and more. At ColVelo we’ve spent the last year seeking out the best of the local ribinou, tracks, trails and bridle paths for our members enjoyment. With plenty of local knowledge, we manage to mix routes ranging from 30km to 120km and many more planned! After a successful trip to the wilds of Northumberland and the Kielder Forest last summer, plans are already in place for the second ColVelo GraVelo tour to Mid Wales this June.

Until now GraVelo has been exclusive to members of ColVelo, but from this year we’ll be offering club rides as part of our regular ride rotation.

Accept no substitutes, dust down that CX, Gravel or MTB and join ColVelo to ride the best of the local GRAVELO!

The Monuments.
They’re what we’re famous for: the pinnacle of ColVelo long distance riding!

We offer five epic monthly rides from April to August, each ranging from 220km to 310km. They’re a genuine test for the legs, exploring all corners of East Anglia on some fantastic routes we’ve honed over the years.

Whether you target a single ride or aim to complete all five, these rides are a real highlight of our calendar. Not to mention there’s a snazzy t-shirt on offer for anyone who does manage a clean sweep in a single season…

Links
Strava: ColVelo
Instagram: @colvelo_collective 
Twitter: @colVeloCC
Facebook: /ColVeloCC

We hope the above gives enough information about the variety of riding offered by Colvelo in 2018, as always please refer to the club Strava page for solid ride plans and GPX files. If there’s anything else you need to know, hit us up on a ride or the social media links above!

Best regards,

The ColVelo Collective.