After visits to many other pubs we returned to an old favourite of mine this week and it certainly didn’t disappoint. Glooston village hall is a great location in my opinion – easy access to quiet routes (some with hills and some a lot flatter) and pretty central for many riders in Mike Vybiral’s Summer Cycling group.

There were the 3 led rides again with slightly shorter distances given that the nights are really drawing in now. The turnout was again superb – everyone seemed to have lights – long sleeves (or arm warmers) were the order of the day for most with quite a chill in the air. The weather was still and clear which made for great riding conditions and the only incident of note appeared to be a Garmin failure and puncture for Sam Nettel in May Naylor and Nick Fenwick’s group – thankfully he made it back to the hall in the end (I think Sam may have joined the back of my long ride group briefly which is why we thought we’d lost someone?).

It looked for a moment like Chris Weston was going to miss his curry due to an issue with his horse at home but he got it sorted and got back for supper.

Caroline, Lisa and Paul were our hosts and served up about 45 curries and lots of drinks on our return – I’m sure we all agree that the food was again delicious and plentiful. Thanks guys, we’ll be back next season if you’ll have us?

We seem to have a regular number of riders now – approximately 45 to 50 every week which is lovely and the atmosphere before, during and after the ride has remained true to Mike Vybiral’s original idea ‘all inclusive.’

We will ensure that that remains the common thread running through what we do and if anyone has any requests or ideas to ensure we area as inclusive as possible please don’t hesitate to speak to Pete, myself or one of the other leaders so we don’t miss a trick.

And that’s it – next week is the last MVSC ride for the 2023 season (The excellent ‘Bell’ at Burton Overy) – it’s absolutely flown by but from what I’ve seen everyone’s had a blast and many new friendships have been made.

Some photos attached as always.

Thanks again to you all.

Nick Timms.