News about the club and it’s members
SRAMcc now has branded t-shirts and hoodies! The t-shirts are available both in regular and technical fabrics.
The front logo is about 100mm wide and is printed above the left breast. The rear logo is printed in the upper half of the clothing item on the back! All clothing items are offered in black only.
Regular fabric t-shirts are £15.50.
Technical fabric t-shirts are £16.00.
Hoodies are £21.50.
Please click on each clothing item to see sizing information.
In July, we are going to ride two routes in and around the Brecon Beacons. The ride start and end points are centred on the Visitor Centre in Brecon. The visitor centre or booking.com can help with finding accommodation for those who wish to ride on both the Saturday and Sunday.
These rides are tough, you need to be riding towards the top end of the Thursday rides or a GIOTW regular in terms of your level of fitness.
Riding the roads of Wales in the wet is absolutely no fun at all, so be prepared for last minute changes to the routes. The weather would have to be forecast to be very poor in order for us to cancel the rides altogether, but it is a possibility. When you make your accommodation bookings therefore, ensure that you can cancel without a fee (unless you want to spend a rain sodden weekend in Brecon of course).
Usual ride rules apply, you will need lights (a rear light that will run for the entire ride is recommended), drink, spares, more snacks than usual, money, membership cards and a phone. The wearing of a cycle helmet is strongly recommended.
Lunch stop venues are suggestions only, and of course stopping on route for an impromptu espresso is considered an absolute must.
We rode these routes last year and they were pretty awesome. The general concensus was that everyone wanted to have another go at them this year.
Starting at the Visitor Centre in Brecon at 10:00 on the Saturday.
Address: Cattle Market car park, Brecon, Powys, LD3 9DA
Tel: 01874 622485
Email: brectic@powys.gov.uk
140km today taking in the iconic Gospel Pass and The Tumble.
Leaving the start point we head north to Builth Wells, then south to Hay-On-Wye on NCN Route 8. Then it’s a long climb up the Gospel Pass before dropping down in the Abergavenny on NCN Route 42. Here we can grab something to eat (there’s a Waitrose!) before heading up The Tumble.
This is the last climb of the day, before heading back along the valleys to Brecon via Crickhowell and Talybont-on-Usk.
Strava link to the 140km route
Saturday Evening Meal
For those who are staying over, a curry and beer will be required after such a hard days efforts. Zeera’s is great, and we can re-fuel for the Sunday.
Starting at the Visitor Centre in Brecon, again at 10:00am.
Leaving Brecon we head west to climb Devils Elbow, before dropping down to Glyn-neath. We grab lunch at the Garwnant Visitor Centre. Then follow minor roads past the Llwyn-on Reservoir, followed by a short section on the A470 to Cefn Coed.
North then past the Pontsticill Reservoir and on to Talybont-on-Usk. Heading east to Llangynidr then straight to Bwlch.
Strava link to the 91km Sunday route
If you’re interested in a professional bike fit, one of the most highly rated in our area (near Winchester) is Vankru. They have kindly offered a 10% discount to all SRAMcc members. More details about Vankru here:
SRAMcc is affiliated with the Wessex Cyclo-Cross league. Affiliation enables SRAMcc riders to accrue points from their races which count towards both individual and team standings in the Wessex league.
The Wessex league races typically take place between September and February at venues located between Southampton and Didcot. Keen racers typically race on a dedicated Cyclo-cross bike but Gravel and MTB bikes are also allowed and a common site in the league.
Races are split in to age groups and male and female races which means you should always be racing against your peers. SRAMcc have a growing number of riders participating across most groups with 15 riders racing at least once last season and a number of others expressing an interest to join in.
This increase in riders is testament to the good spirit within the club and it’s quite common for riders to arrive early ahead of their race and also stay on for subsequent races to cheer on their fellow team mates, cowbells and vocal support is encouraged.
Entering a race is easy. Go to the British Cycling website and search for Wessex Cyclocross League in the events section, and enter the appropriate race for your age/sex. You can also find out more information at the official Wessex League website: http://www.wessexcyclocross.co.uk/. If you enter in the early part of the season Wessex will allocate you a fixed number for the duration of the season.
Lastly there is also a SRAMcc Cyclocross Facebook sub group where all things Cyclocross is discussed including training sessions, race prep and results.
British Cycling affiliation means a cost to the club which is met via by our subscription system like many other clubs.
Note that paying your club subscription does not give you automatic membership of British Cycling. You need to subscribe to British Cycling separately and they have their own associated fee. If you need a race license, like the Halfords 10% discount, or want to take advantage of any of the other offers available to British Cycling members then we strongly recommend you join British Cycling.
What BC affiliation means for you as an individual
A benefit of our club’s affiliation is that you can get up to £20 off membership when joining British Cycling for the first time.
What BC affiliation means for us as a club
Insurance cover for rides and club officials as detailed here. For the purposes of club rides, a club official is defined as any club member who takes on the responsibility of organising or leading a ride.
We also make use of the British Cycling Online Subscription Manager. This allows payment of club subscriptions using British Cycling’s secure web payment system. All major credit and debit cards are accepted on this system. There is no charge to the club and the money is paid directly into our club’s bank account.
Afan is a brilliant trail centre for just about any mountain biker, the trails available from the visitor centre range from a gentle blue to an epic black loop for an all day ride.
Meet at the services just over the Severn Bridge for about 09:00 before convoying over to the visitor centre together.
It’s the SRAMCC Summer BBQ so keep Sunday the 3rd of September free.
We have hired one of the BBQs at Wilverley between Burley and Brockenhurst for a summer social. The club has paid the cost of the BBQ hire. In addition we will need a small contribution of £3-£5 per person to cover the cost of food, drink and the charcoal.
We will plan a road route originating from Five Rivers on the Sunday morning meeting up at the BBQ site at around midday, plus hopefully a New Forest MTB route.
Time trial on course P521c round the Woodford valley.
If you want to take part, then keep the 10th of September free. Sign on will be at The Bridge Inn car park at 08:30, rider briefing at 08:45 and the first rider off at 09:00. As with rides organised by the Salisbury Tri Club, we will be arranging for the pub to open at 10:00.
Round the island, with the option of riding to and from Southampton for those who wish.
An early start of 06:30 from 5 Rivers for those wishing to cycle to the ferry terminal in Southampton, or meet us for the 09:00 ferry at the Red Funnel ferry terminal. The crossing takes about 60 minutes.
The ride profile makes for a very easy ride to Southampton! Strava link here of the route.
Once we get to the island, we will go either clockwise or counter-clockwise, depending on the prevailing wind direction.
The total distance round the island is 106km, following the marked route. The profile is pretty much the same, no matter which way round you ride!
Lunch (most important) will be at the White Horse Inn as this is about half way round the route so works for either direction.
As a guide, last year we caught the 17:30 ferry back from East Cowes to Southampton. Once back in Southampton then you can either cycle back from Southampton to Salisbury, or if you didn’t drive down try and grab a lift back from someone who did 🙂
Both Stonehenge Cycles and Hayball Cyclesport have generously offered a 10% discount on full price parts and accessories when you present your SRAMcc membership card. Please note that this discount is not applicable to cycles, sale items or workshop labour charges.
Please take advantage of this offer and of course at the same time feel great by helping support your local cycle shops.
