South Bucks Midweek Cycling Newsletter - February 2023

South Bucks Midweek Cycling Newsletter - February 2023

It is a fairly short newsletter this month, but I wanted to give you an update on our Cirencester trip.

Feel free to share pictures of your exploits on our Facebook page or send them to me for possible publication.

Thinking of joining a ride for the first time? We have a helpful page on our website which should answer most of your questions, but if you want advice please get in contact.

If you spot any interesting articles, cafe changes or want to contribute your observations, please let me know.

Safe cycling,

Peter Robinson

Secretary, South Bucks Midweek Cycling

Cotswold Holiday in April is nearly full!

We are returning to the Royal Agricultural University at Cirencester for a four night cycling holiday from 24th to 28th April 2023. When we have been there previously the meals have been good and substantial and they set aside a room for us to eat together. There is ample car parking if you want to drive down and there is secure bike storage. There is a bar for gathering in the evenings. Many of you have seen and completed the booking form, which I have now turned off as we are almost full and there are no single rooms left. There are 20 taking part so far. We have one twin room remaining for two people sharing and six double rooms for a couple at £540 or for single occupancy at £342. Please contact me ASAP if you are interested in the remaining rooms as I intend to confirm the booking and send the deposit to RAU in mid-February. Apparently, plenty of accommodation is a also available in August/September when students are away so bear that in mind if you fancy organising a holiday then.

If you are unable to book a suitable room with us at RAU, it may be possible to stay at a local B&B in Cirencester and still have your evening meal with us for a modest price; about £8, depending what you choose. Please let me know if you want to do that as I will need to tell RAU how many extra evening meals are required.

Please also contact me if you would like to be on a reserve list.

In Case of Emergency (ICE) helmet tags

Last month I mentioned these handy helmet stickers which can contain your emergency contact details, blood group, medical conditions, allergies or whatever might be needed after an accident. They are weatherproof and stick fast to a helmet. Your committee decided to buy some and make them available to members at £2 each, with a limit of two per member. One hopes that an accident will never happen and that friends would be there to help, but we all ride alone some of the time and this would be conspicuously available to the emergency services. If you would like one or two, please contact me and we will work out how to get them to you.

Your location using What3Words

Many of you I am sure will already use what3words. If so you can skip this item, but if not, read on ...

A recent Coffee Pot discussion about "In Case of Emergency" (ICE) information, prompted the recollection that when calling for an ambulance the caller was asked for a postcode, or a description of the location, which it was not possible to provide on a country lane away from settlements. A grid reference was offered but not accepted. What3Words was created for just this situation. A postcode was designed for delivering letters not pin-pointing a location on a hillside somewhere. What3Words is a free App that you have on your smartphone which converts the phone's GPS location into three words which uniquely identify a 3 metre square anywhere on earth. The three words are randomly allocated, with no meaning, and are unchanging. In an emergency it is very much easier to give, understand and remember three words, than a string of random numbers representing a grid reference or a latitude / longitude. For example, the what3words location for our meeting place in Great KIngshill is gourmet.silver.sideboard. Click the link below to have a look.

what3words location for our meeting place in Great Kingshill

Newcomer Rides - could you help?

Would you be willing to lead a Newcomer Ride of 15 to 20 miles at 8 to 10 mph to encourage newcomers to try cycling in our lovely area? Any experienced leader could do this, but bear in mind the pace and distance required; we don't want to put newcomers off! If you might be willing to do this occasionally, please contact me. It could be in your local area or somewhere else that is not too demanding for a newcomer.

We would like to attract non-members new to cycling, but what about all those members we never see on our rides? This Newsletter goes to about 765 members of Cycling UK in Buckinghamshire from the south to Aylesbury. Many may not wish to cycle with a group and perhaps joined for other reasons, but I suspect that some might be open to persuasion. Perhaps you joined Cycling UK and bought a bike, but it has never been comfortable, or you are used to driving on main roads which aren't suitable for cycling, but you are worried about getting lost on unfamiliar lanes. If you need some support to get cycling please contact me and let's see if we can help.

For more information visit our website or join our Facebook Group. If you want to see where your friends are riding check our club page on Strava. You can get a free account on Strava to log your rides.

To plan your next ride with us check our Rides Schedule.

South Bucks Midweek

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South Bucks Midweek Cycling Newsletter - February 2023