Shipston Cycling Club back on the road

THE Easter weekend marked the return of Shipston Cycling Club's popular Sunday group rides.

Under British Cycling guidelines, riding was only allowed in pairs from the start of 2021, however, the sport's governing body permitted group rides to return as part of its The Way Forward roadmap.

On Easter Sunday, Shipston members enjoyed a 30-mile ride, including a stop-off for coffee and cake at Gilks's Garage Café – a former Kineton family blacksmith, car dealership and repair shop that is now run by the same family as a café

Cycling club chairman Andy Smith said: "It’s great to be back riding together again.

"Our club is all about sociable, chatty group rides and the lockdown made that impossible.

"Some things were obviously different, for example, we had to enjoy our coffee and cake on the lawn outside Gilks’s, but that’s a small price to pay for the joy of being together again as a club."

The cycling club is now looking ahead to the spring and summer with renewed vigour.

Andy added: "Now that we know what is and isn’t permitted by British Cycling, we can start planning ahead again.

"We gained lots of new members last summer with our very first women-only rides, and we’re already thinking of new ways to welcome more new faces to our club”.

Anyone who wants to try out a ride with Shipston Cycling Club is encouraged to get in touch via the website at www.shipstoncycling.co.uk.