iCycle – Winter riding 2025

Autumn and Winter are approaching!

It has been great to see so many riding across all the rides over the last few months and to see new members joining us………..welcome on board and thanks to everyone for their ongoing support and in particular to those that help set up the rides.  

The clocks change on Sunday 26^th October so starting on Sunday 16th November we will shorten the ride distances for each ride and where needed move the start times to reflect the light and potential weather.  These will be as follows:

Ride	Start Time	Distance	Start point	Ride Co-ordinator
Short Sunday Ride	9am	35 to 40 miles	La Piazza	Richard Batting
Sunday Club Ride	9am	45 to 50 miles	La Piazza	Danny Pelligrin
Long Sunday Ride	9am	50 to 60 miles	La Piazza	Roger Penn
Mid Week Ride	9am	35 to 40 miles	Various	Peter Lambert
Friday Ride	9.15am	30 to 35 miles	La Piazza	Matt Raw and David Leonard
Saturday Ride	9.15am	30 to 35 miles	La Piazza	Matt Raw and David Leonard

NB:

• ·         Please note the change in start point for the Short Sunday Ride and the Long Sunday Ride.
• ·         There will be gravel rides over the winter and details of these will be communicated

Mudguards and lights

The iCycle policy is that mudguards are mandatory from 1 November to 31 March. The minimum requirement is for a rear mudguard where the tail extends to, or preferably below, a level with the axle; rear mudguards should be fitted with an additional mud-flap.

If you arrive to join a club ride with no, or inadequate mudguards, you will not be welcomed by your group and the Group Leader may send you away!

iCycle also strongly recommends the use of both front and rear lights, not only in winter, but throughout the year. 

Group Speeds

The group speeds remain unchanged. These are:

Fast: Aimed at those who expect, in normal summer weather, to ride at 19+mph

Fast Intermediate: For those aiming at 17-19mph.

Intermediate: For those aiming for 15-17mph.

Social: For those aiming for 13-15mph.

Signing Up

When you sign up you select your group speed. You will have visibility of others who have signed up for the ride and in which speed group. Please ensure you sign up for the speed you want to cycle at so your speed matches the group you have selected. We have a no drop policy on all rides.

However, if you are in the fast or fast intermediate group and struggling to keep up, please remember there may be a group riding behind you on the road and you may want to drop back to join them. Please communicate this to the group before you drop back.

All members ride and make the decision to ride at their own risk

Ride changes

In exceptional circumstances the ride may be amended at short notice (<48hrs) to take account of anticipated challenging weather conditions. If you sign up early, please check the day before the ride that there has been no alteration to the routing.

iCycle – Friday and Saturday rides

With the sad closure of Flamme Rouge iCycle believe it is important to support the cycling community in Bedford and give an opportunity for those that rode the Flamme Rouge shop rides to ride as a group on a Friday and Saturday.

From Friday 4^th and Saturday 5^th July onwards iCycle will run rides on a Friday and Saturday. Here are the details……………

The Rides

iCycle will post a ride on the website each week for the subsequent Friday and Saturday. The Friday ride will be posted on a Tuesday and Saturday ride on a Wednesday.  

• The rides will be an approximately 30 mile ride with the coffee stop towards the end of the ride and close to Bedford. The aim is to use independent coffee shops and cafes.
• The ride will start from the same venue each week at The Piazza - St Paul’s Square MK40 1SQ. 
• The routes will be dictated by the wind direction and by ensuring variety.
• Rides will be posted and signed up to as they are now on the website. 
• The ride will start at 9.15am
• The speed groups will remain the same.
• Fast 19+ mph
• Fast Intermediate  17 to 19 mph
• Intermediate 15 to 17 mph
• Social 13 to 15 mph
• Those riding will need to be iCycle members or on the 6 month membership trial.

NB: The above is to get us going.  Once we are up and running and have collected feedback we can change if necessary.

Posting rides

• Peter has kindly offered to post the first 2 weeks Friday and Saturday rides to get us going.
• We are looking for 3 or 4 volunteers to help us with the route planning and posting on a rota basis.  If you would like to do this please let us Simon or Nick know ASAP.  We will train you how to do it.
• Whoever posts the ride will also confirm timings and numbers with the coffee stop.

iCycle Membership

• Anybody that does join a ride needs to be a iCycle member or be a trial member.  There is a 6 month free trial so hopefully this will encourage people to give it a go.  We will make this clear in the communication. Please do encourage anyone you know who was a Flamme Rouge rider to give us a go.

Sunday Rides and the introduction of the Sunday Club Ride

We currently have a growing membership which is great to see.  Given this and to help us attract new members we are going to introduce a third Sunday ride.  The ride will be called the Sunday Club Ride and is aimed to compliment the Long Sunday and Short Sunday ride.  The LSR and SSR do not change as shown in the summary below. 

• The Sunday Club Ride will be pre-dominantly focused at Intermediates but all speed groups are open, it will cover 50 to 60 miles and start at Start at St Paul’s Square, next to ‘La Piazza’ at 9am
• It will be posted on the iCycle website. 

Although this ride is focused on Intermediates it is open to everyone and we hope it gives another option for LSR and SSR riders if they would like to ride a different distance to normal and start at a different time.

Additionally, to attract new members we have extended the 3 months complimentary membership to 6 months so if you do know of any potential members please encourage them to give it a go!

Danny Pelligrin has very kindly offered to support this ride and post the rides on our website.  Thanks Danny.

The first Sunday Club Ride will be on Sunday 25^th May and we will be setting up a WhatsApp group for the ride.

We hope the ride gives you all more choice, allows potential members to see what iCycle is all about and helps us recruitment new members.

Sunday rides - SUMMARY

Here is a summary of the rides.  These are summer mileage ranges which may vary from week to week depending on the weather and the routes chosen.   All speed groups are available for each ride.

Short Sunday ride

This ride remains as is, 35 to 45 miles and starting at The Boat Club at 9am – NO CHANGE

Sunday Club ride

This leaves La Piazza, St Paul’s Square at 9am and will covers 50 to 60 miles.

Long Sunday ride

This ride remains as is, 60 to 70 miles and starting at the Boat House at 8.30am – NO CHANGE

Over the summer a number of 100 mile rides will be planned in.

It has been great to see so many members riding this year and the increasing numbers wearing club kit. Thanks for your ongoing support and here’s to a very enjoyable summer of riding.

Simon Lowe (Chairperson) and the iCycle Commitee

iCycle Gravel Rides

We do not run regular off road rides, but when the mood takes us or when wintery weather or adverse road conditions there may be enthusiasm to go off road onto the gravel. There are fantastic routes around Bedfordshire and surrounding counties to enjoy.

 

This is thanks to the efforts of iCycle member Dave Munday. Dave will post gravel rides  during  the preceding week on the Events calendar and appropriate ride WhatsApp group. You can access via ‘WhatsApp Groups’ heading on the ‘New Members’ page.

These are usually on a Friday. The start and finish point will vary depending on the direction of the ride, but will be stated on the ride posting. You are welcome to join the ride. The expectation is you can ride 30-40 miles off road at a pace of around 13-14mph. You will need a gravel or mountain bike equipped with suitable tyres. 

On occasions, if the weather is poor iCycle road rides may be changed to off road at late notice. If you are a current iCycle member watch out for any postings on the iCycle Cycling Information WhatsApp Group.

If you are reading this as a non-member, are a gravel fan and would like to join in the fun, we would love to have you join us. Please sign up for a 3 month FREE trial.

Simon Lowe Sept. 2025