Club Update - 14th May 

Spring is in the air, Kent is full of daffodils and tulips, and club cycling has resumed!

Club Rides

Cub rides have resumed from 29th March. British Cycling affiliated rides can ride in groups of up to 15, but we'll still need to stick to groups of 6 when we start and stop.

From 17th May the rules are set to relax further, with group sizes of any size allowed, and cafes allowed to serve people indoors. Still only groups of 6 indoors though, but no limits outside.

Many SFACC groups are currently riding in groups of 6, but we are leaving it up to ride coordinators to decide with your group how to best organise yourselves.

Our April/May edition of our magazine, The Milestone...

Sportives and audaxes

Our Sportive (on 13th June) and the Fairies Flat Audax series (11th July) are set to run - see the events page for details. It will be fantastic to be able to ride together again across the glorious Kent countryside. Please do register - numbers are growing fast. 

Club Kit update

We’ve just completed an extensive exercise of asking over 30 club clothing kit manufacturers to pitch their wares. As a result, we will shortly be switching our kit supply to Primal. The advantages include better quality, consistent sizing (most of us probably have a Primal jersey in our locker to check what fits... or check out sizing online), and the ability to order and have delivered directly. We are finalising the details of the contract and the terms - should be ready for first orders in the next few months. In the meantime our current kit is being sold at a big discount. It’s the same design, so worth grabbing a bargain now if you need new kit (see bottom of this page). 

And, more exciting still, we will also be bringing out a centenary jersey - modelled on our retro jerseys of old, but not in itchy fabrics! This new retro jersey (available in short and long sleeves) will also be made by Primal, and their design team are mocking up options for us to consider. We’ll be launching it this summer, ready for our 2022 club centenary.

Time trialling

We have started our 12 weeks of time-trialling on Wednesday evenings from 12th May. Included in the planned programme are 8 mile distances as well as the normal 10 miles, as they’ve previously proved popular with novice time triallers. As always, we are dependent on volunteers, so if you’re up for helping out or marshalling please tick the relevant box on your website profile (or contact john.longbottom@gmail.com) to volunteer.  Do give Time Trialling a try - you don't need to be fast, or have a TT bike.

Road racing

We are dependent on more guidance before we can start mass racing, given how many people meet at once. However, as soon as we are allowed, we will start organising racing. The racing team Thursday night training session has now started again.

Encouraging new members to try out club cycling.

We have also started ’try it out’ rides for new joiners who aren’t sure what group to join, or who want to get a taste of club cycling. We will run these the last Sunday of every month, 10am from Marden Library car park - with the next on 30th May. We hope this will help new riders get comfortable with club cycling and get good advice on which group might be right for them, at all levels. Do encourage friends or family who might be slower or more nervous than you to give it a go.

In the meantime, please stay safe - and keep cycling!