Category: NCCC News

Here’s your chance with the following vacant roles

 

Here’s some great tips for everyone.

Below is where you can have your bikes checked and prepared for the months ahead and ensured that you’ll get the best advice possible!

TY Cycles

telephone 01608 238150

website https://www.tycycles.co.uk/email email hidden; JavaScript is required

Address:
Units 39 & 40

The Spinney

Elmsfield Industrial Estate

Worcester Road

Chipping Norton

Oxfordshire 

OX75XL

Hi all, due to high winds predicted for tomorrow, I’m afraid all Saturday club rides are cancelled.

Continue reading“All Saturday Rides Cancelled this Weekend!”

Hi everyone here’s your chance to be part of a great team. We’ve got some great opportunities coming up .

Watch out for full information via email shortly.

 

Hi everyone, this is not one of our normal club ride event posts but something that we very much wanted to share with all of our friends, followers and supporters.

We received a most touching, moving and powerful message from one of our new female members recently and with her permission we wanted to share this with you.

Di Kavanagh joined our cycling club earlier this year.

Her story below is very sad, very humbling and incredibly inspirational especially for women cyclists and believe us Di is a real  inspiration and extremely positive person.

As a club we have a fabulous thriving women’s section that represents over 30% of our total memberships. We make great efforts to build a strong inclusive and supportive environment for everyone.

So please if you could read this wonderful message and even better check out Di’s fundraising link below to read more about Di and her husband Michael’s story please do so, of course any donations would be even more appreciated but this post really is about sharing a most amazing story of two amazing parents . Here’s the link below.

https://www.givewheel.com/fundraising/9936/the-eleanor-challenge/

Here’s Di’s message.

A quick thank you to the club! We moved to the Cotswolds in march following the tragic and sudden death of our two year old daughter in January. I was lost with no routine, but knew I enjoyed cycling (on a peloton!!) and decided to sign up for London to Paris challenge to give myself something to work towards this year and raise money for child bereavement charities in the process. This club has been so warm and welcoming, and taught me how to road cycle. It’s been a joy to learn to ride at a comfortable pace and improve my technique with such great people. 

Thank you to Tom Yeatman⁩ at TY Cycles (link below) who has been incredible at getting me kitted up and having lots of conversations about padded shorts and chammy cream (!!) and my excellent bike fit. Again blessed to have such a wonderful cycling shop on my doorstep with professional knowledgable people giving great advice.

https://www.tycycles.co.uk/

I did the London to Paris! 350 miles in 4 days, hilly and very windy. It was tough but kept pedalling, and pretty darn proud of myself! So just wanted to say thank you to everyone for your support, youve been amazing and look forward to joining on a club ride after my legs have recovered xx

Below is a picture of Di after completing her incredible challenge in Paris.

MINUTES FROM COMMITTEE MEETING OF NORTH COTSWOLD CYCLING CLUB: 7PM ON THE 15TH

SEPTEMBER 2025 REVOLUTION CAFÉ, STOW ON THE WOLD

Attendees: Jeremy Griffiths, Henry Eve, James Barlow, Rachel Davies, Marcus Hearle, Simon Taylor,

Laura Baskeyfield, Andrew Bray, Martin Lewis (Ride Captain), Paul Flint, James Garstin, Daniel Bell

Apologies: Simon Jones, Will Biggart, Simon Richards

Chairman – Jeremy Griffiths (JG)

JG commented it was great to see membership numbers continue to grow and the club moving in a positive direction despite the closure of Cotswold Cycles. Unfortunately the picnic ride did not go ahead due to several factors, JG apologised for this as due to the time of year it was unlikely to happen now.

JG also expressed his thanks to Jake Waterhouse at Dekomte for offering the building / parking facilities as a base for club rides. This option had allowed the club to move forwards, with rides operating as normal and minimal change following this format. JG will continue to explore options for a café as an end destination, and will meet with Alex @ Bakery on the Marsh next week.

JG announced that he would be happy to step down as Chair at the next AGM if there was a volunteer that was elected into position. He noted that bringing in new people also bought in fresh ideas and a different perspective, which is positive for both the committee and the club.

Treasurer – Marcus Hearle (MH)

Clubs balance stands at £8,208. Funds are a little higher than usual as the club has spent less due to

not hosting the picnic ride or sponsoring a young rider this year. MH also stated that he was happy to stand down from the treasurers position on the basis at the upcoming AGM, provided someone volunteered and was elected into the role.

MH stated that his week’s gravel ride would be the last one of the year due to the shorter daylight hours.

Social Secretary – Paul Flint (PF)

PF provided an update on the British Cycling South Meeting held in July. NCCC presented on Women’s cycling alongside club representatives from Poole, Swindon and Cheltenham. PF offered to share the slides with anyone that was interested.

Representation of NCCC on social media channels is at an all time high. The recent post highlighting TY Cycles offers generated over 1.5K views and upwards of 68 interactions. Not all social media posts have been about club rides, PF stated that he had tried to promote the clubs inclusivity. This has resulted in interactions across all age groups and genders and with NCCC membership at an all time high of 227 members. PF had also been in touch with one of the NCCC members who had recently posted in the club’s WhatsApp with regards to promoting a charity and the reasons why she is raising money for them. PF will try and link them with British Cycling South to potentially promote this. The committee agreed that Paul has done a great job of social secretary and promoting the club.

With the upcoming AGM, PF wanted to agree on a date to ensure communications were sent out as early as possible. The committee agreed this would be held before the club ride on Sunday 23rd November. The committee agreed to actively push the AGM to ensure that all club members were aware it was taking place. In parallel, PF will put together a summary of all committee roles and vacant positions for distribution amongst club members to encourage them to consider taking up a committee role.

Ride Captain – (ML)

Club rides had been extremely well supported with lots of rides going out regularly throughout the summer. Recent “one-off” rides, such as the Tour of Britian and Isabelle’s Heritage ride had been popular and offered something different to the usual club rides. Current set-up at Dekomte was working well so far and despite the change of weather, still getting a good turnout. The “shed”which currently holds the first aid kit will be moved round to the front of the Dekomte building. ML noted that despite the large number of riders some of the groups were still struggling for ride leaders despite the ride leader training course.

LB will send a reminder to all those who went encouraging them to put their names on the ride on the spreadsheet.

Implementation of the mudguard rule was imminent! ML offered to speak to Tom and Rob at TY Cycles with regards to holding stock of the NCCC Mudguard extenders.

ML stated he was happy to stay on as Ride Captain at the next AGM.

Youth Secretary – James Garstin (JG)

Still lots to do with regards to getting Go-Ride up and running. JG apologised for not being able to give this as much time as originally anticipated and will see if other club members would like to step forwards ahead of the next AGM and the lead the charge. Now the Fire Service College is back open to public (i.e Parkrun) this could be an option for a location.

JG raised the issue of group discipline within the club rides, especially as the club had grown in size and the groups were larger. It was noted that as a club, we don’t often ride as tightly as we can / call

out etc. The committee agreed that the ride captain would brief riders at the start to encourage better discipline and each group would nominate a ride leader for the ride.
The ride leader would be responsible for mandating discipline within the group and ensuring the advertised pace and group remained together.

Secretary – Laura Baskeyfield (LB)

Given the closure of Cotswold Cycles the club would need to find a new location for the C250K series continue. LB indicated the preference would be to remain in Moreton as the format for the routes had been established and the location was central for a lot of riders. Will look to see how the discussions with Bakery on the Marsh go before making any decisions.LB indicated she was happy to stand down from the secretary role at the next AGM should someone wish to stand. However, would like to stay on the committee from a women’s ride perspective.

Race Secretary – Henry Eve (HE)

HE wanted to organise a trip to Wales before the winter season kicked in. Date to be agreed, but likely October / November timeframe. MH offered to support him on this.

General Committee

Simon Taylor (ST)

This years longer rides and been successful with the decent weather that we have had. Overall the format had worked well and Simon had proposed running them again next year starting one month earlier. This would allow more day light as we got closer to the end of the year and would fit in 6 rides over the course of the year.

James Barlow (JB)

JB agreed with the points that JG had made with regards to ride discipline and was in agreement that a designated ride leader should take responsibility to instil etiquette within the group. JB also suggested that we should encourage all riders to take a turn at the front, which MH agreed should be best practice. There was a long discussion on both points, but JG noted that this should all fall under the ride leader to manage the group effectively.

JB commented that this years chain gang and paceline rides had been good and well attended. JB proposed a winter training ride to be held on a Tuesday in replacement of the paceline. Route is still TBD, but possibly from Shipston on Stour as the roads were a little better. Given that most riders would likely drive to the start, the location of the winter training ride didn’t seem to matter.

JB also commented on future club trips (i.e Mallorca) , JG said this could happen but someone would need to take the lead on organising.

AOB

1. There was an inaccuracy reported in the last meeting minutes (07/07/2025). Ian had made contact with the club with regards to long standing committee members, but it was reported that there was no proposal to change anything. This is incorrect, and the proposal to limit terms in any one role to 3-4 years had been put forward.

The committee agreed with the upcoming AGM and likelihood of new committee members this proposal would be discussed in future meetings. JG stated that limiting the term of committee roles is difficult as people need to be prepared to step up and put themselves forward and historically this hadn’t happened.

2. It had been noted by a club member that the speeds for the two Saturday café rides had changed from 15-16mph and 16-18mph to 14-16mph and 16-18mph. This had been discussed between committee members and changed to align with speeds across other group rides within the club. It had been suggested that we run three groups on the café ride to align with Sunday group 2,3 and 4 rides due to the popularity and number of riders turning up.

The committee agreed that moving forwards that Saturday café rides won’t be amalgamated and two groups will be run due to difficulty in finding ride leaders for group 4 pace. The Saturday café ride will consist of two groups; group A (group 2 speed, 16-18mph) and group

B (group 3 speed, 14-16mph). If there are riders turning up and potentially struggling outside of the advertised speeds, the designated ride leader of the group (or committee member) will offer guidance and steer that member to the most appropriate club ride to match their ability.

Next Meeting = 7pm Monday 3rd November @ Revolution Café, Stow

AGM = 9am Sunday 23rd November @ Dekomte, Moreton in Marsh

A wonderful thank you to our generous members from Ruby for helping her towards her incredible journey and experience of a lifetime .

Ruby is the daughter of our fab club member James Garstin who kindly offered to host (on several occasions) a refreshment stop for our Saturday club rides at their family home in Sibford Gower to assist Ruby in her fundraising campaign for an incredible expedition to Cambodia in July 2025 with Camps International.

As part of her fundraising campaign Ruby made an amazing selection of homemade cakes and goodies along with tea, coffee and cold drinks for our club members. All Ruby asked in exchange was for donations to help her in supporting the expedition .

Here’s what Ruby has sent in to us.

************************************

Hello everyone,

Thank you again for your support that made my amazing Cambodia trip possible.

We began in Phnom Penh, visiting the S21 Prison and Killing Fields to learn about the Khmer Rouge’s impact. I spoke with four survivors, which opened our eyes to the country’s history and the people we’d be helping.

From July 16-24, we worked at Camp Beng Pae with daily schedules from 7am-4:30pm. We dug a 13ft well and planted gardens for a local family, made 12 concrete well rings (exceeding the typical 9-10), and began building an English school that will take three more years to complete. We also taught English to local children aged 8-12 and played football against the under-18s team in the rain.

At Camp Beng Mea Lea (July 24-29), we made concrete water pots and built chicken coops. Due to Cambodia-Thailand border conflicts, our camp received additional groups when northern camps closed for safety.

The four-day jungle trek was my favorite part. We completed day one (7k uphill) faster than any previous group, slept in hammocks, watched sunrise from a viewpoint, walked through cashew tree fields, meditated with monks at a temple, and visited a waterfall and lying down Buddha.

In Siem Reap, we enjoyed a circus show, visited Angkor Wat with its monkeys and carvings, took a boat to the floating village, toured a silk farm, and explored night markets.

Our final camp involved a 4k daily walk to a school where we made and installed cement tiles for three days.

This trip taught me so much about a completely new part of the world. Despite initial shock at the noise and traffic, everything quickly became familiar. The welcoming people and our guides taught me valuable new skills. I received the “most resilient” award, though I think we were simply too busy working to be homesick.

Thank you all for enabling this incredible experience.

Best wishes,

Ruby

Following the recent extraordinary committee meeting on 26th August the club agreed to encourage members in supporting Tom and Rob Yeatman of TY Cycles (both keen cyclists and NCCC members too).

TY Cycles offer NCCC members a variety of incentives which have been confirmed earlier today on the clubs communication platforms.

Many of you will know that both Tom and Rob are keen cyclists, both are NCCC members too.

It would be really nice for the club to support

our club members Tom and Rob in the same way as we did with Cotswold Cycles.

TY Cycles in Chipping Norton is an independent, family business that is managed by brothers Tom & Rob Yeatman.

TY Cycles offer a variety of services including bike sales, servicing, repairs and bike hire. They couldn’t be much easier to find being based approximately 10 minutes drive down the A44 from the Cotswold Link in Chipping Norton. Their shop offers a great service and a fab cycling community for everyone.

They take huge pride in their work and business. As an NCCC member you will feel most assured and very welcomed by the friendly helpful team at TY Cycles. They provide great personal customer service that is backed up with their wealth of experience .

Along with bike sales they also have a great range of parts, accessories and components in stock! To name just a few brands that we have… MET Helmets, Assos Clothing, Tifosi Eyewear, Pirelli & Vittoria tyres, and Oxford Products. 

Don’t forget to mention to the team at TY that you’re a member of NCCC in order to receive your new club incentives.

TY Cycles can be contact via:

telephone 01608 238150

website https://www.tycycles.co.uk/

email email hidden; JavaScript is required

Address:

Units 39 & 40

The Spinney

Elmsfield Industrial Estate

Worcester Road

Chipping Norton

Oxfordshire 

OX75XL

Pictured below, Tom Yeatman, Paul Flint (NCCC) Rob Yeatman.

It was an absolute honour last night to have the opportunity to present Jeremy and Sara Griffiths with a personalised Blue Plaque.

The plaque was a thank you gift and memento from our club for all of the wonderful friendship, cycling needs and fabulous food and drink that we have enjoyed over the years at their former business Cotswold Cycles and The Revolution Cafe in Moreton in Marsh.

Now both Jeremy and Sara have moved on and have started a new venture with their new cafe The Rev in Talbot Court, Stow on the Wold.

We were fortunate enough to be with them last night to celebrate the start of the new business with them.

From all at North Cotswold Cycling Club we wish them both many years of success in their new venture.

“Thank you again you amazing people.”

In addition to our scheduled club rides today the club also had a strong contingent taking part in the local “Hell of North Cotswolds” endurance event (HONC).

This event is the original and classic British Cycling Endurance Event which is now in its 40th year! The ride is non competitive and is ridden on and off road.

This endurance cycling event, a British classic. It was originally inspired by the famous Paris-Roubaix event in France and could be argued is the original gravel event in the UK.

There was a choice of three routes of 100km, 75km or 50km around the beautiful North Cotswolds can be chosen on the day.

The event took place at the historic Sudeley Castle estate in Winchcombe.

So, being local to our club it’s fair to see this wonderful event well supported by our members. Below are some pictures of them taking their individual challenges today and 👏🚴‍♂️🚴🏻‍♀️.

Huge NCCC congratulations to all of our fab members who took part and completed their respective challenges today 🙌👏.

Sharing our members experiences and challenges outside of club activities is a great pleasure for NCCC and demonstrates the type of friendly inclusive club that we are! Oh, and on that note guys Mel W wants to thank you for giving her that final encouragement as you all passed her towards the finish .

HONC Charity

HONC has donated tens of thousands over the past 5 years, this year they are pleased to once again be supporting Gloucestershire Air Ambulance, Cleeve Common Trust, Cyclists Fighting Cancer, and WAM Youth.