Happy New Year!

Traditionally cycling in November and December tends to go a bit quiet. Darker nights and colder days, usually means the number of members out riding regularly is reduced from those in the Summer. At HWCC we have been fortunate to maintain attendance levels on our rides for the past couple of months, and our intention is to continue cycling outdoors as much as we can during the remaining Winter months, weather permitting.

In November the weather was quite kind to us, we were able to host all of our planned club rides with no disruption to our schedule. We visited some of our favourite places such as Basil & Blue in Chobham and Pinnock's in Ripley. We also discovered some new places such as Polesden Lacey National Trust Café and H'Artisan in Wargrave, places we are sure to visit again.

December saw us complete only two club rides, both occasions visiting Windsor. Bad weather and a few of us catching Covid meant that some of our meetups were abandoned or postponed. One such event was our End of Year Party, which we have now rechristened as a Start of Year Party, to be held later in January. One event that did go ahead in December, and thankfully on one of the mildest December weekends ever, was a long distance ride by a very determined cyclist, Andrew Jones. Andrew recently joined us from another club that some of us rode with previously, so we are well aware of his long distance cycling credentials. Raising money for the Shooting Star Children's Hospice in order to provide care and help for terminally ill children and their families, Andrew rode 500Km around Richmond Park. This amazing effort equated to 47 laps of the park, from Friday night on the 15th December to the early morning on Sunday 17th December, while dressed as an elf and towing Santa in his trailer, ELF1. Our thanks go to our members who cycled with Andrew for at least part of his ride, when we were able to do so and also for the messages of encouragement and support he received. Andrew's Just Giving page is still open, so please support his efforts by making a donation, if you are able to.

The HWCC diary is already looking pretty busy for 2024,  more club rides and adventures to be had. A few of us have entered some long distance Audax rides and well known events such as Ride London-Essex and Chase the Sun. We must not forget our own London to Paris, four day ride planned for July. We also need to squeeze in our club ride around the Isle of Wight, which we all agree should become a HWCC traditional summer ride. Alongside these events we will continue to schedule our Sunday club rides for members who aren't completely crazy!

We have now populated our Meetup page with events up to the end of April, so if you wish to join us for any of these rides, visit our page and request to join. We look forward to welcoming many more of you to Hampton Wick Cycling Club, so sign up for a Full Members Induction Ride, or a Beginners Session, and we look forward to meeting you soon.