Round the Isle of Wight in August 2026
Ride the Isle of Wight, they said; be at the Portsmouth to Fishbourne ferry by 7.30am; it’ll be great. Yikes, various voices protested, that means getting up at 5.30am. Yes, said the ride leader, it’ll be great! So there we were, eight of us on a bright if blustery morning, propped up with coffee, prepped with crunch bars, and planning a circular route. What some of us lacked, however, was any understanding of the Isle of Wight Monocline and the Alpine Orogeny from millions of years ago. Plate tectonics, you see, squished the isle into a land that is, well, quite hilly. Not particularly long hills, or particularly steep ones. Just regular ups and downs to keep your quads tested.
Our leader had chosen wisely and we rode in an anticlockwise direction, slipping through Cowes, along the seafront to Gurnard, heading west past Newtown to Yarmouth […]
2026 TT Series – Round 4
Eleven riders lined up for our final TT of the season, last Thursday, the 20th August; sadly, we had no female riders this time. Nevertheless, we had seven Alton CC riders and, of the others, three were under thirty! For one rider, Louis Ord, this was his first TT.
Conditions were not so good this time, with a stronger wind than we have had in previous races, which was reflected in slower times for most riders. Happily, all the riders avoided the passing showers.
In the open category Trevor Hillman of …a3crg came out top with a 12’16” run, with Alton’s James Meakin not far behind in second place, with 12’28”, and ACC’s Andy Chapman even closer behind for third place on 12’35”.
In the club handicap, Guy came out on top for the second consecutive time with his 11’39”, with James in second place (11’52”) and Andy in third with 11’59”.
Subsequently, all […]
Champagne Trip 2026
27 of us headed to the Cote des Bar in early June for a week of cycling in the gentle and scenic countryside of this lesser known champagne region. Having arrived by various means, most of us checked into the Hotel Lac d’Orient in Mesnil-saint-Pere as our base for the week while a few parked up at the lakeside camp site.
The hotel was perfect for our group, comfortable rooms, convenient, quiet location, and tasty food with the benefit of as much wine as you wanted included with dinner! An additional bonus was the wildlife with long-eared owls by the lake and house martins nesting outside our rooms. The weather was cool, sunny and mostly dry. Most of the rides made use of part of the extensive network of well maintained and quiet cycle paths that circle the lake.
Sunday
A sunny, scenic ride through villages and vineyards to the small town of […]
2026 Jim Woods Memorial Ride
The 5th edition of the Jim Woods Memorial Audax ride took place on Sunday 12th July. This year, Alton Cycling Club paired with leading local charity, Cardiac Health, which benefited from the money raised.
The route was 108km from Alton, through beautiful Hampshire countryside via the Itchen, Test and Dever valleys. There was a welcome break for coffee and cake at the Waitrose Leckford Estate in the picturesque Cherry Tree Café and finally back to Alton for welcome refreshments at Cardiac Health’s Alton HQ.
It was a year for records. A record number, 93 cyclists entered the event and despite the extremely hot weather, 75 started. A record amount of over £1,400 was raised for Cardiac Health.
Mike Hayward has his own reasons for supporting the ride:
“The new base at Cardiac Health Alton for this 5th running of the Jim Woods Memorial 100k Audax ride worked really well. Ample free all-day parking very […]
2026 TT Series – Round 3
The third in our evening TT series was held this last Thursday, the 30th July, on our 5-mile long Candover Valley course. Numbers were down to only eight riders for this event, with six from the club; Lucy Elliott was our only female representative. Conditions seemed good though times seemed a little down on the previous event.
Lucy Elliott took 1st place in the lady’s competition, albeit with no competition, with a 14’03” run, 12’13” on handicap.
Competition was close in the open category: Chris Palmer claimed 1st place with an 11’58”, with Alton’s Andy Chapman just two seconds behind in second place, with a 12’00” run, and ACC’s James Meakin just a few seconds further behind for third place on 12’13”.
In the club handicap competition, Guy Henshaw came out on top with his 11’13”, with Andy in second place (11’24”) and James in third with 11’37”.
Our thanks go to Mike and […]
Happy 90th Birthday Alan Jacob!
We were so pleased to celebrate Alan’s 90th birthday with a special cake made by Christine Lavender, celebrating Alan’s long history of cycling and racing. Alan is our club’s President, and is regularly out on his bike, including our Sunday 30 milers. Thank you Alan for all you do for our club.
