The Great Shakespeare Ride (GSR), our nearest and best attended sportive of the year, is held on the 28th of July starting at Walton Hall. There are three distances, 50km, 100km and 100 miles and in previous years we have had entrants at all three distances.
The GSR is a well organised event that raises funds for the Shakespeare Hospice so is well worth supporting.
This year we will have our Gazebo on the site to act as a gathering point and to advertise the club to riders in the area. I would encourage people to have a go at one of the distances and to wear your Wheelers shirt with pride for the day.
The following week sees the Myton Cycle Challenge, supporting the Myton Hospice, which starts at the Hospice's site on the Myton Road in Warwick. This is also a popular event for our club and again is run over the same distances as the GSR (although the website strangely says it is run over four distances it only lists three)
If anything the Myton offers a slightly tougher challenge at the 100km distance while the GSR possibly shades it at the 100 mile distance.
GSR Update: Sunday 28th July was cool after the heat earlier in the week and the rain just about held off. The club had 21 riders entered (plus one riding in Shipston colours) which is pretty good.
Unfortunately, the day will probably be most remembered for two crashes. Trevor Shaw crashed at speed on the descent of Nebworth Lane to Ilmington. The cause is unknown at the moment but it is possible it was due to a failure of his fork. Trevor was able to give an update on his condition via WhatsApp and it looks as if he may have sustained a fracture to a vertebrae in his lower back. We wish him a quick and complete recovery... the threat of a visit from Tony in his lycra can only encourage this.
Owen Vickery collided with a stationary car in Tysoe and received some painful looking injuries to his face and hands (he has stiches in his upper lip and one of his fingers as well as an impressive array of bruises and grazes). While we hope Owen will mend quickly, his bike frame was literally snapped into two pieces and won't be fixable.