If you’re looking for a 2024 cycling challenge, how about The Tour de Ricky 2024 on 1st June?
www.tourdericky.uk
There’s a whole five months to prepare for one of our 50, 100 or 200km rides from Woodoaks Farm in Maple Cross.
The rides are deliberately simple, not for profit affairs using a format known as Audax cycling. There’s a maximum speed (to discourage racing) and the emphasis is on tackling a challenge in good company and maybe making a few new friends along the way. Riders are self-supporting and mostly help each other out if anything goes wrong… although having the Watford Cycle Hub team and Freewheel on hand at the start usually ensures that everything goes smoothly.
Along the way, you’ll navigate down mostly quiet lanes, calling at a few stops to fuel up on cake and tea before returning to the farm for a celebratory cuppa (or something stronger in the onsite brewery).
The tiny entry fee goes to good causes. You’ll be supporting the Soil Associations’ Woodoaks Farm (our hosts), the Watford Cycle Hub (whose fantastic value training and workshops keep so many of us on the road), World Bicycle Relief (who bring the power of the bike to help developing communities in places like Kenya, Uganda, Columbia, Indonesia and Sudan) plus Willesden Cycling Club.
Signing up couldn’t be easier – pick the distance that interests you and follow the links on the Tour de Ricky website. You’ll be taken to the log in page for Audax UK where you’ll walked through the steps needed to join the ride. There’s a personal declaration (so we don’t get sued if you break Hertfordshire or get arrested for sugar fuelled rioting), so your friends will have to sign up individually. But the T&Cs are quite simple so reading them won’t take you very long – please note that places are not transferrable between people.
We always get a great turn out from families and groups of friends and many of the solo riders comment on the welcome they have had from the groups they meet on the road.
Don’t hang around; we expect to sell out again; it is not always possible to sign up on the day and you can’t take a friend’s place.
Plus, if you can’t manage one of the audax rides, keep an eye on the website of SPOKES, the SW Herts Cycling Group – they’ll be running shorter, guided rides on the day from the farm so you can still join in the cake-based fun.
If you have any questions at all, do get in touch – if we can encourage you to ride or help out we’ll do what we can.
Liam FitzPatrick