I’d been feeling fat and unfit after the 12mph ride on Wednesday, so on Friday, I decided to take a large brave pill and turn up for the Friday 40 miler. I had been persuaded to do this by Gwen, who assured me she was riding, and I would be able to keep up with her. As it turned out, Gwen ended up working a short notice shift at Farleigh Hospice Shop. I was very glad I had arranged with my husband Jim to meet us at the café stop in case I wanted to bail out after 20 miles! About 13 of us pedalled off down the High Street, straight down London Road, turning right at Youngs End. We rode on through Howe Street up the hill and turned right then left skirting Great Waltham). Somewhere around here

Once again there were over 30 Easy Riders intending to pedal around the back lanes of Braintree. We divided into our usual three groups, with Adrian and Cathy (me) leading and tailing the long ride, … and Jim leading and Karen tailing the middle ride; and Bill and Gwen on the shortest ride. Oh dear – my reduced cycling recently became immediately apparent on today’s ride through hills. We pedalled out north, down Bocking End and Bradford Street, then turning left at the college. We rode along to the almshouses and turned left down Bovingdon Road, through Beazley End and Blackmore End, pausing briefly in Wethersfield. The land seemed to rise steadily, and Diane and I steadily dropped down th

This week, Wedneday 15 August, the ride was a bit of a mystery tour as we headed north, before ending up at Cressing Temple Barns, south of the A120. New riders welcomed this week were Heather and Dave – who are experienced cyclists, and have been thinking about joining us for a regular ride for about a year, since they both retired. (Hurrah! More retirees! Life is so good when you have time to do what you want!) We pedalled off north through the housing estate and up Bocking Church Street. We crossed the A131 and headed further north to Plaistow Green, then changed direction, going south along the east side of Stisted. We were pedalling through fields of stubble, although Paul Norris

Over 40 BER members and respective other half’s turned out for BER BBQ and the weather was really on our side, especially considering the torrential rainfall the previous evening. Peter and Sue were amazing hosts ably supported in the planning and preparation and on the evening by Gwen and Julia - thank you for all your hard work. The meat courses were never-ending with burgers as the starter followed by mains of sausages, chicken thighs and breasts, lamp chops and finally dessert pork strips. An impressive selection and all brilliantly cooked. For those looking for something different there were bean burgers, kebabs and salmon. Truly amazing selection of food. In addition the side salad

Today’s ride dawned on a day that was mercifully cooler, c25C, than the last few. There were plenty of Easy Riders (35) today, so we split into 3 groups of 11/12 each. Adrian led the first group, tailed by Mave; Jim led the middle group, tailed by Peter Skirrow; and Peter Short led the shortest group (Short by name, short by nature!), tailed by Ian. Jim’s group pedalled south out of the town centre, crossing to Clare Road, over the walkway, down Guernsey Way and onto the Flitch Way. We went past Rayne station café and turned right onto Gatewood Lane (the last turning on the right before the bridge over the A120). As we cycled up the sweeping undulations of Pods Lane, Peter Skirrow said we

Just over a week ago 5 Easy Riders (Brian, Mick, Ian, Compo and me) set off from Morton at just before 8.30 pm courtesy of BER taxi service aka Peter and Julia, to join the Dunwich Dynamo overnight ride. We had booked Peter for overnight support and had three stops planned - Castle Hedingham, Needham Market and Framlingham. It was a beautiful evening and the roads were quiet and the wind was slightly with us. We made good time to Castle Hedingham covering the 31 miles in 2 hours 20 mins. Peter was all set up with hot water on the go and a coffee was warmly welcomed. After a half hour stop, we set off to Needham Market - the roads were much quieter from last year. Not sure how many cyclists h

This was another ride where Mick had set up two start points as it was a longer ride for a Wednesday. It ended up 33 miles for the group of 8 led by Mick from Braintree, and 32 for Bill’s group of 10. Gifford led the group who met at Greenstead Green and whilst this was the shorter ride, a number of the riders rode out there to meet up anyway. Mick’s group set off through Braintree, along Coggeshall Road, and joined the pavement cycle path at Kings Park, to get to the turnoff on the A120 to go down to Stisted. We usually follow cycle routes along Mountbatten Road and Kings Park here, but we were a small group of 8, with experienced riders, and the traffic was low because of the summer hol