Our off-road contingent of riders have been very busy over the past few months, putting in some great performances both locally and abroad! Read on to find out about gravel, mountain biking and cyclocross races from the last few months.

On 21^st September, Matt Davis took on Europe’s top gravel racers at the UCI Gravel World Series race in Girona. Totalling 107km with 1828 metres of ascent, the route was set to be a challenging parcours through the Les Gavarres Massif hill range. Matt said “Leading up to this world’s qualifier, my legs were just off, especially since my collar bone break a few months earlier, so mentally I went into it just for the ride! Girona gravel can be brutal, and this was one of those courses for sure! It felt like I was constantly climbing for the first 70km… the descents were sketchy, so you really couldn’t switch off for a minute! Anyway, I suffered and got it done. There’s always 2025 right!?”. Despite the challenges, Matt finished 54^th in his category in a time of 4 hours and 51 minutes.

It was a family affair at Shouldham Warren on 17^th November, as father and son Russ and Tom Powell competed in the MTB cross-country event. Hosted by Kings Lynn MTB club, the course consisted of flowing single track, short sharp climbs and swooping downhill segments. Tom finished 24^th and Russ 31^st in their respective categories.

Several members have been competing in our regional cyclocross league – the Eastern Cyclocross League. In the senior open event, Harry Rudd took 12^th, 16^th and 8^th place in rounds 5, 6 and 7 respectively. As a relative newcome to cyclocross we expect we will be seeing a lot more top 10 finishes from Harry over the coming months! In the senior women’s event, despite the delayed start to her season due to injury, Abigail Corsie finished 4^th place in both rounds 6 and 7.

In the veterans’ events, Andrew Cockburn has been putting in his usual strong performance. Across his five entries in the veterans 40-49 race, he has racked up a total of two 1^st places, two 2^nd places and one 3^rd place, putting him in strong contention for the overall league win! In the 50-59 category, Craig Dyce, placed 34^th and 29^th in rounds 4 and 5. With three rounds still go in the series, including our closest round at Cambridge’s Milton Park on 26^th January, we will wrap up the rest of the series results in our next racing round up.

Use this calendar to see all of our rides and events coming up! This is hosted on our Google account, following the links will take you to the calendar.

We've added information about local events organised by other clubs and organisers, including links to get more information and sign up.

Love a cake and cycling? Who doesn't.. Every once in a while, we organise a ride that ends up at a bike-friendly café. Check out our Events calendar for the next one.

We also have a Café Map to show you some of our favourite bike-friendly cafés to visit in the local area round Saffron Walden.