Welcome to the April edition of the Chairman's Chatterbox, I've not had any abuse about this column so I'm going to keep it going.

So we seem to be creeping slowly into Spring (never mind Summer). But we had a successful Hot Cross Bun Ride (please see Adam's report on the Website) with over 20 cyclists on 2 courses. We are starting to see some old faces come back (we currently have 117 members, that is a 82% retention which is quite normal for us) which is great.

Not sure what the factors are on getting you to the club rides, but if it's 15c and you can ride in shorts your time is coming (honest). We are going to introduce a second cafe ride from April onwards so please look out for those rides as they are well supported. 

Please let a member of the committee know if you have any ideas on what we can do for you as a club, I've had a member ask for a beer and curry night so we will look at getting that progressed. We had the social evening in the Ale Taster last Thursday but it was a miserable wet evening but we had a kit sale (thanks Mike) and a good catch-up. Hopefully we will see more in April.

Adam is progressing the Dales trip, I know he's had a couple more people saying they want to go, so look at his updated message in the Weekly Bulletin. It is a great weekend.

We tried to hold the first Chain Gang of the year on Tuesday, but it pi... precipitated quite heavily at about 6.30pm, we were due to have 3 of us. We will try again next Tuesday, we are still looking for a champion to look after this event. We appreciate that Frances is a hard act to follow.

Hell of St Neots is this Sunday starting at 9am. We had 2 of our members (I won't say their names) ride it last Sunday and the course update is that it is rideable but there are 2 "sticky" sectors. Barley Mow is booked as well as the "frites" I believe we have 6 confirmed.

We are going to reintroduce the Off Road Social Rides (with a pub) in May which I will be organising so look out for updates on that. We have a WhatsApp group for that so if you want to be added please let the club know. If you have a route of a pub you want to try then please let a member of the committee know.

Other Social Events we are looking at midweek pub road ides but on a different evening (or perhaps alternating with the off road) we plan to have details for May.

Other events in the offing, we are looking at options for Faches Thumesnil but prices are high due to the Tour de France and the Olympics, so we are looking at Sept or more likely 2025, confirmation will follow shortly.

Adam is investigating the options of a Peak District or Lake District trip in Sept. Look out for further updates. 

The proposed Grass Track event in Priory Park in August is gathering momentum. We are looking at Aug 10th or 17th, as soon as we have something confirmed we will send out a separate email. 

Finally Nic has sent out a message to the TT WhatsApp group "So I am pressing on with the proposed plan of running Thursday TTs on the Abbo course. I can’t give you an exact date for when we will start, but it will be a little later than normal as the police notifications require a bit of time. We should still make mid-May and have enough weeks potentially for a 15-16 race series. In addition we will be looking for some volunteers to help our expert TT event managers throughout the season. Training will be given!"

So if you enjoy looking at cyclists in lycra and want to give something back to the club then please contact Nic directly or on the club email to volunteer. Also please be aware he also requires volunteers for the NDCA 25 we are hosting on May 25th, look out for his request for volunteers.

Have a lovely month cycling and see you somewhere on a sunny dry day.