We operate a few different types of rides, ad-hoc rides, Club Rides, Development rides ‘Easy Wheelers’ rides, races and finally we take part as a club in Sportives  all will be explained on this page. Usually we meet at LA TAVERNA in Blaydon for the majority of our  standard club events, this is open to change so keep your eyes on our events for full information….

Our usual meeting point:

for MOST rides head towards:

La Taverna – Stella Bank – NE21 4LU (Get Directions)

By Train: Blaydon (BLO) and Wylam (WYM)) (Journey Planner) journeys are served by Northern Rail and occasional ScotRail services. Bike spaces are limited on National Rail services.

By Bike: From Newburn: A little off the ‘Keelmans Way’ (around 1/4 of a mile) on the cycle network, leave the Keelmans Way at Newburn Bridge, Cycle up ‘Newburn Bridge Road’, past the Bottled Gas Depot and the level crossing, just after the crossing there is some traffic lights after a short sharp uphill. take your right, in the direction of Ryton, La Taverna is a few hundred yards on your left (the same site as Michelangelo’s Restaurant & Hotel) .

Bike From Blaydon:  On the Keelmans way You can also Leave at Blaydon and cycle up through Stella,or on the main road at the main roundabout with a McDonald’s and Shell garage & train Station on, take the sign for Newburn, go past the Black Bull Pub and Pumpreys Coffee. you’ll eventually come to the Traffic lights at Stella. Continue straight on from these and very soon on your left (opposite a bus shelter) is La Taverna.

Bike From Ryton: from Ryton pass the Runhead Bar & Grill and continue on the main road, just after the church on the right (opposite a bus shelter) is La Taverna.

By Road/Car: Stella Bank, NE21 4LU Heading from Blaydon after Stella traffic lights, turn left when you see a bus stop on your right. From Ryton it is past the Runhead Pub, just past the old church and on your Right just after that. For better details see the above maps or Get Directions

Parking: The management of La Taverna and Michelangelo Hotel have kindly allowed BCC to use their car park when needed, all we and they ask is if you drive to us for a meet, you park as far away from the main building as possible to allow restaurant and bar patrons to have priority parking nearer the building. Please only park here if you have to, due to popularity of club rides we don’t wish to ‘block’ the car park. You can also park in Newburn Riverside park or Ryton Rugby Club which is a short ride away.  Naturally as a cycle club we encourage cycling to the events, but we understand not everyone is able to, co-operation with this will allow our good relationship with the venue to continue for many years to come.

Post Ride: After rides La Taverna shows live sport, and serves real ale, as well as chicken and tapas and all BCC riders are more than welcome to join in for a post ride drink and snack.

Road bike club runs are generally planned the week before and Garmin files are made available for those who have GPS. Rides generally take around 4 hours with a cafe/cake stop midway, and are in the region of 40 miles (but obviously, can and do vary) at an average speed of 12+ miles per hour depending on the group that is out and amount of riders. All information is published on the events page and the Latest News section to the side of the page. If there is any issues contact us.

Other Information: Often members will create their own rides and they will take place during the alternative week. Keep an eye on our pages on Facebook and twitter. This is the concept behind fortnightly meets, riders can do alternate rides during that week, either on their own, with other friends (bring them along a week later!) or arrange with other club riders to set their own route.

We mainly are road riders but run alternative weekends on mountain bikes, especially during winter months.

We ask all riders make sure their bikes are in full working order, and roadworthy. we ask all riders wear a approved helmet and appropriate clothing for the weather (we reserve the right to decline riders if we believe their clothing or bikes may put themselves, others, or road users in danger)  we also recommend carry a basic tool kit consisting of a spare tube and/or patches, a pump/inflator as well as a multitool. Some rides take us into open countryside and there is often no shops, especially bike shops for repairs, so it’s best to prepare for every scenario.
It is also advisable to bring a small amount of cash with you (usually £5/10 for cafe stops as some locations do not accept card or have card facilities).
Finally please carry ID, this is a sensible option if anything were to happen.

Our Rides:

Club:

Club rides occur every week in the below format:

Club rides generally leave 9am from La Taverna. They can include anything right from a flat fast route, right up to challenging climbs and descents. Generally we have two to three groups riding out (size of group being one factor, ability the other) there’s usually a faster group of 16mph+, a middle group of around 14-15mph group and a group depending on the ride itself riding 12-14mph. We decide how to group the rides on the day when we have the numbers and to ensure people are not riding alone.

Easy Wheelers & Development:

Development Rides began In early 2014 we trialled a what was then called ‘Beginners Ride’ what this entailed was a short route that didn’t have have any major climbs and kept to roads that were generally deemed suitable for riders of all abilities. After a couple of rides these became known also as Development Group Rides, you may have heard rides referred to as both at some point during their time.

Usually we aim for around 30-40 miles for the development ride and ride it in a loop so you’ll always come back to where you started. In these rides someone with a Blaydon Jersey will mark the front and the back of the rides.

We always aim to fit in a coffee stop after the rides for the shorter ones and mid-ride on the longer rides, Start Locations for the Development Rides vary so please check our events on the website and social media before you come along. We change it from time to time due to things such as the route planned, and things out of our control such as events, or road closures.

All riders must wear a helmet on these rides and you should bring along a bottle or two of water for the ride as well as any little snacks if you feel you may need them (such as cereal bars, flapjack etc). Full details are on the events and we always give a pre-ride briefing before we roll out.

‘Easy Wheelers’ rides are our beginners rides, they offer people who have never really been out on a bike a chance to ride with others and gain confidence, they are perfect for those who are very new to cycling or just coming back, courses will be around 10 miles at a very steady pace to suit everyone, they are a strict no drop ride, any questions you have on cycling we will do our best to help you, and progress you onto longer rides.

Sportive:

As a club we ride local and national sportives such as the Virgin Money Cyclone and the Haydon Hundred. We’ll post BCC specific events for this and arrange transport and similar things with each other closer to the time.

Races:

We have a race team, the team will compete in races and Time Trials. The team is nicknamed the ‘Blaydon Racers‘ for more information keep an eye on our page or if you are interested drop us a message and we’ll see what we can do for you. Racing is a additional part of the club offered as we expand and compliments our other rides and activities.

Ad-Hoc:

Not everyone works 9-5, and we appreciate members have spare time and days off, subscribed members have access to a ‘Blaydon Chat’ area which allows for us to arrange outings with each other, these rides vary so much it’s up to whoever is setting them up to decide the pace and length, they can be road rides, Mountain Bike rides, long, short, fast or slow. We sometimes also practice training loops of an evening. All information can be found within the members chat page.