Author: Ross Spencer

Road Safety & Cycling Instructor | GPS Tracking Services Manager | Race Timer | Cyclist | 4x4 Driver

Alton Water Loop

Posted on by Ross Spencer in Cycling Routes and Trails, Suffolk Cycle Routes

A 12Km/8 Mile cycle trail that travels around the beautiful Alton Water reservoir along a mixture of trail surfaces that are rideable by practically any cycle.

This beautiful cycling trail in the East of Suffolk makes it’s way around the very scenic Alton Water Park reservoir.  Although some of the surfaces are dirt trail, they are still predominantly smooth and can be ridden on practically any cycle. 

Map Image courtesy and ©️ Anglian Water Parks

On my first visit to the park, one or two of my counterparts were using road bikes and had very little trouble throughout.  That being said, the ride is more comfortable on something with wider tyres such as a hybrid or MTB so worth bearing in mind if you are planning to head over and enjoy this amazing route.

The Shepherd Trail

Posted on by Ross Spencer in Cycling Routes and Trails, Suffolk Cycle Routes

An easy and fully signed Green Graded 5 Mile/8 Km Forest Trail loop that’s suitable for cyclists of all ages and abilities, beginning and ending at High Lodge Visitor Centre.

The Shepherd Trail is a flat and easy going forest trail through the beautiful High Lodge area of Thetford Forest.  Predominantly making use of the fire roads through the area, this trail is suitable for cyclists of all ages and abilities with no need for any particular type of cycle.

Trail surfaces are firm throughout the year, even in the winter seasons and the scenery can be truly beautiful.  This is an ideal trail for a family cycle ride, even with younger children and there’s event a convenient shortcut about half way round if you want to take things easy.

The Lime Burner Trail

Posted on by Ross Spencer in Cycling Routes and Trails, Suffolk Cycle Routes

The Lime Burner Trail is a red graded and fully signposted 9 mile/15Km route through the heart of Thetford Forest, starting and ending at High Lodge.

Certainly towards the easier end of the spectrum for Red Graded trails, the Lime Burner can still certainly provide some fun riding through it’s mixture of trails and  named features.  Among these are four missable ‘black’ sections that can be undertaken to switch things up a little.  Again, compared to other trails in the country, these black graded sections are on the easier end of the spectrum, but no less fun for that.

The trail itself provides a nice mix of surfaces and scenery, with tightly packed woodland with natural forest ground to hard packed maintained trails with berms and rollovers.  This, combined with it’s lower difficulty makes it a great trail to use as a training ride for honing skills, ready to take on it’s bigger brothers and sisters in other areas of the country.

Summer Shutdown – 1st to 15th August

Posted on by Ross Spencer in What's New?

Next week, from 1st August, I will be heading over to Cumbria to venture out into the hills for a well earned couple of weeks R&R and will not be returning to work until Monday 15th August.

I’m going to be visiting places like this…

During that time I will be mostly unreachable and will not be checking emails on a regular basis. Over the next week or so, I will be doing my level best to tie up any loose ends and make sure that any preparations are in place for anything taking place during my absence.

And doing lots of this…

I will respond to any enquiries or emails on my return and look forward to speaking with you then.

If you’re interested in seeing what I get up to while away, keep an eye on my Twitter and Instagram for updates.

Family Fun Days in Ipswich – From Ipswich Entertains

Posted on by Ross Spencer in Suffolk Cycling Events

Ipswich Entertains are offering five FREE Family Fun Days around the Ipswich area between now and the 5th August with a whole host of activities available on each of the days so there’s plenty for the youngsters to do and see.

⬆️ Click the image above to find out more ⬆️

The Way To Go Suffolk will be there to answer questions about cycling in Suffolk and provide advice on cycling, cycle training and FREE Family Cycling Sessions provided by Suffolk Roadsafe

The Way To Go Suffolk Stall @ Alexandra Park

Visit Ipswich Entertains And Find Out More

Hardwick 10K

Posted on by Ross Spencer in Race Results

The streets of Pilsley were taken over by more than 400 runners this evening for the Hardwick 10k, now in it’s 37th year!

One of Derbyshire’s most iconic annual road races, this event is well attended by a wealth of athletes and spectators alike and it was an honour to be able to provide our Race Timing Services for the event.

With it’s out and back course, with it’s legendary climb into Hardwick before turning back to come down the hill back into Pilsley for the finish and it’s cheering crowds.

Well done and congratulations to everybody who took part in tonight’s race!

Click Here To See the Hardwick 10K Results

Visit hardwickrun.co.uk

Visit RaceTimeresult.co.uk

Tea, Cake & Cycling!

Posted on by Ross Spencer in What's New?

A gathering of the lesser spotted Suffolk Road Safety and Cycling Instructors at Alton Water Park.

With the Covid pandemic having caused so much disruption over the last couple years, and given the very mobile nature of our roles, it’s been quite some time since the Bikeability Instructor Team from Suffolk Roadsafe have been able to properly get together and catch up.

Forcing ourselves away from the cake to go for that ride 🙂

However, we managed to break that spell today and those of us who had no prior engagements were able to meet up at Alton Water to chat, enjoy a (well earned) piece of cake and go for a fantastic group ride around this beautiful venue.

We were also joined by our county representative from Cycling UK and were able to have a very welcome discussion about some other possibilities for getting involved further in community cycling.

It was a fantastic day out and a real pleasure to see everyone. Can’t wait until the next one!

Hit The Downs ’22

Posted on by Ross Spencer in Cycle Events

I can honestly say that I had a fabulous couple of days on The South Downs last weekend.

Arriving in Graffham in the early part of Saturday afternoon to set camp and have a quiet evening before our busy Sunday showed what a truly beautiful place this area of the UK is.

We let camp early on the Sunday and made our way to Shoreham to get registered and embark on the 30KM route of the St Barnabas House & Chestnut Tree House Hit The Downs 2022.

Whilst (thankfully) the temperatures didn’t make it up to those we’ve experienced over the last couple of days, we weren’t long into the route before we were starting to feel the heat as the sun started to warm everything up .

At the finish (and much warmer than I look!)

My Ride Track

The View From Chanctonbury Ring – Highest point of the route

Although the temperature wasn’t perfect, the lovely clear skies did provide some stunning views and the South Downs really have a lot to offer with beautiful open scenery and delightful woodlands.

The course itself is a mixture of road, bridleway and narrow track with much of it following the South Downs Way.

No matter where we were on the route, the trail surfaces were all very rideable with no nasty surprises, making the the climbs relatively easy and the descents a great deal of fun.

At the Findon Rest Stop – 20KM Point

I’d like to offer a huge thank you to St Barnabas House and Chestnut Tree House for putting so much effort into organising this great event and Marmalade MTB for the huge amount of effort they put into checking and signing the route in the few days leading up to the event itself.

Click the logos to find out more about these organisations

Next year? I think I’m up for 60KM 😁

Support Us

Event though the event is over, if you’d like to support me and these great charities, there’s still time to head on over to my JustGiving page and make a small donation to help us out.

From £1 to £50, every penny counts and will be very gratefully received!

Total Donations So Far

The Great Racing Welfare Cycle

Posted on by Ross Spencer in GPS Tracking Event Map

The Great Racing Welfare Cycle has not long started this afternoon with 20 teams of more than 80 athletes starting off with their 24 hour sportive challenge to raise money for Racing Welfare.

I’d like to wish everyone taking part the very best of luck and hope that they meet their fundraising target!

See The Live Event Page at Race Time Result

Visit the Racing Welfare Website

GPS Tracking Services provided by Race Time Result