Off-Road Cycling Shenanigans with my Club & Solo Spin Home

Join me for my first ride back in the UK after Spain—an off-road adventure with the cycling club through Leicestershire’s scenic lanes, muddy fields, gravel tracks, and farm roads. It’s like herding kittens at times, but we eventually link up with Laura before I spin solo back home on my Cannondale Topstone. A proper multi-surface mission!

Highlights:
• Off-road club ride through Leicestershire
• Gravel, fields, and farm tracks
• Riding the Cannondale Topstone
• Post-ride catch-up with Laura
• Solo ride home through the countryside

Subscribe for more real-world cycling stories, gear talk, and adventure rides from Lucy Sturgess Cycling!

okay then gang welcome back And I am back on UK soil again So I arrived home yesterday It’s about 8:00 and I just fancy going out for our cycling club off road ride So I’m out I’m on my gravel bike I’m wearing shorts and I’m wondering if that was a little ambitious but hey it’ll get warmer as we go So yeah I’m just riding to the start I think it’s about 7 miles Little cruise over there Although I’m already a little bit late for a cruise Not a time to pace but you know can’t mess around too much So here we go everybody Also just to add I’m loving the gravel I think the rebellion way kind of really kicked it off and that other ride I did before So yeah All good It’s pretty windy I hope you can hear me riding I suddenly feel really sleepy I need coffee Well I’m sure when I get there bit of chat bit of buzz it will wake me up Smeary sunglasses from probably sun cream Jack’s incognito Yeah Right I’m at the start off road ride today Let’s go Let’s go Not really quite sure where we’re going today Well I’ll just follow Just just follow Ruth the boss Yeah that’s the boss Yeah I’m lucky to be part of a really great cycling club the Rat Eye Road Club in Leicester and they run a monthly off-road ride I joined my first one only last month and I’m keen to get more involved So this is my second off-road ride and it was really great to join a lot of my friends from the club and ride some of the local tracks fields and roads and whatever other services we could find adventuring [Music] Not really got to tell you where I am [Music] A bit of discussion about the route now Do you go round do you go across [Music] right we’re going round [Music] You all right yeah Good Thanks Bit of discussion here about the route and where we going [Music] Looks like Ruthie wants us to go back Yeah Off across the field it is Backtracking and across the field we go [Music] Oh hang on the back back on the [Music] bikes together through towards King Norton Church cuz you can do the church Come on President in your own time [Music] Nice Ruthie is in charge Which way should we go Should we go on the route now yeah Yeah Yeah [Music] So whilst we don’t have endless gravel tracks in Leicester we do have a mix of tracks bridal ways and fields connecting a lot of these little roots It’s just finding them and that’s where Ruthie does a really great job of finding these roots [Music] [Music] [Applause] Never been down here I have no idea really where I am Some rough idea but hey Heat Heat [Applause] A little bit on the road here [Music] Here he is fitting fresh from the rebellion way Yeah Can’t get in off of it Can’t get in there I love this shot as it’s one of my favorite tracks of road down here I love it with the trees over the top of the road Few bike cracks Few bike cracks out here Nice with proper pas and a rack I don’t do pias rather than all my my tent shove down with trousers like the young people do Oh is that me being put in the young people bracket more than happy with that So according to Ruthie it’s not bike packing It’s cycle touring And quite an interesting concept there of uh packing my tent down your trousers But hey you know always up for new innovative methods of uh cycle touring Lost everyone There’s three of us now Oh I can see a purple jersey in the distance Should we blame Peter yeah Yeah Yeah Normally there’s Peter again for goodness [Music] sake Bit of a hike [Music] [Music] [Music] view in the middle you know they’re all like [Music] [Applause] I’m actually on home turf here not far from my parents house I’ve walked this track a lot Never [Applause] ridden slow going That’s a sheer off-road riding a mix of just everything basically Gravel grass field It’s a tarmac now Oh no Not for long [Music] [Applause] So on the rebellion way Lucy [Music] [Applause] you lovely little woodland bitly ground so hard [Music] though the cafe dance Oh you mean [Music] [Laughter] [Music] that one llama coffee Are we going to get the map out and study it as well yes Run out of power Yeah exactly If Sarah had one of those battery life not a problem This for the young people people This is a map Oh is it what do you do with that then it’s a a visual representation of the topography of the area including roads Excellent And brideways How long does the battery last well I charged it fully before I left You can use it as kingly if you need to It doesn’t take some studying of the map there Oh no I just need to Okay And then Laura came to join us A right guys Bit of a change of events but I’m off to the pub Waiting for the pub to open Change of plan Now at the pub and then I’m going to ride home Good stuff with Laura who’s not riding Yeah Well gang that’s me now rolling home I did uh half the sort of off-road ride rode to the cafe then caught up with Laura Um little trip to the pub Uh yeah now I’m rolling home So this looks like the sun is now out which is nice Definitely a bit chillier than Spain Um yeah it was really lovely doing that off-road riding kind of being on all those different roads near areas that I ride all the time nice little off-road tracks and it’s nice being away from the cars and kind of exploring So yeah really enjoyed it and it’s good to be out on home soil You know that feeling when you return home [Music] Well everyone thanks for watching and joining me for another video an off-road ride and I will see you again next time Cheers Take care