BellaVelo newsletter #10
We are springing forward into March: warmer, longer days are peeking around the corner! 🌸
From our Spring Social with nutrition insights to our International Women's Day ride, there's something for everyone:
Spring Social & Nutrition Talk with Jenny Powell on 2 April 🍷🥗
New Joiners Sessions to boost your skills ✨
Bivvy Weekend – bikepacking fun in June 🚴♀️🏕️
International Women's Day Ride through London’s hidden tributes 🌍
Ride & Seek Out Adventure evening in May to support World Bicycle Relief 💙
💌 Spring Social + Nutrition Talk | 2 April
Tickets are now on sale for our Spring Social on Wednesday 2 April in Acton. There will be drinks, supper, a kit exchange and, the star attraction, a talk on nutrition for optimal cycling performance by British Cycling coach and IOC Sports Nutritionist Jenny Powell. There is bike parking available.
We hope to see you all there!
📅 2 April 7pm-10:45pm
🎟️ Buy your ticket on TeamApp here (£12 each. Those making a substantial dish/contribution will be reimbursed).
✨ New Joiners sessions are back up and running for 2025! ✨
We have three sessions in March run by Cat and Belinda and regular sessions starting again with amazing coach Helen from April.
These sessions are such an important way of building our club and play a key role in our mission to support the development of women's cycling. Women who apply to join the club come from a wide range of experience levels so these sessions allow us to build skills and get everyone riding in a similar fashion. We work on riding in a line following a wheel, riding in pairs and doing rotations. We also look at key skills like drinking from a bottle and doing tight u-turns. Our New Joiners sessions are unique to BellaVelo and enable us to bring new riders into the club in a safe and supportive manner.
🏕️ Bivvy Weekend
Ella is organising this year’s bikepacking/bivvy weekend, to be held at the end of June. Just like last year, we’ll be riding out of London, camping overnight, enjoying a delicious dinner and breakfast, and then riding back to London on Sunday.
If you’re keen to join us, please sign up on TeamApp. Depending on numbers, this will influence the destination options. We’ll offer both road and gravel routes again, so if off-roading is your thing, you’re covered!
🔗 Recommended reads + links
🫡 Are you interested in becoming a Ride Captain?
We are actively recruiting new ride captains to join our team for 2025! No specific experience or speed is required, as we need leaders for all speed groups in our club.
Being a ride captain is a great way of giving back to the club, but it's also a brilliant way of increasing your own involvement in the club and getting more out of it. Want to ride more hills, or want more short social coffee rides? Half our weekend rides are Ride Captain Choice so as an RC, if you want to see more of any specific type of ride you can offer it yourself! Full training and support is provided. For more info or to sign up to RC training contact Cat on: 07920056585
🌍 A Celebration of International Women's Day
Get ready to ride through history! Join us for our annual IWD ride, exploring the streets of central London past unseen statues, plaques, and tributes to incredible women – and not just the famous ones. We’ll be stopping a lot so wrap up well. Road, gravel, and city bikes are all suitable.
📌 Route: https://ridewithgps.com/routes/42111522
📅 9 March: meet at the Windrush Memorial in Waterloo station for a 9.30 depart (what3words location: ///belly.closet.spin).
✨ From 6th to 9th March, Herne Hill Velodrome also have a jam-packed series of events aimed at celebrating, connecting, and supporting women in cycling - browse the schedule here.
💙 Upcoming event: Ride and Seek Out Adventure evening in memory of Alison Dex
Join us for an evening to raise funds for World Bicycle Relief, a charity close to Alison’s heart. The evening will feature speakers, including Alison’s son, James, telling us about their overseas cycling adventures and someone from WBR will come and tell us about the work of the charity. There will be a raffle and a sale of second-hand kit, with proceeds going to WBR.
The event will be ticketed (the price to include a welcome drink). Additional drinks and food will be available to purchase.
📅 Wednesday 14th May at G!RO in Esher.
More details to follow, including the link to ticket purchase (the event is not exclusive to BVCC).