Jim rides the Jean Francois Bernard/Thursday rides

If you haven't met Jim Morris it's because he takes about 12 holidays a year. He also organises (when he's here) Thursday morning rides. These are a bit easier than Wednesday morning rides, if you would like to be included on the email list for info about these rides email us at the website or get in touch with Jim directly.

Here's his recommendation for a French sportive if you fancy a change or doing something different:

"Did the Jean Francois Bernard sportive in Corbigny, France on 29 August. Longest course 160kms but I did the 106kms. Fantastic part of France to the south west of Dijon with very quiet roads. Some flattish but mostly very lumpy with some long hills at around 5%. 192 finishers on my course with me finishing 97th and 13th in Cat E over 60. Winning time 2hrs 54m and I finished in 3hrs 35m. (Gold time for me was 4hrs 10m) I got in a good group after about 10kms of 20 or so riders which then got thinned out to about 7 at the end. The first hour was the flattish bit and went past at around 32kph but the hills then kicked and the final average was around 29kph. It was a real challenge to stay with the group because inevitably I lost ground on some of the longer hills and then had to chase hard to get back on. But a real challenge - if only I could have stayed with the main bunch which went away at the start! The race was superbly marshalled and there were lots of support cars and bikes. I can thoroughly recommend it, although it is about a seven hour drive from Calais. We had a gite for a week and had some great riding in that time including doing the part of the long route that the shorter course missed."