Many thanks to Seb Dickson for this report:

A mild day with some drizzle early on that soon eased... Two groups of TRC riders started, the second 100km group is pictured here at the end with Paul Mepham giving out the finishers' medals. Young Jacob Spanner had a superb ride in this group and was Brett's 'ride of the day'! This group managed to keep together, only take one wrong turning and finish with an elapsed time of 4 hrs.

Group I report from Dave Mastin:

A quick report on this year's Etape ('Act 1') from your webmaster who was silly enough to enter....

An early start at 3:30 am to get to the pens in time and then lots of nervous waiting around.... when we got started the first 10 miles were downhill and very fast, it was possible to sit on wheels and draft along, hardly needed to pedal for the first half hour! The Col du Telegraphe was an enjoyable climb and I had a good smooth ascent then after the Telegraphe the road went down for a bit before heading up through a stunning valley onto the Galibier.

Thanks to Colin for this report on the popular Dragon Ride event:

On Sunday Thanet RC had 6 riders taking part in the UK’s largest cycle sportive the “Dragon Ride” in South Wales. Bill Hawkes, John Curry and Colin Robinson endured the 200km Gran Fondo taking in 10,000 feet of climbing. Bill and John completed under 7 hours to be rewarded with GOLD standards and Colin in 7 hours 15 mins to get a Silver.

Jonah Hawkes, Nicola and Ollie Robinson completed the 45km event in just over 2 hours.

Bobbie Fairhall reports:

Back to it’s original date, and with the traditional wet weather to match, the KCA Reliability Trial 2010 rolled out of Potter’s Corner on Sunday 31st October. This autumn gathering with a lack of facilities that would make Genghis Khan weep, pays homage to the KCA of the past when competitors cycled to and from events that were held in secret locations at unbearably early hours. No change there then! Men were men then and even Bronco toilet paper was strictly for the sissies!

Sebastian Dickson reports on the Downland Sportive:
(Note that Sebastian has rather modestly played down his superb ride - a glance at the Download website reveals that he finished with the fourth fastest time of the day overall - an excellent result)

"Well, it was November, and the weather missed no chances to remind everybody of that. Although it never actually thundered, it was wet and windy enough to make someone (me) wish they had mudguards, lots of layers and a motor.

The KCA Reliability Ride for the Rootes Trophy will take place on Sunday 31st October this year. Last year the event attracted a record entry of over 400 riders, with Thanet fielding a decent 22. It's a pleasant day out and a good opportunity to stretch the legs and have a good end-of-season chinwag with fellow club members as the TRC 'peleton' rolls along.

A sunny, breezy bank holiday Monday for this event, run by Medway Velo in aid of the Kent Air Ambulance.