Willesden Cycling Club

2007 was to see the Willesden CC run a full Super Randonée Series for Audax UK. As 2007 is also a Paris-Brest-Paris year, this was to be a significant milestone for the club. However our retiring Audax Secretary Gavin Gilbert felt that he would be unable to continue with organising the events and the series seemed destined for the toilet.

However Paul Stewart has stepped in to save the day and he will be running the events that Gavin had worked hard to establish. So the Willesden SR series is now a goer! Thank you Paul, that was a wonderful gesture that is mightily appreciated by the Willesden Audax fraternity.

Therefore can I ask you to offer Paul and all the other organisers (Mark, Chris, Mick, Tim Rocco and Liz) as much help as you can. I spoke to Paul earlier today and he has enough helpers for the Willy Warmer on 27th January 07 but will need more entries. He has reconfigured the route to reduce the amount of climbing and to also avoid the grotty lanes in the dark. As many as possible of us should ride this event to show our gratitude to Paul.

The full list of 20 (yes 20!) WCC Audax events is as follows –

27 Jan 07
207km The Willy Warmer *** PBP qualifier ***
Start 7:30am Chalfont St. Peter 07:30am
Fee £5.00
Organiser – Paul Stewart

10 Mar 07
100km The Brass Monkey
Start 08:30 Coulsdon, S of Croydon
Cost £3.00
Organiser – Tim Wainwright

08 Apr 07
304km Ruislip Randonnée *** PBP qualifier ***
Start Ruislip 06:00am
Cost £6.00
Organiser – Liz Creese

18 Apr 07
105km West London 1/4
Start Ruislip 10:00am
Cost £3.50
Organiser – Rocco Richardson

22 Apr 07
106km Bluebell Ride
Start Ruislip 10:00am
Cost £4.00
Organiser – Liz Creese

25 Apr 07
104km 10 Thames Bridges
Start 10:00am
Cost £3.00
Organiser – Mick Hill

02 May 07
113km West London 2/4
Start Ruislip 10:00am
Cost £3.50
Organiser – Rocco Richardson

05 May 07
407km Severn Across *** PBP qualifier ***
Start Chalfont St. Peter 06:00am
Cost £5.00
Organiser – Chris Beynon

06 May 07
118km Riverside to Riverside
Start Maidenhead 09:00
Cost £3.00
Organiser Mick Hill

26 May 07
610 The Beast from the East *** PBP qualifier ***
Start 06:00 Waltham Abbey
Cost £12.50
Organiser Mark Brooking

20 Jun 07
210km Wednesday Wander
Start Ruislip 08:00am
Cost £4.00
Organiser Liz Creese

11 Jul 07
122km West London Extra
Start Denham 10:00am
Cost £3.50
Organiser Rocco Richardson

28 Jul 07
311km The Three Down
Start Chalfont St. Peter 06:00am
Cost £5.00
Organiser – Paul Stewart

15 Aug 07
153km West London 3/4
Start Ruislip 10:00am
Cost £4.00
Rocco Richardson

22 Aug 07
110km Boulters Bash
Start Maidenhead 10am
Cost £3.00
Organiser Mick Hill

05 Sep 07
100km West London 4/4
Start Ruislip 10:00am
Cost £3.50
Organiser Rocco Richardson

23 Sep 07
51km
Ruislip Autumn Assortment 50
Cost £3.00
Organiser Liz Creese

03 Oct 07
104km West London 5/4
Start Denham 10:00am
Cost £3.50
Organiser Rocco Richardson

06 Oct 07
207km The Anfractuous
Start Chalfont St. Peter 08:00am
Cost £5.00
Organiser Paul Stewart

06 Oct 06
109km The Nyctophobic
Start Chalfont St. Peter 8:30am
Cost £5.00
Organiser Paul Stewart

Go on, you know you want one!

The WCC Annual Dinner Dance will be held on on Saturday 13th January 2007 at the

Drinks and socialising from 6pm, with Dinner served at 7pm

The 3-course meal will be followed by guest speaker Martin Runnacles of the South Bucks RC, prize giving, raffle and dancing till midnight.

Tickets cost £25 for adults and £12.50 for children.
Please send cheques payable to “Willesden Cycling Club” to

Hilary Pandya,
9 Old School Road,
Hillingdon,
Middlesex,
UB8 3WE.

You can also contact her by e-mail or ‘phone on:
email: hxpandya@bechtel.com, phone (day) 020 8846 4748 or (mobile) 07810 658667.


Tickets must be booked with Hilary by Saturday 6th January
===============================================

Santa paid his annual trip to the WCC’s Children’s Christmas Party last night. The club room was filled with much excitement, noise and general running about… even some of the children joined in!

As usual Santa was keen to meet children of all ages…..

As we move towards the 2007 running of the Paris-Brest, I thought it would be fun to list WCC finishers during the last twenty years.

The data has been extracted from http://www.randonneurs.bc.ca/pbp/time_results/1891.html. Only those riding in Willesden colours are listed.

Warning: This list may contain traces of nuts

1983
77 Hr J. RIVERS
83 Hr S. BAILEY
83 Hr Mark BROOKING
85 Hr P. CRUMP

1987
67 Hr Stewart WILD
76 Hr Bernard JANCENE
83 Hr Brian CURLE
84 Hr Mark BROOKING
84 Hr Edmund JONES
84 Hr Barry PARSLOW
88 Hr Nigel HASELDEN
89 Hr Tracy HORSMAN
90 Hr Simon JONES
90 Hr Raymond KELLY

1991
66.18 Robert Fry
79.49 Liz Creese
79.52 Robin Cook
82.46 Mark Brooking
83.04 Nigel Haselden
87.18 Karl Hrouda
88.03 Ann Daws
88.03 Bernard Daws
88.19 John Richardson
89.26 Michael Elliso
90.14 Raymond Kelly
90.15 Tracy Horsman
90.25 Richard Hull

1995
69.47 WHY Ian
75.24 SIMPSON Sheila
75.51 HASELDEN Nigel
75.51 BROOKING Mark
75.51 HULL Richard
83.25 DEEGAN Ian
83.59 DAWS Ann
83.59 DAWS Bernard
85.54 WAINWRIGHT Tim
86.09 MILLER John
86.12 CREESE Elizabeth
86.12 HORSMAN Tracy
86.16 RICHARDSON John
86.18 HROUDA Karl
87.04 KELLY Raymond
87.37 ELLISON Nichael

1999
69.05 5041 JENNINGS Jon
69.05 5042 SWALLOW Judith
72.21 819 KIRKLAND Melville
75.37 4308 MILLER John Robert
78.47 4277 SIMPSON Sheila Joy
84.29 5044 BROOKING Mark
89.02 4313 MACLEODE-CULLINANE Dave
89.13 4309 ELLISON Michael
89.28 4304 GIBBINS Clive
89.28 4305 WAINWRIGHT Tim
89.28 4306 WAINWRIGHT Pauline
89.28 4310 KELLY Raymond
89.28 4311 HROUDA Karl
89.28 4312 PEDLIHAM Alan
89.39 4307 TURNBULL Peter
90.34 4356 HUNT Ian
90.34 4357 HUNT Loraine

2003
59.12 DOUGHTY Simon
64.04 LUCAS Martin
64.09 KIRKLAND Melville
71.39 FISHER Daniel
83.08 TURNBULL Peter
85.04 GILBERT Gavin
85.09 GIBBINS Clive
87.57 DAVIES John
87.57 HORSMAN Tracy John
87.57 LAZARUS Norman
87.57 MUNNELLY Michael
87.57 WAINWRIGHT Tim
87.58 GREEN Mark
88.01 COX Mark
88.01 RICHARDSON John Eric
88.12 DEANER Andrew
88.13 ELLISON Michael
88.14 FALVEY Denis
89.30 HOPPER John Brian
90.25 HROUDA Karl

The Christmas party for the “Tuesday Night Turboistas was held at the Willesden CC’s favourite trattoria in Ruislip, Remo’s Village, earlier this week. The feed plan included three carbo loading points, called starter, main course and pud. The turboistas were careful to avoid any hint of dehydration and were seen to scrupiously take on liquids through out the evening. Some were so well hydrated they had trouble walking home.

A great evening out and big thank you to The Turbonator for organising it.

Following is a recent update on Simon, from Melita Luxton of Audax UK.

“I visited Simon yesterday. He is due to be transferred at the end of theweek to a rehabilitation unit at Sheffield. Once at Sheffield, visitors willbe welcome, I’ll send round details of ward, visiting times etc as soon as he is settled.

In the last ten days he has gained greater physical control over hismovements – he is attempting to move himself about the bed and can lift hishead/upper body after having his pelvic girdle removed last week. He is still limited on his lower limbs as his femur and ankle will take much longer to heal and there is still metalwork in place. Cognitively, Simon is responding well to pain and further to the update last week, appears to be very bright and showing some awareness of his surroundings. He continues to have the classic looking up eye movement of the neurologically impaired though when fully awake and alert he is looking directly in a focussed manner at whoever is speaking to him. These bouts of focussed attention however, are brief and are only for a few seconds. He also seems to be responding to humour, though this may be a response to tone of voice rather than any cognitive understanding. He continues to tire very easily which affects his attention span. Although one cannot say for certain, I gained an impression yesterday that Simon is beginning to have the very early glimpses of his current condition. He appeared to be actively responsive to outside stimuli rather than just passively responsive. However, he is still not capable of initiating things and his physical movements remain uncoordinated though it is clear what he is trying to do (eg pulling away/struggling when something is done that hedoesn’t like/gives pain eg physio).

In summary, anyone visiting Simon at this moment in time will find a person who is healing physically very well and who has some very basic non verbal communication (eg he can turn his head towards a speaker and appears to grip their hand, has facial movements etc). (NB Simon still has a small tracheostomy in situ so he can make no verbal sounds anyway, but he has not as yet shown any indication of lip movement and attempts at speech).Visitors will find Simon has only the briefest of focussed attention spans.

It is hoped that his condition will continue to improve as it has done over the last two weeks, especially once he has been moved to the rehab unit, though at this stage no one can say how much of a recovery Simon will eventually make.

No decision has yet been made by the CPS re Simons assailant.As ever, please pass on this email to anyone you think may be interested.

Melita Luxton”

On a recent trip to Belgium, the Kellys decided to stage their own Tour of Flanders.

It was a tough race, which included many repeat assaults on the Chocolateberg, Muur de Biere and the shops in the High street. In a nail painting sprint to the line it was a clean sweep of the podium for the Kellys. Just missing a place was Turbonator Kelly who had handle bar problems. In a post race interview he explained., “When I got to the bar, there were just so many beers. I couldn’t handle it“.

Audax mentioned in the Guardian!!!!
See http://tinyurl.com/yltojq

Polar “Protrainer XT” Heart Rate Monitor complete with case/manual etc.

New batteries fitted plus new chest strap and transmitter

Bargain at only £50.00 ovno (Originally cost £140)

Contact Dennis on 0208 573 8430 (Hayes, Middlesex)

Next week’s Turbo Session should be a bit of fun. Ray “The Turbonator” Kelly has requested that we all decorate our wheel block is an appropriately festive manner. First prize will be five 30 second sprints, second prize will be ten 30 second sprints.

Last week new peleton format was a good one. The well known sweaty cyclist, Pres Spires, even reported that the air circulation was better as a result.

Well done Ray for keeping us entertained as well as getting us fit!

Demon Turbo fan and Tester, Claire Beckwith, was knocked off her bike by a car and trailer earlier this week. Fortunately Claire emerged from the frightening ordeal with “just” impressive bruising and a swollen hand. Nothing broken and the good news is that she will be sporting her bruises at next Tuesday Turbo. That should ensure a record attendance!

The Annual General Meeting/Moan was held on Sunday 3rd December. Around 30 people were present , many not seen from one year to next. During the meeting there was a small shuffle of club officers, the new line up is as follows –

President Jimmy Love
Vice President Jack Griffith
Chairman Brian Wright
Vice Chairman Rocco Richardson
General Secretary Mike Ellison
Treasurer Gladys Purdy
Time Trial Sec. Suzz Patel *newly elected*
Road Race Sec. Chris “Jumbo” James *newly elected*
Track Secretary Roger Woodford
Time Keeper Jim Mears
Assistant Time Keepers Gladys Purdy, Mike Ellison, Wendy Mears
Social Secretary Hilary Pandya
Club Captain John Wheatley
Press Secretary Gladys Purdy
Clubroom Users Council Jean Newall, Ron Newall
Webmaster Lindsey Hobbs
Warden Ron Purdy
Trophy Secretary Rocco Richardson
Membership Secretary Liz Creese *newly elected*
Touring Secretary Gavin Gilbert
Trustees Brian Wright, Gladys Purdy
Auditors Ron Sacker, Gladys Purdy

The annual Fryathalon was run from Tesco’s cafe in Amersham earlier today. Miles Back was in contact with the organisers to get the results on this prestigious competition. Conditions made the event a complete lottery…. Mike “Snake-Hips” Ellison took the Hill Climb, whilst Brian “Hippo-Hips” took the Downhill Freewheeling contest. Final placing for the fried breakfast are provisional, subject to a baked bean recount.

Message from Melita Luxton of Audax UK regarding Simon Doughty’s present condition.

Dear All

I visited Simon yesterday and can report that there has been someimprovement in his condition.In the last week he has shown some awareness of his environment and isresponding to outside stimuli. His eyes are now fully open and he isfollowing movement around him. However, he is unfocussed and appears tobefollowing movement rather than individuals, unless the individual isdirectly talking to him. (NB Simon does not at this moment in time have hisglasses which may account for some of the lack of focus, though not all).

He can respond to exceptionally simple commands (eg ‘let go of my hand’) thoughnot yet communicate significantly. He is making his pain and distress clear when being handled (eg moving his hands when being suctioned via his trachesotomy or having physiotherapy). These are very positive signs, though Simon is still far from recovering significant neurological functioning – he can only respond, not initiate. Although slight, these signs are however, a major step forward from the unconsciousness that he was experiencing two weeks ago.

However, at this time, in spite of his progress, it is still far too early to gauge how much of a recovery Simon will make in the long term. Simon will undergo further surgery today to remove the pins and plates in his hips, those in his femur and ankle will be taken out at a later date. This will allow more intensive physiotherapy. Simon still has a tracheostomy inplace, though is no longer on oxygen. It is likely he will be moved fairly soon back to Sheffield (details when known).

I understand that one of the passengers in the stolen vehicle has been arrested. The family are awaiting a decision from the Crown Prosecution Service as to the final charges that are to be brought against the driver of the vehicle who remains in custody.

Janet and his family have again expressed their thanks for the many messagesyou are continuing to send. As ever, further updates as I get them.

Melita Luxton

The highlight of the Willesden calendar is on Sunday morning, the Famous Fry-Athalon!

The first element is the full fried breakfast. During the eagerly contested event, points are awarded for the amount of fried eggs, sausages and beans consumed. Remember calories = points. This is followed by the Hill climb and then the Freewheels contest.

Meet at Tescos Amersham at 10am, Sunday 3rd December.

The Willesden CC held our annual Track Championships at the Calshott track earlier this month. The events included a

– flying Two laps, from which the riders were seeded for the sprints,

– a 70 lap scratch race

– and a 100 lap points event.

Points were awarded for each event and the results were as follows

• Club Veterans Champion – Keith Wilmot
• Senior Champion – Roger Woodford
• Schoolpersons Champion (Girls) – Stephanie May
• Schoolpersons (Boys) – Michael Wilmot.

Well done to all them.

The latest report we have received on Simon’s condition is as follows –

“Dear All

It is now 3 weeks since Simons trauma. He has now been transferred to the high dependency unit at Manchester RoyalInfirmary from intensive care. At this time, he continues to be unresponsive to external stimuli and pain. Although generally unconscious, he has yawn and eye opening reflexes, though there is no sign of other activity.

The best case scenario for Simon is for him to regain consciousness and suffer only moderate brain impairment. The worst case scenario is that he remains in his current condition. Sadly, the longer he remains unresponsive, the less likely he is to recover. All that can be done at the moment is to wait, hope and pray.

Simon has undergone a surgical procedure to have a feeding tube inserted intohis stomach so that he can be given nutritional support. His orthopaedic and soft tissue injuries continue to heal well.

As ever, I will update as soon as I have any further information.

Regards–Melita Luxton”

Wendy and Jim Mears “made it legal” last Saturday and what a splendid day it was. Following the wedding ceremony the Willesden CC formed an arch of wheels for the happy couple.

Shortly afterwards we all retired to a wonderful country pub for a superb wedding breakfast. Jim and Wendy declined to join other Willesden riders who were taking part in a 200km audax starting at 4:30am the following morning. Can’t think why!

As many of you are probably aware, Simon Doughty was involved in a terrible accident on Thursday morning. He was involved in a hit and run accident with a stolen car during his cycle commute to work in Manchester.

He is presently unconscious and on a life support system. He condition is described as critical. We came very close to loosing our coach and club mate on Friday, but his condition seems to have improved slightly on Sunday.

From reports we have had Simon took the full blow on his chest, which is causing most concern to the medical team. In addition he also has a broken femur, pelvis and ankle.

I hope we will get more encouraging news soon.

John Davies