By Decree of The Club Captain, be it known that:
The Destination of The Club Run for Sunday 23 March
Shall Be Changed.
And Shall Henceforth be Leighton Buzzard, Pages Park, in the County of Bedfordshire
The week after, 30 March, it shall be Stokenchurch unto which the Run shall proceed.
And let No-One Cast the Club Run Asunder.
Mark Brooking and Richard Hulls were last Saturday’s team aboard the famous Longbarrow trike. They were riding the Shaftsbury CC’s excellent 160km Audax from the historic cycling huts in Ugley, Essex.
The weather for the ride was great and no doubt help fuel high spirits on the day (see photographic evidence below)
Richard Hulls embellishes Mr U. Bolt’s trademark pose
This week’s club run was by Royal Appointment. A return leg stop off at Windsor Great Park, where the Post Office does a roaring trade in ice-creams and afternoon teas. Your correspondent enjoyed a Mojito ice, which claimed to contain rum. I believe it did. Also consumed was a Champagne Magnum anniversary edition. The class of catering in Windsor is far superior to anywhere else.
This was a great club run, a group of around ten, eleven, with more meeting us at Wokingham, where there were no outside seats to be had, every available space taken up by people enjoying some serious sunshine breakfasting. ‘JT’ was there of course. Service took a while, causing alarm among those whose Garmins are remotely monitored….
Back through Datchet, now looking as dry as a bone. The only evidence of recent flooding was the large number of sandbags still lying around.
We were joined by Team Quest professional Gerry McManus for the ride down, after he kindly agreed to show us how it is done. The club captain was pleased to get a lesson in CO2 tyre inflation from Gerry after sustaining a puncture. However, by the time we got to Windsor later that day, pressure was going down, and the manual pump was deployed.
Olympic Velodrome Day – 13th April 2014
Please see below list of riders. If you do not wish to ride can you please let me know asap or you will be charged. Riders who have not ridden the track for sometime or are new to track riding must attend a session at Welwyn on 6th April at 10.00 a.m.
Attached please find list of riders. london velodrome rider list
edit:PDF Version
FOR SALE
Ladies Specialized Dolci Elite 44cm
Shimano triple 9 speed
Chain ring 50 39 30T
Condition as new
£450 ONO
Contact
Wendy Mears tel: 01494 862372 email: wendywearl@aol.com
Sun at last, so we made the most of it with a loop out from Ivinghoe to the outskirts of Leighton Buzzard, then back to Cooks Wharf via Mentmore. Apologies to Ian Oliver on the right for cutting him out of the photo, but he’s not in Willesden uniform anyway.
Photo credit: © Ten ton Ched from Cheddington
This weekend, temperatures could rise. The club run destination is Cheddington Canal Cafe, and the ride is compulsory for everyone who is not doing anything else.
Ray Kelly has asked that the following message be put on the blog regarding the opportunity the club now has to provide young riders with further coaching and racing at the “London Velodrome”*.
This allows any young rider from the WCC to join BC’s coaching and racing at the velodrome on either the 29th March or 5th April for £12.00 (see links below)
For more information see following letter from Jenny Nicholson, who is
Senior Development Officer – Coaching and Competition at British Cycling –
Dear Club,
Thank you for providing young people with more racing opportunities this winter by registering Go-Ride Racing events between Oct 2013 to March 2014. This is just a reminder to let you know that you are eligible to promote the following coaching and racing opportunities to the young riders in your club:
Go-Ride Track Session – London Velodrome
Saturday 29th March 2014, 12-3pm
https://www.britishcycling.org.uk/events/details/104235/Go-Ride-Track-Session—London-Velodrome
Go-Ride Racing – London Velodrome
Saturday 5th April 2014, 12-3pm
https://www.britishcycling.org.uk/events/details/104236/Go-Ride-Racing—London-Velodrome
The events are now live online to enter. Please note places will be allocated on a first come, first serve basis.
Kind Regards,
Jenny Nicholson
Senior Development Officer – Coaching and Competition
British Cycling,
National Cycling Centre,
Stuart Street,
Manchester,
M11 4DQ
* The official name is the Lee Valley Velodrome.
Rich Cooper raced the Gorrick, Saddle Skedaddle Spring Series – Race 2 at Caesar’s Camp – in the open category.
During a warm up he noticed his chain was sticking but had no time to sort before the start. At the bottom of the first climb the chain locked up and everyone rode past.
3 minutes later he was off again (alone in the woods), and at the bottom the of next climb the same thing happened again… and so on, and so on, this was pretty much the whole race. It was either locking up, falling off, slipping or generally not working very well. On the bright side, despite constant mechanicals, Rich did manage to catch many of the riders, getting back up to about 10th place at one point. The last lap his chain dropped just before the long, fast decent to the finish line and lost a few of these hard earned places. Finished 13th place.
On the bright side, Rich gave the bike a good clean when I got back and the chain seems to work fine again now. Now if only he could go back in time and race it again.
p.s. Richard Jerome rode it and did very well indeed, coming in 11th place in the Masters category.
The monthly meeting will be held this Friday 7 March at Minet Park Club House starting at approximately 8.00 p.m. after Turbo Training. Please be there or be square.
The race report for this race can be found here on the website. http://www.willesdencyclingclub.co.uk/about/time-trials/race-reports-2013-2/
Ryan Finestone took the honors as fastest Willesden rider on the day
Hare Hatch is the name of one of the old gates into Windsor Forest – the only remaining part of this woodland is the Maidenhead Thicket. The club run went there to meet up with those riding the first club 10 of 2014. And we got back before the wind brought the rain.
In 2004 the Willesden CC fielded 14 riders for a crack at the 1,000 Sicilia No-Stop, an Audax ride that does a complete circuit of this charismatic Italian island. We returned to the UK with a rather impressive porcelain trophy, with 11 of our riders completing the course in what was exceptional heat, even for Italy.
The eighth running of this event will take place between 17 –20 June 2014. As usual the ride is being organised by the A. S. D. Ciclo Tyndaris and will be run to to BRM standards.
The organisers will help with hotel bookings at the Hotel Club Saracen Sands, Isola delle Femmine (just west of Palermo), where half board accommodation is available from €57 per night ( see here – WARNING….naff soundtrack to the site!!).
Full details of this ride can be found at www.sicilianostop.it and more details on the organisers, Ciclo Tyndaris, on www.ciclotyndaris.it. If you have any questions you can email them at either info@ciclotyndaris.it or info@sicilianostop.it.
I will be organising the Willesden’s annual trip over the may bank holiday weekend to the Isle of Wight. We can enjoy cakes and all things bad as we have cycle up and down the hills of the Island, and then we can go out for a blow out in the evening. It will be the usual format of a 2-night stay (Saturday and Sunday) and we will stay at the same hotel as last year. Please contact me for further information if you are interested in joining this fun trip.
Wendy Mears email: wendywearl@aol.com
Hi folks
Due to popular demand, I am happy to announce the trial edition of a monthly pub night, also known as the Pub Run! These will take place on the first Wednesday of the month, in Ickenham at the Coach and Horses pub.
You are warmly invited to come along and have a chat and a drink with your fellow club mates. (If you’re arriving hungry, food is served until 10pm.)
It would be good to alternate the locations, with every other gathering happening a bit further into town, for members who can’t get to Ickenham. Venue suggestions welcome: place your votes in the comments, or email me at social@willesdencyclingclub.org.uk
Hope to see you there…
🙂
CZ x
Event: Pub Run
Date: Weds 2 April 2014
Time: 8:00pm onwards
Venue: Coach and Horses Pub, 1 High Road, Ickenham, Middlesex UB10 8LJ
Enquiries: social@willesdencyclingclub.org.uk
In response to the paper newsletter which was recently sent out, the club received a letter from life member Bernard Jancène who lives in Paris.
He gave us his latest address and sends his ‘amitiés’ to all the members. He still rides his bike but says he is getting slower!
He is keen to hear news of members from his time in London, I will try to include this in the next edition of the newsletter.
Vyv Baker
Club Fun day at Hillingdon Saturday 28th June from 1pm
Club track Champs at Welwyn Sunday 31st August from 12 noon
For those planning on using public transport to get themselves and their track bikes to the WCC track training day at the Lee Valley velodrome on the 13th April there are some rail engineering services that might affect your journey planning.
Probably the most direct public transport service to the the Velodrome from West London is to use the Overground line to Stratford. Unfortunately there will be engineering services on 13th April, which means the Overground will only be open between Camden Road and Stratford. Whilst the line is scheduled to fully reopen at 12:30pm on the 13th, it leaves just a scant hour until our WCC velodrome session starts at 1:30pm. To see full details of advanced Overground and Tube engineering works, see here.
The best alternative plan is to use either the DLR, National Rail, Metropolitan, Circle, Hammersmith & City or District lines, all of whom will allow non-folding bikes to be carried all day at weekends. Here are some alternative options –
National Rail to Stratford
Use the Circle, Metropolitan or Hammersmith & City line to Liverpool Street, then take the National Rail service to Stratford (about 7-10 mins).
By Tube and DLR to Stratford
For those intending to use the Hammersmith & City or District line, you will need to change once at either –
a) Bow Church and then continue on to Stratford on the DLR.
or
b) at West Ham and continue on to Stratford on either the DLR or Jubilee line.
For those wanting to use either the Metropolitan or Circle line, you will need to change twice. Once at Liverpool Street to get on to the Hammersmith & City line, and then again at either –
a) at Bow Church to continue on to Stratford on the DLR,
or
b) at West Ham and continue on to Stratford on either the DLR or Jubilee line.
For further information on which lines you can take your bike on (non-folding) please see this map.
In the meantime I will try and do a reccy of the journey and report back with any tips or work-arounds. However if you have other suggestion or questions then let me know through the comments box below.
