Willesden Cycling Club

Prime Coaching is holding a series of training sessions at Welwyn track starting on Saturday 4th April, which is an ideal opportunity for any rider, Novice, Intermediate and Experienced, who is planning to take part in the Welwyn Track League that starts on Friday 24th April.

The series continues on Saturdays 20th June, 4th July and 1st August,and are 2 to 4 PM with a briefing and warming-up at 1.30 PM.

The cost is £10 for adults (16 years plus), and £5 for youths.

For further information and to reserve a place contact Tony Woodford, telephone 0795 119 1620, or email anthony.woodford1@ntlworld.com.

Thanks,

The Willesden Reliability Trial was a great success again. Blessed with clement weather a total of 116 riders pitted themselves against some of the toughest roads in the Chilterns. All had to be signed on, fed and watered. Special thanks must go to Gladys, Ron, and family for sterling efforts in the kitchen. Thanks also to Liam, Rocco and Jumbo for helping out with signing on.

Found

A pair of riding glasses were found in the hall yesterday. Mail squadra.verde@gmail.com with a description if they’re yours.

The calendar has now been updated to include the dates for the 2009 West London Combine Time Trials.

Please let Suzz know if you would like to take part by sending him an e-mail here.

Ray has given us the new kit pricing for the year which can be found here.

If you would like any new kit please contact Ray Kelly and he will order it for you.

Don’t forget its 2 weeks until the Willesden Reliability Trial, John Williams has been working hard on arrows for the event and we just hope the recent bad weather will improve.

Starts at 9:30 22nd Febuary from Ickenham Guide Hut in Community Close in Ickenham ….See you there!

The Hemel Hempstead CC reliability ride planned for this Sunday has been cancelled. the amount of snow that has fallen this week in the Chilterns (and is still falling in places) combined with the frosty temperatures predicted for the next few nights has forced us to admit that the roads will not be safe. Some of the roads are quite possibly impossible to be passable even by 4×4’s such is the state of the roads around the area.

Edit: Just had a report that one road – Small Dean Lane – where there is a very steep hill has been closed to all traffic since Monday and is not expected to open before Sunday.

The dinner and dance was a great success, thanks to everyone who helped to make it a great night.

We have a selection of photo’s from the night

Are you on Facebook?? If so head on over to the new Willesden Cycling Club Group here.

A note from Andrew Amies.

Wanted - spare wheel for turbo training

I'm looking for a cheap second hand rear wheel that I can store at the club house and use for Tuesday turbo training sessions.  It needs to be able to fit a 10 speed Shimano/SRAM cassette and a 700 x 23c tyre.  If you have a spare rear wheel lying about that would fit the bill, please contact me at andrew.amies@mac.com.

We are sorry to announce that club member Bernard Mawson died on Thursday 15th January.

Bernard was President of Audax UK, and had been validation secretary for many years. He was the organiser of the inaugural London-Edinburgh-London 1400km, and continued as organiser for several years.

His funeral is at 2:20pm at Doncaster Crematorium on Thursday 29th January.

A quick note to say that subs are now due and your membership will expire if subs are not renewed by January the 30th.

The club runs list has now been updated in the calendar section of the website. If you would like us to add any more events, please e-mail us using the link above. Thanks.

Willesden CC were again invited to the New Years day parade and this year showed off the new kit. Gladys has provided some photo’s below.

Why not try a continental sportive that allows you to ride a distance to suit, view the Classic the following day in an area that has attractive scenery, excellent local beer and plenty to see and do for non-cycling friends and family.

The Amstel Gold Tour on Saturday 18thApril ticks all of those boxes. We can cross the channel Friday evening, ride the Saturday, watch the Amstel Gold race – numerous times as the route is crammed into a small area you can move around in by bike or car – on the Sunday and get home late Sunday night. The drive from the channel portsto the Limburg region where the race takes place takes around 3 hours.

The shortest route is 60km, the longest a tad short of 250km and apart from the race’s Maastricht city centre start and some short stretches of main road, you follow the route of the professional race. The landscape is not unlike the Chilterns: flat valleys, flat ridges and short, sharp hills in between. The 60km route would be fine for a fit child, the 250km is definitely a tough day day in the saddle. There are 100,125, 150, and 200km routes too. The finish closes at 7pm, which leaves plenty of time for completion, especially for the shorter routes. When I did it four years ago, I found that the en-route feeding stations were very basic – not much more than stops for sports drink , but you pass endless bar/cafes so getting food, drink and a rest is no problem. The organisation is excellent, starts are well staggered and I never felt the road was overwhelmed by the 15000 participants.

The website is here

Maastricht is one of the Netherlands most attractive cities and quite different from any other large Dutch town. The surrounding area has a lot to offer too, so it’s a great weekend break for non-cyclists too. Tourist office site

Costs: Entry is 25 Euros plus a 5 Euros deposit. A ferry return by car about £60-£70. I will arrange accommodation once we have numbers and we can share cars. You will need travel insurance cover and your European Health Insurance Card, but there is no need for medicals or racing licences.

Interested? Entry opens on January 15th and last year it filled up very quickly.I will put a Willesden team entry in on that day. If you want to ride, email me at before January 15thwith entrant names and planned distance (we don’t all need to do the same distance) and your phone number -I will acknowledge your email. Alternatively, call me on xxxxxxxx. I may be able to squeeze in people later, but there is no guarantee.

Email address isianonospam-amstel@yahoo.co.uk

Just for fun!

…..and we’re not talking about the wheels here.

There was a noticable lack of green at Hillingdon circuit on Saturday afternoon after both Rich’s had too much to drink the night before. Normal service will resume shortly.

Willesden Cycling Club Annual Dinner and Prize Presentation, Saturday 24 January 2009 from 6.30 for 7.00 pm at the Uxbridge Golf Club, Harefield Place, Uxbridge, Middlesex, UB10 8AQ. £25.00 per ticket. Please contact Jim and Wendy Mears for tickets ASAP: wendywearl@aol.com / jmearswcc@aol.com

After last weeks reasonable weather, this week was more interesting with freezing temperatures, wind and lots and lots of rain!

The Rich C and Rich J were both mad enough to turn up, along with the other 30 or so competitors. The race stayed together despite several attempts to split the race up. The weather started to take its toll on the riders and legs were starting to get tired and the break aways were starting to get bigger and bigger gaps. Eventually a group of 4 got away in a soft move which didn’t contain any of the series contenders.

Our guy’s were hanging in there in the bunch and did well to stay with it in terrible conditions, lots of riders were complaining that their hands were too cold to change gear.

The remaining bunch sprinted for the remaining places with Richard J managing to finish 11th. Rich C also took part in the sprint however results are to be confirmed and will be updated.

We are still waiting to hear back from Lance as to how he got on in the 4th cat race.

Traditional gathering: Xmas snacks and traditional beer!

Annual darts match with our friends from the Willesden

Westerley clubroom Weds 17th Dec 8:30 pm

Xmas lunch ride to the Red Lion, Whiteleaf (nr Princes Risborough)

Sunday, 21st December

Meet at Harefield (later time: 10am)

OR, meet at Great Missenden for a leisurely ride to the pub (only 6 miles of pleasant country lanes)

OR, drive all the way there. Wear you cycling clobber and you might even get away with it!

Lunch at 12:00. Roast dinners available for about £7 or £8. You won’t go hungry!

Please let me Wendy and Jim Mears know if you’re interested WENDYWEARL@aol.com (email preferably), so that Roly of the Westerley can book numbers who will be coordinating the ride from Gt Missenden.

The Willesden are taking part as usual and as many members as possible are needed to go to London on the 1st January to join in the fun. All need to be in the new kit but if they don’t have it, Gladys will be bringing a stock of clothing to loan out.

The Parade starts from the Houses of Parliament at 12.00 noon. We are number 81 in the parade and the meeting point is in Milbank. Folk need really to be there by 11.30 am but certainly before noon.

There will be a club celebration at the end of the parade near to Green Park Station. Julie May will be providing the refreshments which will include the Willesden official drink of hot chocolate and Bailies.

We really need as many folk there as possible to make our entry a great success. Bring friends and relatives if you like. The main thing is that we need folk in kit on bikes. It really is a great way to kick off the new year. Parking is no real problem on New Years day-no congestion charge either. Of course, people may like to ride into London to get the miles in as the roads are quite clear.

Cheers

Ray