Willesden Cycling Club

Good news, Ray has provided us with the first date of his Tuesday night Turbo sessions.

The first will start on October the 14th at the club room at 7:00pm. Please bring your own turbo and bike. A towel would also be handy as Ray will not be happy unless you have lost at least a pint of sweat. Ray will also be “entertaining” us with his special taste in music to add to the pain.

See you there.

Correction: The Turbo session will start at 8:00pm each Tuesday from 14 October 2008

Willesden CC members are famed for getting into any photograph going. At the recent Tour of Britain Gladys Joy Purdy and Derek Reynolds claim their 15 nonoseconds of fame…

Gladys, second from Left (red jacket and green hat)
Derek, fifth from left (sporting new WCC club kit)

Weekend of 06/07 September 08

In spite of the dismal weather some club members managed to ride time trials. Richard Jerome took a break from Road Racing to ride in the Wednesday evening 9.2 mile event at Black Park and recorded the fastest time a 22.50. He was joined by Rich Cooper, riding his first time trial, who finished with a creditable time of 25.33.

On Sunday Gill Reynolds took the fastest lady and 3rd fastest vet in the Reading C.C. 10 at Aldermarston before going into London to watch the start of the Tour of Britain.

The Oldtimers section of the club had a picnic at Hindhead with the club’s President, Jimmy Love. Jim was a member of the 1948 Olympic team .

Some of the WCC memebers on the Old Timers Picnic.

Weekend 13/14 September 2008

The Willesden C.C. were out in force at Cheddington yesterday promoting their annual Road Races. The John Walker memorial event was run over 130 Kms and Dan Staite of the Python R.T. was the first over the line.

In the Dulcie Walker memorial race ,which covered 100Kms , club members Jayne Paine, Rich Cooper, Adam Pawlikowski, Simon Wicks and John Williams took part. Adam and Simon made a break in the last mile but were drawn back by the main group and the resulting bunch finish took sometime, even with a photo finish camera, to establish the result. Ben de Wet(BC Private member) was declared the winner. Our second claim member Paul Doel(Team Quest) was 5th.

As Jayne was the only lady riding she was awarded a prize.

The time trialists were in action in the Icknield Road Club 10 at Tempsford. Gill Reynolds took fastest lady award with a 24.22 and Pete Cookson finished in 22.32. Nearer home Brian Moon rode in the West London Combine 25 and recorded a 1.15.52.

Judging by Jayne’s surprise, either jumbo has very cold right hand, or Ray a very cold left hand??

Weekend 20/21 September 2008

Pete Cookson rode in the North Hampshire Road Club 25 mile time trial at Bentley on Saturday and recorded 1.00.14 and and Chris James improved on his fastest time this season with a 1.06.02

Gladys Joy Purdy

Jumbo wanted to pass on his thanks for everyone who helped make the road race a success. Please find attached letter from Jumbo in word format HERE.

Also we have a photo of Jumbo with the Elite Race winner, Dan Staite of Python RT. Well done Dan!

We have subscribed the club to the Wiggle affiliate scheme, as a result of this you will now find a banner pointing to the Wiggle website. This just means that if you go to the Wiggle website via the link on the Willesden website then the club will receive some money from the purchase.

Congratulations to Chris James for organising a great event. Willesden Riders were out in full force in the 3/4 race however didn’t quite have it in the end to contest the sprint.

Both myself and Richard Jerome have taken time out of our busy work (and race) schedule to give the website it’s final push. We hope you are as pleased with the results as we are.

There will be more to come and we intend to grow the site over the coming months, we do however need your help.

We need more photographs, we need stories, we need calendar events and most of all we need we need regular “contributors”. A site is nothing without it’s content and who better to provide this than the members of the club itself.

So if you have anything for us, please send it over to willesden@coopa.net and we promise to get it online as soon as possible.

All the best

Rich Cooper

Miles Back
07 September 2008

Saturday’s Children’s Cycling Taster turned out to be a success despite bad weather conditions.

We set out our stall next to the impressive Willesden Sports Centre in the throbbing heart ofNW10. It was good to see the WCC organise a cycling event actually based in Willesden itself. Plenty of WCC volunteers were on hand to help on the day, namely Jim and Wendy Mears , Jumbo James, Jan and Ray Kelly, Wendy and Mark Brooking, Vyv Baker, Digger the dog and John Davies

Courtesy of British Cycling Ray had brought his stock of mountain bikes, cones and stripy tape. He quickly laid out a course that required riders to negotiate a narrow alleyway of cones, followed by a short slalom course, a quick duck under the limbo pole and then into a designated square where you had to stop and balance the bike for five seconds.

For the first hour or more we huddled under the Willesden gazebo, lashed by rain and high winds. As there was not the slightest hint of any customers, we took a long, thoughtful look at the skies. It did not look good and we decided to call it a day and pack it in. That’s when the rush started! A steady trickle of riders arrived, together with an improvement in the weather and our morale. For the next hour the course was alive with children having a great time riding around the course. At one point we ran out of spare bikes. In total we had around 10 children, many rode continually around the course for over an hour. Numbers were also boosted by a few mums, dads and a grand dad who were just as keen to have a go. This included one gentleman who hadn’t touched a bike in 35 years. Star of the day was a tiny rider who turned up with his own bike complete with stabilizers, he left riding without them!

The session was due to finish at 4pm, but riders were showing no signs of giving in. We started to collect the cones and limbo poles, they simply rode round us instead. At the end of the session riders and parents were very keen to do another session as soon as possible. So were we.

In summary a rewarding day and a great start to the Willesden’s Go-Ride/Club Mark programme.
Miles Back

06 September 08

Richard Cooper and myself both took part in the Bath Road evening TT on a very windy Wednesday night, times were about 30 seconds slower than normal for this course but I somehow managed to do a 22:50 on my road bike to win the event and Rich Cooper managed a very impressive 25:33 for his first ever TT.

Richard Jerome

Richard Jerome has had a good year made even better by gaining his 2nd Cat racing license.

Well done Richard!

Just the time trialists in action this week. Gill Reynolds rode in the Bicester Millennium 10 mile on Tuesday evening and finished in 27.00 whilst Pete Cookson recorded 25.02 finishing just before it became too dark to see the riders. Luckily the event took place on the areodrome circuit.

Saturday Gill and Pete travelled down to Essex to ride in the Eastern Counties Vets 25. Gill was the 2nd fastest lady vet with a 1.04.40 and Pete recorded his fastest ride since his return to racing -a 59.33 on a very warm afternoon.

Conditions changed on Sunday morning for the West London Combine 25 on the Amersham Road when the start was delayed by 30 mins due to fog and then then thunder and lightening occurred. Nevertheless, Jason Maddocks finished in 1.05.25, Ludovica Bruno 1.07.47, Mike Jerome 1.12.24 ( gaining the handicap award with an improvement of 6 mins) and Brian Moon 1.12.24.

Gladys

To the esteemed Willesden Peleton,

The Anfractuous (200km) and Nyctophobic (100km) Audaxes will run from the Chalfont St Peter Community Centre on the 13 September this year. This is a welcome change from the usual slot in October as it means Anfractuous riders will have a good chance of finishing in daylight.

The Anfractous runs from Chalfont up to Benson via Christmas Common, then out to Wantage across the Bershire Downs, then on to Lambourn and Pangbourne before taking in the best bits of the Chilterns on the way back to Chalfont.

The Nyctophobic takes the same route out to Benson and then cuts back to pickup the Anfractuous route home though the Chilterns, so something for everybody!

For further details see http://www.aukweb.net/cal/calsolo.php?Ride=08-887 (Anfractuous) and http://www.aukweb.net/cal/calsolo.php?Ride=08-886 (Nyctophobic).

Best regards,

Paul Stewart
WCC Touring Secretary

Our Road racers were back in action at Hillingdon on Tuesday night with John Williams finishing 4th and Rich Cooper in 14th place in the 4th Cats event.

On Saturday Ed Packard rode in the North Hampshire Road Club 25 at Farnham and in spite of his long 12 hour ride on the previous weekend managed a creditable 59.13.

Gill Reynolds recorded a 1.04.57 and finished in 4th fastest lady position. On Sunday at Great Missenden in the Hillingdon Ladies 10, in spite of the wet conditions, Gill managed to finish in 30.00 on her touring bike complete with mudguards.

In the Old Crocks Invitation 10, held on the same course as the Ladies’ event, Alan Gallagher returned in 29.00, Brian Wright 31.29 and Ron Johnson, riding his 2nd time trial in 5 years, a 32.30.

I hear the Victoria Pembleton is going to be down at the Hillingdon circuit on Tuesday. Will Ron be there to get another photo to add to his collection.!!!!!!!!

Cheers Gladys

Ron Purdy mingles with the stars.

Peter Turnball did it! He got round the 1600km course in 127 hrs 55 mins, finishing at 4:30am on Friday morning.

I went down to St Pancras station yesterday lunchtime to greet Peter, Mark Brooking and Ray Kelly as they arrived home. Great ride but poor organisation seemed to be the theme of this event. Controls closed early, leaving riders with out any sleeping accommodation or access to their bag drop.

Mark Brooking packed at the around the 1000 km point but managed to find a wonderful hotel in which to recover. He said he would have another go in two years time.

No doubt we will hear more from the Willesden Expeditionary Force soon.

Miles B.

Peter Turnbull has just passed through the penultimate control, he has completed 1485 kms in 117 hrs 34 minutes. He has just 114kms to do before the finish in Milan.

Ray Kelly packed earlier in the week, having got fed up with constantly getting lost. Ray is not sure where Mark Brooking has got to, as no time has been recorded for him since control 3 on Tuesday lunch time. Ray reckons he is still out on the course and will get home under his own power and is his own time.

First home in Milan was local boy Tarcisio Paolucci with 71hrs 23m. In total 88 riders have now arrived back in Milan. John Barkman looks to be the quickest Brit with 94hr 35m, and within the last few minutes Judith Swallow finished with a 117hr 51m.

The 1600km Mille Miglia has now been running since 8:30pm on Sunday Evening.

Peter Turbull is going well and is the lead Willesden rider. He passed through the fourth major control (Gaiole in Chanti -980kms) in 66hrs 31min. He is now tackling the 354km stage to Passo Pianazze, which he should reach by mid afternoon today (21/8).

Mark Brooking has still not reached the Gaiole in Chanti control and is running close to the time limit. He really needs to get to this control by around 7:00am this morning to keep on schedule.

Unfortunately it looks as though Ray Kelly may have packed as there is no report of him passing through the third control located at 595 km. He would have needed to reach there by around mid night Tuesday evening. I suspect he has found a nice bar somewhere!

Miles

I think our members have been watching the Olympics so I have only a few rides to report this week.

Ed Packard rode in the National Championship 12hour in Eastern England and clocked up 235 miles on Saturday. The full result isn’t available yet so I don’t know what position he finished.

Chris James and Brian Moon went down to Aldermarston on Sunday and rode in the Reading C.C. 25. Chris did his fastest ride of the season a 1.06.32 and Brian returned in 1.08.31.
Down at Hillingdon on Tuesday evening Rich Cooper gained some more points towards his 3rd cat. licence when he finished 8th in the Imperial R.T. circuit race.

Ron has been digging out old photos as we had members in the 1948, 1952 and 1956 Olympics and he also boasts a photo of himself with Bradley Wiggins!!!!

Cheers Gladys