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.
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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
Peter Turnbull, Mark Brooking and Ray Kelly are in Italy at the moment tackling the 1600km Mille Miglia Audax. This runs from Milan down to almost Rome before returning home.
Progress is as follows
Stage 1.
Nerviano(Milan) – Massa Finalese, 269 km
Ray 10:41:08 – 25.18kph
Mark 10:28:16 – 25.72kph
Peter 10:26:48 – 25.78kph
A very fast opening leg to this event. It is a very flat stage and the group seem to be keeping together
Stage 2
Massa Finalese – Savignano S/ Rubicone, 156kms
Ray 10:15:04 – 15.22kph
Mark 10:27:50 – 14.93kph
Peter 09:50:02 – 15.86kph
Stage 3
Savignano S/ Rubicone – Passignano St, 170kms
Ray – No Report
Mark – No report
Peter 14:08:44 – 12.02 kph
Peter has just arrived at this control, which is on a large lake about 150kms north of Rome. Ray and Mark are somewhere along the route probably taking a sleep at one of the intermediate controls.
Chas Messenger passed away on 26 July 2008. Many of us in the Willesden CC will have heard of the name, but perhaps have not fully recognised the achievements of the man. His contribution to cycle sport was vast and covered every level. For seven years he organised the Tour of Britain under the Milk Marketing Board to be known as the Milk Race. He organised challenging stages taking place on previously unknown climbs, ensuring that the winners truly earned their victory.
As a stalwart of the breakaway British League of Racing Cyclists, Chas was instrumental in the formation of today’s British Cycling Federation. In the 1960’s he was nominated as National Road Manager, including the Tokyo Olympics. His devotion was always to the riders and not pompous officialdom, making him a controversial figure to some. His perseverance paid dividends, Les West took a silver medal on the road at the Nurburgring in 1966. The following year Beryl Burton won the women’s world road championship and Graham Webb won the amateur world road championship. In 1982 he returned to the international scene as organiser of the 1982 world road championships at Goodwood, which gained the plaudits of the UCI for the detail.
Very much a Londoner, Chas started cycling as a youngster in the Kings Cross area. In his words, he was a mediocre racer, but still getting under the hour as a 25-mile time triallist, then quite an achievement.
His most important provision for today’s cycling is the existence of the Hillingdon cycle circuit for which he fought long and hard for its construction. Without him we would not have this wonderful facility, it simply would not exist.
Seven years ago the Central Region started the Chas Messenger stage race in recognition of his massive contribution to the sport. Chas always attended to help the judging and present the prizes. Though he was proud that the event recently achieved Premier Calendar status, the riders were what his life was all about.
The Willesden CC is donating £100 to the Dave Rayner Fund in memory of Chas Messenger. Ron and Gladys Purdy, Ian Why and Sean Bannister went to his funeral last week. Gladys reported that “True to form Chas had arranged everything before hand including the order of service. There was a lavish spread put on at the local Navy club afterwards and we spent the afternoon recalling our memories of Chas”.
Chas Messenger (right) and Ray Kelly, 2007 Archer GP
The time trialist continue to provide the news. Gill Reynolds took another fastest lady award in the Charlotteville 10 at Bentley on Saturday with a 25.29.
This year WCC Club picnic will be held on Sunday 3 Aug. 2008, from 12 noon onwards.
As usual the location will be in Langley Park , Billets Lane, Slough.
See you there,
Wendy Mears
WCC Social Secretary
For some evocative photos of the 1950’s British Time Trial scene please have a look at this site http://cyclinginfo.co.uk/blog/timetrials/classic-time-trial-photos/
The photos are the work of Bernard Thompson. Bernard was a freelance photographer for Cycling Magazine from the 1950s through the 1980s.
The Vets were in action at Leighton Buzzard in a 10 mile time trial where Pete Cookson rode after a four year absence and recorded a 24.04. Gill Reynolds finished in 25.58, Brian Moon 26.08 and Ron Purdy 29.53.
At the weekend Ed Packard rode the Shaftesbury Wheelers 50 and improved by over one and a half minutes to finish in 1.58.16.
Pete Cookson rode on Saturday in the South Bucks Road Club 25 at Aldermarston finishing in a very creditable 1.02.55. Chris James, on his new bike, improved by 3 minutes on his fastest time this year to record a 1.05.15 and Brian Moon rode round in 1.07.28.
Gladys Joy Purdy
