Willesden Cycling Club

The annual Willesden Dinner and Dance will be held on Saturday,19th January 2008. The venue as usual will be the Uxbridge Golf Club, The Drive, Uxbridge, UB10 8AQ.

The set menu is-

After the prize giving, toasting and general mickey taking there will also be an opportunity to do some bopping.

The tickets are £25 per head, a price that that has been held for many years.

Please contact Glays Purdy on PurdyandPurdy@aol.com to reserve your place. Please state how many places you would like to and if you require the vegatarian option.

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Richard Jerome is looking for someone who has access to photo and image editing software to help with the new Willesden CC website.

He is also looking for someone with a high quality digital camera (perhaps an SLR) to help with photography.

If you think you can help please contact Richard on richiej1979@hotmail.com

A really nice day but very windy!

I didn’t feel that great from training but decided pretty early that I would need to stay at the front of the race to ensure I was in the right place when the race split up. It was too windy for it to stay together.

I was trying my best to stay in all the moves, which used all my energy. When the move happened I was caught out at the back again! At that point it looked like my race was pretty much over as I think 20+ riders had got away.

I’d pretty much accepted defeat but was riding hard to make the most of the training opportunity. Then in the distance we saw the group in front of us and this gave us all hope. The top riders had got away from them forcing the rest to slow down and we soon caught them.

Once the race came together again I decided to use the opportunity to have a rest as I’d spent most of the race in the red. This was one of the hardest races I’d ridden in ages! There were still 6 riders away from us but it looked like a sprint would decide their final placings.

The remaining laps saw a rider pull off one of his cranks. His pedal was still clipped in and the crank arm was left dangling from his shoe! Luckily I avoided the incident and was well placed for the sprint .A rider tried to get away with half a lap remaining and I didn’t react quickly enough which left me towards the back of the bunch and I only finished in 27th place.

I’m not sure if I will race the rest of the series as I’m in need of some serious mileage. However I will keep you updated if I do decide to turn up.

Richard Jerome

Well I’m sure we all urge Richard to continue racing. He has a good battling spirit and he gives a good insight into race tactics. Keep racing Richard! Miles Back

Mark Brooking has just sent in his portfolio of pictures from yesterday’s parade. Here they are ….

The band’s play and the curtain is just about to go up.

Slipstreamers strut their stuff through the cones and under the limbo bar….

… followed by a bit of joined up riding!

Not sure how the young lady on the ordinary will cope with the limbo bar!

Wendy Brooking meets a new friend.

Julie May and her magic bottle kept us warm at the end of the ride.

Everybody enjoyed the day, well almost everybody!!

There was a very good turnout from the Willesden CC and the Slipstreamers on today’s New Year’s Day Parade in Central London. Banners and club colours were paraded and various displays of bike handling skills were given.

Miles Back

Ron Purdy wearing his “flasher” jacket

Milling about, waiting for the show to start.

Kieth Elliot leads out the teams on to Trafalgar Sq.

• The meeting point is in the Blue assembley area.
• Entry to this area is at the junction of Horseferry Road and Millbank.
• We will be along Millbank towards Abingdon Street. (Near to the Houses of Parliament).
• Please arrive by 11.30am (Tuesday 1st January 2008).

Please wear a version of the Willesden kit. You won’t need cycling shoes as the event is very stop-start and there will be periods when we will be stationary. Wrap up warm underneath. It has been known to be nippy on New Year’s Day.

Happy Christmas to all Willesden CC members. Thank you to all of you who have made contributions to the blog site over the year.

Wishing you every speed and success for 2008

Miles Back

The weather was looking much better this Saturday and a field of 53 riders turned up for this weeks race. The race was fast with all of the big hitters trying their best to get away from the bunch. I got in a couple of breaks but neither of these came to anything.

I was well placed for the last 10 laps but with 2 laps to go a rider sat up in front on me causing me to have to swerve into the grass. I got back into the bunch in time for the sprint but I didn’t have the legs to make anything of it and finished in 33rd place.

Two riders were away from the bunch with 5 laps to go and were only caught in the last 150 metres. I little disappointed after the last two weeks success but it was good training.

I am planning to ride boxing day but this will depend on how hungover I am.

Merry Xmas to everyone!

Richard Jerome

Richard’s adapted bike for his Boxing Day Race.


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A few weeks ago a few of us took Simon out to lunch from his new quarters in Thames Ditton. Simon was in good spirits, especially as Janet Heyes was there! His leg is not so painful now, so wheelchair excursions are less of a trauma for him.

Sat indoors sufing, when I should really be doing something more productive, I found a couple photos of the Willesden on the PBP website.

Mel leaving Paris with the Vedettes. Anybody know who the others are?

(L-R) Steve, Darlene, Yoshi and Mike at the Paris finish

I have heard from Giordana that our kit will be made in Italy on 28th January. It will take a few days to get to them in the UK. Hopefully then, if all goes to schedule, we will get our new kit in early February 08.

Ray Kelly

Blimey!!!

I just nipped out of the house this afternoon for a few essential Christmas fripperies. What do I find when I walking back home in deepest Willesden? A Team Quest rider cycling right past my house. On Willesden CC holy ground!

Surely there must be a club rule against this? Hundreds probably

Gladys and Jean please scrutinise the rule book and report back urgently.

Miles Back

One of the more funky bands in the 2007 New Year’s Day parade from the Suncoast High School. No sign of the Willesden CC in this clip, but hey the band and entourage are dressed in Green!

John Wheatley has sent in details of the Chiltern Hundred Challenge 2008, which will be held on Sunday 1st June 2007. There are three rides available on the day. Full details are available on www.chiltern-hundred.org.uk .

Here are some of the headlines –

• The Gran Fondo will be 171km (107 miles) long, with ascent of 2,620m. The ride is an uncompromising romp across 171 km of the toughest and most picturesque terrain in the Chilterns. From Great Missenden the route runs north east through Chesham, Berkhamstead, to Dunstable Downs before heading south west along the Chilterns scarp slope.
• The Medio Fondo is 102km (63 miles) long climbing 1,730m. This event offers a tough 63 mile ride. This ride splits from the Gran Fondo shortly after the start and goes north through Ballinger Common before rejoining the Gran Fondo for the descent of Aston Hill en route to Wendover. It then follows the same route as the Gran Fondo to the finish.
• The Corto Fondo incorporating the Amersham Road Cycling Club 80km (50 mile) challenge. An undulating ride for all-comers. The route will be independent of the Gran Fondo and Medio Fondo and takes an undulating route across the Aylesbury plain before returning to the Chilterns and Great Missenden.
• The event will be much larger in 2008 with an entry limit of 400 riders on the line.
• All riders will be timed using transponder chips.
• For 2008 a team event will be added to the individual event.
• The HQ in Great Missenden.

Well again it was looking a bit dodgy with the weather on Saturday. It was raining all day and I wasn’t sure if I should ride, I’ve had a cold all week so I decided to take the car down so I didn’t have to ride homewith soaking wet clothes.

The first few laps were very dodgy whilst we all found out limits round the corners, the circuit was very wet and since my crash in August I’ve been a bit of a girl at cornering. After 4 laps the race split up into 2 and I am afraid I got caught out in the back half, I tried to get across to the other group but it was too late and the fast guys were really pushing at the front.

I spent the rest of the race doing my turns and we were picking up a few riders along the way. I was trying to conserve my energy for the sprint but at the same time I was determined to keep the speed up so we could keep catching riders. We were lapped with 5 laps to go and things got confusing. Some of our group decided to take advantage and get on the back of the fast group. We were quite frustrated at this and there was quite a bit of shouting going on, with all the confusion I didn’t realise we were on the last lap and the pace increased up the finishing straight. I still managed to get 3rd in the sprint (20th overall) which was good considering I wasn’t really prepared but I need to concentrate more next week as I think this is letting me down.

Results on http://www.surfprint.co.uk/imperialracingteam/results.html?

Richard Jerome