April Club run?

Pete had planned to lead the club ride for the Paris-Roubaix race day, with big screen action back at his house in the afternoon.

He has realised the date, 15th April, which clashes with the VC Baracchi 25, which Bev & Pete have entered.

They're still OK to have everybody round for the afternoon (they should be back by about 12 noon), but won't be able to lead the club ride. If anyone feels the inclination to lead a ride from the Woodbridge finishing in the Naverne Meadow area of Woodbridge just off Castle St then please let everyone know.

March Club run

I assume there wasn’t one as I have received no details or a report.

SPOCO East competition

Anyone considering riding the sporting time trial type courses in the area should consider signing up to SPOCO East.  There are a number of age related categories that riders can be placed in, plus this year there is a team award for the best placed team of three from a club. You need to sign up before the first event you plan to ride.  Note, that Plomesgate is promoting an event in each category this year. http://www.team-cambridge.co.uk/spocoeast/

Pete W

Energy bars?

The club has been given some energy bars (SportVital).  They are a 60gm oat based bar, some with a yoghurt topping and have a sell by date of end of July 2007.

The wrappers on the bars do not necessarily match the content, but they have been marked (at source) with the correct content -e.g. N for nut.

Offered to club members at 40p each or 3 for £1. 

Let Pete Whelan know if you want any. (He'll also be selling them off outside the club at a higher price)

Suffolk Sunrise 100.

Action Medical Research are organising a challenge bike ride through rural Suffolk lanes offering a choice of 100 or 50 mile routes.  Both routes are circular starting and finishing at Woodbridge passing through Felixstowe, Orford, Dunwich, Framlingham and Debenham.  They are hoping to attract some 300 riders and would like to ask for your assistance in making the local cycling community aware of this new ride. 

A link to their website can be found below www.action.org.uk/takeaction where full details of the ride can be found.  Online registration is available from this site.

Action Medical Research are dedicated to building a healthier future, for everyone.

They have been making medical breakthroughs for over 50 years, saving countless lives and giving hope to millions.  They work with the finest medical minds in the UK, raising money to fund research into a wide range of diseases and conditions.

Over seven million people in this country have some form of disability, and many more suffer serious medical problems (I’m not sure spending too much money on carbon bits counts, but fingers crossed).  The symptoms are numerous but the question we ask is often the same.   What can be done to stop this happening in the future?

Action Medical Research are working with the brightest researchers in the country who, by using the most innovative approaches, are continuing to push back the boundaries of medical knowledge.

Medical Research will provide the answers we need to help create a healthier future for everyone.

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Viva Espana…

Four of us cyclists flew from Stanstead to Palma with EasyJet. Transport had been arranged to collect us at Palma and take us to the Alica Hotel in Cal Bona which came highly recommended, its facilities include a safe area for machines with a work bench and a few tools (not needed by us). The cycles were hired from a local guy at various sizes all were 27 Speed Pinarello and not one problem was encountered during 5 days of riding 300 miles (on 2 days 40+ winds made it unwise to try! Even the many Germans stayed home). For those who do not know Cal Bona is not very hilly but there are plenty of 2/3 mile up hill drags. The mountains are some 40 miles away which would make a long day to travel.  However I found on the drags I would be ahead of the field by several minutes, reach the top and end up minutes behind as my companions went by at 40mph plus, my speed being 30. The total cost of the week was £310 half board including all transport, bike hire, flight and the hotel. All was ordered via the internet without any problems. Should any body be interested I can supply all the details.

Ron Shoobridge.

Eastway Update.

As you know, the new cycling facility at Hog Hill, Hainault is programmed to open in Autumn 2007. To bridge the gap in provision between the closure of Eastway and the opening of Hog Hill the LDA undertook to investigate other reasonable options to assist with the continuation of cycle sport in the Summer 2007 season.

For the past few months British Cycling and the LDA have been working closely together to secure a package of interim measures for this period. The LDA are happy to be able to announce that they are now in the final stages of discussions and expect to be able to confirm the details of the package in the next few weeks. This package will include club support, access to a number of facilities and central co-ordination for events and bookings. Further information will follow in early April and I will put it in next months news letter.

Matt

Committee meeting.

The next meeting of the committee might be held on Thursday 26th April 2007 at The Butley Oyster after the first Club Evening 10, this is a guess, so watch this space. Matt

For Sale.

Rob Cotton has for sale:

Quill stems ( All used)

Seat pins (All used)

Contact details 07725897902 or robertcotton2006@yahoo.co.uk

CTT handbooks.

Trev has several CTT National Handbooks available at £5.50 each. He will endeavour to obtain the East DC handbooks in the next couple of weeks. Speak to Trev if you want one.

Calendar Dates.

Tuesday evenings – MTB ride from Sizewell T, starting at 7:30 contact Mark or Viv for details, or to check whether anyone is riding.

Saturday mornings – MTB ride in Rendlesham Forest starting at 10am. Call Mark B or Trev for details.

Sunday morning -  3 hour (ish) training rides from North Ipswich. Contact Steve and Valerio for details.

Wanted.

Wanted: a small cross frame or complete machine for a beginner.

For sale: 21" Merckx frame with carbon forks as I used last year £100.

Contact Ron Shoobridge - ronshoo@tesco.net

Club Subs pay up! Final call, I mean it!

If you haven’t renewed your subs yet, please do ASAP, as they were due on Jan 1^st. As well as allowing you to continue receiving the newsletter, you must renew your membership before racing in the club’s name (BCF and CTT races) this season. I will assume you no longer want to be a club member from the April Newsletter if you haven’t paid up. The club subscriptions for 2007 will be,  £10 for Over18s, £5 for under 18s, free for under 12s, and 2nd claim members are 50% of the above. Make cheques payable to Plomesgate Cycle Club and post to Steve Jones at 4 Leicester Close, IPSWICH.   IP2 9EX.

Club evening TT’s

The club events have been decided for 2007 and are as follows, we are planning to run our normal 10 evening "10"s, but in addition we will be running a "15" which is one lap of the new "30" course, and starts and finishes in the same place as the "10", plus we will be running an evening "25" in July. To avoid the possibility of too many starters the latter ("25") will not appear in the East District Handbook. There is also the option to run some evening "5"s on some of the free Thursdays, so watch this space.

* - note early start.

I am so sorry…….

I need to make a public apology to all club members for almost transforming our first open event of the season into a disaster. Let’s be clear, the event at the end was as a success, but I did try hard …

The story starts at the end of last racing season, when I ended up with the club racing numbers. No real reason they ended up with me, I was simply the last one using them, I guess. The box with the numbers lay on my spare bedroom floor for a few months, ‘till at some stage after Christmas when I got fed up of kicking them around, found some space in a cupboard and stored them there. And almost immediately completely forgot they ever existed.

Fast forward a few months to Saturday 17^th March, and the story continues with me getting out of my car in front of the open event headquarters, without a care in the world, ready for my marshalling duties.  Have you got the numbers? -  Pete asked.  Oh no, I didn’t … But at that point, I did remember the cupboard …

I went back to the car and drove back home, but I live a long way from our course. And that also means I had quite a lot of time to appreciate what an idiot I am. I can tell you, it was not fun.

I got the numbers from home and drove back to the Open headquarters, but I knew it was going to be too late. When I reached the proximity of the course, I saw with joy (real, pure joy) that there were cyclists warming up and showing off wonderful orange numbers. Viv had managed to borrow racing numbers from one of the riders, and saved the day.

I do not have any excuse, I can only apologise profusely. I did let a lot of people down, and I am truly sorry for it. (I hope I speak for the club when I say, don’t beat yourself up for it Valerio we are all human – Matt) My only consolation is that the open started on time, ended up being a very good event, and nobody was hurt (apart from me, I mean).

I am now back kicking the numbers around my flat. If anybody wants them for safe keeping, I won’t be offended. But after Saturday’s events I don’t think I’ll forget them again, ever.

Valerio

Open 10 Results.

Our first event of the year was the Open 10 on 17th March. The results are below

Congratulations to all the prize winners.  There were some respectable times, given the windy, March conditions, and our first joint winners of the event.  A special thank you to Ron Back, who saved the day by producing a spare set of numbers for the race.

I would also like to extend my thanks to Jon and Trevor for timekeeping, to Dorothy for running the kitchen, and to all the marshals and helpers who gave up their time to ensure the smooth running of the event. – Viv.

Well done to Viv for organizing another excellent event. - Matt

Articles for next month

If you feel inspired by anything  in this months newsletter then please drop me a line, by e-mail, post or carrier pigeon by 25/4/07. Everything will be considered, do you have something to sell, something you want that another club member may have somewhere gathering dust, something to get off your chest or memories you want to share? It’s your newsletter so drop me a line at

matt.donaldson@edfenergy.com

or

Goodbye Jan Ulrich

Now it is official, Jan Ulrich has quit as a pro rider. Over the years, especially those years when I lived in Germany, I was more then once irritated by the man. So much talent, yet at the same time so much evidence that he was not exploiting this to the full. But with the Germans he could do no wrong; he put cycling on their national agenda and they had their hero.

Now he has quit I do realize I will miss him. He was a great cyclist, he has a brilliant palmares and we owe him a generation of fine German young professionals. It is disgusting to see how he has been treated. He definitely deserved better.

His team, T-Mobile, sacked him the very moment they felt they could use developments to hone their clean, corporate, profile. Well, I don’t like companies which treat their employees as expendable. Team Management admitted that they didn’t need Ulrich anymore, because German cycling could do fine without him.

The German Cycling Federation got a new President last year. An excellent time for Mr. Scharping, a former politician, who for many years only had praise for Ulrich, to profile himself as Mr. Clean. Still today it is NOT proven that Ulrich did something wrong. As things develop, we might never now why Ulrich has been forced out of cycling. Why then had Ulrich to leave where Armstrong won another Tour, Basso is back, and many others still around. Maybe Ulrich himself is the answer.

He came from “the cold”, meaning the former Eastern Germany, and was raised there to become a great cyclist.

And cycling was what it was all about for Ulrich; he was not entrepreneurial enough to see that his former East German trainer, Becker, was outdated. He could not find the right entourage to support him, ending up with someone like Rudy Pevenage (!). And he had a manager, a solicitor called Mr.Stroband, who without doubt took a lot of money out of Ulrich, but his skills were of little help to Ulrich when he really needed guidance in exploiting the legal mine field. Jan Ulrich is the most prominent victim of the bogged up Puerto Case. And his only “proven wrong doing” in my opinion is the fact that he was a 100%, pure bred cyclist, who got lost when skills other then being the best rider became important.  

Now he is gone I can even understand why I was irritated more then once. He was not a machine like Armstrong, he was still human. He made his mistakes when not cycling and they then cost him when he was cycling.

But he was a great cyclist, great to look at when he was fit for competition and motivated like at 2003 Tour and that is how I prefer to remember him.

Evert

………and finally

Do you like a challenge? Then maybe this off-road experience is for you!

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Do you have a head for heights?

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And if it isn’t exciting enough for you, pop a wheelie!

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Watch that first step, it’s a doozy!

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Yes the puctures are for real. The riders are Steve Peat (World No 1 downhill rider) and Hans Rey (a famous trials rider). It’s in Ireland, enough said!

Thanks Marshall for passing these on, it makes my knees go weak just looking at the photos.