August Fun Day

Don’t forget the barbecue, bike ride in Tunstall Forest and general fun day at "The Ingrams" at 10 Hockett Crescent, Tunstall on 8^th August.  There will be a bouncy castle for the kids and plenty of food and it’s free to club members and their families. Any one from other local clubs is more than welcome but at a cost of £2 each.

There is off road parking, no time limits - stay as long as you like - go home when you've had enough. If you fancy sitting on anything other than the floor bring along some form of chair/seat as these will be in short supply!

Assemble at Jim and Hazel's in Tunstall at about 10:00am, we will then have a short off-road ride, suitable for the kids and non regular cyclists, then back to Tunstall for food, drink and a bounce!!

If you are intending to turn up and haven’t let Jim and Hazel know, please contact them as soon as possible on 01728 688103.

September Club run

Put 12^th September in your diaries for a road ride from Framlingham, with route courtesy of Becky.  (That’ll be about 800m then!!)

Plomesgate Grass Track

Don’t forget this is on 14^th August at St Mary’s school in Woodbridge.  Riders and helpers are still wanted, so please contact Pete Whelan on 01394 385281 with offers of assistance, or if you’d like to ride.

Talent Team Update

Becky attended the latest training camp at Herne Hill Track, only a few days after returning from the Alps, but in dire need of getting some speed back into her legs.

The camp was a joint camp attended by youngsters from the Midlands, South East and South West, with 18 girls participating.  The first day was fairly easy with the emphasis on skills coaching, the second day was based on a full race program with Becky riding everything from sprints, keirin through to scratch races.  Although very tired Becky was beginning to find her sprinting legs again on the second day and showed that she still has a turn of speed in the sprints and the Keirin. She was very enthusiastic about the Keirin, particularly enjoying the high speed and close contact....!!

The next few weeks will involve more speed work in time for the Youth National Championships starting on August 17th, at Newport Velodrome.

Trevor

Evening ‘10’s

15^th July

A warm and humid night saw the biggest turn out of the series so far. Visitor Phil Hetzel took first place by switching last week’s positions with Matt.  The remaining podium spot went to visitor John Gabriel, with Andrew following close.

It was not an easy night, with annoying headwind to the turn.  In spite of that, notable improvers were Adrian and Ron, both registering their best time on course.  Ron beat the 31 minutes mark and his veteran standard for the first time.  Both Adrian and Ron are now looking dangerous challengers for the handicap competition, where Ron has leap-frogged Mark H to move into second place, just 15 seconds behind Matt.  Jim H and Mark B. did their best time on course for the series so far.

Next evening ‘10’ – 12^th August at 7pm.

Thursday Training

Training rides are held on the Thursday evenings when there's not a club time trial. There's only 3 rides left now, and the last couple are a bit more organised than the rest (which won't be hard!).

Thurs 5th August: Group ride on the "10" course, like a team time trial, but with a bunch sprint on the finishing straight.  Meet at the "10" start at 7pm.

Thurs 19th August: Five mile TT - meet on Tunstall Common at 7pm.
Thurs 2nd September: Pick&Mix 2Up - meet at the "10" start at 6.30pm - Note: earlier than normal!

The Pick&Mix 2-up is something a bit different. Those who turn up will be put into one of two groups, depending on their best 10 mile TT time this year. The 2-up teams will be drawn at random with one rider from each group. As with any 2up, the time of the team is the time of the second rider, so there's no point in the faster rider hurtling off ahead.  An extra twist is that road bikes must be used - no aero bars or aero wheels will be allowed. Hard shell helmets are strongly recommended.

Whelan Along

Well, I'm back doing grass-track racing.  The physio gave me the go-ahead, providing I didn't come off.  She said the bones were strong enough to take a fall, but the muscles were well below par.  Up until mid-June I had been doing 10 and 25 mile TTs, but finding it hard on the shoulder for 10 miles on courses like Bungay and all 25 course were painful enough to consider quitting after 12 miles.  A dollop of embrocation on the shoulder helped ease the joint into action.

My first grass event was the very tight 160m track at the St Andrews School, Hertford, organised by Welwyn.  Possibly not the best of tracks to get going on again.  I'd deliberately not ridden the North Road event at Hertford at the end of May as I had to get a ferry later that day to France (work) and did not want to send apologies to the meeting; I did have a ride around with the riders just to get the feel for it again, and to say 'hello'.  Back to the Welwyn meeting, I started to get the hang of it, even managing to keep a tight line, until the 6-up Team Sprint event, which was a little too dangerous to be going at maximum speed together on such a small track.  My back wheel skipped out rather a lot on one corner, though I did manage to keep it upright.  Bev looked more worried than me watching it happen.  I let a bit of air out of the tub, which seemed to help.  In the 8km (40 laps), which was probably nearer to 7km in reality, I was a bit off the pace to start with, but picked it up and got into a good rhythm, then quickly started to pick riders off until I was in the leading bunch.  With 5 laps to go (it's surprising how fast 40 laps go!) I got on the front and tried to break away.  I almost got it, but went slightly wide into the finishing straight and ended up with 2nd, but only by half a wheel.  24 licence points from that meeting.

The next meeting was Biggleswade, the anniversary of The Crash.  They even gave me a different coloured number to stand out from the rest!  The programme of events was essentially the same as last year, so began with the 5 lap (1 mile).  I made sure I was on the front and led out for 4 and 3/4laps.  As the meeting progressed, I gained confidence, and managed to get some national league points in the 8km event, though my arm was sore by the end of the day - not good as I was doing the Wolsey 25 the next day.

A few weeks later was Heckington Show grass meeting.  Heckington is an agricultural show, with a broad spread of entertainment from horses, steam engines, tractors, camels, dogs and track racing.  It can be a long day, but highly entertaining.  For your £8 entry fee to the race, you get two entry tickets to the show (£5 each in value).  Last year the show hosted the Ladies 800m championships, this year it was the Men’s 8km championships.  The track felt a bit heavy, with one corner getting a bit cut up.  I managed to get 8th in the championship, though could have done better if I had managed to get in the break.  The following day was the West Suffolk Wheelers event, where I was still feeling reasonable and gave people a hard time in the 8km and the 3/4/J/W Devil, plus Plomesgate was also represented with Trevor and Becky.  Rain was always on the horizon, and events delayed due to showers.  The main event of the day was one of the national 8km league races, again I got 8th.  Trevor and I teamed up to ride the Madison in the wet.  I wasn't too happy about hand slings, so opted for a pat on the bum to signify changeover.  It was fun, but a little unnerving in the wet and with riders swapping lanes.  The meeting was called to a halt after this due to heavy rain, which would have been dangerous to run handicap events where people are going full-on to catch the riders in front.  The day was 'saved' with a 60m straight line dash.  If the points are awarded correctly from this event, I should have regained my 2nd cat licence.

Pete W

Abdu Contender?

Eastway, 1st August - Chute dans le peleton!

It had to happen eventually - I got caught up in a crash at Eastway on Sunday.  Bit of nothing really - in the bunch, going up the steep ramp after the bottom straight, someone ahead got out of the saddle and weaved a bit, wiping out the front wheel of the guy right ahead of me.  He went down, I went over the top, the guy behind me rode into the bike pile.  Luckily, I landed on my head, so no real harm done! Grazed shoulder, winded, so stayed lying on the floor for a bit, which caused Valerio a bit of concern.  Eventually picked up the bike, straightened the handlebars, changed both wheels and got back on to ride out the race in the novice bunch. The guy I went over wasn't as lucky - grazes to shoulder, elbow and knee, plus his nice front wheel was a slightly different shape than at the start – his crash, plus me riding over it (oops), had folded it up and broken the rim.  Which reminds me... must start that diet soon.

The rest of Valerio's race wasn't uneventful either - after stopping to check I was OK, he got back into the main group, but then a San Fairy Ann rider went down in front of him at the hairpin - think he might have caught a pedal. Valerio managed to avoid riding into him, but lost contact with the bunch again and wasn't able to get back a second time.

Bit of a shame really, both of us were feeling good, despite the fast pace which had already reduced the bunch to only about 20 riders before I went down. Oh well, that's racing.

Steve.

Summer Road Rage

I rode the VC Baracchi Summer Road Race today 1/8/04, was the Loddon RR but the course has had to be moved to Somerleyton hence the name change.  Field of 50 riders or so, 2,3,4 and J, I rode with Phil Hetzel and Andrew the kiwi who has been at a few of our 10's.  There were a team of 6 other IBC riders including Jon Hobson, Dan Zagni, Time Snook and Adrian Pettit.  The race was 105km (65 miles) on undulating roads totalling 9 miles per lap with one hill at Loudham.  I felt good and Phil, Andrew and I made a half brake on lap 1, but got caught fairly quickly, Phil was keen, I wasn't even fully warm yet!  We settled in and took turn pulling in breaks and the pace was surging between 25 and 30 mph. Phil and I went for it again on lap 3 and got a good 100m break when I looked back as Phil eased off to let me through, I felt a bump and Phil hit the road - end of his race, oops! I coasted to the back with Nathan Miller to see if Phil got up and help him back in but he didn't and in the meantime the pack split and I had missed the break, doh!

A few of the stronger riders tried to organise a chase but we got no help and had people breaking our speed line by moving up and then hitting the front but not coming through which really frustrated us, especially Dave Staff of Anglia Velo who eventually got off his bike in disgust.  With 2 laps to go Andrew got a flat and pulled out so that left me on my own working with a handful of other riders into the finish with the majority sitting on our wheels.  The finish was a fast down hill followed by a 200m drag up an incline to the line, ideal for a big strong boy like me.  But I miscalculated where the hill was and was about 12th heading down the hill in 53x12 picking riders off one by one and just got pipped by one rider on the line by inches in the sprint for honours in the second bunch, another 5 foot and I had him.  I crossed the line doing 42 mph!!!!! Not sure where I came, but I had enjoyed myself, covered 65 miles in 2h 25m and felt good.

Phil was ok just a bit dazed and had a gash on his elbow, some rash down a leg and a skinned ankle bone.  He wishes he had picked someone smaller to bounce off as he said I didn't give at all.  Oh well that’s racing I guess but had so much fun I am going to more of these next year.

Matt D

Foxhall Fridays

4^th June

A bumper turnout of 22 riders saw Harry Figgitt winning the U14 TT in 43.2s, ahead of Jenny Hardwicke and Natasha Parker

In the senior race Paul Watts rode a stunning 32.1s lap (PB) and this season’s best ride so far, half a second outside the all-time record.

18^th June

A cooler evening, but still some impressive times from the seniors. For the juniors, Jack and Anna both showed good control to dead-heat in the slow race, while Lewis took a very impressive victory in the devil, attacking on the first lap and almost lapping the field. The seniors’ slow race sounds entertaining, as the use of brakes was not allowed.  In the resulting wobble-fest, Jim rode out winner.

25^th June

A raft of PBs on the time trials for the under 14s, with Lewis fastest in 45s.  There were PBs in the senior race, too, but the highlight of the evening was the team sprint.  Natasha, Lewis, Julian and Jon set a stiff target of 2:31 for the 1600m, with Jon doing a time of 28 seconds for the last lap. Lawrence, Mark, Valerio and Stephen B were just up on the early split times and held on to lower the mark to 2:29. Joshua, Dan, Steve J and Paul were last to ride and Joshua's lead-out lap was about 5 seconds quicker than his earlier timed lap! After two laps, they were still fractionally down, but Steve found a 28 second lap from somewhere and Paul finished it off for a time of 2:26 - good enough for the team to roll round in a lap of honour, with Joshua popping wheelies on the back straight!

9^th July

Cold weather meant that times weren’t so hot, with no records broken this week.  Team sprints were on the menu again, with 2 juniors and 1 senior per team. First up were Olly, Lewis and Dan, recording a very creditable 2m14. Jack, Natasha and Julian were inside this at the time-checks and set a new target of 2m09, with just Anna, Jenny and Valerio to ride. Their split-times were very similar, but not quite enough - 2m11 gave them second place.

16^th July

A change to the normal programme was dictated by the presence of a broken down road-sweeper in the home straight. And because it hadn't finished, the inside of the corners was still dirty.

Oh well.  Some gentle racing was followed by some entertainment - everyone used their very lowest gear as a "chain-gang" formed, with everyone doing half-lap turns. It soon became obvious that some people had a lot lower bottom gear than others as legs started to move at silly speeds!

23^rd July

It was obviously a quick night, despite the distraction of the BMX riders making dirt jumps, and practising, on the infield ready for a demo ride at the Saturday speedway meet. In the handicap race, Aaron held on for the win, while Jenny won the charge for 2nd place, just ahead of Lewis, Natasha, Anna and Jack. Unfortunately, Aaron sat up after the finish and turned slightly to the outside of the track, while Lewis was concentrating on his sprint, rather than 100% on what was ahead of him. A nasty collision was the result, which catapulted Lewis into a somersault, landing on his head - luckily his helmet did its job and he got away with bruises and scratches, but was very shocked. His bike wasn't so luckily and got very bent. Aaron and his bike came through almost unscathed.

After making sure Lewis was OK, racing continued, with Jenny and Paul winning their divisions in the Devil and the team of Jenny, Colin Newstead and Jim winning the very close Olympic sprint.

Steve

TdeF – les Alpes

Well what can I say about our little holiday in France and watching the Tour in the Alps, I've run out of superlatives.  The weather was hot & sunny, the hills were long and great, the wine was cheap and Lance was as you know indestructible.

We arrived at our first camp site in the Cote D'or region on Thurs 15th July.  Friday - Did 44m in the Morvan region including some nice climbs as warm ups for the Alps.  I took the mountains jersey, Becky was winning the points.

Saturday - 49m again around the Cote D'Or and Morvan.  The hills were not so long today and Becky took over the Mountains jersey and retained the points.

Sunday travelled down to Alps, camping at the side of Alpe d'Huez in Allemont.

Monday - cycled the 15km to Bourg D'oisans and rode the Alpe d'Huez climb.  The weather was oppressively hot the crowds were already lining the mountain and the atmosphere was amazing!  I got to the top first in 69mins, Becky was at 15mins, Clare Larbey (Mildenhall) was at 25 mins, Simon Larbey at 35mins, Maggie Larbey at 40 mins.  The Hors Cat climb meant I regained the mountains jersey!  After consuming coffee and soaking up the atmosphere we descended via a side road through Villard Reclus and back via the dam to Allemont.

Monday evening - rode out of Allemont and over the dam/reservoir (property of EDF), and began the ascent of the Col Du Glandon, rode a few Km up the climb but decided that there wasn't enough daylight to continue.

Tuesday - Rode 50Km virtually all up hill to top of Col Du Lauteret (2058m).  I was first to the top again, Becky at 9mins, Simon at 15mins, Claire at 16mins, Maggie at 21mins.  The Col du Galibier was another 8Km on and another 600m up, but the weather had deteriorated and despite encouragement from some Yanks we decided to turn around. Needless to say we descended a lot quicker than we climbed! I had easily secured the mountains jersey by now with Becky in green!

Wednesday - The big one - We ascended the side road through Villard-Reclus to Hairpin 5 of the Alpe.  We were situated with the Dutch, Germans, and Swiss and joined in a great party for about 5 hours watching all the riders at close quarters. It was amazing.

Scanlon rides the Alpe

Thursday - Got to watch the Tour again as it came right through Allemont.  Watched them ascend the zigzag bends up to the dam/reservoir then watched them from across the lake as they started the climb of the Col du Glandon.  A real bonus day as we didn't originally realise we would get to see them a second time !!

Thursday afternoon - Began long drive home via Bar sur Aube.

Trevor

Results

31^st July Godric CC ‘10’

On a warm but breezy day, Viv finished 1^st lady in 26:00 (PB), and Pete W (23:30), Bev (29:30) and Mark (25:35) all did season’s best times.

1^st August Godric CC ‘25’

Viv continued her good form with another PB (1:09:24) in tougher conditions than last year.  Mark struggled to pedal because of back pain, but still got round in 1:08:51

1st August Eastern Region Grass track

Pete W was 3^rd in the devil, 3^rd in the 8km. In the pursuit he was 2^nd and Trev was 3^rd.

Medallion men

Dates For The Calendar

8^th August, family ride and fun day, Tunstall.

14^th August, Plomesgate grass track, St Mary’s School, Woodbridge.

15^th August, Mid Suffolk RR

22^nd August, Plomesgate RR Champs, Eastway, contact Richard Tateson for details.

Tuesday evenings – MTB ride from Snape crossroads at 7:30

Thursday evenings – TT or training ride

Fridays – Foxhall track.

Secret Weapon

How about this for a secret weapon for next year's SSMM & other nocturnal cycling - a glow in the dark saddle.

See...

http://www.rido-cyclesaddles.fsnet.co.uk/rido_colours.htm

Then roll your mouse over the saddle on the right.

Perhaps as the bloke selling these is from Orford we could get a club discount, or he suggests that he can do any colour/design so we could get some PCC fir-tree saddles :-)

Jon S

Pyrenees C2C

Mark & Viv rode from the Atlantic at Biarritz to the Mediterranean at Argeles sur Mer, over 6 days in June.  The route took in a number of classic cols including the Marie Blanque, Aubisque, Portalet, Tourmalet, and Aspin.  The holiday was arranged through Pyractif (www.pyractif.com) - a small company offering various cycling holidays in the Pyrenees.  There were 11 riders in the group, and we were supported by a minibus throughout.

Day 1: Biarritz to Gurmencon, 167km.  Riding through the foot hills in the Basque country, with a couple of smaller cols.

Day 2: Gurmencon to Barege, 117km.  The hardest day, starting with the Marie Blanque (1008m), a long climb with a steep section at the top.  We then rode the Aubisque (1709m), Soulor (1474m), and finished with the first 8km of the Tourmalet. Viv finished this day with a borrowed rear wheel after 2 spokes broke.

Day 3: Barege to Bertren, 99km.  Straight into the 10km climb of the Tourmalet (2115m), an exhilarating 17km descent, followed by 6km climb up the Aspin (1849m).  Then undulating roads to the Pyractif base at Bertren.

Day 4: Bertren to Tarascon, 136km.  Starting with a climb up the Col d’Ares (795m), followed by the Col de Larrieu (779m) and a pleasant ride to a café lunch by the river in St Girons.  Up to Col de Port (1249m), and a speedy descent to Tarascon.

Day 5: Tarascon to Prades, 137km.  A steep ascent, then high level traverse to the Col de Marmares (1361m), followed by the Col de Sept Freres (1253m) and a wonderful descent into the Gorges de Rebenty.  The final and biggest climb of the day was the Col de Jau (1506m), with an incredible 26km descent to Prades (yee haa!!)

Day 6: Prades to Argeles, 72km.  A relaxed and relatively flat ride to the sea, followed by a celebratory meal in Carcasonne.

All in all, great fun and thoroughly recommended.