December Club run
Recently muted at a committee meeting was the idea of celebrating a hill climb champion. With this in mind the committee thought that rather than utilise an existing open event it might be better to run our own club hill climb a bit closer to home. So to get the ball moving the club have decided to run a "fun" version, I know hill climb and fun are contradictions..! The idea is to meet up, ride the hill, then meet in the nearest pub to socialise afterwards. With the possibility, depending on support, of making this an official club championship with a trophy next year, so please try and support the event. The details are as follows.
Practice Club Hill Climb – Walpole.
Date: 17th December 2006
Location: Meet at Walpole near the town sign, the hill climb will take place in the direction of Peasenhall and will finish near the cross roads by the Water Tower.
Time: Meet at Walpole near Village Sign, at 11:00am. Aim to start event by 11:15am.
If you want to combine a ride out to the event then there is a suggestion that a group will meet at Framlingham at 10:00am to ride out.
Afterwards : Congregate in the White Horse, Sibton. If the event is a success then the intention is to make it a fixture on the calendar and to crown the fastest rider as Hill Climb Champion.
Officials: We will need two timekeepers (one at the bottom and one at the top) and a holder (you are not allowed a push in a hillclimb!). Volunteers to Trev please.
With this in mind Trev included it as part of his Saturday morning ride a few weeks back. (More like training for the event – Ed!)
Trev reports there are a couple of places in Walpole village where we could start, the climb is quite a gentle climb, with a flat and slight descent about ζ of the way up before a final ascent to the Water Tower. The finish can be in line with the water tower and about 10m before the Sibton sign.
Trev was on his fully laden winter bike (lights and saddlebag), and had a stiff head wind it took me between 7:00 min and 7:20 (depending on the which start point). He estimated in length it is about 1.5miles in length.
Trev thinks this would be an ideal choice of hill, as it is not the sort of hill that requires a ridiculously low gear to ascend, and neither is it the sort that might burst your lungs. It is also the sort of climb that anyone who can balance on two wheels can have a go at without looking foolish. Although I am sure someone will try!
Trev
My money is on the clubs Italian mountain goat, Trevi Figgetti after seeing his form in the Dolomites in September!
Matt
January Club run?
Nothing has been decided at the time of going to press. It has been mentioned at a recent committee meeting about poorly attended club runs, the question was asked - what do club members want to do? No point continuing an old tradition just for traditions sake. If they are not going to be supported should we not run them? Do you only want them in the summer, not at all, winter only or every month? Watch this space as a committee member will be producing a questionnaire on this, but in the meantime ideas for club run routes and volunteers to lead would be greatly appreciated.
Matt
November Club run
The November club ride was poorly attended, with only Bev and myself at the start (I knew Team Hardwicke would be doing the cyclo-cross at Mistley that day), so at 10:05 we set off on the planned route of about 15 miles to get to Campsey Ash by 11am. It was out of Woodbridge via Castle Street, Bredfield Street and Angel Lane to Theatre Street and then to the traffic lights to cross the A12 and into Hasketon for a few miles of meandering, then to Boulge and Bredfield and again a bit of a detour to come out near Pettistree, to then skirt the edge of Wickham Market, almost passing Mark H house and eventually to come over the A12 and into Campsey Ash just before 11am. In places the head wind was fairly strong, but once heading more in the general direction of Campsey Ash, the tail wind started too give a bit of benefit.
At elevenses we were joined by the 40 others on the CTC rides (3 groups). Afterwards we joined the 'lightweight' ride led by Stephen Searby for lunch at Aldeburgh, going out via Blaxhall, Snape, Benhall, Saxmundham and Knodishall, to arrive about 30 minutes early as we had a good tail wind most of the time and went along at a fairly high pace. A stop at the Cross Keys for lunch and then a fairly direct route back to Woodbridge with the remains of the group. The wind didn't seem to be much trouble on the way back, riding at a sedate 17mph average.
Pete
Club Dinner
The club dinner was held on the 2nd December at The Lighthouse in Aldeburgh, another superb evening, thanks to Viv Broughton for organizing the event again.
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We had the whole of the downstairs of the newly refurbished restaurant and as ever the food was excellent. The awards were dished out, Viv taking her usual Womens Champion, Evert scooping the Handicap event as well as the Vets trophy and Matt was rather embarrassed to go home with the rest including the best newsletter article. He was very pleased to be presented with the book Images of a Champion, as it was going on his Christmas List this year! In his embarrassment Matt forgot/didnt want to bore those present with his thanks to everyone for their support, Trevor for all his coaching and time, Paul Ross for being such a good friend, Kate Ross for letting Matt drag Paul off around Europe again and most of all his wife Pip and daughters Jess and Georgie for supporting him and encouraging him.
Steve Jones made a welcome appearance from Nottinghamshire and the many club members enjoyed the food, company and atmosphere.
Plomesgate AGM
The 2006 Annual General Meeting was held on Thursday 16th November, many thanks to those of you who attended.
Your club officers for 2007 are:
Chairman/Gen Sec: Trevor Figgitt
Treasurer: Steve Jones
Sec/Racing Sec: Valerio Malenchino
The committee: Matt Donaldson, Evert Wijnberg, Jim Hardwicke, Marshall Crowe, Ron Sutton, Ron Shoobridge, Pete Whelan and Bev Whelan. The first meeting of the new committee will be held on Thursday 17th January 2007 at The Horse and Groom, Melton.
Trev
Club evening TTs
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.
Thursday April 26th 10 Start time: 18:45* Course B10/9
Thursday May 3rd 10 Start time: 19:00 Course B10/9
Thursday May 17th 10 Start time:19:00 Course B10/9
Thursday May 31st 10 Start time: 19:00 Course B10/9
Thursday 7th June 15 Start time: 19:00 Course B15/9. One lap of B30/2
Thursday 14th June 10 Start time: 19:00 Course B10/9
Thursday 28th June 10 Start time: 19:00 Course B10/9
Thursday 5th July "25" Start time: 18:45* Course B25/2
Thursday 12th July 10 Start time: 19:00 Course B10/9
Thursday 26th July 10 Start time: 19:00 Course B10/9
Thursday 9th August 10 Start time: 19:00 Course B10/9
Thursday 23rd August 10 Start time: 18:45* Course B10/9
* - note early start.
Remember these event are on our online calendar at. Click here to view
Club Subs for 2007
The club subscriptions for 2007 will stay the same as 2006, at £10 for Over18s, £5 for under 18s, free for under 12s, and 2nd claim members are 50% of the above. Please remember subs are due on the 1st January, make cheques payable to Plomesgate Cycle Club and post to Steve Jones at 4 Leicester Close, IPSWICH. IP2 9EX
MTB in Rendlesham
Any one up for a bit of off roading. Mark Broughton is resurrecting the Saturday morning rides in Rendlesham Forest. Meet at the visitor centre car park at 10am or give Mark a call for more information.
TdF Prologue 2007
Tour de France London Prologue 7th July 2007
As you are all aware the TdF next year kicks off with a prologue TT on the afternoon/evening of Saturday 7th July starting in Whitehall, finishing along the Mall. A few club members have expressed an interest in traveling down to watch it, we need to gauge interest to see if its worth going en bloc. It would probably involve a train journey from Ipswich.
If you are interested then please let Ron Shoobridge know at ronshoo@tesco.net or trevor.figgitt@btinternet.com
TTs for geeks!
For all the desk bound fair weather testers in the club, here is a link to a site that might be of interest.
http://www.tourdefrancelondon.com/en/games/time_trial/
The idea is to cycle round the London Prologue course as quickly as you can. You have a set time to reach each check point (shown as a countdown clock), each check point reached increases the time you have remaining. To cycle, rapidly tap the left and right cursor keys (arrows), the faster you tap the faster you cycle!
My best is 43.17s, which isnt good enough for the leader board, the current record is 38.52s. Enjoy.
Matt
Calendar Dates
17th December, December club run – incorporating the Club Hill Climb at Walpole
14th January 2007, MTB Winter Series 2. see www.thetfordmtbracing.com for details.
11th February 2007, MTB Winter Series 3. see www.thetfordmtbracing.com for details.
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. Meet in the car park
New editor
After five years Viv and Mark have stepped down from editing the club newsletter. I would like to extend my thanks to them and congratulate them on an excellent job. Unfortunately for you I have offered to take on the job so please send all items for inclusion in newsletter to matt.donaldson@edfenergy.com and I will do my best to include it. Anything to do with cycling would be gratefully received. Thanks for your help. Matt
and finally!
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Velo D'Or 2006?
A Plomesgate source has sent in this photo as his nomination for the prestigious Velo dOr 2006. I couldnt possibly comment but I have seen some witty captions and remarks, on it, flying around amongst a few club members! I am open to bribes to supply the name of the perpetrator and the comments made J Matt