As a club we are fortunate to have a rich history that includes an impressive trophy collection (far more than are pictured here), covering all sorts of categories – not just time trials but also road racing, hill climbs, track racing and even sportives.
The large number of trophies means that sometimes a member might have won something without even realising it! The full list of trophies and the rules for them (including exactly what is needed to win each one) are detailed in the club rules document (pages 5-9), accessible via the Members’ area of the website. Please bear in mind that only first claim members are eligible for club trophies.
The onus is on members to come forward and claim trophies. Obviously if an award is for a particular club event (e.g. the annual hill climb championship) then the committee will already know about that and can present the trophy. However, some of the categories are a lot less clear cut and we really need members to come to the committee and say that they think they could be eligible for a trophy. For example, the committee can’t keep track of all open time trials that a member might have entered, so if you’ve achieved a very good time at Little Wallop CC’s TT and that’s connected to an FCCC trophy, you need to tell the committee.
Here’s another example – The Sportive Trophy, which according to the rules (page 8) is “awarded to the member with the greatest total distance ridden in sportives and audaxes. The time period to be 12 months from 1st October to 30th September.” Now this is one where the committee will usually have no real idea who might have won this (though this year we have a good guess!), and we need members to present their lists of sportives and audaxes to us. Someone out there will have won this, and we want as many trophies as possible to be looked after and displayed by members and not to have to sit in a box in a storeroom somewhere!
The trophies are presented annually at the Club Night of the Year (date for 2020 to be advised in due course).
Don’t be shy in coming forward, and please email the committee if you would like to put forward a claim for a trophy.
An audaxious tale in store for us at this month’s educational and entertaining club night. Hear how club member Keith Griffiths not only completed the ultimate out-and-back: Paris-Brest-Paris, but did it on a bike he built himself!
So, whether you’re having a mid-ride crisis or a mid-life crisis, come along to your club night to learn how 600km really is only halfway there, in an event that takes riders from Paris to the sea at Brest and back again – a massive 1200km in total.
Friday 8th November, 8.30pm, All Saints Church Hall, Chapel Lane Farnborough GU14 9BW.
Good luck to all of our club members that are competing in this weekend’s Red Bull Timelaps 25-hour endurance race at Windsor Great Park.
The event starts at midday on Saturday, 26 October and finishes at midday on Sunday. Since the clocks go back at 2am on Sunday morning though, that makes it 25 hours in duration. Teams of four riders race in a relay, with the duration of the stints being up to the teams. There will also be a few solo (!) entries.
Club members Alex Ballinger, Adam Bassom, Adam Dart, Matt Davies, Matt Fawcett and Jamie Parkinson will all be taking part, and we wish them all the best for the race. They will be competing alongside all sorts of other teams, and as well as amateur teams that also includes Team Ineos featuring World Tour rider Pavel Sivakov. I’m sure they’d all appreciate some support if any other club members can drop by.
Good luck guys, and we look forward to hearing all about it!
ROAD BIKE ONLY 10 MILE CLUB CHAMPIONSHIP (incorporated into
the normal club TT) – SATURDAY 9TH NOVEMBER AT 10.00AM
More and more time trial events now include a “road bike
only” category alongside the traditional categories usually won by riders on
time trial specific bikes. Inspired by
these developments the club believes it’s a great way to encourage members from
across the board to compete in time trialling without specialist TT equipment and
be in with a chance of winning – hence our
new “Road Bike 10 Mile Club Championships”.
A new club trophy will be awarded to both the fastest male
and the fastest female rider and the inaugural annual championships incorporated
into our next club TT at 10am on 9th November.
As per usual the club TT is open to members and non-members riding
either TT or road bikes but only FCCC first claim members will be eligible for the
new road bike championships.
This will be held on the HCC175 course on the A287 starting at
the junction of Redlands Lane and the A287 near Ewshot. The exact course can be viewed by opening
this link: https://www.plotaroute.com/route/265288
There are only a few criteria that must be followed in order
to be eligible for the new road bike championships:
• No tri bars or clip on bars or spinaci bars
• No disc or tri spoke wheels
• Wheel rims no deeper than 65mm
• No visors or TT specific helmets
• Hands must be holding the handlebars at all times while
racing (i.e. not with forearms resting on the handlebar) – any riders seen
doing this are likely to be disqualified.
And in case you’re wondering, racesuits/skinsuits are
allowed.
Wow! It was great to see so many members and their families at the 50th Anniversary BBQ celebrations last Sunday. We also had a great turnout at the Bridge for the Anniversary rides in the morning, especially considering the wet weather.
Thank you all so much for coming along and joining in with the celebrations. We hope that you all enjoyed the food in the afternoon, and the whole event in general.
Congratulations to Reece Morancie for winning the £200 bike voucher prize. We hope to hear more about Reece’s cycling progress in due course, and who knows, maybe one day we’ll see him riding with the club? We felt that this free raffle was a great way to help to launch our plans for Go-Ride certification – British Cycling’s junior coaching programme, which we’re working hard on in the background for 2020.
Jeremy Ebdon from West Heath Garage presents Reece with his prize
We’re very grateful to West Heath Garage for generously sponsoring the event. Remember that they offer our club members various benefits in terms of servicing discounts, new and used car discounts, etc. Check out the Benefits page in the Members section of the website (you have to be logged in to see this) for all the details.
We also want to give a big thank you to those members who helped to organise and run the BBQ event. Darren Roberts was the main organiser and we can’t hope to list everything he did here, but he spent a lot of time and effort finding the venue, getting a shopping list of food and making sure everything else needed for the day was there, preparing the salad in the morning, as well as running around on the day itself. Darren’s sister provided the wonderful cakes with the club logo. Gideon de Clerq also did a sterling job manning the BBQs all afternoon, providing his tasty sauces for the meat and keeping it all served up for us. Thank you all!
We hope you had a chance to look at some of the club memorabilia that we had on display – club president Dick Poole’s photo albums from his End To End record ride, club trophies dating back to the 1930s, old printed newsletters and more. We’ll be adding photos of some of these to the History section of the club website in due course. Please also do vote for Dick in Cycling Weekly’s “Local Hero” award.
Thank you all again for making this day a big success. If you have any feedback on the event, then please let Jeff know at [email protected]
FCCC President Dick Poole has been shortlisted for the
Cycling Weekly Local Hero of the Year Award, voting for which has opened today,
having been nominated by a member of Chiltern R.C.
Dick is very well known for his legendary achievement in becoming the first man to complete LEJOG in under 48 hours in 1965 but, more importantly to us in FCCC, for his 50 years as a member and for his tireless work behind the scenes in running the club.
What most members probably won’t know is Dick’s contribution
to the wider cycling community. He was a founder member and first chairman of
the British Triathlon Association and was appointed as the first RTTC coaching
secretary, a position he held for 10 years and helped to form what is now the
Association of British Cycling Coaches. Even
now, in his mid-eighties, Dick continues to coach at the outdoor track at
Palmer Park, Reading.
The shortlist was selected by a judging panel consisting of
Colin Sturgess (former cycling World Champion), Dani Rowe MBE (Olympic
Champion), Brian Cookson (former President of the UCI and British Cycling) and
Vern Pitt (Cycling Weekly), with the winner announced on 28 November.
We can’t think of a more deserving candidate for this award and
urge you to show your support by voting for Dick on the Cycling Weekly website.
Follow this link to add your support and
please feel free to share this post.
Hopefully everyone will have seen the email
and Facebook messages
we’ve posted over the last couple of weeks announcing our club’s 50th
Anniversary Celebration on Sunday 13th October. This is very much a
family celebration so please bring your partners and children along to join in
the fun.
It’s going to be a great day but we need an idea of numbers to
make sure there’s enough food for everyone at the afternoon BBQ, so can you
please either respond either directly by email to Jeff Davis on [email protected]
or via the Facebook event here https://www.facebook.com/events/510444189784651/
to let us know if you’re interested in attending. This doesn’t commit you to
attending and it’s totally free (except for drinks at the bar).
A more detailed itinerary will be published soon so watch
this space.
Main photo: AERO! – Ollie Rastall tucks during a Cat 2 Road Race in August
Apologies for the lateness of this report, though with prime holiday season having been upon us in August, you may have expected to hear that the FCCC Road Race team has been quiet. However, with many seeing August as the “last real month of Summer”, the team continued to race across Surrey, Hampshire and Berkshire, delivering some fantastic results.
Special congratulations to Luke Stratford, Mark Nuttall and Jamie Parkinson, all of whom earned their 2nd Cat licence during the month. This further strengthens and enhances the FCCC Road Race team which now contains a strong number of 2nd Cat riders.
The most notable results from another busy month are provided below:
3rd August – BIG Events, Hillingdon Circuit, 3rd Cat, Mark Nuttall – 4th Place, Luke Stratford – 5th Place, Adam Bassom– 7th Place, Jamie Parkinson – 8th Place
FCCC Attack! – Mark Nuttall and Luke Stratford attempt a two-man break during a 3rd Cat race at Hillingdon
6th August – BC West Thames Series Rnd 17, Hillingdon, 3rd Cat, Adam Bassom – 4th Place, Jamie Parkinson – 7th Place
11th August – Surrey League Road Race – Norwood Hill, 3rd Cat, Mark Nuttall – 9th Place
Setting the pace– Matt Davies controls the bunch up a climb during a Road Race at Norwood Hill
13th August – BC West Thames Series Rnd 17, Hillingdon, 3rd Cat, Luke Stratford – 3rd Place
13th August – Behind The Bikeshed Racing – Thruxton Series Round 6, 3rd Cat, Adam Bassom – 4th Place, Matt Davies – 9th Place . 4th Cat, Noel Brooksbank – 4th Place.
17th August – BC West Thames League Saturday Rnd 2, Hillingdon, 3rd Cat, Jamie Parkinson – 7th Place
Throwing some punches – Jamie Parkinson attacks the bunch at Hillingdon
20th August – Behind The Bikeshed Racing – Thruxton Series Round 7, 3rd Cat, Jamie Parkinson – 10th Place
21st August – Portsmouth Evening Circuits #21, 3rd Cat, Matt Davies – 1st Place, Mark Nuttall – 8th Place
22nd August – Hillingdon Masters Series #11, Masters 50+, Warren Vye – 7th Place
24th August – Portsmouth Omega Saturday Circuits, 3rd Cat, Jamie Parkinson – 2nd Place, Mark Nuttall – 3rd Place, Matt Davies – 7th Place
24th August – BC West Thames League Saturday Rnd 3, Hillingdon, 3rd Cat, Adam Bassom – 2nd Place. Note that Adam was led out for the sprint by Matt “two races in one day” Davies !
28th August – Portsmouth Evening Circuits #21, 3rd Cat, Matt Davies – 4th Place
Race Insight: The August race insight is brought to you by FCCC road race team member, Darren Roberts, who provides a snippet into the final stages of his first race during a Surrey League Dunsfold Park 4th Cat race.
You can see your Club colleagues and your family raising phone cameras. The chequered flag is suddenly further away than ever and still the sprint is getting faster. What? You can’t hear anything behind. Are you alone? It’s chaos. Your vision is closing. 25 metres to go.
The wisp of smoke from your last match is close. 30 miles of strategy is about to be blown into thin air. 15 metres. One last dig. You’re line abreast with 5 riders. Where did they come from? Perhaps you’re in the top 10? Who knows?
Whoosh. The flapping chequered flag calls an end to the melee. The last lap decided it all. 30 miles of strategy came down to 200 metres of sprint. One for all and then all for no-one. It’s that brutal.
A hand pats you on the back. You pick your head up and look around. It’s over. Bitter enemies in the final metres of sprint, now gasping for air and congratulating each other.
You realise this is what it’s all about. The teamwork, the exhaustion, and the fact that you lost everything you thought you’d gained in the final metres of the sprint. You laugh out loud. That was one of the most confusing experiences of your life. Incredible.
The ‘what ifs’ and ‘should haves’. All of that can come later because it’s just as your Club Secretary said ‘at the finish you’ll be wanting to know where and when you can race next’.
If you’re interested in the idea of road racing, then get in touch with our RR secretary, Warren Vye. He looks after a friendly team with a wealth of experience who can pass on plenty of advice and tips.
No matter how loudly I shouted this at the mechanic in the bike shop, he couldn’t make my front wheel any less egg-shaped. So I took the wheel to master wheelbuilder, Ian Lynch, and it came back round.
Ian – or “Ianardo da Lynchi” as he is widely known, has kindly agreed to entertain and educate us at the next Club Night, 8.30pm on Friday, 4th October at All Saints Church Hall, Chapel Lane, Farnborough GU14 9BW.
Learn about tubed, tubeless and tubular tyres, aerodynamics and wheel components and the basics of truing your own wheels. Ride straight, ride true, never get a puncture again. And if that’s not enough, beer, chips and soft drinks provided as usual.
Congratulations to our 25 mile club champions for 2019, Donna Swindell (Ladies and Veteran Ladies) and Tim Carman (Mens and Veteran Mens), on their winning rides last Saturday 14th September.
Donna, Ladies Champ
Tim, Mens Champ
Alex
Conor
Donna, who competed on her road bike and crossing the line
in 1:17:01, showed that you do not have to be a TT specialist to be successful –
well done Donna.
Tim, both a time triallist and triathlete , backed up his
impressive time trialling form this year with a time of 57:30, closely followed
by Alex Ballinger in 58:37 (on his road bike) and Conor Boyle in 1:03:37
