Iss 703 Feb 2018
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Feb 2018 Issue no. 703 Inside this Edition Page Contents 3 Editor's Corner 4 Chairman's Report 6 Letters to Ed 7 80th Semaine Federale 8 Time Trial Round Up 11 Life Members 16 National Cycle-Cross Round Up 18 Wheels For All 21 Call for Volunteers 22 Obituary - Fred Towers 24 The Land of Frites, Mayo and Cross 29 Club Rules - A Reminder to All 30 Richard Lodge - BC Board Member 32 Club Runs 35 Main Club Contacts Front Cover: William & Gerard Ryan courtesy of Richard Howes Photography Rear Cover: Fred Towers wearing a most excellent woolly hat! 2 Editor's Corner Spring is in the air or is that just wishful thinking. Those hardy riders amongst us are now probably fed up with the wet and cold, not to mention the amount of layers we have to dress ourselves in before stepping outside…..I know I am! Equally for those of you who prefer to spend the winter months sitting on a turbo trainer, finding it mind-bendingly dull and knowing that you’ll never make the whole hour as you run out of things to think about after around five minutes, spring can’t come fast enough. A fairly mixed edition this quarter, a few event round-ups, messages from the Club’s Chairman and President and a report of what sounds like a great trip to Belgium by the Knight twins. I also bring you the sad news that Fred Towers, a club stalwart, sadly lost his battle with cancer at Christmas. I never got to meet Fred but I do know he was a great club member and I think he would appreciate the front cover picture of William Ryan and his father Gerard showing the club who for what it is, a big supportive family, RIP Fred. And finally February sees the Club’s annual awards dinner but unlike previous years I will leave announcing the winners to Dick Law on the night. Safe Riding! Rocky Send copy to: [email protected] 3 Chairman's Report 2017 Amazingly 2018 will be my 11th year as Chairman of the Club. How time flies! The year saw Solihull Cycling Club continue to prosper. Membership is still around the 500 mark which makes us one of the biggest Clubs in the country and it was great to see Richard Lodge being elected to the Main Board of British Cycling for a 3 year stint. The year has seen us produce many National and World Championship riders. In October Bob Richards won a Gold Medal in his age category at the LVRC Track Championships in Derby. In September Jake Stewart was 5th in the World Junior RR Championships and this was after his winning 2 Medals for the Madison and Team Pursuit at the European Track Championships in June as well as 5th place in the Junior Paris Roubaix race in April. Stuart Jameson won a Silver Medal at the LVRC National Circuit Race Championships at Milton Keynes Bowl and Matt Shaw won Bronze in the National Junior Points Race at Newport. Dani Khan won Gold in the 500 meters National Women’s Elite TT in January. Ivor Thomas became a World Champion in the Para World Masters Games in New Zealand in April and Lucy Shaw continues as a member of the DROPS professional cycling team based on the Continent, She represented Great Britain in the European RR Championships in August. Fine performances and a truly amazing year for the Club ! 4 Solihull CC continues to dominate the WMCCL with excellent performances in 2017 from the Knight twins, Ella Tandy, Holly Saunders, Max Saunders and Rose Neely with at least 30 other SCC riders participating on a regular basis. Our usual visit to France for the annual Semaine Federal Event took place in August. Only around 15 members took part this year but at least the weather was good considering the Normandy location ! On a more sombre note we lost a number of longstanding members in 2017. John Paling, Alan Boden, Dave Kirby, Graham Webb, Roy Cromack and at Christmas Fred Towers passed away after a long battle with cancer. May they all rest in peace. Finally, the Committee decided to award Life Membership to both Phil Rosenbloom and Pete James in recognition of their major contributions to the Club over the last 20 years. Our President has written in greater depth on this in later pages of this AWheel. Last but not least a very big thank you to all the many Organisers, helpers, and Club Coaches and Committee members without whom we could not operate. Ride safely in 2018 and a very Happy New Year to you all. Dick Law Chairman Solihull Cycling Club 5 Letters to Ed Dear Ed, For those who have chosen to renew their subs by Direct Debit please note that these will be debited from bank accounts on or shortly after 9th Feb. 2018. If you have any queries or concerns I can be contacted via [email protected] Dear Ed, We currently have a vision to create a MTB group within SCC promoting leisure and competitive MTB opportunities for all interested members We feel Mountain biking should be complimentary to and not separate from, all the other club activities in the same way that Cyclo-cross, Time Trialling, road racing, club runs etc fit within the clubs existing structure. If anyone is interested please contact Keith Jones Dear Ed, Racing Results and Anything Else You Are Proud Of!! As we move into 2018 it looks as though the club will continue to be successful in many areas whether it is participation in all sorts of events - not just races - but also lots of other areas. As we have grown larger as a club it is becoming increasingly difficult to keep track of who is doing what but we want to hear from you and we want to publicise your achievements. It is particularly difficult especially when several of our top young riders are competing as professionals or in sponsored teams. So we ask everyone who achieves race results - or anything else that may be noteworthy - to keep us regularly updated so we can let your club- mates know. It is not bragging or boasting to let us know these things so please don’t be embarrassed. So going into 2018 please just do an email - even if it is very short - to [email protected] so we can cheer you on! 6 80th International Week of Cycle The 80th Semaine Federale in 2018 will be in the Vosges, Alsace in eastern France from 5th to 10th August. This is 1 week later than last year. It will be based in Epinal which is a medium size town in the beautiful hills and wine growing countryside close to the iconic Tour climbs of the Balons, the Black Forest across the Rhine and the German border. The distance from the Calais is c500K requiring an overnight stop on route. The Semaine Federale is a very French version of cycle tourism and organised by the FFCT (equivalent of the CTC) from a central base with a choice of 4 or 5 daily rides of distances varying between 30 and 100 miles commencing on Sunday 5 August. Registration opens on Friday 3 August and we usually arrive then or the next day. Maps and road directions are provided and the routes identified by road markings. It is always a thoroughly enjoyable week with regular participants from overseas including SCC, other British cycling clubs and nationalities from around the world. The Solihull CC group usually consists of a group of 20 people camping in our own tent, caravan or camper van for the week on one of the FFCT campsites. I submit a consolidated group application on our behalf so that we are grouped together on the campsite. Application forms and instructions will be available from me in early January and interested members can also obtain further information from the website www.sf2018.ffct.org. For further information also talk to others who have attended in the 25 years in which the club have attended. If Members are interested in joining us then please contact me - Harry Balmer 07770 957674 and [email protected] 7 2017 TT Round Up This year we had 57 different club riders aged from 12 to 64 years of age competing in the club TT series of which 42 of them picked up points to compete in the season long competition. A fair few of these rode on road bikes as there was a competition for best road bike and I think it went well so we’ll do it again I 2018 .The men were well supported with a few Ladies taking part ,so hopefully this year we’ll get more Ladies competing. I think the most successful TT rider this year was 14 year old Jacob Reid, who won the Midlands National Youth Qualifying event at the fast K11/10T course at Princethorpe with a PB of 21.26 a fantastic ride at the age of 14 Chapeau !!!.He then rode the final at Peterborough where he did 23.12 to finish 35th out of 132 riders a very good ride indeed .I’m sure Jacob is a rider to watch in the future and he’s already beating and giving us Oldies a hard time now so we’re all looking forward to the challenge in 2018. Penny Wilkin also had a great season after getting herself a proper TT bike ,she won the Ladies 10 champs with 26.04 ,the 25 champs with 1.14.42 ,the 50 champs with 2.18.12 and that was after riding her first 100 mile event the week before where she did 4.58.40 Chapeau !!!!Penny could do with some female competition in the club is there anyone out there ? Ed Priddy’s fastest 10 of the year was done locally on the K33d where he did 21.24,his fastest 25 was done on the superfast R25/3H in South Wales 53.40 and he also won the 10 champs with 22.34 due to family problems Ed had a quiet year by his high standards.