Epsom, Betchworth, High Beeches

Thursday 28 January ride to High beeches. Three of us out on Thursday's OHG to High Beeches: Trevor, Dave Brentnall and me, plus nine others. Someone took us apart on the return into a thin headwind; the broken bunch was scattered over a couple of miles on the approach to Newdigate. Distance approx 40 mile circuit from Betchworth meeting point.

See you up the road

Roger Smith

Sunday Ride 31 Jan 2010

Very cold day but some keen or is mad cyclists were out riding their bikes. Andrew Adams, Chris Devereux and Trevor Hughes from Cheam Station south side to Merstham to meet Paul White and Ev Quistorff and then south to Bletchingley. Some patches of ice and snow were encountered, particularly at the junction with the A22 when the riders had to dismount and walk over the ice. To avoid any more ice it was decided to follow the A22 through South Godstone directly to the Blindley Heath Garden Centre. The return journey was through Crowhurst, Tandridge, Woldingham,Chaldon, Coulsdon and Banstead, skirting round some ice and snow on the road, which was not treacherous. First ride of the year for Chris who completed the ride but suffered on the last hills. It was a cold day with some sunshine. From Cheam the circuit was over 40 miles with approximately 1800 feet of climbing, average speed 13.66 mph.

Trevor Hughes road this ride on Tuesday with a large group of 13 to Sumners Pond. The number of riders was greater than usual because the fast and slower riders amalgamated and left Betchworth at 10 o'clock. The distance from the start/finish at Betchworth was approximately 50 miles with a fast average speed of 16 mph.

Hennie Kuiper

Hennie has posted a lot of his pictures on line. For us oldies there are some smashing pictures here.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/henniekuiper/

Sunday Ride 24 January 2010 Cheam, Croydon, Tully's Farm

Andrew Adams, Bob Green, Dave Brentnall, Paul Kelly, Trevor Hughes and guest riders Keith and Jake left Cheam station at 9 o’clock to rendezvous with Ev Quistorff at The Swan & Sugar Loaf in Croydon. From there we were led through Selsdon, Farley and over the downs. Through the country lanes and riding to an altitude of nearly 900 feet before descending to Titsey. Then on to Limpsfield, Lingfield, East Grinstead, Crawley Down to Tully’s Farm Rowfant. Jake had to ride her mountain bike as her road bike had a puncture but she did very well to ride to Tully’s farm up the numerous hills. At Tully’s Farm the service was slow and we were sitting outside as there was limited space inside and it was therefore cold. Perhaps better on a warm day! The return route was through Smallfield, Outwood, Merstham and Purley where Dave, Paul, Keith and Trevor stopped with the usual consequences! Approx 60 miles with 2000 feet of climbing.

Downside Bridge Follow-up

There's always a flurry of phone calls after the quarterly newsletter is published and mailed out.
Dave Mclellan's Downside Bridge story with the picture of the punt crossing the Farnham car park has jogged many memories. Terry Pearce rang in. On that weekend in 1967 he was working at Ronson's in Leatherhead. He remembers an empty bus being stranded on the crest of the bridge at the bottom of Leatherhead High Street (where Dave McLellan & Hazel lived some years later) with the River Mole swirling all around it. Later on he saw a Fiat saloon car in the middle of the river with no indication of how it got there. Terry thinks somone sailed it there.

Sky's first win

Congratulations on Sky's first win at the Cancer Council Helpline Classic in Adelaide, it's a mixed bag for us as viewers though. The Tour Down Under which starts on Tuesday and was on Eurosport last year but not now, how much cycling is going to migrate to Sky Sport? On the plus side though the Team Sky website is good, you can watch extended highlights from the race.

http://www.teamsky.com/video

Help! Great Pub Conversations...

Paul White recently sent out an email with a plea to help him remember when he first joined the club...

"The debate on when I joined the club came up when Ev and I were in the pub last night. Ev believes I joined the club a lot younger than I thought. It appears I may have been in for more than thirty years. I'm trying to work out the exact month and year that I joined the cycle club. Does anyone in the club have any records or diaries that could possibly pin this down?"

Also requested were (1), that if anyone has old Bourton-On-The-Water weekend pictures that show Paul riding in it, to get in touch with him and (2), the possibility of a "Days gone by" link on the new website where people could put old photos of club events. What do you think?

And we thought we had it bad here!

Taken last Wednesday, 6th January to which I referred to in my Letter from America of Saturday 9th. This was the first really cold day as it has only got worse since then! Hope things are getting better in your neck of the woods.

Bryan

Film show, Sunday 24th January

Film show, Sunday 24th Jan, Riverside Studios, starts 1.30 pm

Cycling Shorts:
The Tour de France and Cycle Racing in Britain in the 1950s, 60s and 70s (U) 1.30pm. London's cycling film aficionados return to Riverside Studios with a selection of shorts and features ranging from the Tour de France through to British Time Trial Championships.

www.riversidestudios.co.uk

This is previewed in Cycling Weekly this week, these shows usually sell out so an early booking is suggested, on line, on telephone, both work well.

Cheers, Barry G.

Victoria Pendleton signs with Hovis

Just off down the bakers...

Snow, What Snow????

A lot of moaning going on about the weather, but, 32 years ago, this type of weather bothered us less. It was I believe February 1978 when Mick Ayliffe, Nick "Dinky" Dunkley, Steve Edgar and yours truly set off on one of Mick's 24 hour training rides to Bognor Regis on snow covered roads. Yes, 120 miles in really bad conditions.

But we were hard men. No overpriced bits of polystyrene on our heads. No fancy overshoes or gortex gloves. We just used to get on with it. However, were cautious and rode down Givens Grove because of the icy conditions.

It was of course an epic ride. Nick riding ahead of us by 20 yards for no reason for parts of the ride and getting soaked in slush from a passing vehicle. Slogging up Bury Hill, arriving in Bognor for eats looking like coal miners who had just finished a shift.

On the way back my left hand crank came loose and thank God for those old dumbbell multi-spanners. Mick whacked the crank on with a brick and it was tightened back on and lasted until I got home. What a day it was, the sort of day that one remembers and when the weather turns bad thinks "I've been out in worse conditions than this!"

On another topic, Robert Douglas and I went on a ride to Hindhead in freezing conditions, a good 80 miles, and on reaching Milford on the way back I found that my bottle had frozen decending Hindhead!

Don't beleive the climate change scaremongers, it has been as bad as this before!

Snow more sitting at home

If you're anything like me, anything more than about 20 minutes from stepping off your bike after your last ride, you start getting withdrawal symptoms, paranoia about hard earned fitness ebbing away, and a maddening need to immediately check that all is well with your machine (you know, in case any annoying little ticks & noises have developed in the last five minutes of storage - the therapy still isn't working OK?!). So, after a week or more of snow and more importantly ice (always try & steer clear of the slippy stuff kids,) I was climbing the walls and kicking the cat. Which is slightly worrying, because I don't own a cat. Anyway, long story short, with the Hell of the Ashdown a couple of weeks away, I was determined to get a few rides in this week so long as the icy conditions abated a bit. The fresh snow, and Paul's previous post & pictures, at least gave me the inspiration and opportunity to climb on the MTB and get a few miles in. So, off to Epsom/Ashtead Common for a little exploration of the trails & some fun in the snow.

I had a great time & got some snaps in to boot - hope you enjoy. Conditions were OK, snow not too deep to hold up reasonable progress & fresh and grippy enough to inspire lots of confidence on the bike. The trails weren't too taxing, but it's good to get the blood pumping amidst such wonderful scenery. Strangely I seemed to be the only lunatic out there for some reason...

Anyway, my itch has been scratched (for at least the next 5 minutes) - an hour or two well spent. But, roll on the thaw eh?!

Happy trails,

Alex

Saturday's "Ride"

Icey this morning so Chris, Jeff, Bob and Mick met at The Organ at 0930 to walk round Nonsuch Park. It was beautiful and we bumped into Ron & Doreen from the Phoenix in the cafe. First six walking customers of the day and all cyclists!

I had this week all planned out. Flippin' snow!

Berkshire snow MTB

I was out in the snow today. Was anyone else young at heart or stupid enough?
Soft stuff, bit cold, but soft. Slippery just like mud and just as much fun.
Here's some pictures taken my local area.

Warfield Village.

Snowy scene. All it needs is a Robin. There was one. You can't see it; it's frozen to death and stuck to a tree. It's a fierce country when it wants to be. Only kidding, no animals were harmed in the making of this production.

This field had drifts of up to 50cm deep. The trusty Marin steed with its high clearance bottom bracket set up was a "must." As recommended by the "Kennet and Avon amphibious riders of canal paths 2001."

A trail nearby. This bridge was put in recently. It was more fun before it was installed!

My road outside my house. Snow 30cm or so. The car's not moving today.





County Lane, or should I say "County Slide," as it's not seen any grit during any of the bad weather so far. Still, it's all good fun - turn out of my road, brake and slide to the bottom.

Car driving, it's all good fun if you got your driving license in the 80's or before, cause we had enough snow in the 80's to throw our old Cortinas around and learn how to drive in the stuff.

4 x4 who needs em!

A bike waiting for a bus.

The top of my road before turning onto the hill.

The local pond.

Recommendation for snow riding:

Tyre pressure around 20-25-30 psi. Depends a bit on if you're a light, "blow away in a breeze" person or a heavy lump "traction engine" like me. Let the front wheel go where it wants to go in the snow, don't "vice like" grip it too hard, go with the flow. Wet lube for the chain, it seems to stop snow clogging the mech.

Post ride:

Throw bike in garage covered in snow, and hope cycling pixies clean it for you.

Remove cycle shoes and look for black toes or any signs of frostbite.

Run nice hot bath with some smelly bubble bath nicked from wife or partner, that makes you smell irresistable.

Soak in bath for two hours with large Jack Daniels.

Later on take deck chair to top of County Lane with said bottle of Jack Daniels and watch motorist trying to ascend the hill. Laugh until your stomach hurts at the mayhem.

Lush.

Sunday MTB ride to Oxted

Thanks to Keith Rook for these photos of the 9 hardy souls who braved the cold ride on what Rob Starey prophesied would be a route, "None of them will have ridden before!"