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.