Where Did It All Go Wrong?

Busy getting Keira ready for her friend's party this evening. Quick check on the footie scores and Tranmere are winning one nil away from home, woohoo! Ten minutes later we pile into the car and switch on the radio in time to hear:

"Crewe Alexandra Two - Tranmere Rovers One"

We couldn't believe it! Well, I couldn't. Keira said, "Oh, we didn't win. What was the name of the winners?" I said, "A team called Crewe". "The Tinkle Crew?" asked Keira. I wish it had been.

The radio then went off and we listened to an Alabama 3 cd instead.

Snoop

Super Mega Aero Tuck

Well now. The first Time Trial of the season loometh large. Occured to me this morning that I really should try out the new bike before racing it. Hadn't even turned a pedal on it afore this morning.

Swooshed down to Coulsdon South Station to join my club mates. Very first impression, the bike is smoooooooth, way smoother than the rider.

Plan was just to do a few miles to get the feel of the thing and check it all works. Went out with the 18mph group and sorry folks, just couldn't resist putting the pedal down after the first roundabout. Bad form I know, sorry.

So I'm zooming along the A23 thinking, I like this bike. And I can't help but feel I'm getting more and more aero. Super Mega Aero in fact. Then it hit me, the handlebars weren't quite tight enough and they were slowly, steadily, dropping.

Ah well it was fun while it lasted and I guess mission accomplished. Back home to tighten some nuts eh finbarr?

Snoop

Riding Like a Giant

Well it's been a looooong cake fuelled break but after seeing the temperature hold above freezing on Sunday and forecast for the same today, I steeled myself for the return of commutopia. Basically it's the jolly ole Kingston Wheelers Sporting TT on Feb 8th and if I want to finish it the same day I start I need to get me ar5e in gear.

Off I shot on my mtb complete with skinny tyres pannier rack. I was carrying a laptop, shoes, books, shirt, towel, loads of stuff. Laden down like a pack mule, good training. First couple of miles are down hill so it's a cold ish start and the damp conditions me no like either. Anyhoo, once I got to Mitcham I'm gettin into it and starting to work pretty hard.

The longer the ride goes on the harder I go. It's a zen like day and almost all the lights are green so I'm getting to work and getting a work out too. The nearer I get to Central London the more I go mashing along. Wow!! I've missed this (though I did like all that cake) and I'm belting round the Elephant and Castle, whizzing up towards Southwark Bridge. Pedal pedal pedal, almost feels like I'm getting bigger as I go at it hammer and tongs. Knees, feet, all a blur, bigger bigger.

Crawling all over the bike I go past St Pauls and then before I know it I swoop off the road and into the underground car park. Slap! My feet go down on the floor as I stop to get my ID out for the security dude. 'ang on a minute.....feet flat on the floor. Whassat all about? I jump off the bike. My seatpost has slowly disappeared into the bike as I've gone tear arseing along. Not much blimmin wonder I felt so giant like - the bike was shrinking

Great ride, and a nice whizz home too.

Snoop

Addiscombe Cycling Club Review of the Year - 2008

The following was first published for those attending the annual club dinner and has been reproduced here for all club members.....and anyone else passing for that matter (but if you're not a club member you'd have to be a bit of a nerd to read all the way to the bottom..)


REVIEW OF THE YEAR 2008

At this year's dinner and prize presentation we once again celebrate some fantastic club and individual achievements. We've had successes large and small across all cycling disciplines, recruitment continues and membership currently stands at over 300

Club-runs

2008 was another roaring successful year on the road clubrun, as the weather was kinder during the winter of 2007/2008 we had 100+out most Saturdays, throughout the year we had 80-110 out. Two notable rides were to Brighton & were aimed at the whole clubrun rather than a specific group-83 & 85 out. Normal groups include 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20 & training group, with the first Saturday of month being a just for fun ride. We even had an off-road clubrun to the cafe, which we hope to resurrect in spring as a once a month event.

We had rides to Isle of Wight & Monty's 8th Tour of Mallorca plus numerous specific group rides into Surrey, Kent & Sussex, and Paul Tunnell led a small invasion of France. All the above stats are taken as the norm in ACC; in any other club they would be sensational. The road clubrun has now had 9 years of year on year success after the previous 5 yrs of decline, which translates into on average 1 member joining ACC per week, every week, for 9 yrs!!!!!!!!!

Sunday rides about once a month have returned; a mixture of beginners' rides and training rides. A Saturday off-road clubrun to Charlwood has been pioneered by Aodan Higgins and has been very successful. Rides to Leith Hill are now also becoming regular.

Road-racing

In his last year as a Junior Stuart Chamberlayne picked up enough points to retain his 2nd Cat status and had two trips to race in Belgium with the South of England Team, on one of the occasions showing his Addisombe colours off in Europe. Racing in this Country his highlights were an 8th and 5th in SL Handicaps during May and an 8th in July.

Keith Lea used the Hillingdon Winter Series to progress from 4th to 3rd Cat including two 2nd places. Continuing his racing in the Surrey League and SERRL races his best results were a 7th at Benenden in May, and then a 3rd and a 5th at Crystal Palace later in the year.

Daniel Gower also moved to 3rd cat with one 2nd place in the Hillingdon Winter series and then competed in a number of Surrey League and SERRL races as well as at Crystal Palace.

Paul Hone raced early season including a 9th in March in the Surrey League before switching to Duathlons where he was 4th in the World Age Group Championships in Rimini.

Marek Siwicki was back as an Addiscombe regular, his best result a 5th in a SERRL race in May.

Toks Adesanya was also back racing in Addiscornbe colours and regained his 2nd Cat licence with some excellent performances late in the season including a win at Goodwood, a 3rd and a 2nd at the newly opened Hog Hill [Redbridge) circuit, and a 2nd in a Surrey League race in September giving him the points he needed.

The find of the year amongst the men was Andrew Ellis who raced well to a solo win in a July SL Handicap, and then two 6ths in SL races in September.

Crystal Palace was again a good stomping ground for Addiscombe with lots of riders competing (some novices) in the 3/4 cat. Highlights were Hal Bransby with eight top 10 placings including a 2nd and two 3rds, and gaining his 2nd Cat licence.Mike Wallace finished 3rd in his first road race!, Steve Broomfield had five top 10 placings including two seconds and one 3rd . Sylvain Garde had a 10th and a 7th in the E/1/2 races during the season.

Our club championships switched to the roads around the Home circuit and was duly won by Adam Cotterell who as a second claimer relinquishes the title once more to Stuart Chamberleyne. Antloony was a strong 'B' race winner.

For the women Tamar was back competing in a number of Crystal palace races but the star of the show was Michelle LeBrun. She started her racing in the Hillingdon Winter series and continued throughout the year gaining excellent results and progressing to 2nd Cat. Michelle's best results during the season were a win in May at Chertsey and a 2nd in July at the same circuit, a 4th at Thruxton, and 10th in the London Criterium Challenge at Hog Hill in September. The undisputed performance of the year was 4th in the BC South East Region Women's Road Race Championship.

Time-trialling

Addiscombe riders competed for the club in 97 open and association events throughout the year, ranging from the 700 yard Bec hillclimb to the ECCA 12 hour and all distances in between.
No club records were broken this year, closest was "new boy" George Brent who got within 1/2 a mile of the 12 hour record at his first attempt. George also made a clean sweep of the club TT trophies. Tamar did likewise for the ladies trophies, Paul Tunnell won the vets BAR trophy, and Stuart Chamberlayne won the Junior 10 trophy. Five riders (George Brent, Sylvain Garde, Robert Royle-Evatt, Paul Tunnell, andAndrew Green) competed in the National Championship 12-hour, and all of them finished. George came 10th overall, and with Sylv and Rob finished as 3rd team.

At the end of April, Tamar Collis successfully organised our open 25 mile time trial on the 625/53 course at Horsham. As well as the numerous people required to marshal this course, we also managed to field ten of our own riders in a full field of 120. The event was won by Paul Mill.

Our Open 10 in September was organised by Jon Hemming and was won by Keith Coffey. the only man to go under 22 minutes on a very wet day. Five ACC riders took part in the event, three of whom (M.McLaughlin, S.Davies, & P.Tunnell) won the fastest team prize, and Tamar won the ladies prize.

Final standings in the BBAR competition were G.Brent 38th [24.033mph], Paul Tunnell 74th [22.700mph]. R.Royle-Evatt 88th (22.399mph) and A.Green 144th (19.973mph). In the women's BBAR Tamar Collis finished 30th (22.452mph).

In the Southern Counties Cycling Union "Rawson shield" competition, the Addiscombe riders took a convincing win again, way ahead of any other clubs.

Cyclo-sportives

ACC jerseys were seen far and wide across the UK and Europe, as people took to the roads in the still growing cyclo-sportive scene. As many as 20 ACC riders can turn out at local events and even the Etape and Marmotte saw double figures of ACC entrants.

Track

A fairly quiet year on the track, with only a handful of riders taking part in the Monday and Wednesday track league and open events at Herne Hill. Unfortunately our club championships fell victim to this summer's weather

Off-road

ACC mountain bikers had some great results in races during the year. The Gorrick Spring Series kicking off in January; Simon Day (Masters on singlespeed, 20th, 24th, 27th), Aodan Higgins (Super Masters on mtb with racks & lights, 20th), Neil Me Lennan (Masters, 41st), Chris Kestell (Beginners, 6th), Sylvain Garde (Super Masters. 2nd, 3rd, 5th, 6th, 3rd overall) and recent recruit Serge Hunt (Open. 1st, 2nd, 10th, 12th). Gorrick Enduro in May, Sylvain 2nd in 6h44, 1"40 behind endurance vet Anthony White who passed him on the final lap!
Southern XC Series: Sue Ritchie (Open, 3rd), Serge who kept winning in Open, then 6th and 7th in Sports.
NPS: Serge 1st and 2nd (Open), then 5th place (Sports), Sylvain 9th (Masters).
National Champs: Serge 5th (Sports).

Beastway Series: Grahame Baker there most weeks as part of the organising team. Sylvain 1st (Masters), Marco making his comeback. Promotion night in July - over 12 helpers, with Andrew Green racing (4th, Experts (!!)), Paul Tunnell (25th,Vets).

Go-Ride

On achieving his Level 2 qualification, Huw Williams' status as a BC coach qualifies the club for national Go Ride status and the paperwork is currently being processed by British Cycling. Huw is currently undertaking the arduous task of coaching a few ACC members while pursuing a level 3 qualification as well as delivering Go Ride sessions to local schools and helping the regional Olympic youth talent team coach to spot our future generations of track/road stars.

Social

Away from their bikes, the members of the ACC darts team showed their talents in other directions, and were throwing arrows around various south London venues in the darts league. The clubroorn is currently open weekly on Wednesday evenings for Pilates classes organised for club members and talks on a variety of subjects this year have been as diverse as lactate balance point testing to bike maintenance. Other ideas of how to make full use of the clubroom are always welcome. We also switched the venue of our annual dinner to Selsdon Park Hotel to much praise from those in attendance.

2008 Awards List

OPEN EVENTS

JB Smith Memorial Road Race Trophy Ben Wilson - Private Member
E V Mills memorial shield (Open 25 TT) Paul Mill Team Edwardes/Elite Cycling 53.37
C F Davey memorial shield Bec CC - Keith Coffey, Shaun Kennedy, Dominic Hill 2hrs 44mins 24secs
Arthur Rayner trophy (Open 10 TT) Keith Coffey - Bec CC 21.57

SOCIAL AWARDS

Cambridge Tankard Jon Hemming and Tim Coales
Attendance Cup Steve Broomfield
Gerwyn Evans Darts Tankard John Smith
Ken Smith's Memorial Darts Tankard Paul Tunnell 60 (high check-out)

OFF-ROAD

Cyclo Cross League Aodan Higgins
Cycle Cross Trophy Sylvain Garde
MTB Trophy - Sylvain Garde

ROAD/CRIT

Pip Heathfield Trophy Michelle Le Brun
Criterium Trophy Hal Bransby
Road Race Novice Antony Leeson
Junior Road Race Trophy Stuart Chamberlayne
Road Race Trophy most improved 4th cat Keith Lea
Road Race Trophy most improved (2nd/3rd cat) Toks Adesanya
Road Race Trophy - best road racer of the year Michelle Le Brun

TIME-TRIALS/CLUB EVENTS

27/5/08 1st handicap Rob Taylor 18.03 2nd handicap Peter Motteram 19.29 3rd handicap Derek Cobb 19.53
10/6/08 1st handicap Andy Ellis 17.44 2nd handicap Rob Crozier 18.29 3rd handicap Ian Pringle 19.02
24/6/08 1st handicap Kate Hewett/Jeff Hewett 16.56 2nd handicap Michelle Le Brun/Keith Lea 16.57 3rd handicap Carole Heritage/Mike Ingram 17.55
22/7/08 1st handicap Jane Charlton 18.41 2nd handicap Ian Pringle 19.22 3rd handicap Ian Munnery 19.28
15-09-08 1st handicap S. Garde 18.11 2nd handicap H. Bransby 18.26 3rd handicap J. Camden 18.29 Stan Harvey Shield Fastest on handicap Sylvain Garde 18.11
George Fuller Trophy Club (Association) events 10,25,50,100 miles George Brent 25.916 mph

INTERCLUB EVENT - Inter Club 10 Miles Trophy Norwood Paragon

OPEN TT EVENTS
Novices 25 Medal Ivor Hewitt 1.10.32
Junior 10 Trophy Stuart Chamberlayne 22.37
Ladies 10 mile Dale Park Cup Tamar Collis 24.29
Ladies 25 Miles Cup Tamar Collis 1.05.51
Ted Davey Cup 10, 25 miles aggregate TamarCollis 1.30.20
Ladies 50 Miles Cup Tamar Collis 2.12.17
Ladies 100 Miles Cup Tamar Collis 4.34.00
Ladies BAR Championship Tamar Collis 22.452 mph
Veterans BAR Trophy Paul Tunnell +1.23.53
10 Miles Trophy George Brent 20.51
Addiscombe Cup (fastest 25 George Brent 56.23
President's Cup (fastest 50) George Brent 1.54.20
Century Trophy (fastest 100 George Brent 4.09.43
Vice President's Cup (fastest 12hr) George Brent 262 00 miles
E V Mills Racing Fund Trophy 2nd Fastest average speed 50 miles,100 miles & 12 hours Paul Tunnell 22.700 mph
Club Championship Trophy Fastest average speed 50 miles,100 miles & 12 hours George Brent 24.033 mph

SPECIAL AWARD

The Memorial Trophy - Huw Williams

Kilt Alert!

The Addiscombe Cycling Club celebrated its 80th annual dinner and prize presentation last Saturday. We had loads of winners to cheer, and great news, David Weir MBE had kindly agreed to be our after dinner guest.

The dinner was a sell out and a packed room was extremely keen to quiz David on his career.

David’s question and answer session after dinner covered everything from his favourite wheel manufacturer, through his training regime, to how he feels disabled athletes are treated within sport and by the general public. He then kindly agreed to assist Joyce Smith, the club President, with the prize giving.

David did a fantastic job for us. He answered every question put to him with enthusiasm. He’s a great ambassador for his sport and clearly someone with a real passion to succeed. We were delighted that he agreed to help with the prize presentation; that meant a lot to all our winners.

The post dinner drinks went on long into the night, great company, a great event and loads of laughs too.

My mate Sylv took some great photos on the night and you can have a look at them here

Cheers! Snoop

Bend & Stretch

Hmmmm

Aside from a few cycle commutes early December I seem to have temporarily fallen out of love with my bike? The recent cold weather plus the siren call of cake haven't helped much either. Still, I've got my Addiscombe Cycling Club (ACC) darts matches to help keep me fit (darts is a sport isn't it?).

More importantly, I've been secretly going to weekly Pilates classes since November. This is a class I helped to organise for ACC. We meet every week and Adam, our wonderful teacher, puts us all in a world of worthy pain. It's great fun, helps with building core strength, helps with balance and makes me think much more about posture and poise than I've ever done before (I'm the one on the left in the photo - yeah right!). This is Adam's website http://pilates-balance.com/ why not take a look and perhaps go along to a class or two yourself? I think you'll like it.

Snoop

New Year Cheez - Who Needs It?

Spent a wonderful December 31st celebrating Keira's birthday. Yummy heart shaped cake made by Holly (Keira's cousin) and, of course, pass the parcel.

Late afternoon saw us blasting off for Southsea where cake number 2, also heart shaped but this time made by the lovely Donna, was eagerly consumed.

10pm and several beers later it's off to Age's place to celebrate......his birthday. DJ sets in the kitchen, dear friends, hugs, kisses and more beer. Midnight came and went. Around 2am (I think) Mark and Age played and sang for the masses. Tuneful, melodic, great fun. Stupidly Mark then handed me his geetar and we went down down down as the flames went higher. I doubt if Portsmouth Prison Blues or Rock the Casbah has ever been sung faster, louder, raucouser?? More country cheez, 80s guff and to be honest, I forget where we finished. I vaguely remember getting to bed around 5.30.....sorry if yer ears are still buzzing, blinder!