Sunday 30th October saw the latest edition of our club circuit race challenge, the ‘Len Cooper’. Just like last year, it was held on the lower circuit of Hog Hill (Redbridge Cycling Centre), which means you only have climb the lower (and less steep) slopes before hanging a very sharp left and descending. The 2015 edition had been won by Carsten Meilandt, but this year was certain to see a new victor, as Carsten was busy with his nuptials:

We woke up that Sunday morning to discover thick fog. The more optimistic among us assumed it would have burnt off by the time of the race, but in fact it was here to stay, making for a chilly and damp race. Nevertheless, we still managed a field of 24, most of them sporting the new club kit. For several (perfectly valid) reasons, none of our female members were able to take part in last year’s race, so it was a welcome relief that this year that prize was also going to be contested, with Rosie Smith taking on Monika Koniecza.

We descended into the fog and did a few warm up laps. Incredibly, three people suffered punctures while warming up, so the start was delayed while this was sorted out.

Finally, we all assembled at the start line and, as is traditional, we were led out by club President , John Summerhayes, for the neutralised ‘President’s Lap’.

Although I had my video camera fitted, this year it suffered a nervous breakdown in the fog and recorded nothing (apart from several random photos at the start line). Fortunately, Alex Sweeting’s virb was working, so we have him to thank for all the video action this year. Here is the nice and easy opening to the race:

Last year the attacks started immediately at the end of the neutralised lap and the race was blasted into tiny groups within just two minutes. This most people out of the running within a minute or two of the action starting, so this year we agreed to have a 'truce’ up to the first prime. That’s not to say we kept up the genteel pace of the President’s lap - the average lap speed leapt up from a very sedate 12.5mph to far more respectable 20-23mph (though it would ratchet up to 24-26mph once the truce was over). John raised his hand, pulled over to the side and waved us on.

During the truce we managed to keep a decent-sized bunch of over twenty together:

Rob Smart and Monika were the first to get dropped:

There was a prime about twenty minutes into the race. David Veitch sprinted to victory in this and the truce was now officially over. The pace went up and more and more people went out the back:

Trevor Whittock, winner of this event multiple times in previous years but no longer racing, decided to go out in a blaze, launching an attack off the front only to be caught and dropped before the lap was out. A select front group of twelve had now formed, with Trevor going back to join a second group of five.

The attacks were flying, but nobody was really able to get away:

…though it was clear that David was the man to mark as the race entered the final five laps…

However, knowing something is probably going to happen and being able to actually do something about it are two different things. With three and a half laps to go, David just rode away - not even an attack as such, he just disappeared off into the fog. Paul Roberts, Alex and Colin Ross each made an effort to close the gap, but to no avail.

David even managed to catch and lap the second group as he approached the finish line, then came in solo to claim victory 20 seconds ahead of the chasing pack.

Confusingly, in the race for what turned out to be 11th place, Adam Bishop then sprinted hard for the line to lead the second group through. However, as they handed been given the bell on the previous lap, they still had one more lap to go - nice photo Adam, but no cigar.

Meanwhile the race was on for second place. The group of twelve had been thinned out - David was off the front, Steven Boyle had punctured and couldn’t continue, while Pedro Lopes had the frustration of puncturing on the final lap and being passed by the second group before he had finished carrying his bike to the line. In the end it was Paul who won the sprint from this group, though Alex came very close to catching him:

The final results were:

1       DAVID VEITCH  

2       PAUL ROBERTS (at 20 seconds)

3       ALEX SWEETING      

4       SOREN HANSEN      

5       CHARLIE GREGORY

6       COLLIN ROSS  

7       TIM HOLMES    

8       HUGH THOMAS        

9       JAMIE FAKE      

10     NESTOR SALAZAR  

11     TREVOR WHITTOCK (at one lap)

12     ADAM BISHOP  

13     TOM ORR

14     LEWIS DIXON    

15     JAMES MORRIS        

16     PEDRO LOPEZ (carrying his bike)

17     CHRIS WEST     (further back…)

18     KARL BUNYAN

19     CHRIS POLLARD      

20     ROSY SMITH    1st Lady

21     DAVE MCCARTHY    

22     MONICA KONIECZA  2nd Lady

23     ROB SMART      

24     STEVEN BOYLE          (DNF - puncture)

Massive thanks to Harry Sewell and Jessamy Robinson, who gave up their Sunday morning to came and stand in the freezing fog - without them we wouldn’t have any of these photos. Thanks also, obviously, to Trevor for organising the event and for Joe, Edward, Stan and others for the various judging tasks on the day.

So David Veitch became club circuit race champion. Could he back this up with victory in the hill climb one week later? Stay tuned for the next blog…

For the first time this season, those of us in the fledgling ‘race squad’ managed to organise ourselves and get a reasonable number to enter the same race and ride together. For those who don’t know, the ECCA is an association of cycling clubs broadly covering east London, Essex and bits of East Anglia, and every year on the May Day weekend the ‘festival’ takes place, which sees a programme of time trials, road races and various other events taking place at different locations. Each rider that takes part represents their club and tries to score points which will help their club win the overall competition. Last Saturday saw six of us (me, Alex, Tim, David, Carsten and Lewis) enter the 3rd and 4th cat ECCA Festival circuit race at Hog Hill - the biggest Lea Valley CC entry in a road race since…well, I have no idea, but certainly since I joined in 2008 and probably much longer.

I rode over to Hainault into a nasty headwind. I was greeted at Hog Hill by Mark Freeman, who had presumably been there for the 10-mile TTs which our club had helped put on earlier that day. He told me he had heard that the race would be on the lower circuit only, avoiding the hill. I was delighted by this news - no Hoggenberg! no technical cornering! However, this turned out to be a misunderstanding - it was the Go-Race event (before our race, and featuring Armin Hersch for LVCC) which would (mostly) use the lower circuit, while we would do the real thing.

Lessons had been learnt from previous circuit races: we would try to line up at the front of the grid, even if it meant missing out on a minute or two of warm up. So this is what we did: at the front David and Alex: David who had moved up to 3rd cat with early season successes, but who was still smarting from his cyclopark experience; Alex who was well on the way to getting the 3rd cat status he had narrowly missed out on last season, but who had been disappointed to be a ‘DNF’ at the Essex Roads CC road race the previous weekend (alongside recently returned road racer Paul)*. I was right behind them - a pleasing (but non-point-scoring) result in my last road race, but three weeks without a race since then. Then behind me came Tim (who had shown he had the legs in his last race, but was infuriated to find himself dragging along a group of ‘chasers’ that didn’t want to help him chase) and Lewis (who was doing his first crit and had borrowed my unlucky Lea Valley race jersey). Somewhere else in the pack was Carsten, invisible in his non-club kit, a victim of the ever-delayed arrival of new jerseys for purchase.

And then…we were off! Except my left pedal spun wildly round and round as I failed to clip into it and I found myself falling back from 10th to 50th place in the space of less than a minute. As we reached the bottom of the descent and approached the right hand turns, I took a glance over my shoulder and saw just a dozen or so riders behind me. It wasn’t long before many of them were dropped - the pace was ferocious, over 25mph at first (which is far from easy with that climb every three minutes). Tim came past me and I jumped onto his wheel, but it proved impossible to stay together for more than a minute with the constant dodging, weaving and accelerations. 

About three laps in there was a near-crash somewhere up ahead as we hit the left turn at the bottom of the ‘Berg. A shout and then thirty riders desperately reaching for their brakes and swerving and then…nothing - the expected sight of spreadeagled riders and carbon crunching on tarmac thankfully didn’t materialise. At the time it was a mystery, but from post-race discussions it seems that this was when David (much further forwards in the bunch) found himself almost squeezed onto a cone and had to take evasive action. This loss of momentum almost did for me and I found myself cresting the hill a few bike lengths of the back of what remained. There were various Lea Valley people around shouting their support, most of which was much-appreciated, but as I struggled breathlessly along the finishing straight it was Mike Keen’s voice I heard shouting something like ‘Pah! What are you doing getting dropped already?’. I briefly considered getting off and punching him, but instead dug in and chased my way back on - actually he may have been shouting at Lewis who, unseen by me, was in a small group who had already become detached.

For me the elastic finally broke on the sixth lap and I found myself in a group of four with two Southend Wheelers and Carlito from Eagle RC. To be honest, even though we were only a quarter of the way through the race, I felt utterly destroyed. I had averaged 24.6mph in those opening laps and even though we were now going at a relatively sedate 22mph I was barely clinging on - we were together for about half an hour and I spent at most a minute on the front during that time. And then the lead group were upon us. David and Carsten greeted me with a cheery ‘hello’ as they whizzed past while I explained that I was lapped and hadn’t just been hiding somewhere off the front all this time. My legs were shot to pieces and I lost the whole group on the climb. Shortly after, in the distance, I saw Tim losing contact. I thought we might team up, but we stayed frustratingly 30 seconds or so apart for an eternity. All I wanted to do at this point was stop, but I had told everyone before we started that you had to finish the race to score festival points, so I felt it would be hypocritical if I dropped out before being told to do so. So I ground my way hopelessly round on my own until they finally put me out of my misery after an hour and five minutes. Lewis had stopped some time before (but hopefully wasn’t put off by the experience - if you’re reading Lewis, it’s not normally quite as difficult as this) so I joined him and the Lea Valley crowd to watch the last few laps unfold.

Now for the stories from those who survived a bit longer:

Tim: Wow! What a pace! Now that I’ve got a few races in my legs, I feel as though I’m adapting to crits, but nothing prepared me for the intensity race at Hog Hill.
Firstly, the circuit is challenging to someone new to racing. The corners are tough to get the right line through without the added complication of riding in a bunch.
Secondly, the bunch was a real mixed bag. 3rd and 4th cat Seniors and Juniors meant that there was a real mix of abilities. The differing of levels and experience made it even more complicated to hold line when chancers are diving in and out in front of you.
Finally, the hill. A short sharp climb is nothing in a normal ride, but in a race it’s a really tough element to conquer. Initially I thought I could use this to my advantage, and did get ahead of several in the bunch on the climb during the first few laps. Despite that, the majority of the bunch managed to come back together almost immediately after the climb. After repeated sprints up the Hoggerthon my legs began to give up.
I tried my best to hold on and push my way to the front. However a combination of not being aggressive enough and struggling up the hill at full sprint meant I drifted to the back, only to be dropped after 45 minutes, and lapped around the 1 hour mark.
Despite six Lea Valley riders in the race, the amount of movement around the peloton made it impossible to stick together and work as a team. Well we were supported and cheered on by a number of members of the club, who gave me the encouragement to keep going when I was really suffering.
It was great to see Alex and Carsten finish in the bunch, and as always, excellent practice for the rest of us.

David: Reasonably uneventful race from me. I got a warm up and good place on the starting line which is something I learned from my last race; however, I nearly came a cropper with a pedal strike when leaning into the first hairpin leading the race! Oops!

The bunch generally went round and round, compressing and nearly stalling in the headwind sections before charging up the Hoggenberg, lap after lap. I stuck in until 3 laps from the end when I got simultaneous cramps in both my hamstrings when out of the saddle on the hill. Following an abrupt dismount/tumble into the grass, a spectator was kind enough to help me stretch them out whilst I lay on my back. Sweet relief!

A better performance than last week where I just quit after 15 mins, but annoying to have to stop so close to the end. I still feel very clumsy and uncomfortable in the close quarters of the bunch which cost me a lot of effort in lost places and lines as I kept back and hesitated. I did improve slightly over the duration, feeling better towards the end than after the start. Fingers crossed this will carry through in some way to my next outing, where I hope the cramps will hold off!

Alex: Lining up on the start line with 5 LVCC riders gave me a proud feeling. Would we play any race tactics? Who knew. But the first team move was to camp on the start line to avoid being stuck at the back.  Well done David.

The flag drops and we are off. I sprint to the front to stay safe through the first corner. I stay on the front until David comes past about half way through the lap. He shouts “we’re winning” if only it were that simple. David flys in to a corner a little too keen and strikes his pedal… But saves it. Drama over

From this point the race takes shape. A few crazy attacks. Lots of shouting.
Then after about 45-55 mins the bunch slows in the usual place at the bottom of the hoggenberg. I see a few guys spread up the road and have a dog** just to keep the pace high. I’m away. Heart rate soaring. Legs crying but I keep going. 2 laps later I’m back in the bunch. But it was fun. A few riders were dropped and others were tired.

The pace stays high, the race drags for what feels like forever. It’s an hour plus 5 but we end up riding for 1hr20 for 31miles @24.5mph avg. The bell lap comes, I’m looking round for Carsten and we have a chat. He looks cooked. No sign of David. So I go for it myself. I took the inside (steepest) line up to the finish. I start at almost last place and make up about 15 spots but for all the shouting I did, I couldn’t get past the last few riders. 14th and my first finish in a ¾ race.

So, Alex just outside the points, Carsten (who had worked a night shift prior to the race) towards the rear of the pack of about 30 who managed to finish, David cramping up just before the finish (but doing well up to then), Tim fighting hard, surviving for a long time and gaining valuable experience, and me and Lewis being tortured. Not a bad day’s work.

Trevor has some photos, but they are so large we haven’t been able to transfer them yet - a future treat.

*last season I finished this race towards the rear of the bunch in 40-somethingth place so obviously Alex and Paul will be beating a path to my doorstep asking for advice on how to finish such events

**apparently this was a typo and should say ‘dig’, but I’ve taken an editorial decision not to change it

The first half of the season belonged to Alex – he was the first of the newbies to rack up some points, with a 7^th place at Hog Hill quickly followed by a 4^th place at the Cyclopark circuit near Gravesend back in April. This left him with 10 points on his licence – in previous seasons this would have made him a 3^rd cat rider already, but a rule change meant that he now needed to get 12 points before moving up. Surely that wouldn’t take long? Alas, disaster struck with a big crash on the final lap of his next outing at Hillingdon and he was out of action for a while. Then, just when he was plotting his comeback, a car knocked him down on the Lea Bridge Road and left him with a shoulder injury that kept him out of action even longer.

Meanwhile, Pedro picked up his first point with a 9^th place finish in the pouring rain at Hog Hill at the end of June, but was only able to claim 14^th place a fortnight later. I was in that race too and found myself dropped once again, meaning in all four outings at Hog Hill this season I failed to finish in the bunch. I hate cycling. Pedro then went back to Portugal for his summer break and it seemed that would be more or less it for the road racing season.

But no…a Lea Valley CC racing explosion was just around the corner. First of all Alex came back into action at the end of August with his first ‘proper’ road race: the London Phoenix event for 3^rd and 4^th cat riders on the Hatfield Heath – Old Harlow – Matching Green circuit. Two fast group club runs in a row were sent up there – first to reccy the course with Alex and then the following week to go and cheer him on. Unfortunately, Alex wasn’t there when we cheered what was left of the bunch on their final lap – he’d retired maybe 20 minutes earlier. But to last that long before getting dropped is an achievement in itself given that the distance was two or three times further than he had raced before.

 Then Carsten decided to make a name for himself. First, at Hog Hill, he picked up 8^th place in the Mayor’s Challenge race, but no points as he was only a day licence. He was rapidly persuaded to get a proper racing licence and set about getting the points he needed in some style. In late September he raced at Hillingdon and managed to get 8^th place despite being in a race for both 3^rd and 4^th cats.

 In October nearly everything went right. On Saturday 4^th Carsten was in action again, this time racing at the new Velopark circuit in Stratford and picking up 7^th place. The next day Alex and Pedro headed down to Cyclopark in Kent: Alex finished safely in the bunch while Pedro gained a fantastic 4^th place.

 The following weekend Pedro and Carsten were back at Cyclopark and right in the thick of it. As the race neared its conclusion Carsten bridged across to a small break, but then it came back together for a sprint. A sprint finish…..WON BY PEDRO! Not only that, but Carsten picked up 4^th place as well! A terrific result for Lea Valley. This was not a case of taking advantage of an undersized late-season field, either – more than thirty riders took part.

 This meant Pedro had 17 points and had broken through to 3^rd cat level in his debut season of road racing. Meanwhile Carsten had 11 points, annoyingly one short of the requirement, especially annoying given that he would have already got those points if he’d had a proper licence at the time of the Mayor’s Challenge.

 No matter. Carsten went to Hillingdon again on 25 October. A large field of 62 4^th cats finished the race. Carsten just needed 9^th or 10^th to get the final point he needed to become a 3^rd cat. Just to be on the safe side…HE WON! Another fantastic result and another Lea Valley rider moving up to 3^rd cat level.

 So, this left Alex on 10 points, needing an 8^th place finish or higher to join them at the next level. The following day Alex was back at Cyclopark with about 50 riders, including Adam Bishop (who had also raced with Carsten the day before) and Barnaby in his first open race. While Barnaby and Adam suffered somewhat, Alex was still there at the crunch and managed to sprint to…..10^th place. Aaaargh! So not quite a fairytale ending – Alex has been left on 11 points and is desperately scouring the calendar for a late November race at a time when everyone else is locking the bike in the shed and thinking about mince pies and mulled wine.

 This late season flurry of activity means the Lea Valley trophy for top road racer of the year has been more keenly contested this year than for a long time. In the past few seasons it’s been a walkover for Trevor Whittock with me in a very distant second and often nobody in third place at all. This time round it remains to be seen who is the victor – Carsten has overtaken Pedro in terms of BC points for the season, but the trophy uses a different points system so nothing can be taken for granted.

 My personal feeling is that the scoring system should be revised so that the only event in which points can be scored is the Essex Roads event in late April. The true sign of a deserving champion is being able to finish towards the back of the bunch in this key event of the racing calendar, a virtual Spring Classic.

 Video footage of Carsten’s win (he’s wearing black due to a shortage of club kits for sale!): https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=youtu.be&v=aMzK-C69U4M&app=desktop

 And video footage of Pedro’s win too: https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=10204885855124988

The ECCA is an association of cycling clubs from the ‘eastern counties’ (i.e from London out into deepest, darkest East Anglia) and every year on the long May Day weekend it stages the ECCA Festival. This involves three days of road races, time trials, map reading, radonees, etc. - something for every type of rider. Riders who complete each event score points for their club (obviously with the riders who finish highest picking up the most points) and at the end of the festival the club which has picked up the most points overall wins a prize.

I first took part in the ECCA Festival road race in 2011 and amazed myself by managing to survive the whole 60-miles on the Radwinter circuit in northern Essex with the bunch, finishing in 37th place with Trevor picking up 21st spot. Superficially the results look very similar the following year (Trevor 23rd, me 43rd), but this doesn’t tell the full story: I had actually got dropped after 47 miles, but was told that I had to complete the full race in order to score festival points for Lea Valley, so I had a shattering 13-mile solo ride to do, all the while worrying that the line judges would have packed up and gone home before I reached the finish.

In 2013 they didn’t have a 'proper’ road race at 3rd/4th cat level, just a crit at Hog Hill. Once again, Trevor and I entered, but this year my preparation was diabolical. I got tonsilitis just before my Easter break, but foolishly trained hard and then raced while on antibiotics instead of resting and recovering, and made myself so ill I had to stay off the bike for a fortnight. My weekly mileage going into the race was 0, 19 and 45 - hardly ideal. I knew the race would go badly, but was somewhat taken aback by just how badly it went. Watch the opening 45 seconds of this video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VPKn9jvJUKI

I can be seen near the front as we set off, with Trevor not too far behind. At about 35 seconds, as the leaders tear up the Hoggenberg, Trevor can be seen tucked in safely near the back of the bunch. Three seconds later, behind a guy in red and in front of two other guys, I can be seen, already the wrong side of a gap which had opened and was never to be closed. A lap later I was probably 30 seconds or more off the back - game over, depressingly early. I don’t even know how Trevor got on last year - the only results I can find online are for the top ten, that video doesn’t help, and I had abandoned the race in disgust and ridden home long before the end.

Anyway - this year was to be different. We had an expanded racing team, we were going there with all guns blazing, we were going to pick up a sackful of points. Except…life, work, babies, work, families and work got in the way and hardly anyone could make it. As we lined up for the start, the Lea Valley team consisted once again of…..Jamie and Trevor. Plus ca change.

I psyched myself up. This year was going to be better. Just the week before I had stuck with a 3rd/4th cat bunch for the whole 48-mile race, so I knew I could do it. And whereas last year I’d only ridden 64 miles in the three weeks before the ECCA festival, this year it was over 400. By the same token, illness and The Eternal Winter of 2013 had limited me to just two races by the end of last April, whereas this time round I’d completed 8 races in 9 weeks. I was ready for action. I told myself: line up at the front so you aren’t playing catch up right from the start, ride aggressively and don’t lose your position, expect the pace to be furious from the outset but don’t worry because it will slow down.

I lined up on the start line. The whistle blew. I aggressively set off and aggressively failed to clip my left foot in so hit the first bend in about tenth place. I then aggressively found myself getting swamped on the descent and opening bends and aggressively found a bewildering number of riders appear from nowhere to come past me before I was aggressively finding myself in that familiar position at or near the back of the bunch. Grrrr.

I took action and went hard on the right hand side (the steepest side) of the Hoggenberg first time up, in order to move back up the bunch. At this point, bizzarrely, a rider to my left managed to crash with a very loud bang and seemed to somersault up the hill.

We went round again. And again. The pace was very high (just shy of 25mph) and it was hurting, but I felt like I could cope with it. And then suddenly this was no longer true - about three riders ahead of me someone had lost the wheel. As went up the 'Berg for the fourth time it became clear that the gap was unbridgeable. Gah! Game over (again).

However, no shame in this - the furious opening pace saw at least a third of the field get dropped in the opening laps and my band of chasers soon expanded to a group of ten. We kept the pace reasonably high (between 22 and 23mph), but the bunch were still pulling further and further away. In my mind now it was no longer about catching the bunch, but about holding them off so we didn’t get lapped. As far as I knew, lapped riders would be pulled out with five to go, so we wouldn’t finish the race and wouldn’t score any festival points, so it was imperative that we stayed clear. Uncharacteristically, I went to the front of my group on a few occasions to try to keep the pace high and eventually three of us (eventually four) broke clear of the rest.

This was hard and ultimately pointless work. I was turning myself inside out every time up the 'Berg, but the bunch were still getting closer and closer. By the 40-minute mark I was on the verge of blowing up and was desperately chasing after two of my companions who had more in the tank. Meanwhile the bunch was drawing nearer and nearer, probably only 30 seconds behind us. The catch was inevitable, no festival points were going to be score, and after I finally lost my groupmates while climbing the hill I decided enough was enough and retired from the race.

Bad decision! As i watched from the side of the road I discovered that not only was there a chasing group of 9 which had been about a minute behind me (containing most of the people we had left behind), but that they were all to be given placings (and therefore points) even though they were lapped and told to stop after one hour. Aaargh! I could have just sat up and waited for them and then ridden for another 10-15 minutes, instead of quitting empty-handed.

Anyway, on the plus side, I got to see Trevor in action for the end of the race. Lap after lap he was lurking near the back of the dwindling bunch (by now down to 26 from an initial field of about 45). Was he suffering or just biding his time? Probably a bit of both, but more the latter than the former. As the riders hit the Hoggenberg for the final time the sprint came past at a phenomenal rate. Trevor was surging up the left hand side and might just have snuck into the top ten (no official results yet, but this youtube clip shows the finish):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=buQ1GQo_Q2o

Good luck to any Lea Valley riders who are taking part in time trials or other festival events over the rest of the bank holiday weekend.

Jamie

Brilliant sunshine and a very un-March-like temperature for us yesterday at Hog Hill. There was a gusty wind, but it was blowing the opposite way from last week, so a welcome headwind on the descent (stopping the speed from getting crazy) and a welcome tailwind on the climb (making it a bit easier). All in all, a perfect day for racing.

Alex and I got there early and had a good warm up, then unexpectedly Mark turned up to join us as well (but no Harry or Matt this week). Last week the race had gone hell for leather right from the start, shedding riders left, right and centre with an unsustainable pace. This week, surely it would be a different story. The start time approached and four or five riders lined up on the line. “Go round again lads, we’re not starting yet,” came the call. I went round again. When I returned to the start line I found about 60 riders lined up in front of me. Grrrrrrrr. I took my place at the back. Briefing over, the whistle blown, the race was underway. The race went hell for leather right from the start, shedding riders, left, right and centre with an unsustainable pace.

The first couple of laps were run off at a mind-blowing 25mph, which would be fast enough on the flat, but takes a huge effort on such a hilly circuit. Some people were dropped in seconds. On the second lap I found myself desperately charging across a gap that had opened as riders in front of me lost the wheel, regaining contact as we reached the bottom of the Hoggenberg, and then expiring while trying to stay in touch over the hill. Game over. I knew Mark was already some way behind, but Alex was still in the bunch - hopefully he would fair better.

I rode round with a guy in black until an unidentified flying insect on a suicide mission plunged into the vent in my helmet just after the finish line. Obviously looking completely deranged to the crowd, I shook my head around violently trying to get the thing out without stopping, until in the end I had to give up, stop and take it off. My companion had disappeared now so I went easy until a guy from Eagle had caught me up and we rode together. By this point I could see Alex had also been dropped, though at least he’d lasted about 6 laps or so. Annoyingly, he was about half a lap ahead, so it wasn’t in either of our interests to sit up and wait and join forces. Meanwhile, the Eagle and I mopped up a few more dropped riders, but instead of forming a group with us they tended to drop out or get left behind.

The leading bunch (now probably down to about 30 riders) came round to lap us and I managed to sit in for a couple of laps again, though ‘sit in’ makes it sound much easier than it was. 'Turn myself inside out just to cling onto the back for six minutes’ would be more accurate. During my brief stint with the bunch (while one lap down) we passed Mark (making him two laps down). Then I was gone again and shortly after that they started asking all lapped riders to drop out as we were in the final five. On that very lap, to Alex’s annoyance, the bunch (which was now fragmenting into several groups) came steaming past him, depriving him of the valedictory lap he had been expecting.

So, we got together to watch the end of the race. At this point Trevor and Adam turned up to watch us in action, except we were quite clearly no longer in action. Oh well, progress of a sort. No punctures and nobody was sick.

Next week: off to Hillingdon to avoid the hills and the 3rd cats and actually finish in the bunch. Read all about the inevitable crash here.

Some great photos here, once again courtesy of Ian Lambert, aka 'Lambrini2010’ on flickr:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/irl2010/sets/72157643121827754

Sunday 28th June saw our annual road race on the Radwinter course on the northern fringes of Essex. This year’s edition was 61 miles long and was open to 3rd and 4th cat riders. With so many members involved in marshalling and other duties, Paul Roberts was the only rider to represent Lea Valley in the race.

I was in the convoy as the radio man in lead car 2. Ian was my driver and we fared much better than the last time we were paired (this time there we didn’t get lost and spend half an hour trying to get back into the race, nor was there a fire on the dashboard). My main job was to warn of oncoming traffic, horses or other hazards – such as the various enormous potholes.

A break of about ten riders went clear fairly early on and soon established a lead of about a minute. We were dropped back behind them to patrol in front of the bunch – as the break came past us we heard them singing “We’re in the money.” The bunch made little headway in chasing them and were hindered by a big crash which saw eight riders down – fortunately no serious injuries. Then suddenly the gap started to come down. When it was down to just 30 seconds we got the orders from the commissaire to get back to the front of the race – this involved some truly terrifying driving to get past the break. However, it appears the break had just been taking it easy. When they saw us come past it was a wake up call and the put the hammer down again: the gap soon went back out to bigger than it had ever been before (and we were dropped back in behind them again). With less than ten miles left to go, two riders shot out of the front of the bunch to try and close down a one and a half minute gap to the break. We went with them and watched with excitement as the time checks for these two got narrower and narrower. As we approached the final junction we got held up by traffic and the two chasers overtook us with the rear of the break now in their sights. Sadly for them they only managed to catch the very back of what was left of the break and came home in 10th and 11th place. Up ahead the race was won by Andrew Holmes who had only managed to enter less than half an hour before the race began.

1 Andrew Holmes - VC Revolution
2 Steven Griffiths - Pro Cycle Hire UK Racing Team
3 Jeremy Perks - Chelmer CC
4 Ben Locke - Maldon & District CC
5 Gavin Carter - Stowmarket & District CC
6 Paul Miller - Maldon & District CC
7 Richard Farrow - West Suffolk Wheelers & Tri Club
8 Charlie Wright - VC Norwich
9 Mark Howard - Pro Cycle Hire UK Racing Team
10 Lewis Pendle - Iceni Velo
11 David Mitchinson - Cycle Club Ashwell (CCA)

(I know it’s unusual for the results to go down to 11th place, but I feel sorry for the poor bloke who chased all the way across that gap and still ended up pointless)

Meanwhile, back in London Carsten Meilandt’s dream season continues with a string of fantastic results at Hog Hill. After racking up a string of 3rd place finishes, Carsten finally hit the big time in the Thursday evening crit series with a solo victory in the 3rd & 4th cat race on 25th June.

Soren and Carsten leading up the hill

Victory salute from the Great Dane

The following week he was back in action and claimed another third place which gained him enough points to get promotion up to 2nd cat.

Lea Valley on the front (Carsten and David)

Carsten on his way to 2nd cat status

Paul Roberts in action

..and as if this wasn’t enough, the following week (9th July) in his first ever Elite, 1st and 2nd cat race he got 5th place! Chapeau, sir.

Big thanks to Trevor (the whippet) Whittock, Tim Holmes, Carsten himself and Paul Soor for the photos.

The Tuesday Tens series is nearing its end. Remember you need six rides to compete in the overall competition and tonight (14th July) is the final opportunity to get a ride for the solo competition. Next week will see the prizes given out and priority will be given to two-up pairs for the racing.

In the (strictly unofficial) LVCC strava championship there have been dramatic developments over the last week or so. Me, James Hodges and Tim Holmes have been taking it in turns to edge past each other over the last few months – a good time by one acting as a spur to another to surpass it. At one point just two seconds separated the three of us at the top. I soared away to a sizeable lead with a new PB up Lippitts Hill and thought that would be that – but then the big guns entered the fray. Carsten has already set a the fastest time up Daws Hill, but David V has obliterated all competition with a staggering time up Lippitts (20 seconds faster than mine) which has seen him leapfrog everyone to take the overall lead by a huge margin:

http://www.runnerspace.com/strava.php

Talking of David, it goes without saying that The Curse of Lea Valley continues with David and Harry being the latest crash victims. David was brought down in the final lap of a race at Hog Hill for his second crash in a fortnight, while Harry has wrecked his shoulder.

There’s been some discussion recently of the time it takes to work out which group is going where on the Sunday club runs. To help speed this up I’m trying to get together a ‘bank’ of routes for people to choose from in advance. Feel free to add any of your own to the thread (preferably mapped out using ‘ridewithgps’ so that people can export the route to their Garmins):

http://leavalleycc.microco.sm/conversations/270131/

If you’re at the Velopark tonight, why not try to buy yourself a ticket for the club reunion at Burton End (near Stansted Airport) on Sunday? Details here:

http://bit.ly/1LYs9jD

And finally, Alex shot this footage on Saturday. We were nearing the end of a ride and climbing Coppice Row out of Theydon Bois heading back into Epping Forest. Just under two minutes into the video you will see a very fast and dangerous pass. We got the registration and this has been reported to the police, but watch out for this driver:

Some great photos from Ian Lambert on flickr, the full set is here: https://www.flickr.com/photos/irl2010/sets/72157642814290104/with/13364432703/

He has given us permission to post a few of them.

Here is Matt trudging back to the start with his punctured bike.

Alex (on the left) positioned near the front of the bunch before unexpectedly seeing his breakfast again

A rare photo of me smiling instead of grimacing

Race face.

Sadly Harry managed to puncture so early on that there is no photographic evidence of him ever being there, but we have witnesses!

Some Good Friday action, this week’s report comes from Alex & Pedro:

Pedro and Alex lined up with around 30 other 4th cat riders. The field was small, the wind wasn’t too bad and initially the pace was OK. There were to be 3 primes in the race, but for the life of me, I (Alex) can only remember 2 of them.

Two laps into the race, Pedro is pushed onto the grass by a nervous rider who couldn’t hold his line on the first descent after the starting line. After thinking for a fraction of a second if he wanted to do trail biking up the hill, he quickly unclipped and returned to the tarmac. After this he went on a mission to get back to the peloton. As he started to pick off riders who had been dropped by the leaders, a group of 5 riders led by an Eagle rider decided to get a lift. However, Pedro’s pace up the Hoggenberg was taking its toll on the group and the Eagle rider decided to start discussing tactics. Pedro was not having any of that and left them for dust and continued to bury himself! However, he couldn’t make it on his own and eventually he got lapped when the commissaires held up the sign for the last 5 laps. Hog Hill claims another victim… 

As for Alex the race continued…The first prime was on only the third lap and that chucked out a few riders who couldn’t cut it, with 5 contesting the sprint the chase pack was hot on their heels to ensure a break didn’t form.

At this point it’s hard to tell how many were still together, from a quick glance it was still at least 25 strong with only 4 or 5 putting in any effort on the front. This meant the pace was ok, not great but enough to keep a good tempo and shell a few more riders. After the prime I drifted back a few places to keep sheltered but this felt a bad idea as riders were nervous and edgy (which was the undoing of Pedro earlier), so I made my way back to the front and sat about 3rd wheel for most of the day drifting back a bit on the climb then freewheeling past on the descent as riders braked for a corner they didn’t need to brake for.

I employed this tactic until the next prime when the final group was formed, totaling about 14 riders, so just under half the starting pack. It was easy to take a line into corners and follow the right wheels without danger. Again I let myself drift back before the initial descent of each lap and freewheeled back through the pack saving energy.

The final five laps meant an increase in speed and a lot more moving around in the peloton. There were still two familiar faces in the lead group with me and we all encouraged each other on and all managed to finish in the points.

The final lap started to slow down, no one wanted to be at the front, but no one wanted to be at the back. I was happy following the wheel of the winner of one of the primes. The sprint started near the bottom of the Hoggenberg, at this point I was about 10th and boxed in. Ben from ELV cut across and his pedal struck my front wheel and for a brief moment I thought that’s it, I’m going down, but I managed to carry on the sprint despite hearing a cry of “whoah watch it” on my right. Sprinting to the line, I dragged back a few places and lunged for the line but a little too late: Ben had beaten me by not even a tyre’s width! It took 4 judges and 2 commissaires to decide the outcome which wasn’t in my favour! But I have opened my account for the season, 7th place!

First up, the Tour of Cambridgeshire on Sunday - a massive event on closed (and flat) roads on a sunny day with Monika, David, and the gang in action. Here’s David’s report:

The inaugural Tour of Cambridgeshire - ‘the first ever authentic continental style Gran Fondo in the UK’. Starting and finishing at the Arena Showground in Peterborough, total entries approached 6,000 with a mixture of racing and leisure riders. As an actual race, rather than a timed sportive, the first 25% in each age category qualified for the UCI World Cycling Tour (UWCT) Amateur World Championships in Denmark in September. This was something for us 6 LVCC riders to aim for, whether we would attend or not (as you got another shiny medal!). Clear skies, closed roads and a flat 80 mile course, albeit with a bit of wind, would make for a quick ride.

After registering and a couple of bacon baps for breakfast, we all headed to the starting pens early. Adam and I got access to the front Pen 1 with ~1000 riders who had a racing licence (and ticked the relevant box Pedro!). We got a good spot about 15m back from the line and basked for an hour in the sunshine before proceedings finally began with a neutralised start behind the commissaire car. This didn’t last for long though with the racing soon in full flow.

The pace was pretty brutal with the first 20 miles being completed at 27mph. However, I found it mentally as tiring as physically as it was an extremely large bunch very tightly packed. Every couple of minutes, things would compress following a cacophony of shouts and squealing carbon brakes, resulting in a near pileup, before clearing as quickly as it came and hammering back up to speed. As such, you could never really relax and just ride. I found it difficult to even pick times to safely grab a water bottle.

There were various breakaways with two small groups of 4 and 10 staying away until the finish. The bunch slowly whittled down over the course, but with the lack of hills and easing of the pace towards the end, it remained pretty large at ~120 riders. I did make it briefly to the front around the middle of the race and rolled off in a group of 8 riders but this lasted the massive distance of a few hundred meters. Nice to say you were there though! The run in to the finish was less than ideal with a cascade of 90 degree bends and mini roundabouts on entering the showground again. Alas my legs had started to cramp from about the 2 hour mark so I wasn’t in any state to sprint past the opposition anyway. In the end, I finished middle of the front bunch about 2 mins behind the leaders - a respectable 81st overall, completing the route in 3hr11 at 25.6mph. Definitely the fastest average speed I’ll have for a while!

The rest of the LVCC riders came steadily in with Nestor, Pedro and Lewis all completing in under 3hr40 from the line and in the top 600 despite starting in the second pen with the masses. After elbowing our way to the results sheets at the finish, we were delighted to find the four of us had made the cut for the World Championships - our aim for the day achieved! Looking back personally, whilst it was good to be in the front bunch, I think it would have been a more fun ride as a chaser in a small group - a bit more open road and teamwork rather than futzing around in an amorphous blob. Perhaps next year we can launch an LVCC missile from the back and see how far we get?!

Meanwhile, back in London, four of us had headed over to Hog Hill for the second of CC London’s ‘Hog Without The Hill’ events on Saturday. There’s a big clue in the name as to what this event entails (although actually it’s a bit misleading - they’ve built a new cut-through about halfway up the ‘Berg so you do have to a little bit of climbing before a very sharp left-hander). Chris Pollard was making his road racing debut, joining me and Tim. Half a lap into the race I suddenly heard his voice from over my shoulder: “Oh great - we’re already at the back!”. I looked round to find this was irritatingly true. Then: “We’re going at 30mph on the flat!” This was also true, but only on the wind-assisted bits. There then followed about five minutes of desperately scrabbling past backmarkers while trying to stay in contact with the bunch, until we too got dropped. I slotted into a group of five while Chris decided he’d be better off cheering from the sidelines - £15 well spent.

From Tim’s perspective nearer the front of the action it was a frustrating race because of the team tactics in play - groups taking it in turn to fire someone off the front and then block. This enabled one guy to go well clear on his own and I think he won by some distance. Eventually the bunch lapped my group and this time I managed to sit in with the bunch for the rest of the race. I saw Tim work his way right to the front with a lap and a half to go, but just 30 seconds later he had been swamped and was back with me, avoiding the latest of several small crashes in the pack and coming home around 20th place or so. At least he can console himself that his recent hill climb efforts (as part of his ‘Everest’ challenge) have taken him to first place in the prestigious LVCC Strava Champs (unofficial).

Next up was Alex in his first ever 3rd cat only race. After about four miles he looked like this:

And that was as good as it got. A puncture after less than 5 miles and no spare wheel meant his race was over. Anyway, Sunday made up for it a bit: he had a crack at The Hour record on the velopark circuit and managed 39.58km (or 24.5 miles in old money), then got to go inside and see some bloke called Bradley Wiggins narrowly beat this.

Despite many people having disappeared to Cambridgeshire, there were still plenty out for a sunny club run on Sunday, including several new faces. The fast group did its best to avoid all the loose chippings that seem to have been dumped over every road in Essex by heading out east to Hanningfield Reservoir and back with two of the new faces: Liza from Latvia and Bell from Holland. Disaster struck just over halfway into the ride when Liza front wheel collided with James’s rear quick release skewer. Three snapped spokes and a wheel that couldn’t even turn because it was so buckled it jammed against the forks. Erk! What do you do now? Walk 30 miles back to London? Try to direct a taxi to a random point on a country lane in the middle of nowhere? A quick bit of googling revealed there was a pub just half a mile away. Better still, there was a bus stop outside the pub with services to stations in Billericay and Chelmsford. We all stopped there for a bit and Liza assured us she would be OK to get back (and, in fact, she got back quicker than us, but only thanks to the kindness of someone in the pub who drove her to a station - the bus, when it came, refused to take a bike).

And finally, a Stop Press from Thursday evening: Carsten, David and James H headed over to Hog Hill to do the 3rd/4th cat race. James was yet another Lea Valley rider making their debut - he didn’t last long with the bunch, but there’s no shame in that given the toughness of the circuit and the fact he was up against 3rd cats in his first race - his eventual average speed of 22.2mph is pretty good considering most of it was done alone. David lasted about half distance with the pack and managed to avoid getting lapped once dropped. Paul (a recently-returned Lea Valley racer from the past) was somewhere in the bunch and….Carsten sprinted his way to third place. Chapeau!

Happy New Year and a belated Merry Christmas to everyone! There hasn’t been a club blog since mid-August (which feels a lifetime ago in the current weather), so it’s time to write about what happened in the rest of 2017.

As usual, the end of August saw our outgoing President’s traditional long-distance ‘Summerhayes Summer Saunter’ bank holiday ride, this year to Southend. In addition to this, the weekend before I organised a car-assisted ‘East Anglian Adventure’ using this 82-mile route which starts and finishes in Thaxted and takes in some of the most picturesque places in that neck of the woods (Lavenham, Cavendish, Finchingfield, etc): https://www.strava.com/routes/6175019.

I was joined by Huw, Caroline, Alex and Tim. We set a decent enough pace in the sunshine, despite the fact that Alex’s front mech immediately stopped working and he spent the entire ride trapped in the small ring. One of our village sign sprints (to Radwinter) was a bit more dramatic than usual – just as Alex, Tim and I opened it up we were overtaken at high speed by a never-ending convoy of motorbikes which added a bit more danger than anticipated. We stopped at a pub for lunch just outside Lavenham and then rode the remaining stretch into a headwind. In the final miles Huw (who had cunningly avoided all of the sprints over the previous hours) left us all for dead and disappeared out of sight.

It’s nice to get out and explore some different roads every now and again like this with the aid of a car or a train. I’ve just bought a ‘Lost Lanes of the south-east’ book (http://lostlanes.thebikeshow.net/) with about thirty rides in it – I intend to try to do one a month in 2018, which obviously means getting a train or driving to the start/finish of each ride. Hopefully we can organise some unusual club runs in Kent, Sussex, Suffolk, The Chilterns and maybe even further afield.

September saw David Veitch break a club time trial record yet again and in some style. Back on the E2 25-mile course again, he smashed through the 50-minute (30 mph) barrier and then some, setting an incredible time of 49:07.

Meanwhile some of us were racing at Hog Hill. This video is cunningly edited to make it look as if Charlie and I were always at the front of the 4^th cat race:

Unfortunately, that wasn’t the case when we actually got to the finish line. The same afternoon Tim took part in the 3^rd cat race and also finished in the bunch. Racing with rather more success that month was Patrick McGrath who took just two races in quick succession to amass enough points to move up to 3^rd cat, with a 3^rd place in just his second race. One to watch next season!

Late September / early October always sees our ‘Crescent 30’ and ‘Comet 25’ open time trial events. These are named after the two clubs that joined together to form Lea Valley CC in 1969 (so the events have been running longer than our club has been existence). I was marshalling for the 30-mile event at the roundabout by Duxford Imperial War Museum. To our surprise, there was an airshow on that day and the roads became increasingly clogged with traffic that at some points was stationary around three-quarters of the roundabout, and one of the two lanes was coned off just to add to the confusion. Nevertheless, the riders managed to pick their way through and still set impressive times. Colin Ward of Essex Roads CC won again with a time of 1:03:17. The fastest Lea Valley rider was Colin Ross who came 13^th overall in 1:11:25 (25.2 mph). Full results here: https://leavalleycc.microco.sm/conversations/311505/

The following week’s 25-mile was held in typical end of season conditions: strong winds and loads of standing water from the overnight deluge. David McGraw of Cambridge CC won in 54:52 while Chris Parker was the fastest Lea Valley rider with 1:03:55. Again, full results are here: https://leavalleycc.microco.sm/conversations/311506/

 Then came our ‘Gordon Atwell Tourist Trial’ event. As last year’s winner, Alex Sweeting was charged with organising it this year. It’s a bit difficult to explain this event if you haven’t done it. It’s kind of a mixture of a sportive, an old-fashioned reliability ride and a mystery tour. You aren’t given a route to download and stick on your Garmin – instead part of the challenge is reading instructions which you are given at the Burton End HQ beforehand and trying to plot them on a map. You then have to aim to get back at a certain time which corresponds to a particular average speed. Whoever gets back closest to their allotted time is the winner.

This is more difficult than it sounds – if you don’t know exactly how far you will be riding it’s difficult to judge how fast you should be going. Things were further complicated this year by a savagely strong west-to-east wind, which meant the return leg of the ride would be much harder than the initial miles. I rode with James Morris and we made the task even more challenging by repeatedly getting lost to the extent that during the first half of the ride we were scarcely ever on the official route (and at one point when we did finally get back onto it, we rode it in the wrong direction for several miles before realising something had gone wrong). We also lost a good ten to fifteen minutes in a Good Samaritan act helping a man who had somehow managed to wrap his chain round and round his pedal. Actually, I say ‘we’ helped him, but it would be more accurate to say James single-handedly removed the chain and the rear mech and got covered in oil sorting everything out while I stood around saying useful things like ‘how did you do that?’ and ‘I think you’ll need a lift home’. Anyway, needless to say we didn’t win. That honour went to Rosie Sweeting (who had recently married the organiser – I’m not saying that interfered with the judging, but some people might smell conspiracy there) and Jeanette Degiorgio.

Following this came the annual hill climb on Mott Street. This has been getting bigger and bigger in recent years and this year it was as big as possible: we had a full field of 60 riders and had more who wanted to ride that we couldn’t offer a place to. Our numbers were boosted by CC London, who had decided to hold their club event on the same day, and various other local clubs, especially Shaftesbury CC.

It was a very close-fought battle for first place with two Lea Valley riders a good ten seconds clear of the rest of the field. Last year’s winner David Veitch set a blistering time of 2:12 but that was only good enough for second place. Michael Krukov took first with a time of 2:11. We had about 25 riders from our club taking place – far too many to give a detailed account of everyone, but it’s worth pointing out very impressive debut performances from Steven Boyle, George Kemp and Lewis Miles and a significant improvement from young Aidan Kerrigan. The full results are here: https://leavalleycc.microco.sm/conversations/312632/

Tim Stout of Shaftesbury CC took many photos of the event which you can find here: https://keepsnap.com/timstout/gallery/3500 They are available for download for approx £1.50 per photo (part of which will be donated to Children In Need) – the photos will be online for about one more month and then deleted.

The week after that was our club’s annual circuit race, the Len Cooper, at Hog Hill. The weather was cold, but much sunnier than last year’s foggy edition. As is traditional, we started off with a neutralised President’s lap and kept the pace relatively gentle during the unofficial ‘truce’ after that: 

Then the pace lifted as the hooter went to signal a prime would be held at the end of the next lap and this is where the race split apart:

In the second video clip above around the 1:30 mark you can hear the hooter and my rear cam shows Michael Krukov and David Veitch, the top two from the previous week’s hill climb, sitting just behind me at the front of the bunch. This was the shape of things to come (apart from me, obviously – as you can see from the rest of the clip I expertly slid from the front of the bunch to the back just in time to miss all the action). Michael won the prime and a front group of five emerged, initially closely followed by a second group of about six or seven. Before too long Michael and David had shaken off the rest of the front group and they spent the rest of the race in each other’s company, while Alex Sweeting, Paul Roberts (who already had a race from the previous day in his legs as he desperately searched for the single point he needed to maintain his second cat status) and Steven Boyle slowly dropped back to swell the numbers of the second group on the road.

David won the second prime and, as Michael freely admitted, was the stronger of the two of them on the day, but he was unable to get rid of Michael. The two of them lapped even the second group before going clear again to contest the sprint, in which Michael surged off David’s wheel to claim victory for the second week in a row. When the second group came round, Paul Roberts won a close sprint for third place from Steve Boyle. 

At the end of November we had our annual lunch / prize giving at Wanstead Golf Club. This year we were treated to Michael Hutchinson (multiple time trial record breaker and national champion) as our guest speaker. He did it as Q&A session and dealt well with our questions on topics ranging from the relatively safe topics of his own career and his Cycling Weekly column to more controversial issues such as the reputation of Wiggins and Team Sky in the wake of the TUE and mystery package revelations. Michael brought along some copies of his latest book (https://www.bloomsbury.com/uk/recyclists-9781472925596/) to sign and sell – I bought it myself this summer and can recommend it.

As always, a lot of silverware was dished out – so much that it would be impossible to list every single prize here, but here is a taste…

Colin Ross picked up multiple prizes including Club Time Trial Champion, Club Best All-Rounder, Club Time Trial Handicap Champion, Best 30-mile TT, Best 50-mile TT and Best 100-mile TT

Trudy Sharam picked up prizes for Best Women’s 10-mile TT and Best Women’s 25-mile TT (breaking both club records in the process)

David Veitch won the Best 10-mile TT and Best 24-mile TT setting new club records of 19:29 and 49:07 

Paul Roberts became both Club Road Race Champion & Club Track Champion

Michael Krukov won the Len Cooper circuit race, the Hill Climb and became Senior Road Race Champion 

Most improved riders: Jemma Taylor & James Morris (who also won the Betts Trophy for the ill-fated first day of his ride up to Edinburgh)

Winners of the Gordon Atwell Tourist Trial, Rosie Sweeting & Jeanette Degiorgio

The club runs are still going strong, despite the wintery weather. Alice Cutter has taken over running the Women’s Rides from Chrystyna (who has now had her baby, we’re glad to hear) and these are still happening once every couple of months. Here is their Blackmore café stop on the November ride – the next one is coming up in January.

Meanwhile, the usual reminder that ideally everyone should have a rear mudguard during the winter months, otherwise you will end up looking like these guys (Lewis, Simon and Simon):

Even more extreme, this is George Kemp’s bath after he decided to try off-roading in Epping Forest with James Morris and Chris West:

Over the festive period we had about 15 riders on the Christmas Eve club runs – some doing 45 miles with a supposed coffee stop at a pub that was actually closed (and which we only discovered wasn’t going to open after we had sat outside it in the cold for 15 minutes), and some doing 70+ miles with a loop around Hanningfield Reservoir. One week later only 8 of us braved the weather on New Year’s Eve – not surprising given that there was something of a storm going on when daylight broke, but in the end it wasn’t that bad on the ride.

Away from riding we had a good turnout at The Castle in Walthamstow Village for our drinks to celebrate Christmas and also a multitude of birthdays – by a strange coincidence about half a dozen members have their birthdays either on or just before Christmas Day.

Less successful was our AGM the week before. In order to actually pass any votes and elect club officials (including the new President to replace John) the meeting has to be quorate. Given the ever-growing membership of the club that now means we need about 30 members to turn up on the night, but we only had 12 and so nothing could actually be voted on. We have had to reschedule the AGM to have a second attempt: it will now be on Tuesday 9^th January from 8pm – 10pm. (Edit: No, it won’t! It will now be the following Tuesday, i.e. 16th January). Please make every effort to attend if you can, otherwise we’ll be in administrative limbo (and John might have to remain club President for eternity). In case you didn’t know, club nights are no longer weekly, they are monthly, and they aren’t in the church hall any more. We are now based in the Scout Hall, 205a Wood St, Walthamstow, London E17 3NU. See you there and have a good 2018!

Jamie 1/1/18