Willesden Cycling Club

One of the highlights of the Willesden calendar is the excellent Tour de Ricky. This year it was held on 1st June and it was an amazing day, all impeccably organised and promoted by our remarkable club mate, Liam FitzPatrick. Central to this great day is a series of three Audax rides, depending on your appetite you could choose from a 200km, a 100km or a 50km ride. So something for every one. All spaces on the three rides were sold-out way in advance of the big day, with some 350 riders in total taking part.

The day kicked off just after 7:00am with the sign on for the 200km riders, all whom were keen to tackle the from Rickmansworth up to Silverstone before looping south to the Thames at Benson and returning home via Marlow. The 119 riders signed up for this ride were facing some 2,000m of climbing, so they were getting full value for their entry fee.

No sooner had the 200km riders departed, than we were straight into processing the 139 riders for the 100km route. This was a route for fans of the Chilterns. The route takes in Amersham, Tring, and Stewkley before tackling the iconic climb up Ivinghoe Beacon on the way home via Chesham and Latimer.

Finally it was the turn of the 50km riders. It featured a simple run out on quiet roads towards Prestwood and incorporated a magnificent cake-laden stop at Great Missenden. This was a lovely social ride and it was very popular with Willesden CC riders – we know a good cake stop when we see one! This control was manned by John Wheatley, who just two weeks earlier had been involved in a very serious road incident, where he was hospitalized with numerous injuries. John was amazing and it was good to see him on the road to recovery. John was joined by Lynn Wheatley and Ian Oliver to process the riders brevet cards.

Early in the afternoon riders from all three events started to roll in to the finish. It made for a great atmosphere with a host of other cycling and wellness activities all well under way as the riders chilled out after their rides. Activities included yoga and Zumba sessions, Nordic walking and forest exploring, plus there was an impressive array of “trade stands”, some of which were giving away some very impressive cycling freebies. In the midst of all this Liam was doing a roaring trade selling the 2024 Tour de Ricky souvenir edition caps, which were designed by Peter Kelsey’. Profits from cap sales and entry fees helped raise significant funds for Woodoaks Farm, the Chiltern Air Ambulance, World Bicycle Relief, the Watford Cycle Hub, and for St Peters and St Pauls in Great Missenden who housed the control points

Liam said “There were so many high points for me – the dad and two very small boys who finished the 50k ride, the tales of new friends made on the road, the reuniting of at least one pair of school friends”.
He added that “ If there was a prize for feeding, the Oscar would have to be shared by the crew at Stewkley and the incredible bakers at Great Missenden; it wasn’t just the volume and quality, it was the love and care that knocked it out of the park.”

Well done Liam for running this amazing day. Also a big “Chapeau” for all the chapeau you shifted – they were everywhere art the finish and a big hit with the riders.

Miles Back
10th June 2024

As many will already know, this week we heard the very sad news that Simon Doughty had recently passed.

Simon was a lovely, funny person as well as a highly respected rider and talented author. Everyone liked Simon for his crazy sense of humour, his ability as a cyclist and his comprehensive knowledge of cycling technology and nutrition for cyclists. He was ahead of his time.

Simon wrote a couple of excellent books –

“The Cyclist’s Training Manual: Fitness and Skills for Every Rider”
and
“The Long Distance Cyclist’s Handbook”

Both books are still in print and available on Amazon. They are remarkable reads and cover every aspect of cycling.

Simon also ran a successful bike business, called NTi and was one of the first people to sell telescopic forks in the UK. When the business folded he became a senior level professional coach with BC, it was a dream job for him. But it was to be short lived as he was hit by a drunk driver as he was cycling to work one morning at the Manchester velodrome. Simon sustained catastrophic head injuries and needed 24 hour care after that and was also wheel chair bound.

I believe he must have been around 63 years old when he died.

Mark Brooking and Simon were great friends and they were the youngest riders on the Brindisi Seven ride, which is one of the early prestigious rides in the AUK world. Between them they set some WCC club records and I think Simon was highly placed on the famous Mersey Roads 24 hour TT.

Miles Back

If you would like to order the new club jersey and / or shorts. Let Gerry McManus know ASAP. We are likely to have an online shop open to members this week but advance info would be useful as the minimum order is 5 items mixed. We’d like to put the shop on the web over the weekend so that any members riding at the Semaine Federale would get their orders in time for the event.

 

 

Jayne recently journeyed down to the South of France to race in the Tour Des Vallées Azuréennes, a multi stage event held just inland from Nice. The TdVA is a four stage race and also includes a contre-la-montre/Time Trial and was held over four days from 18th to 20th May.

Jayne raced impressively well and after the second stage she was holding on to third place and lookin’ good for a GC podium finish. However, on Monday’s final stage she dropped her chain twice during the 80km race. Despite being on her own, Jayne ferociously battled for a full 30 minutes before getting back on to the group.  By this time it was 13km to the finish, but the effort of the chase had emptied her reserves. In the final GC, Jayne just missed out on a podium finish.

In her post race interview with the WCC blog she said “It was a shame because at the time my chain dropped, I was in with a group with the girl who came 2nd on the GC and the other was way behind”.

Well done Jayne  a magnificent effort.

Miles Back

An email from Brunel Uni, looking for Guinea Pigs. If you’re interested…. email addresses at the bottom.

I hope this email finds you well. I am reaching out on behalf of our research team at Brunel University London.

We are currently conducting a laboratory experiment aimed at investigating the effects of localised heating of the upper leg muscle on force production and fatiguability and we are currently recruiting participants for our study. We are specifically looking to recruit healthy older adults who maintain good physical activity levels.

Here’s a brief overview of our research project:

Objective: To assess the impact of thigh heating on upper leg muscle force production in healthy older adults (aged 55 – 80 years).
Methodology: Participants will undergo one experimental testing session lasting around 3 hours. During this time, the participant will sit on a machine called an isokinetic dynamometer. This machine accurately measures muscle force production during kicking actions. During the protocol one leg will be heated using a water-perfused garment, whilst the other remains cool. We will then measure muscle force production in both legs every 30 min to compare the effects of heating.
Location: The research session will take place within the Division of Sport, Health and Exercise Sciences at Brunel University London in Uxbridge (UB8 3PH)
Compensation: Following completion of the experimental protocol, participants will receive a £25.00 Amazon.co.uk gift voucher

A web page associated with the project explaining why we are undertaking this work can be found here – https://www.brunel.ac.uk/research/projects/understanding-the-role-of-temperature-on-muscle-function-in-older-adults

If you believe that members of your club may be interested in taking part or would like further information, could you please forward these details on to them. We can be contacted directly at 1921822@brunel.ac.uk and/or Desmond.Denny@brunel.ac.uk

Thank you very much for considering our request.

Best regards,

Abdelrahman

Last Wednesday (24th April) saw our friends at the Westerly CC run the first of their popular series of  evening time trials at the Hillingdon circuit. Unsurprisingly, the series is  known as the “Westerley Wednesday”!

The time trial covers 11 laps of the Hillingdon circuit, totalling  10.35 miles (16.66 kms) and is run every two weeks until the end of August, first rider is off at 7pm, but this moves  back to 7:15pm when there is more light (see exact dates and times below).

Despite last Wednesday being a cold and windy evening,  38 riders were present. This included two of our club mates in the Road Bike category. Both riders were decked out in Willesden kit and they were Rob Courtney and Jayne Paine. Rob went on to post an impressive 24:29.2 and Jayne was the fastest woman with a 28:15.6. Well done The Willesden!

Rob said “I’d recommend the event series”. “It is chip timed and suitable for all abilities. It’s also a good 20-40 minute effort to track improvement through the season. Most people are racing against their previous times rather than for the win!”

The entry fee is £10.00 (£5.00 for Juniors) and this covers the cost of all timing equipment and circuit hire. There are two types of categories

1. Time Trial Bike category. You are allowed to ride time trial or triathlon bikes, wear a full aero helmet and use deep section wheels inc. disc wheels etc.
2. Road Bike category. You can use a mountain bike or road bike but we don’t allow any aero clip on bars / time trial / triathlon bars. No pointy aero helmets, no disc wheels. Wheels should be no deeper than 60mm.

Both categories are non-drafting. This being important for safety reasons as well as fairness!

To enter future events – go to the website below and search for “Westerley” in the “Event name/ Description” box :

https://www.riderhq.com/events

For more information about the event, have a look at the Westerley’s web page https://www.westerley.cc/racing/time-trials/hillingdon-10s/

Results are published here:
https://www.westerley.cc/2024-westerley-wednesday-24th-april/

Dates and start times for the Westerley Wednesday

8th May, 2024 – 7pm start

22th May, 2024 – 7:15pm start

5th June, 2024 – 7:15pm start

19th June, 2024 – 7:15pm start

3rd July, 2024 – 7:15pm start

17rd July, 2024 – 7:15pm start

31rd July, 2024 – 7:15pm start

14th August, 2024 – 7:15pm start

28th August, 2024 – 7:15pm start

Willesden CC’s former president, Jim Love, passed away recently.

Jim, who lived in Kingsbury, northwest London, was a member of the Willesden Cycling Club. He joined the club at the age of 16, around the time the war was ending.

In his first time-trial – a ‘25’ – he recorded a time of 1h 19min 54sec. Within three years he had taken almost 20 minutes off that and started the 1948 season as an Olympic ‘possible’.

On 15th July, Jim received official notification of his inclusion in the six-rider squad. When training or competing at Herne Hill he would ride across town, ‘carrying my racing bike on my shoulder with the saddle just behind my ear, and the frame over my shoulders. We had to watch out for trams.’

Final selection for the pursuit team did not occur until days before the competition, after Love had received his race number (152) and embroidered badge. Ultimately, he didn’t make the foursome that took Bronze at the Olympics, a decision that came down simply to performance. On 4th August, three days before the event, the team was told to go all-out in training at Herne Hill. Love was dropped midway through the session, later noting that he was ‘slightly off form’ that day.

Jim moved to Southampton where he was a founder member of the Sotonia Cycling Club.

He kept his link to the Willesden, serving as our club president. Longer serving members remember his modesty and generosity. He was a superb ambassador for the club and noted as a true gentleman.

I got this email the other day. For those who didn’t:

Hillingdon Time Trials

The 2024 Westerley Hillingdon time trials will start after Easter, so I wanted to let you, as a past rider of our events, know the details in case you fancy riding this year.

This year’s series starts on 24 April. The rest of the dates and other info are on our website. Entry is only via RiderHQ, there is no entry on the day.

If you plan to ride in most or all of the events, you can now book entry to the entire series at a discounted rate. This guarantees you entry to midsummer events which often sell out (see here for details).

As in the past, there are TT and road bike categories, for both men and women / adults and juniors, with an electronic timing system.  It’s a great way to do your first time trial, on your normal bike, with no cars – but its also an excellent mid-week outing for experienced time triallists.

Best regards,

Frank Proud,

Westerley CC

It was our first bike ride in over two months and it was not just our chains that were starting to rust!  So our aims would be modest – a short flatish ride around some of our favourite lanes in Bedfordshire. A planned route that barely nudged 50km and with only a few hundred metres of climbing looked just the ticket.

Following an hour’s drive to the start of the ride, a cafe and toilet was the first priority. Plus it would also replace the need for a mid ride stop. We climbed off at one of our usual cafes, with a whole 5km on the clock! After a relaxed break, we embarked on the ride proper, enjoying the sensations of being back aboard our wheels.

With only 10km of the ride left to do, I began to feel “the bonk” make an appearance. We had passed a cafe a few miles back, but I thought I could push on to the finish. Whilst pausing at a quiet junction in the middle of the countryside, I began to rue my decision and wished we had doubled-back to the cafe.
But hang on? What’s that sign over there say??
It said CAFE!
It said Cyclists welcome!!
It said OPEN!!!

It felt like an hallucination but Mrs Back confirmed she had seen it too. The cafe was just yards away and it was called the Cowshed Cafe.

The Cowshed is not only a proper cycling cafe, but by a further amazing coincidence it is also run by an old friend of the Willesden CC, Mr Rob Mortlock and his wife!! What a moment of wonderful cycling serendipity!

Rob’s cafe is superb and I urge you to try it out if you are anywhere near the area. I will also organise a weekday WoW ride to try their excellent coffee and great snacks.

The Cowshed is at Oak Farm, Bedford Road, Northill, SG18 9AW . It is open Wednesday to Sundays, but check their website for opening times before you go – https://www.thecowshedcafe.co.uk/

Rob and his wife’s attention to every detail in the cafe is highly impressive. From the velodrome themed table top to the CowShed jerseys and capes for sale. A TV projector streams the latest cycling races and there is a good stock of beers too!

Mrs Back and myself certainly wish the Mortlocks every success in this great new addition to the cafe scene.

Miles Back

Julie Anderson passed this on… The National Cycling Show is presently offering some free tickets.

If you want some the link to their booking page is https://editor.ne16.com/vo/?FileID=5f695c2d-972d-4db8-9ec5-5aead5a134b8&m=ffbb397c-8fc0-4b89-b7c9-ad60ee427b51&MailID=6524952&listid=1004878&RecipientID=10251895352

Track down the page to a button that says “Use code LAUNCH for free tickets” and take it from there.

The proposed dates for the WCC trip to Riccione are 6th to 13th April. We are currently waiting for confirmation of prices / package from the hotel and are looking at flights. WCC members can contact me if they are interested in going this year and I’ll add you to the WhatsApp group.

We got the following email from Lucinda at the Bike Project recently. A cycling worthwhile cause.

Hello!

My name is Lucinda and I work at The Bike Project. I am reaching out to you in the hope that you can help me with some outreach for a cycling programme that I’m running! We are a small charity dedicated to getting refugees cycling by collecting unwanted bikes, fixing them up and donating them to refugees and asylum seekers. We are based in South East London with a workshop in Deptford and in the West Midlands, with a second workshop in Birmingham. Here is our website: The Bike Project | We refurbish and donate bikes to refugees .Alongside our donations, we run a programme called Pedal Power where we take groups of Refugee Woman and teach them how to cycle. We then also have a second programme called Bike Buddies –which I am hoping to recruit more volunteers for in West London!

To give you a bit more background, the Bike Buddies programme pairs our refugee and asylum-seeking bike recipients with volunteer cyclists in their area to go on rides together. It aims to build confidence and knowledge of cycling, reduce isolation, improve well-being and encourage social integration and greater independence. It’s relatively low time commitment but garners huge rewards for those taking part. Here’s a video explaining more, with our incredible supporter Clare Balding when she volunteered for this program and was matched with Ahmed, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jcV1CcyhzpA   and full information and details of how to apply can be found https://thebikeproject.co.uk/pages/join-bike-buddies .

We have found more recently that a lot of our Bike recipients are increasingly based around Ealing, Southall, Wembley and Kilburn. At the minute, we don’t have a lot of volunteers in this area and so I was hoping you could share it with your members/audience in the hope of attracting some applications!

If you want to find out more please email Lucinda Humphreys on lucinda@thebikeproject.co.uk. She will call you back if you prefer a phone discussion.

 

Our friends the Westerley Club are running their Winter Warmer event on Sunday 14th January.

There are three versions, at 110km (1200m of climbing),  61km and a the shorter version is around 44km.  The long route is a challenging winter ride which tackles several of the bigger climbs on the Chiltern ridge while the medium route has Hatches Lane as its main climb.  The short version is a very pretty route that misses out all the big hills and most of the (short) main road sections which the others have.

Entry prices are the same as last year: £10/£9/£8 for adults and free for Juniors (who must be accompanied by an adult).

Ride HQ is Chalfont St Giles Scout Hut, GPX tracks, computerised timing system and plenty of food before and after (including home-made cake).

Enter the Westerley Winter Warmer. The event sells out every time, so don’t leave entering too long.

Originally slated for this date was our Audax taster, the Watership Down event in Hampshire.  Since the Westerley event is much closer to home, it supercedes the Watership Down.

Last Sunday (29th October), WCC riders were out on a couple of traditional and popular fixtures on the Audax UK calendar, namely the “Dartmoor Devil” and the “Emitremmus”. Both rides are 100+km long but are quite different in profile.

The Dartmoor Devil

Marianne has focused her recent training on the rigours that the Dartmoor Devil will deliver. This ride is a famous Audax fixture and it demands a lot of respect. It is rated as a “AAA” event, which stands for  “Audax Altitude Award”. In simple words it is a flippin’ ‘ard day out on a bike!

The Devil starts from Bovey Tracey, climbing up onto the high moors via pretty villages, narrow lanes and steep hills. It finishes back at in Bovey Tracey after tackling the infamous Widecombe Hill.

Marianne has had her eye on the Devil for sometime and this year was going to be her year. On Sunday morning she was ready and waiting on the start line, facing a 111km ride with 2,500 metres of climbing! Taking place in autumn makes it even more of a challenge, with less hours of daylight and plenty of late season weather to add further spices.

Marianne described the Dartmoor Devil as  “a great ride, the hills were great in gradient too, but if you love hills, you’d be in your element!”

In Audax circles, such rides with lots of climbing are described as scenic! As Marianne says “The vistas were fantastic, well worth the effort”.  She added that “…. some hills were very challenging for me and I had to stop for a breather”. As well as the hills being steep, there there was the legendary quality of our roads to add further  excitment. Marianne said  “… at times, I was going so slowly, putting so much effort in, I couldn’t guide the bike around all the potholes, so had to get off and walk until the road improved.”

Weather conditions on the ride were mixed. She reported that “the first two to three  hours were typically sunny Autumnal weather, after that, it rained sporadically, but not for long.”

The Devil throws plenty of challenges your way and the Audax time limit for the 111km ride is an exacting 8 hours and 53 minutes. As Marianne finished she thought the worst. She said  “I really thought I was out of time and shocked I had 10 minutes to spare, so to celebrate I bought the badge the organiser was selling.”

Chapeau Marianne and it’s a very nice badge it is too!

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Emitremmus

The “Emitremmus” is a companion ride to the “Summer Time Special”. The Emitremmus is traditionally held on the day the clocks go back in October, whilst the “Summer Time Special” is held at the other end of the summer, when the clocks spring forward.  So why is it called the Emitremmus? Well, it’s “Summertime” spelt backwards….. geddit??? This passes for funny in the Audax world :o)

This is the first of a few Audax rides that Ian Oliver has hand picked as being a good introduction for members wanting to try Audax, whilst still being interesting for old hands at this curiously addictive type of riding.  The ride start is in Stevenage, where the cycle path rules, and then heads over to Saffron Walden, before the return back to the finish.

Four of the Willesden CC made the start, Dan, John W, Vyvien and myself. We all met in a cafe at the start, which seemed to have a unique ordering system and a rather random approach to serving hot drinks.

Club Chairman John summed up the beginning of the day  – “The start cafe was slightly disappointing, as you needed to have ordered everything weeks ahead, but the sun was out and the roads were very quiet. Some lovely scenic villages on a great route.”  We can’t really report on the state of the potholes, as for a good part of the ride the road (and any holes!) were invisible under large expanses of muddy flood water.

On the ride out to Saffon Walden we serendipitously met up with the famous Hippy from the Willesden CC. He was at the side of the road with Mrs Hippy, who was putting the finishing touches to fixing her punctured rear wheel.

The ride passed through great handfuls of pretty villages and we gazed upon thatched cottage after thatched cottage.  As the ride passed through Manuden we stopped for photos of Vyv outside the house where she grew up.

 

We arrived at Saffron Walden after 65km of riding and we had to hunt down our own cafe, as there was no organised stop. At this point we had our second serendipitous moment, a perfect cafe appeared with next to zero faffing about. As soon as we were seated inside we were amazed by a beyond-epic downpour. We could scarcely believe we had dodged it! The cafe was bustling and its service was a blend of friendly and slow. But we were unperturbed as the rain  was proving stubborn to any suggestion of stopping and moving on to some where else.  John continued his patient vigil for his first coffee of the day – it turned up just before noon. When the food arrived it was high quality, delicious and more than ample.

 

The return leg was a good twenty km shorter than the outward route. Riding home we were treated to a number of halloween displays.

 

Unusually for a short distance Audax, the finish was in a different place to the start. It was not all bad news as John reports –

“The finish was 8k from the start BUT IT WAS IN A PUB! We duly honoured WCC tradition and ours were the only bikes outside, as darkness descended. The route back took us almost to the start, via a few identical looking dogging car parks but we made it back without incident. A Grand Day Out.”

After the unnecessary excursion we arrived back to our cars in total darkness. Everyone else had been and gone! It was a great ride and one we should do as a club ride in the summer of 2024.

 

If you have not done an Audax ride before or are fairly new to this enjoyable cycling discipline then contact us at info@willesdencyclingclub.org.uk  Audax UK’s web site gives a great explanation of this non-competetive alternative to the more expensive Sportive.