Trophy winners at dinner

Some of the trophy winners at this years club dinnerdance.

A few more pictures 2012 Dinner

Steve and Nick ride to Holland

Nick was the only one to turn up at Horton Park this morning !!!!

Luckily I called him at 0930 to see if I could meet up with the Sunday riders somewhere south of Epsom. But given his lonely predicament he agreed to cycle to my house and we set off at 1015. As many of our rides head West or South we decided to venture East, starting with a warm up along Chalk Lane. We headed off past Corridori through Banstead and Woodmansterne to Coulsdon. Here we ascended the heights of Kenley before dropping down to the Ann Summers warehouse that Ben Pearce told me about last night when describing where he now lives with Lee. (They don't live at Ann Summers!). Always good to give directions from a well known landmark.We headed up to Woldingham station and carried straight on along Church Lane, which gradually degraded until it was more appropriate for mountain bikes. Nevertheless we kept on riding and went past the golf club and down Titsey Lane, grabbing handfuls of brake to turn left on the Pilgrams Lane (or way). Down Clacket Lane and across the M25 before stopping for a bite to eat at Hurst Green. We then went through Holland and on to Lingfield, Blindley Heath, Smallfield (past the remains of Thunderfield castle) and on past Horley station before heading out into the country to the bus cafe near Charlwood. After a short refreshment we headed north to Betchworth before attempting to ascend Pebble hill only to find that the road was closed for level crossing repairs. We thought that pedestrians would be allowed to cross the track but the steward made it quite clear the road and pavement were closed. So we ended our ride via  Dorking, Leatherhead and Ashtead.

Nick did 71 miles and I just a mere 65 miles. Not a bad effort for a couple of flowerpower men who partied to the end.

Annual Dinner 2012

Here are a few pictures of a most enjoyable evening. Many thanks to the organisers.

Daveb Sunday training Ride 19Feb

(OK, I got fed up with Mike's sideways picture - hence the comment below about the rocking horse fallen over - and I've fixed it! Lisa)

Photos in reverse order as Blogger still playing up and above shows Mad Hatter playing silly buggers on a rocking horse which decided to fall over at West Clandon Garden Centre.


Jake admiring the sheep while riding two bikes!

The start below at Horton a cold but brilliant sunny morning some 55mls in total on the Fixie!

Please vote for safer cycling in London

This is the link to the petition campaigned by the London Cycling Campaign.

http://petition.lcc.org.uk/ea-action/action?ea.client.id=1745&ea.campaign.id=13331

Do nothing and nothing will change.

Drive-in cycle shop

A new retail idea in the USA...!



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ms0NawosQFs&feature=relmfu

The Olympic Velodrome

Today, Maggie and I went to the Olympic Velodrome to see some of the UCI Track Cycling World Cup. It was a bit of a consolation prize, as, like millions of others, we have failed to get tickets for the Olympics. So this was a chance to see what it would be like, and to see the Velodrome used for its first serious competition.

Getting there was a bit of a faff, as the trains went wrong, but once we got to Stratford it was fairly straightforward. There was quite a bit of queuing, as security is airport-style, and we had to take a bus to the Velodrome once we had checked in. I don't think that this will be the case for the Games themselves, but it is necessary at the moment because of the large amount of building work still going on. The advantage of the bus is that you get a tour of the entire Olympic Park.

We only saw a couple of hours of the competition, as even the 'London Prepares' events are hot tickets, but we did see Chris Hoy and the lads qualify for the final, being just pipped to first place by the Australians; and we saw the Australian women set a new World Record in the Team Sprint. Not bad for a couple of hours on a Friday afternoon.

To know what's going on you need either to really understand it or to watch it on the television. But for the experience, you have to be there. We're glad we went.

Mark

Hour Record for a 100 year old

From the twitter feed of the blog "inrng":

"Track world cup in London today but 100 year old Robert Marchand has ridden 24.251km in an hour record attempt in Aigle, Switzerland. Bravo!"


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Petes memorial trophy

A very pretty trophy with a lovely daffodil engraved on the front.

Pete loved spring flowers. It comes with a dark wood base rather than plastic and looks quite classy!

Thank you to everyone who donated money. I think the total was nearer £1500! Too much for a single cup, so the money is in a separate listing on accounts to be used later. Anyone think of a good use for it? Something for Souwesters maybe?

Herald of Spring Show

We have booked and paid for a stand at The Herald of Spring Show in Bourne Hall Ewell village. Sat 3rd March and Sun 4th from 9am to 5pm.

We have the usual picture board to promote our rides and lots leaflets and business cards to hand out.

 All we need now is help on the day from our lovely members!

Me, Steve and Simon will do the Saturday morning slot as it involves putting up the board, etc.

We have Andy Pearce and Dave Brentnal so far for Saturday pm and Brian Sunday morning; and Grant Sunday pm.

We need 3 members for each session just to talk to public and answer questions and hand out leaflets to interested parties!

Can you email me or post on blog or Forum if you able to help either day, first come first served.

If you are passing by come in and see us, wearing your club kit, and join in for a bit so we can nip off for a wee! The show is craft stalls, flower stalls and local organisations.

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Sunday coach ride

Our regular Sunday riders were not out on Sunday; Luke catching up on sleep and additional housework duties, Dave dreaming of being on his bike and Jake collecting another trophy to add to her marvellous collection. So I texted Nick at 0900 to find out if he was up for a ride and despite not receiving a reply I ventured out in the arctic conditions. After a few minutes on the bike, my eyes watering, nose running, ears...my ears...where were my ears?...numbed! I started to quietly hope that Nick couldn't make it and I would be able to do a short ride back to my cozy home. My hopes were dashed when I arrived at Horton and met up with Nick. We did a quick roll call and decided to head east and ventured into new territory for a Sunday morning. 

Our route took us to Ewell past Luke's house (to tempt him or to catch a glimpse of him in his maid's outfit?), and then we headed through Nonsuch Park, Cheam, Sutton, Royal Marsden, past the prison, Woodmansterne, Chipstead and its valley before turning left to climb the heights of Chipstead and down past Fanny's farm. It was too early for a stop so we continued on to Merstham, the edge of Redhill airfield, Outwood, Smallfield before heading west via Crawley and Ifield with the plan of raiding the Addiscombe club cafe at the pine shop in Charlwood. 

A mile before Charlwood as we approached a motorcycle shop (Adrenaline motorcycles) we spotted a large sign to a bus cafe. Thinking that this would be quieter than the pine shop we turned in to find that it wasn't what we had in mind. There in front of us was an old coach converted into a cafe! We caught the coach and were soon  very comfortable sitting in comfy chairs in the warm coach. The menu was very much geared to motorcyclists rather than cyclists but I did try to encourage Nick to go for the Bikers Belly Buster Breakfast which comprised 3 eggs, 4 sausages, 4 bacon rashers, black pudding, mushrooms, tomatoes....and so it went on. Unusually Nick wasn't up for the challenge so we settled on some sandwiches and mugs of tea and hot chocolate and joined in the banter with the cook and the owner of the shop who also owns the coach and a few dozen motorcycles from the 70's and 80's. The location of the coach is within a few hundred yards of the end of the Gatwick runway, so we could enjoy a bit of plane spotting as the planes came into land flying just a few hundred feet above us. Having regained feeling in our toes we continued home via Leigh, Betchworth and up Pebble Hill. I completed 52 miles and Nick must have cleared 60 miles by the time he got home to Worcester Park.

Note that the cafe opened in December, is only open Saturdays and Sundays until later in the year....and there is probably enough seating at tables for 12 people.

Here is a link to more photos:

http://www.thejailhousecafe.com/gallery.html