November 2003

October Track Night

A total of 13 riders attended the club’s first track night of the winter, back in October, including 4 novices: Tim Kay, Dave Pollard, Pete Wakelin and Simon Regan; who all joined the ‘A’ Group for the final scratch race.

Result of Flying 200m
1 Mike Garner 12.9
2 Steve Lloyd 13.4
3 Susy Massey 13.6
4 John Kent 13 8
5 Dave Large 14.1
6 Steve Large 14.2
7 Rebecca Jones 15.0
7 Claire Lloyd 15.0
9 Robin Smith 15.7

Result of 30 lap Scratch
1 Steve Lloyd
2 Mike Garner
3 Tim Kay

Thanks also to Steve Light, whose first aid skills were not required!

Geoff Brandt

Rachel Turns Pro!

Congratulations to Rachel Heal, who has signed a contract with the Farm Frites-Hartol team, riding alongside the likes of Leontien Zijlaard-Van Moorsel and Mirjam Melchers.

Rachel guested for the Farm Frites team at a few races this year, and has been signed to help Melchers, the world number two, in stage races outside Holland, thanks to her climbing ability.

Congratulations Rachel!

Club Hill-Climb

The club’s hill-climb championship, held on Hope Mountain, was won in the most extraordinary way by Jeff Vernon. As he pulled on the bars in making his starting effort, the bars gave a loud "crack!" and broke! Amidst the general hilarity, Dave Newby came to the rescue with an offer for Jeff to use his bike. So, with the clock still running from his original start time, Jeff switched to Dave’s bike (complete with mudguards) and still proceeded to record a time over twenty seconds faster than anyone else! Dave Newby didn’t get out of riding the event himself, as he was lent Dave Smith’s bike. Colin Gray came to Jeff’s rescue, arriving in his car to give him - and his bike - a lift home.

The Times
1 Jeff Vernon 7-46
2 Andy Walsh 8-08
3 Stephen Crowley 8-26
4 Mike Garner 8-35
5 Dave Pollard 9-29
6 Andy Templeman 9-33
7 Steve Gauller 9-41
8 George Aldridge 9-58
9 Dave Newby 10-15
10 Geoff Brandt 10-33
11 Dave Large 10-58

Winter Training

Those riders who want to have a more ‘formal’ winter ride might like to know that Steve Light is once again running car-accompanied rides on a Sunday. Riders wishing to come along should be at the Mills around 9:30 on Sunday mornings. Steve will direct the rides, with a flask of coffee to warm things up when needed. If your legs start to give out on you, you can climb in the car and take a breather! And the good news is that he’s bought a newer, bigger, one, with space for two passengers!

Freewheel and Christmas Tea

Sunday 21st December will see the club’s traditional freewheel competition and Christmas Tea.

The freewheel will be held on the usual hill by The Goshawk pub near Delamere Forest - join the 9:30 club run for the ride there. The tea this year will be held at The Oak Room (formerly known as The Poacher’s Pocket) on the road between Huxley and Tattenhall. The club will ride from the freewheel to The Oak Room, or you can go directly there for (if the past is anything to go by) a 12:30 start. The tea costs £10 per member - please contact Andy Templeman to book your place.

Since the original newsletter was printed, we have learnt that the booking at The Oak Room has had to be cancelled. The replacement venue will be confirmed next month, or of course Andy will tell you when you make a reservation.

Flintshire Challenge

The hot dry weather over the summer meant that this year’s Flintshire Challenge was run off in excellent conditions, although there was a strong wind on the more exposed mountain slopes! Many North Enders turned out to help marshal the various checkpoints, but it was a surprise to only see one club member actually doing the ride! Chris Neukom is pictured here looking quite fresh (and clean!) at the top of the Moel Arthur climb.

From The Archives…

Gordon Thompson answered my call for stories of note after uncovering an old typewritten copy of a club newsletter, dating back to March 1944! It is a pleasure to be able to include it in our modern-day edition (although Gordon’s doodling makes some of it tricky to decipher!). Rather than pick bits and pieces from it, I shall, in the best tabloid tradition, serialise it as space allows over the next few months, leading up to its 60th anniversary next March.

For the upstarts amongst us who won’t remember the times, it is worth mentioning that this was wartime, food was rationed, and you couldn’t just walk up to the counter at the Mills and order "Beans, egg, spare round of toast, pint of tea, flapjack and piece of marble cake please" without producing coupons for them all. The design of the club kit was never an issue, as there wasn’t one: it was black alpaca jackets all round. And there were no such things as lycra, carbon fibre or tri-bars.

20, Christchurch Rd,
Birkenhead
March 1944

After a rather disappointing start the racing season is now fully under way and some really promising rides have been done.

The Manchester Clarion medium gear event, which was to mark our first attempt at "invasion" this season was held under conditions which were so bad that about 60 of the 90 entrants decided not to start. The ice, which made many parts of the course absolutely unrideable to early starters, thawed later and allowed K.Redford (Altrincham Ravens) to make the winning ride of 1-9-1 but the fastest of the three Northend heroes who started was Gordon Thompson who clocked 1-14. Herbert (late start) Moore came along next with a ride of 1-16 and finally, with the bruises of four crashes Doug Phllips with 1-23.

A fortnight after, however, in the Combine medium gear race, the tale of woe was comparatively even greater. The times, without comment, should show the general feeling. J.Roberts 1-11; H.Moore 1-13-8; R.Mothersole 1-13-44; C.Sharp 1-14; E.Rogers 1-16; F.McKay 1-18 and D.Phillips 1-19. The morning was hard - but not that hard.

The next Sunday, in the Preston Wheelers "25" we climbed right out of the rut and have now thrown away our sack-cloth & ashes. Jim Roberts clocked 1-7-13; H.Moore 1-7-27; C.Sharp 1-8-33; G.Thompson 1-9 and D.Phillips 1-13. The event was won by Snape (West Pennine) with a ride of 1-4 but our boys were very well placed in the finishing list being mostly in a bunch and very near the top. The West Pennine took the first team award from us but we had consolation enough in seeing signs of the rides which are to follow. Regarding Cyril "too finely trained" Sharp -- the only reasonable explanation which we have had for this ride of his is that the finish is towards Liverpool and Cyril was "winding it up" to get back to those cobbles of his.

More next month…

Previous Newsletters:
2003 January February March April May June July August September October
2002 January February March April May June July August September October November December
2001 January February March April May June July August September October November December
2000 January February March April May June July August September October November December
1999 January February March April May June July August September October November December
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