Invitation to enter the 2024 Photo Competition

Attendance for all groups was high in 2024 and many have been off on other adventures too. So we hope that you have been busy with your cameras and phones and are keen to review your photos and send the best ones in for the competition.

Please submit your photos before the end of January using this method:

Visit this website: '2024 Competition Dropbox' and follow instructions to select and deliver your photos. This is what you should see:

N.B. When using this website to post photos to the Dropbox it is not necessary to sign up to, or log into Dropbox even if you are invited to do so.

Click on 'Add files' to select the source of your photos then select your photos (or folders), or if you already have your file list open just drag and drop photos from the list into the white box.
 
Once you have selected one or several photos fill in your name and email address then click 'Upload'.

Send an email to me, Tim, to provide this important information about each photo:

•           the photo filename (e.g. P1040276.jpg)
•           a caption which we will inscribe on your photo
•           the competition category (see below)

The rules and categories are simple. The full 'Competition Rules' document is available under the 'Information Hub' heading on our website.

Competition Period: Photos taken during the 2024 calendar year.

Your photos must all illustrate a connection to cycling by depicting a bicycle or cyclist for example, or some obvious cycling association.

You may submit two photos in each category:

  6.1. Male      one or more male cyclists
  6.2. Female    one or more female cyclists
  6.3. Action    cyclist(s) in action
  6.4. Scenery   scenery or landscape
  6.5. Building  buildings, architecture
  6.6. Humorous  funny or amusing
  6.7. Group     any mix of male and female cyclists

Note that the award for a winning photograph in each category will be given to the photographer who took the picture, not to the model(s).

This method for submitting photos should work with any device (PC, Apple, iPad, iPhone, Tablet or Android phone) but if it doesn't work for you, please let me know so that we can address the problem. It does depend on you being able to locate the folder in your phone, tablet or PC where you store your photos. It does not require you to install the DropBox software.

This is the best way of sending photos. Please note that some methods of transmitting photos, such as WhatsApp, shrink the photo before sending, diminishing the quality of the original photo as it is in your camera or phone.

We're looking forward to seeing your photos. Note that this year Andy and I will be collaborating to organise the competition.

~ Tim and Andy

January, 2025

B Group ride Wed 8th January

This Wednesday's ride will be a sedate 24 miles from Cobham to lunch at the Seven Stars in Ripley via one gentle hill, a lovely decent down a staple lane, and a bit of a pointless loop to make up the miles, taking in an excursion over the new bridge over the A3 at Wisley. 

Cobham Ripley 8th Jan ridewithgps.com

Lunch orders not required but you can look at the menu here. https://thesevenstarsripley.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/FINAL-LUNCH-MENU-2024.pdf

After lunch there are some options. Those who wish can make their own way home or there are two tea stop options. Cobham is one option for those heading east or you can join me in a short 10 miles to tea at Garsons Garden Centre in West End. 

Ripley West end 8th Jan ridewithgps.com

Let me know by 6pm on Monday if you would like to be included. 

Paula

pibpaula@blueyonder.co.uk

Invitation to A Group ride from Cobham to Guildford and Leatherhead, 8th January 2025

 You are invited to the first A Group ride of 2025 - from Cobham to Guildford and Leatherhead. Lunch is at the Wetherspoons Rodboro Building, and tea in Leatherhead. 18miles to lunch, 15 to tea. All road.

Please respond to me by 6.0pm on Monday 6th January: gedlawrenson150@gmail.com.

Groups, timings and routes emailed on Tuesday morning.

Happy New Year!

Cheers

Ged

Subs 2025

Happy New Year!

A quick reminder to all those who have not yet renewed that our subs for 2025 are now due.  Your prompt payment would be much appreciated so that the committee can confirm our finances and update our records ready for the coming year. 

The amount is £2 and if you need our bank details please email me, or pay cash to your group rep.

Thank you

Gill H

Membership Sec

gillholder9@gmail.com

Richmond Park Cyclists

For anyone who wants to keep abreast of this marvellous organisation's activities on behalf of all cyclists they have a free monthly bulletin, delivered by email. Visit this link to sign up:

https://www.richmondparkcyclists.org/get-involved/

On the website there is a link to back issues of the bulletin. 

Regarding social media they have a presence on Facebook and also post to Bluesky (@richmondpkcyclists.bsky.social.) as well as X (aka Twitter). 

~ Tim 

How far did you ride in 2024?

Your 2024 mileage totals please

Please forgive the cutting and pasting from last last year's request 😕:

This is a request to submit your mileage totals for the last twelve months (1st Jan. 2024 to 31st Dec. 2024) for consideration towards the annual awards for the greatest distances cycled. Your scores will be entered into the Big Spreadsheet where, since the dawn of the 21st century, the precious records of your accomplishments in the club have been maturing.

There are two shiny trophies, one for the woman who has cycled more miles than any other woman and one for the man with the highest mileage amongst the men. Having two separate prizes for persons of each gender might sound a little quaint. But that is our tradition and while the prize money attached to these two awards remains identical for both winners nothing is likely to change.

And we have a special award, the Mark Roy Trophy, for the person recording the largest increase in mileage over the previous year. So anyone who has posted their mileage for both 2024 and 2023 is eligible. 

To summarise the rules, your miles must have been clocked up whilst riding your bicycle, tricycle, tandem or eBike on or off road. Mileages achieved on turbo trainers, Watt bikes or any other static contraption don't count. We know that this is something of a blow to members who have been riding through virtual alpine landscapes with Zwift or Rouvy but we are only considering miles actually, rather than virtually, travelled.

For the competition, contenders for the prizes must be regular riders in the club though we are happy to collect mileage data for everyone who is a paid up member of CTC South West London. And we wish to continue recording mileages for our several members who ride eBikes.

If you are curious at all about how many miles you ride in the course of a year please start recording your distances for 2025 in a diary or spreadsheet.

Just one word of warning; several riders who use a GPS enabled device such as a Garmin, or smartphones running apps like Strava or RideWithGPS have experienced rides when their devices stop communicating with the satellites, sometimes for quite a while, and this can lead to totally unreliable data. So please verify the accuracy of your data. The evidence of this known problem is a long straight bee-line between two points on your ride where you know the road really had many twists and turns.

Fixie Dave's Garmin nodded off for a while with this result!

In my opinion this is not a problem which is specific to Strava or other phone app but is to do with the phone and its own software, memory resources perhaps. This erroneous data can also accumulate if you have hopped on a train with your bike but forgotten to stop recording 😏. Fancy doing that!

Please write to me with your total mileage:

Tim Court (Associate Bean Counter*)

We hope to be able to present the prizes in our traditional awards ceremony at the Annual Lunch, this year on Wednesday 5th March.

A very Happy New Year to you all and if you haven't been collecting your mileage scores please start now, from January 1st 2025.

The Bean Counters need your numbers!

~ Tim C

*Nota Bene: The Bean Counting team has now now doubled its number of staff and we are pleased to advise you that Mick Arber of B Group has flown through his apprenticeship and is now embarking on his new career in our Bean Counting Department.