Thank You Ray & Beryl 4"T"

Beryl thank you for preparing such a lovely spread and to Ray for inviting us. Vic is looking very happy even before the lovely tea and cake.

And the same with Ed looking very "MOG" He too was even happier after the odd 10yr old Port and even more potent "Slow Gin" that Ray had concocted over the last two years and how melancholy it was too! The ride home to Walton/Tadworth via the Chequers was pretty swift after that for Jeff & me.

Spike Tyres

Just got some - I'll bring one to the Clubroom this evening for people to have a look at.

A jaundiced view, however - winter tyres or no, a lot of snow and ice riding is just awful. Maybe I'm getting old.

Mark

More Revellers from "A" Group

Firstly well done Cliff, Les & Simon for making it out yesterday. Bob Starey will be pleased that you are keeping attendance up at his favourite pub chain! To add to the seasonal spirit the collage depicts some more of last weeks Xmas lunch bunch at the "Cricketers" plus one wild domesticated cat trying to escape the snow appropriately named Daisy.

A Group Xmas Lunch

Some of the revellers having a good time.

Hurray Hurray 1st December 2010

Snow has come early this year. Well done John B, Ray & Terry for making it to Cobham. It was a grave situation walking through the church yard in Walton on the Hill.

Rumour had got out that Mark G would ski to the Chequers in Walton so I walked via the frozen pond below and met up with Jeff and he for a pint (or 2 or 3 or was it 4?). More like a Bob Starey Monday off-road ride. Mark I may say only had one pint and a coffee. He had to navigate back home when picked up by Maggie in her Panda 4x4 with winter tyres. Just the job - Italian Job! The open roaring fire in the pub was very welcome.

The ducks are having a hard time at the moment even less exited about the weather than we cyclists. Keep safe everyone!

Weather Warning

To Ride or not to Ride

Dear All

I contacted the Royal British Legion today, but unfortunately was not able to confirm what the position will be tomorrow. However, Terry has been told that the RBL Hall will definitely be closed. The alternative is therefore Sainsburys in Cobham.

I have spoken to Mike Withers on the 'phone and he has confirmed that, because of the conditions, he will definitely not be leading a ride for the Easy Riders.

The main thing will be what the roads are like. Frank has said he will endeavour to lead a short ride but give tea a miss. We shall see how many turn up. We shall each have to decide in the light of local conditions. At present, I am pretty well snowed in, but don't know what the main roads are like. I may be a dns. If the roads are icy, don't take unnecessary risks. Better to miss a day than spend Xmas in hospital.

Have an ice day,

Jeff

Two Below Sea Level

Maggie and I have just returned from a trip to Death Valley with our tandem. It sounds an odd choice, but it's quite rational - Death Valley is a National Park, which means that the roads (and everything else) are immaculately maintained, people only go there on holiday so the few cars are outstandingly considerate of cyclists and the weather at this time of the year is spectacularly good. Access is quite easy - direct flights to Las Vegas, which is less than three hours away, and all arrangements were made by Rich Merrick of Cycling Escapes who provided first class van and ride support from airport pick-up to airport drop-off.

Cycling Escapes offers 'challenging' riding - 100+ miles on some days and more than 5000' of ascent on others. We found the climbs hard - harder than the Alps - as the roads tend to be relatively modern, with steady gradients sometimes going on for twenty miles or more. They are designed for cars, not for walkers or horse traffic as many European roads originally were, so there's no respite. But starting below sea level and ending 5600 feet above it is a good day out (Mont Ventoux is 4200 feet of climbing); or riding for eighty miles without ever going above sea level is another interesting experience.

The routes were planned and supported by Cycling Escapes. The van is important, as for most routes you encounter no human habitation at all. Distances are large, and running short of water would be a serious mistake. The van and trailer are comprehensively equipped with spares, food, water and so on and wait at pre-specified 'SAG' points - about twenty miles apart - until all the party has passed, before scooting on to the next 'SAG'. Lunch is taken at the roadside - chairs and tables from the van - and the van is last in to the hotel, so no-one is stranded. Despite all this, it's lonely out there...

The trip is billed as 422 miles and 21,300' of climbing - we cut a couple of corners so did less than this, but we were still over 400 miles and 20,000' - not bad for November, and, with daytime temperatures in the 80s, all in summer kit.

So if you're looking for somewhere to beat the Winter gloom, the deserts of South Western USA are worth a look. We'll be back.

Mark

Annual Attendance Competition

Dear All,

Terry tells me that not very many members have sent in annual attendance records for the period 1 October 2009 to 30 September 2010. You will have received the MWW Annual Programme/Attendance Record at or soon after the AGM last year. These can be sent to Terry as an attachment to an email or by using pen and ink and handing them to him over a cup of tea. Don't leave it till the last minute - you may have forgotten what you were doing that day!

I sent out programmes for this year from 1st October 2010 to 30 September 2011 by email before this year's AGM last month. Copies were available at the meeting. If you havent go one, Terry has copies or contact me.

Jeff

Cogratulations Gill

A belated presentation by Terry to Gill Finlay today at Cobham of the Trophy for the greatest improvement in mileage from the previous year some 1900+ mls. Well done and also congratulations for being such a splendid rides leader in the past years and more despite all your commitments at home. Gill please keep up the good work we all appreciate it very much!

Free Wheeling Also Rans

.....it's been the ruin of many a good man

At The House of the Rising Sun

Free Wheel Contest

As ever Terry organised the contest and there was a good turnout at Dorking for Tea/Coffee on the house (B'day boy MM!) Christine leads the line-out at the finish taking first (and only) ladies prize so she declined. Pam had intended to ride but did not make it due to puncture!

The winner as last year was Mark (by a mile or it seemed like it) with Terry in 2nd place until Godfrey came through and beat him by a wheel so it was very close. Terry is presenting the trophy to mark at the Hungry Horse Charlewood with Godfrey receiving an inner tube.

Terry's "A" Ride 8 Sept (2nd attempt to publish

See text below picture missing.

See text below picture missing. (Morley's frequent problems with blogging - still not so user friendly foolproof system)

Graham & Gill

Gill and Graham

Two Up - A Tandem In the Alps

For the last several seasons I've been lucky enough to enjoy a week or so's pass-storming in the Alps with one or both of my sons. Maggie had always been careful to stay clear of these 'Boys Own Tours', on a variety of grounds, but the particular being that a tandem in the Alps would be hard work. However, this year things were a bit different. The boys are now embarked on careers and leave is too precious to waste, and Maggie and I have done quite well on the tandem in Provence and Mont Ventoux. So she was prepared to reconsider.

The rules of the game were to be one pass a day, a decent hotel and a good lunch - all of which seemed fair enough. The passes were the Col des Saisies, Petit St Bernard, Iseran, Galibier and Alpe d'Huez - all ones that I know well and which are Tour de France classics. We took our Cannondale tandem, which has twin big discs and a SRAM XX based gearset that I had set up for the Alps and it all worked out very well. The tandem was fine, the weather mostly very good - a shower on Alpe d'Huez but that was all - and all of the passes were within our compass. We found Alpe d'Huez to be the hardest, probably because it was the last of the week, and the Petit St Bernard was quite a pull, too. But we had a good time and next year, who knows, maybe the Pyrenees ...

Mark

A long "A" group ride

Thanks to Jeff for a splendid mountainous and long route yesterday from Dorking. I must compliment some of the brave ones who travelled far to get to Dorking in the first place and then complete in style the whole day, particularly Irene and Pam proving so fit, they must have ridden close to 100 miles on return home. The sight of Pam carrying Ed into tea at Denbigh's I just couldn't capture in time on camera! Frank Cubis not only did the ride all the way from Wembly but found time to finalise the temporary Ten course HQ at Beare Green village hall for the KPRC club event as the A24 is to have partial carriageway closure in next 3 weeks.
I managed a measly 60 miles but it felt more like 100 (well 85).

A/B Group 14 July

Annual Meet with East Sussex CTC at West Hoathly
Hookwood - West Hoathly - Reigate Garden Centre

Some cycled en groupe from North Cheam, some solo from home, to the Tesco emporium at Hookwood. This presented the first serious challenge of the day, an FEB (Full English Breakfast), overcome by most. One or two then clocked off, while the rest lined up behind Ed, en route for the annual meet with East Sussex CTC at West Hoathly. Ed's route was pretty direct, if not pretty: South along Balcombe Rd, then East along Turner's Hill Rd to Turner's Hill and South again along Selsfield Rd, to bring us efficiently to the Cat Inn at W. Hoathly.


Some from E. Sussex already had glass in hand, others soon followed, coming from as far afield as Eastbourne. We mingled over lunch, exchanged opinions and experiences, and agreed that the food was too expensive. When the sign was given for the return, the MWW were up and off before our E. Sx. colleagues had time so much as to wave goodbye. One (fool-)hardy quorum decided to tackle Cob Lane, before rejoining the rest of the group at Turner's Hill.

Our route to tea at Reigate G.C. was a cocktail of country lanes from Copthorne, busier roads and Lonesome Lane. Ed timed our arrival to perfection. The first drops of rain fell as we entered. The heavens then opened in one almighty downpour and we feared the roof would not withstand the onslaught. Yet on leaving, the ground was almost dry again, our homeward journeys untroubled by rain. Mileage for the day will have been from 45 miles upward.

We shall meet E. Sx. CTC again next year. The provisional date proposed is 13 July; the provisional venue the Green Man, Horsted Keynes.

Jeff

Ray Dare

Birthday Greetings to Ray and thankyou for the Teas at Cobham

Les Warner

Les Warner, former CTC secretary, died last week. The funeral is tomorrow, Thursday July 1st at 3.30 pm at Guildford Crematorium.

A Few Days in the Pyrenees

A couple of weeks ago CTC's weekly 'Cycle Clips' email offered last minute places on a Pyrenean tour led by Peter Mastenko. I've never ridden in the Pyrenees so I thought I'd give it a shot. The arrangements were made by Pyrenean Multisports and the centrepieces were a three day tour (van supported) over the Pyrenees, through Spain, Andorra and back, and a crossing of the Tourmalet, Aspin and Peyresourde in one day. Not a bad package; for myself I'd have preferred a few more of the classics, but lastminute.bike has to take what's going.

And it went well, with a small CTC group of seven supplemented at times by one or two of Pyrenean Multisport's other clients. Long days and hard riding, basically.

The received wisdom of the Pyrenees is that they're harder than the Alps, and I think I'd agree. I'd normally use about a 28" gear for the Alps, but was persuaded that 32" would be fine for the Pyrenees. I'll know better next time... The main difference is that there are more long ramps and fewer well-engineered hairpins in the Pyrenees. There are also fewer creature comforts, but both are hot and high.

The week's totals were 368.41 miles; 33,624 feet of ascent; 17,511 calories and a maximum speed of 42.1 mph.

A couple of asides - my 'Crateworks' bike box worked well - www.crateworks.com. There were damaged bikes on the flight but my pretty fragile Boardman was fine; and a couple of the party met Lance in Luchon - he was courteous and posed for a photograph. Taking a look at some climbs, apparently.

Mark

The Dieppe Raiders

The line up at the finish

Dieppe Raid - The Wayfarers 90km

Sunday dawned a bit chilly but dry, as the 25+ raiders from the "Sou'Westers" congregated at the event HQ at 08:00. We moved off as a group, soon losing Bob and Lesley, and Mike Morley. Toni D'Italia chased after a very rapid tandem crewed by Mark and Maggie and was never seen again!!! (Until the return to the HQ).

A pleasant, steady, flattish ride to Bellencombe found 12 of us having coffee outside the local bar before moving steadily up the climb through Ardouval - a brief look at the garden of the Gite stayed at in the past - and over the ridge and down a long, pleasant descent through green fields, cows and poppies to lunch at the Avenue Verte to regroup with Graham and Gill, and Mike M.

Good food, fruit, drinks, etc provided and a leisurely rest before climbing over into the next valley and the run-in to Dieppe seafront for a long rest in the hot sun watching the energetic competitors in the Dieppe triathlon, whilst we consumed Italian ice cream. Judging our departure to get to the finish back at the HQ by 16:30 and the prize presentation with more food and drinks, etc.

Our reward for the day, trophies awarded to Sou'Westers as the biggest group; least young rider in the 60km - Eric Ashford; least young rider in the 90km - Raymond Dare; least young lady in the 90km - Pam Jones; and to top it all Rob and Ruth won a new mountain bike in the tombola, following Maureen's success last year, also winning a mountainbike in the tombola.

A moving tribute was given to the memory of Neville Chanin, including a photo display and minute's silence.

The evening meal at the Windsor Hotel was the usual noisy occasion, running late into the night, and also included a toast to the memory of Neville from CCP of the CTC.

Pete