PTTL 10 - Result

Well done to all those who rode. A tough course but we were lucky with the weather. Excellent ride by Toby and if there had been a team race we would have won that too. Here is the full result.

Het Volk live on Sporza.be

My favourite races are the early season races. They kick off this weekend with Omloop Het Volk (Nieuwsblad) on Saturday and Kuurne-Brussel-Kuurne. Both feature those short steep cobbled climbs that are common in the Flemish Ardennes.
Website www.sporza.be is showing both live this weekend.
Saturday is Het Volk.

Portsdown TT league start list

The Portsdown TT leange kicks off on Saturday at Soberton at 2pm.
Mark Warrington, Fraser Nurse, Dave Lack, Andy Matthews, Richard Bevan, Angus Peel, Alastair Mallett, Mike Miles, Mike Marchant, Rob Fields, Pete McGuiness, Shaun Smart, Toby Neave and Stephen Hasler all ride.
Start list.
It says on the Fareham site that the course record was set by Rob Hayles at 22:55, but I'm certain Tony Mayer went round in under 21 minutes in 1982. When you ride on Saturday you'll appreciate how impressive that was. It was just before he finished 10 seconds behind ex-Raleigh professional Dave Lloyd in the national 25 mile championships. At the time Dave Lloyd was destroying the opposition up and down the country in time trials. Lloyd was riding a special time trial bike and Tony had a bog standard road bike.
Have fun!

Road races in March

Note some of the closing dates. You can pay more for entering on the line.
1 March - *Chobham - enter on the line
7 March - **Barnsfield - enter on the line
8 March - **Thruxton - enter on the line
8 March - Alfold (2/3 and 3) - enter on the line, but might be full
14 March - **Ilton, Somerset - enter on the line
15 March - **Thruxton - enter on the line or enter by 2 March
22 March - Dunsfold (2/3 and 3) - enter on the line, but might be full
28 March - Tandridge (2/3) - enter on the line, but might be full
28 March - **Thruxton - enter on the line or enter by 14 March
29 March - *Yeovil (Ham Hill & Pittards) - no entries on the line - closing date 19 March
29 March - *Fareham Wheelers (3/4) - enter on the line or enter by 8 March

* 4th cats allowed.
** 4th cats and youths.

Racing round up

Toby Neave was 10th in the elite race at Chobham.
Fraser Nurse and Alastair Mallett rode their first ever race in the 4th category race.
Fraser was 43rd and Alastair 67th.
Fraser summed up his experience with the comment "Yes I did enjoy it and would recommend it to anyone who is unsure whether to take the plunge or not."
Frasers report: "Overall there was about 60 of us so for me this was the biggest single group I have ridden in, anyway, we were split into groups where we did a number of laps with some, I presume, elite riders. Me being the competitive type I am, had to be at the front or close to it which later came back to haunt me!!!

Once we had finished the training laps we all then re-grouped and had an official race of 10 laps and wow, for someone who has never experienced this kind of racing before it was quick (30 miles in 53 minutes)!!!

I managed to keep at the front end of the group to start with in particular for the descents as they were quite fast and twisty, after about 4 or 5 laps I was starting to get a little tired so decided to ease off a little and take some shelter and then before I knew it I was off the back!!! Not totally though as there were quite a few stragglers who I think were unable to keep up the pace anyway, it took me about a lap to eventually get back into the pack but by this time I was pretty tired especially coupled with the fact that I had done a little too much during the training laps earlier (I had also forgotten to pack any energy gels so could not top up my fuel load!!)

I then started to get a little frustrated as I could see I was quick on the descents and could have clawed some more places back but I think because I was towards the back of the pack a lot of guys in front of me were maybe not very confident and were putting on their brakes and slowing up during the descents which meant in turn I had to as well, as I had nowhere else to go! The trouble for me was that I kept losing my momentum and having to almost ‘start’ all over again (if you know what I mean) which then sapped even more energy."
Pete McGuiness was 23rd in the Veteran Male category of the Gorrick Saddle Skedaddle Round 2.

Club night

It's club night on Sunday at the Fountain at 8pm. I have set up a club nights page on the website with dates and map etc.

Caption competition

Toby Neave was the winner of the caption competition with "Bruce the Bull couldn't decide wether to go back to the herd or spend some quality time/ discuss training tips with the beautiful Amanda!" At least it was clean!

Updated local calendars

The local calendar has been updated to cover the whole year.

Road races this weekend

Saturday, 21 Barnsfield Heath near Ringwood - all categories including youths.
Saturday, 21 Upavon, Wiltshire - all senior categories.
Sunday, 22 Chertsey Surrey League - all senior categories.

Membership cards

Stephen Hajnal-Smith has printed some rather nice membership cards. I'll bring these to the club night with me on Sunday, 1 March.
Stephen runs Jigsaw Print Production who operate from Funtington. You can contact them on 01243 573348 stephen@jigsawprintproduction.co.uk

Interesting website and membership stats

I have been looking at the log files for the website, Cafe Velo's statistics and information about the number of members. It makes interesting reading, too me at least!

Membership

Of the current members of the club the following are the numbers that joined in the following years.
2005 - 10 of the current members were members in 2005
2006 - 4 of the current members joined in 2006
2007 - 12 joined
2008 - 45 joined
2009 - 7 joined to date
78 in total, although 7 have not paid up yet, making 71 members. I don't think we have had that kind of membership since 1996.

Website statistics

March 2008 - 45 page visits
Feb 2009 (to date) - 155 page visits
Most popular pages:
1. Home
2. Meet the members
3. Events
4. Links
5. How do I?
6. Members' benefits
7. How do I join?
8. Weekend rides
Popular search terms
Southdown Velo and combinations thereof
Chichester cycling club
Goodwood Spring Challenge

Cafe Velo

July 2007 (first full month) - 335 page views
January 2009 - 1175 page views

New members

Welcome to our newest members Declan Inglis, son of member Jez, Robert Waymark from Bognor Regis and John McFaul from Chichester.

Racing round up

Toby Neave finished fourth in the elite race at Portsmouth, Mark Warrington 18th in the 4th category race and Richard Bevan 20th in the 3rd category race.

SIS order

Pete McGuiness is doing one of his bi-annual (that's twice a year) SIS orders. See Member's benefits to see if you qualify. E-mail Pete your orders - peter.mac1@tiscali.co.uk

Caption competition

With apologies to Amanda ... the best caption for this photo of beauty and the beast wins a bottle of Leffe at the next club night (Sunday, 1 March) and I don't give those away easily.
Send your entries to contact@southdownvelo.org.uk

Who are these people?

I'm trawling my photo archive to add pictures to the website for those people who have yet to send me one. Hint!
I have a couple of people whom I don't recognise ...
I'm trying to get pictures for everyone, so if you don't like your picture or I have put the wrong person .... send me another one contact@southdownvelo.org.uk

This is the last call for any SDV members who want to ride the PTTL 10 mile TT on 28th Feb. Let me know your name, age and date of birth by tomorrow, 17th Feb. at the very latest. Entries so far: -
Mike Marchant
Andy Matthews
Dave Lack
Angus Peel
Pete McGuiness
Shaun Smart
Toby Neave
Rob Fields
Alistair Mallett

Perfs report

I set off with the Sunday ride today, for the first time in ages, towards Rowlands Castle to sup some coffee and cheer Toby along in Perfs Pedal race.
I must say I was impressed by the standard of riding, aware that quite a few riders are relatively (compared to this old convict) inexperienced, and by the levels of fitness.
We took the Ditcham School climb route with Mark Warrington an unfortunate faller on the ice. Fortunately, it was a question of pride and clothing dented and not body.
It was busy at the Cafe with the numbers of people who had come out to watch the race. We bumped into many other clubs and Amanda Cayford was out riding too. Trevor Delooze and Steve Hajnal-Smith and his glamorous wife showed up in civies. Sorry is this starting to sound like Tatler?
Toby's race didn't go to plan although he had ridden a sensible race. Horses on the course caused a split in the bunch and Toby was to finish well done.
Toby writes "Starting 30mins late (to make sure it'll be safe) we headed off at a fairly brisk pace.
I was feeling fairly good so attacked with 3 1/2 laps to go going through woodbury lane, but was caught on Forestside. Fearing a repeat of last year i decided to be sensible and hide for a bit. With a lap to go i stayed in top 10 to keep out of trouble, but soon found myself attacking on the descent of dean lane end and getting away in a small group. We were caught at the bridge so i decided to wait for a bunch sprint. Over the top of the bump 4 horses suddenly appeared and, due to being spooked by the front riders, soon bolted and caused chaos. I was near the front trying to ease the pace up but half the bunch decided to keep going at 30mph, scaring the hell out of the front horse and causing the young girl riding it too fall off. After that it was race over (the bunch was well out of sight) so i just rolled in.

Needless to say i'm very annoyed. I felt strong and felt confident that i could have got in the top 10, and i also feel that i've let you guys down because of all the support you were giving me.

I promise that the first win will be coming soon, all i need is a little luck!"
There are some interesting comments on Veloriders about the race.

New members

Welcome to Ivan Prince from Chichester. Ivan was formerly a member of Hampshire Road Club.

Clothing order

John Rowlands has kindly offered to undertake the next club clothing order. Having done this in the past, I know what a thankless task it is. John's job will be made a lot easier if we follow some simple rules and advice:
1. No refunds on kit that doesn't fit - the onus is on the orderer to ensure they are ordering the correct size.
2. Orders will only be placed if the money is paid up front.
3. The kit is purchased in Euro so the price is subject to currency fluctuation. It might cost more than you thought.
4. A premium of 25% is charged by the supplier if there are less than 10 items of a piece of kit.
You can see a full list of the possible kit from the supplier Fernando Carvalho Ciclismo.
The most popular items are:
- Short sleeve long-zip jersey.
- Bib-shorts (medium weight).
- Gilet - there are four varieties.
- Skinsuit - long-sleeve is good for cyclo-cross.
- Jackets - again there are four varieties.
In terms of sizing, I (Tim Costello) have size 9 shorts and short sleeve top and a size 10 jacket.
I suggest we complete the order at the next club night where we can bring some sample kit for people to try on.

Membership cards

Stephen Hajnal Smith, through his company Jigsaw Print Production, is printing membership cards. Many thanks, Stephen.

Club ride on the IOW

Shaun Smart has pointed out that there is an organised ride on the IOW on 3rd May. This uses the round the Island route.

New How do I? guide

I have added a new How do I? guide called Know what gear I'm in?. It explains how to calculate what gear you are in and provides a handy table of ratios.

Looking down on a snowy Chichester from Bow Hill

Bognor Regis CC Thursday evening 10s

SDV members who are interested in riding the Thursday evening club 10s at Fontwell will be pleased to hear that BRCC are running them as a points-based league this year with cash prizes at the end of the season!! They will be putting the details up on their web site soon. Here is the address: - http://www.bognorregiscyclingclub.org/id21.html

Portsdown Time Trial League (PTTL) entries

OK, now that you have all read through the rules of the PTTL - haven't you? If not see yesterday's blog. Those who have will have noticed that the closing date for the first event (on 28th Feb) is 10 days before on the 18th Feb. This doesn't give us much time. So, if you want to ride the event and count towards the League then you need to send me your Name, Age and Date of Birth by no later than the 17th Feb so that I can get them to the event sec. on time.

I don't need any entry forms or money from you. Those who enter pay up on the day (£2.50) and sign-on with the event sec. at the event HQ.

If you miss the closing date (17/2) you can still ride the event by just turning up on the day but you won't count toward the League or the Team prize!

The event is the Team Axiom 10 starting at 14.00, the HQ is in Wickham Square (that's just north and west of Portsmouth).

My contact details are as given in the Members Area on the SDV web site.

Portsdown Time Trial League Information

For anyone club members interested in riding the League this year here is a link to all the League details (rules, dates etc) as promised.....

New members

Welcome to new members Edward Hand and Gareth Waymark from Chichester, Tim Clemens from Tangmere and Jez Inglis. Jez is a re-joiner.

Last cross of the season

We took part in the last London League cyclo-cross of the season on Sunday at Stanmer Park, Brighton. Our crack team of Shaun Smart, Pete McGuiness, Mark Holland myself (Tim Costello) and first timer Perry Lee lined up against 79 competitors. Although the sun peeped out between the clouds occasionally a cold wind brought the temperature right down. Layers of clothing was the order of the day.
Shaun got his usual fast start and it took Tim a while to get past him and take up poll position for the club. Each rider fought their own private battle against rivals, the cold, wind and undulating terrain.
Final result after an hour's racing:
16th Tim Costello (4th vet, £10 and a bottle of Muck Off).
26th Shaun Smart (10th vet)
45th Mark Holland
55th Perry Lee
60th Pete McGuiness
84 starters

GS Stella time trials

Our Time Trial Secretary, Mike Marchant, took part in the GS Stella hilly 34KM time trial on Saturday. Mike finished a very creditable 24th overall.

Training races for 4th category riders

Surrey League are organising training races for fourth category riders (that's everyone who has not raced before) at Chobham on 22 February and 1 March. Times on the Surrey League calendar. The Chobham circuit is completely closed to traffic.

Club night

A bit of a change, by accident rather than design, to the usual club night format on Sunday. It developed into an open discussion about things that the club could or should be doing. Some useful and helpful ideas came forward. Some I have taken up below.

Club ride to the IOW

I had been thinking about this one anyway. Would anyway like to organise a club ride to the Isle of Wight when the weather warms up a bit? I don't think there is a lot to organise. Here are my thoughts ...
- Catch the train to Portsmouth harbour and hop on the Ferry to Ryde.
- Ride the round the Island route (about 60 miles).
- Have lunch.
- Come home.
Ride one of the many cyclo-sportifs abroad. Again volunteers to organise this? My suggestion was the Ronde van Vlaandaren (Tour of Flanders) in the Flemish Ardennes. Ride the sportif on the Sunday and watch the race on the Sunday. Beer, chocolates, frites, steak, chocolates ...

Perfs on Sunday

A reminder that our top roadman Toby Neave is representing us on Sunday in Perfs road race at Rowlands Castle. Start at 11:00. Ride out. Stop at the cafe. Watch race. Perfect. There's always a big crowd out to watch this race.

Peggy Lee

Much to our amusement, but perhaps not his, Perry Lee was listed as Peggy Lee in the results. Peggy was placed as second woman.

The start at Stanmer

Winner Darren Barclay on the left is already edging ahead.

Copyright Graham Robins 2009.

Tim Costello

Shaun Smart

Mark Holland

Pete McGuiness

Perry Lee

Portsdown Time Trial League - we're in!

We got confirmation today that SDV are now allowed to compete in the PTTL from this year onward. Details of the league events were handed out at the AGM on 11th Jan, but more information will be published here in due course. In the meantime the first event is on 28th Feb, so get training now!