2007 club news

2007 Club News

1st November

Despite four of our members taking part in the final inter-club hill climb at Whiteways, all chose to keep quiet about their rides. However, thanks to Janet Read for sniffing out the results and passing them to me.

Darren Matthews led the team home this week in 7th place with his time of 9:19.2 on a very wet morning that was not best suited to hill climbing. Second club member home was Todd Preston with 9:52.2, beating dad Andrew on 11:05.3. Heidi Gould completed the club picture with 11:17.7 for 23rd in a field of 28. Clearly Heidi has something of a talent for the anti-gravity game. Winner was Paul Jones of Bournemouth Jubilee with 8:22.0.

No individual placings have been given yet, but we do know that Darren was our best placed rider overall and we came third in the team competition by a slender margin of 9 points.

28th October

Dean Critchel came 91st in a field of 140 finishers at the National Hill Climb Championship at Cheddar Gorge this morning with a time of 9:03.4. Weather report from one of the riders was 'light rain on and off, strong tail wind up the gorge'. Not heard from Dean how he views his ride yet though. Winner was last year's champion James Dobbin of Arctic/Shorter Rochford with 6:51.5.

21st October

Four club members took part in the inter-club hill climb at Kingston today where a field of 33 singles and one tandem took the start. Dean Critchell was again the fastest club member in third place with a time of 2:18.2. Darren Matthews continues to show good climbing form with 2:31.5 for seventh while our junior member Sam Edwards put in a fine performance with 2:52.6 for eighteenth. Andrew Preston was our other counter in 29th place with a time of 3:17.5.

Next weekend sees the final inter-club event at Whiteways, but Dean Critchell will be riding in the National Hill Climb at Cheddar Gorge for which we all wish him well.

18th October

Five club members rode in the Poole Wheelers hill climb event at Creech last Sunday where Dean Critchell was hoping to build on his success in last year's inter-club series. Third place was the result this time with a ride lasting 2:39.4. Next up was new member Darren Matthews with 2:47.7, but then there was a gap to Chris Jones who was feeling somewhat below par. His 3:31.8 put him 13th, six places in front of our best lady finisher Heidi Gould on 4:03. Michelle Lindley was also feeling under the weather and somewhat disappointed with her 4:27.2 in 20th spot. Winner was Andy Graham of Bournemouth Jubilee Wheelers in 2:35.2.

The Annual General Meeting took place on Tuesday attended by 20 members. The club officers and committee were all re-elected for a further year with a sanction to co-opt a new club member to the committee.

Major decisions taken for next season are to run a TT programme broadly similar to this year, but with two circuit TTs and two 2-up 10s. The BAR will be scrapped in favour of a short distance competition over 10, 25 & 50 miles covering any UK open TT. Winner to be worked out on the usual BAR format of average speeds.

Entry fees for club events will go up to cover the increased CTT levy and a day membership will be intoduced in place of Come & Try It rides.

After much passionate debate, it was decided that following marshalling problems this year with Peter Washington's TLI events, the club could no longer be associated with these events. There are not enough club members to support a season-long series such as this and although the committee had identified a potential way forward, the meeting felt that it could not shoulder the burden of rider safety at these events. Club members are however encouraged to offer their help to Peter as individuals.

7th October

Today has seen the final club event of the season and an excellent field of seventeen riders tackling the Portand hill climb. The field was a superb mix of old and new club members from junior to senior vet and with two ladies in the field. We were also joined by a former member and a prospective new member as a Come and Try It entrant.

Conditions were quite cold, but with the wind blowing from a helpful direction for once. The times reflected this fact with eight rides inside 6 minutes.

As expected, Dean Critchell took the win as he winds up to try to win the local anti-gravity competition, after a low-key season. He was pushed again this year by Neil Wooldridge who seems to pop up for this event and then disappear for 12 months. Let's hope that we see more of him next season. An excellent third place was taken by recent signing Darren Matthews, before the old hands started to show in the result. Julain Thacker tied with Reuben Moss after being stopped by a bus in Fortuneswell.

There were other good rides by Todd Preston and Jeremy Guy, just pipping another new member Stuart Heath, sporting a natty pair of black shorts on a rather nice looking Pinarello. Sam Edwards put in another gutsy ride and a superb ride came from Heidi Gould. Michelle Lindley rode whilst feeling somewhat unwell, in order to defend her club championship position and Peter Tindley made special mention at winning the over 70s prize.

This now wraps up the Club Championship for 2007. If confirmed after checking by the Club Events Secretary, John Chapman has held on to his lead, built up earlier in the year, despite a low-key last month of the season. In the Vets, Peter Tindley has taken a convincing victory having taken maximum points in all but a handful of the events he has ridden. Michelle Lindley has easily taken a deserved victory in the ladies section, despite some rough times during the season and late starter Sam Edwards wins the Junior section.

It is especially pleasing to see that there have been 36 points scorers this season, of whom 15 are new members this year. Well done to all.

23rd September

Three events over this weekend had CCW riders involved in both club and open event action.

Yesterday sixteen riders took part in the last ten mile TT of the season to warm up the course for the Inter-Services event that followed. twelve CCW members were joined by three visitors and a Come & Try It rider. The more established members were joined by four recent recruits. Some good rides were done on a day that was not thought to be particularly fast, probably as a result of the club championship positions getting quite close and riders scrabbling for maximum points. It was also pleasing to see three lady members riding with Michelle Lindley doing her best ride on the course this season and heidi Gould and Rosemary Locock posting PBs. Winner this week was Chris Jones with 22:57.

The Inter-Services event that followed was won by Sean Childs of the Navy with a mind blowing 20:40. Thanks go to John Chapman, Chris Jones, Michelle and her friend Emma for their help in running this event.

On the A303 at Podimore, Peter Tindley rode in the Yeovil CC 10 in quite windy conditions. His 26:04 missed the Vets standard prize by a second, but he did pick up a cheque for fastest rider over 70. Jake Prior, who rides our Athletes 10 next Saturday, was winner here with 21:04.

Today Peter was again in action at Poole in the Army CU 25, along with Julian Thacker and Ian Locock. Julian rode his fastest 25 of the year with an excellent 56:55 from a start number of 15, although it was much warmer than last week at the same time. Ian Locock saw out his season with his first 25 for two months finishing with 57:57, before rushing home and packing his TT bike away in the loft for the winter. Peter was up against Terry Icke again for the vets standard award, but could do little in the face of Terry's 54 minute ride, despite his fastest time for three years with 1:3:07. He was only 37 seconds off a PB too. Sean Childs was again the winner with a time of 50:46.

17th September

A busy weekend for club members with at least five events covered both on bikes and in one case on foot.

The club 10 on Saturday saw a small field of only five riders as others raced elsewhere or saved themselves for Sunday. On a breezy day there were creditable rides from all, particularly notable was Andrew Preston’s PB and Stuart Heath's debut ride on a road bike. Jeremy Guy was, as usual, also sporting the traditional look and had an enjoyable and legal battle with an impressive Ian Cardy, who has won both of the events he has ridden since joining the club. Finally, Sam Edwards completed his first 25 with an impressive and smooth ride.

Some of the missing members were entered in the Andover Wheelers 10 at Thruxton where a massive field of 270 riders were all chasing PBs. On a fabulous day where conditions gradually got faster, Michelle Lindley did the ride of the day with a new PB of 23:50. Peter Tindley and Ian Locock both managed to miss their PBs, Peter by seven seconds with 24:29 and Ian by one with 21:19 after meeting up with the slowest touring car he has ever seen at the turn. Ladies competition record was broken here and some stunning rides were done.

Yesterday, Peter Tindley stayed on at Andover to ride in the 25 mile event, but was unlucky to suffer a front tyre deflation around 13 miles due to a defective valve. Closer to home we were well represented in the Poole Wheelers 25 at Lytchett Matravers where quite cold temperatures greeted the riders. Here Julian Thacker was fastest CCW member with a ride of 58:54 in tenth place, his best ride for some time and two places higher than Chris Jones on 59:29. Paul Gould was tantalisingly close to another under the hour ride with 1:0:28 and was followed by Julian Foster with 1:3:10. Michelle Lindley, fresh from her efforts on Saturday rode her fastest time on this course with 1:4:31. Winner was Paul Jones of Bournemouth Jubilee with 53:41.

Finally, the race on foot was Rosemary Locock taking part in the Hydro Active Challenge Ladies 5k run in Hyde Park, where she was happy to achieve the PB that husband Ian couldn't manage the day before. She attributes this to her cycling fitness and her recent foray into the time trialling world.

10th September

Julian Thacker was our only representative in the Poole Wheelers club 25 at Lytchett Matravers yesterday. Looking at the result it doesn't appear to have been a super day and Julian ended up in joint 4th with 1:00:04. This may have been his attempt to get under the hour on his road bike and if it was, despite not achieving his goal it was fine time on the day. Winner was Terry Icke with 56:22.

8th September

For the third event running a total of seventeen riders signed on for the Hilly 18 this afternoon, giving what must be the biggest ever field for a hilly. Two visitors and two new members took part along with another Come & Try It rider. A headwind up the Old Sherborne Road was not what was needed, especially as there did not appear to be any benefit on the run back down the valley. As a result no records were broken.

Most notable rides came from Darren Matthews with 53:17, Sam Edwards on 57:15, Andrew Bonner 58:47 and Heidi Gould returning 59:15.

3rd September

Julian Thacker was our sole representative in the Poole Wheelers club 25 at Lytchett Matravers yesterday. In cloudy conditions and around 15c with a light westerly wind, Julian returned 1:2:07 for 13th place riding his road bike in true Athletes style. Winner was Terry Icke with 55:53.

2nd September

Yesterday saw a highly respectable seventeen riders take part in the club 10. It was a notable event in so far as the superb winning ride of 21:30 by Terry Icke and the fastest CCW rider being brand new member Ian Cardy. Is this a first, taking maximum points in your first event for the club? Seven visitors and two Come & Try Its faced the timekeeper.

It was good to see William Wilson back again after keeping a low profile all season and an excellent first 10 from 16 year old Sam Edwards.

Also yesterday, Ian Locock journeyed to South Cerney in Gloucestershire to take part in the Diamond HF 10 on the fast U47 course. The event was plagued with problems such as a large number of entries going astray, police objections to the start time, riders not receiving start sheets, lack of parking at the HQ and a distinct lack of marshals. Also there was a crosswind that blew up just before the event started.

With all that said though on a good day the course would be blisteringly quick and at least 107 riders had a go at it yesterday. Ian finished up with 21:45 having gone to great lengths to familiarise himself with the course. Big loser was Stu Dodd of Team Tor 2000 who finished with 19:31, only to find that he had turned at the wrong roundabout. He would have been inside 20 minutes if he had taken the correct turn and got second place. Winner was David McGaw with 19:45.

28th August

Could it have been the nice still evening, or perhaps the modest five mile distance, which resulted in seventeen riders in the final evening event of the year. There were members of three clubs apart from CCW together with two Come & Try It riders and bikes ranging from full on Lo-pros to normal road bikes and including a tandem and a mountain bike. Also on another pleasing note, there were three ladies taking part and three teenagers too.

Rides of note were Chris Jones' winning 11:12 and promising debut rides from Nick Collins, Sam Edwards and a solo debut from Rosemary Locock, despite her comments after the 2-up 10.

27th August

Our members have been in time trial action in three events this weekend, the A3crg 50 and the EDCA 15 today and yesterday's Poole Wheelers club 10.

Michelle Lindley and Chris Jones took the trip up to Petersfield to ride in the 50 on the A3, where Kevin Dawson was out to post his qualifying time for the BBAR. Chris finally managed ride an event without getting lost or forgetting anything and was rewarded with a new PB recording a fine 1:57:27. Shelly wasn't able to quite match her form of earlier in the season and finished with 2:14:03. Kevin Dawson did indeed achieve his goal, winning by nearly four minutes with a time of 1:42:24.

Nearer to home, Julians Thacker and Foster rode the EDCA 15 at Poole. In his second race in as many days, Julian Thacker was fastest CCW rider with 36:40, closely followed by Julian Foster on 37:24. Winner of this one was Jake Prior with 32:32.

Yesterday thirty nine riders took part in the Poole Wheelers 10 on the Upton by-pass. On a good day, warm, but with a light headwind finish, times were expected to be good and turned out to be around a minute quicker than the Antelope event on the course a week earlier.

Ian Locock led the CCW contingent of four riders, just ducking under 22 minutes with his 21:59 for third place. Julian Thacker was next up with an excellent 22:42, his first sub-23 minute ride of the season.

Ride of the day by a CCW member came from Andrew Preston with a new PB of 24:45 and Peter Tindley built on his ride of last weekend with another solid ride of 25:19. Winner was Rob Jefferies on Bournemouth Jubilee with 21:13.

21 August

Eleven riders turned out for the last evening 10 of the season at Gallows Hill on a cool overcast night. The strong wind of earlier in the day had abated to some extent, but the ride back up Puddletown road was the hardest leg of the course.

Chris Jones managed to fulfil recent promise and took first with the only sub 23-minute ride of the evening and was followed home by Ian Locock 21 seconds adrift. Julian Thacker just crept over 25 mph in third followed by our two regular visitors Michael Malins and Gordon Scott, both doing their best times in our events of the season.

Next up was Paul Gould in probably his last event prior to a well earned break in Italy followed by Julian Foster. Michelle Lindley got the better of Peter Tindley by a scant three seconds, but Peter was just pleased to have done his quickest ride to date on the course. There was then quite a gap to Andrew Preston, who forgot his new pointy hat and Peter Washington.

19th August

A blustery morning which was also cool and damp for the early starters greeted riders in the Antelope 10 at Poole this morning. Consequently there were no records broken, but some club members came away very happy with their rides.

Ian Locock was just fastest of the six club riders with 23:01, beating Ewan Tarrant by a single second. Next came Julian Thacker with 23:25, gradually finding his form again after a summer compromised by illness.

The ride of the day from club members was Peter Tindley's excellent 25:21, followed by Chris Jones on 25:33. As usual with Chris there was a story behind this ride as he finds ever more ways of making the simple art of time trialling more difficult. This time it revolved around leaving his shoes on Portland necessitating an extremely swift drive home to collect them. It is difficult to know whether his race or the drive was the better performance on the day, as he was only 3:15 late arriving at the timekeeper. Finally, Michelle Lindley was really pleased with her time of 26:23, being her first 10 of the season inside 27 minutes. Winner by nearly a minute was Ben Instone with 20:18.

16th August

The expected mass attack on the Yeovil 10 this evening turned out to be just a visit by three of our vets. A reasonable night greeted them, although care was needed at the turn as the roads there were wet while the rest of the course was dry.

Ian Locock did just enough to take the win with 22:48, but Paul Gould showed that his two recent 50s have done him no harm at all with an excellent 23:48. Peter Tindley's answer to the question 'what did you do?' was met with 'another 27'. When the result went up on the board it revealed 27:00 and Peter is now going away to work on his sprint.

14th August

Three intrepid souls have turned out for the Handicap 10 at Warmwell on a very damp and blustery evening. Although the rain had largely stopped there was still a 15-20 mph south westerly blowing to make things difficult.

It might as well have been a scratch 10, because in the end the handicaps made no difference to the result. Chris Jones put in an outstanding ride to equal his best time of the season on the course with 23:21 from scratch. Julian Foster was in second place using his 1:55 handicap to record 24:03, while Andrew Preston secured eight championship points with his 25:45 from a handicap of 2:48.

12th August

At last Paddy was today able to put on another successful Lloyd Coward Memorial Road Race sponsored again by Portland Port. Both the date and the course change appear to have had little effect and a field of 29 signed on, on a bright, sunny morning. This year's event was based on our Gallows Hill 10 course and run off at around 25mph, but did not end in the expected bunch finish.

Robin Gillingham of Wessex Road Club had been having digs all through the race and managed to make one stick, just after the final turn into Puddletown Road at Worgret, with a little over two miles to go. Barry Clewett was able to bag second place and take the Vets award and first Junior was Simon Thomas of www.agiskoviner.com in 16th. Louise Dutch of Votwo.co.uk took the Ladies prize.

The first prime was won by Roland Tilley of Ride Cycle Works from Nick Onslow riding for Pedalon.co.uk. Nick took the second prime from Cameron Holt of New Zealand's Te Awamutu Sports Club.

On the time trialling scene, the Wessex Road Club ran their 50, cancelled due to rain earlier in the season. This meant that Paul Gould and Peter Tindley were riding their second 50 in a week after the Bournemouth Jubilee event last weekend.

Using the older course that sticks to the A35 rather than last week's detour on the A31 and A350, times were quicker and winner Dave Dent set a new course record of 1:50:24.

Paul Gould led the team with his 2:9:58 from Julian Foster on 2:17:22. Peter Tindley completed the trio with a ride of 2:19:51, an improvement of over three and a half minutes from last week that earned him the Vets Standard award with a plus of 35:18.

Sadly, as is often the case with rearranged events, from an original entry of 60 riders there were only 22 starters of who two failed to finish.

10th August

Peter Washington has sent in the following account of last night's road race action.

A beautiful evening to end the 2007 series having lost only the first event to heavy rain. A record turnout of 59 riders including 4 ladies were set off in 5 handicap groups. With 1 lap to go the scratch group had come within 45 seconds, but did not make contact as the 4 groups had joined first to make two and then one large group. Andrew Boyd (Bournemouth Jubilee Wheelers) lead in the bunch closely followed by Luke Gray, Hargroves Cycles rising Junior.

9th August

The promise of a good night sent nearly thirty riders up to Thruxton this evening for the Salisbury Road Club evening 10. Ian Locock decided that it looked too good to miss and headed there straight from work. The result was 21:18 for fifth place and a personal best as well. This was not the only PB of the night, as Max Baldock won the event with his first sub-20 minute ride of 19:46.

7th August

Last week's best evening of the year was followed this week by the worst. However, in a summer this bad, we should count ourselves lucky that this is the first club TT of the season lost to the weather. Hopefully this will mean even more riders for our handicap 10 next week.

Club night dates for next winter have now been booked and will be at Upwey Memorial Hall as previously, although in the committee room which is situated opposite the main hall entrance doors, rather than the Menzies Room. Any ideas for themes would be gratefully received. Dates are:

16th October	AGM
20th November
18th December
15th January
19th February
18th March

6th August

Last week's TLI race details have now arrived. After patchy rain earlier in the day the sun eventually came out to greet 42 riders including Katie and Carol. We may have lost some riders who got held up in the crash at Slepe.
The mix of riders enabled each group to be set off with their own handicap and with 3 laps to go all were together. The pace then quickened, eventually leading to a win for Roland Tilley (Ride Cycle Works UK) from Richard Mardle (Felt Racing) and our promising Junior Luke Gray (Hargroves Cycles).

5th August

Five of the team took part in the Bournemouth Jubilee 50 today on a new course reminiscent of the 1970s. Chris Jones, fresh from a holiday, posted the fastest ride of the group with 2:6:50 beating Julian Thacker by 42 seconds. Paul Gould was next up with 2:12:26, followed by Peter Tindley with 2:23:27 whose plus of 31:42 earned him the Vets standard prize. Michelle Lindley rounded off the team rides with 2:24:28. Winner was Eamonn Deane with 1:56:10.

Yesterday, Ian Locock ventured over to the Bentley by-pass course in Hampshire looking for a quick 10 in the Charlotteville CC event. A strong wind that did not help very much in either direction thwarted his ambitions, although his 22:41 was good enough for 2nd on standard in the 49 - 62 age group race, beaten by two seconds for the win.

1st August

Was it the course or the prospect of probably the best evening of the season so far that resulted in seventeen entries for last night's 10. A bit more wind, or a shift in direction might have made times a bit quicker, but it was a very pleasant evening for racing.

Times were very close too with 6 seconds covering the first three places and the first 9 places all within 2 minutes of each other.

29th July

A fairly low key weekend for CCW riders with only a couple of open 10s on offer locally. A disappointing field of only 26 riders contested the Army CU 10 at Warmwell on Saturday with three of our members taking part. Conditions were dry, but with the usual headwind finish. John Chapman led the way with 23:22, followed by Julian Thacker with 24:06 and Peter Tindley on 26:43. The event was won by Louise Dutch with 23:10.

Today Peter fancied another ten miles of pain and rode the EDCA event at Fordingbridge. His efforts of yesterday told slightly and a time of 27:00 was the result.

Elsewhere Rosemary and Ian Locock ventured up to the New Forest for their annual cycling weekend there. Despite a bit of a soaking on Saturday, Rose put her new-found status of time-triallist to good use and pounded out a 70 mile training ride. This turned out to be 20 miles more than she has managed in one day before and with an average speed increase of 2mph. Just for good measure she put in another 33 miles today.

26th July

Having decided that the planned trip up to the Andover 10 last evening would have been futile, Ian Locock invoked Plan B and rode the Yeovil 10 today at Podimore. Conditions here were dry, but it was a close run thing. However the headwind on the longer outward leg certainly made life difficult. Feeling the effects of a general lack of cycling recently, Ian was relatively happy with his 24:32 for fourth place to winner Mike Loader's 22:41.

24th July

Taking a rest from chasing club championship points, ten members took part in the 2-up 10 at Warmwell this evening, joined by three visitors. All seemed to enjoy the change and some good rides were done on a tough evening with a 24mph headwind from the turn.

John Chapman teamed up with Chris Jones to win the event in 22:38, beating Ewan Tarrant and Paul Gould by exactly a minute. It was good to see Ewan back both from uni and his recent trip on John Chapman's winter bike to France . Paul reported being happy that he was able to do some of the work on the downhill bits, but wished that Ewan hadn't been fooled by his youthful appearance.

Peter Tindley teamed up with our regular summer visitor from Wyre Forest CRC, Dave Wood to claim an excellent third place with 25:25. They were happy to have defeated the smooth pedaling Jeremy Guy and Kieran Hayward by a 35 second margin. This week Jeremy was back on the De Rosa, but forsaking his usual retro kit turned out on a pair of Zipp 303s. Rumour has it that he is soon to appear on a full TT bike.

Fifth team home was actually a 3-up arranged by Michelle Lindley. Having persuaded Rosemary Locock during last night's committee meeting to ride with her, they were joined by Jonathan Williamson for his first ride of the season during a lull in his studies. Michelle had a nice easy ride, whilst Rose, who has never time trialled before suffered a good deal due in no small part to having only ridden 230 miles all year. Jonathan seemed pleased to be back and out for a ride with two females. A time of 33:36 was the end result and the comment from Rose "Never again, you lot are mad".

Michael Malins from Poole Wheelers joined us again and was pleased with his 24:27 on the night and it was especially good to see Terry Icke out for the first time in a few weeks recording 23:17.

The result of the Poole Wheelers 40km on Sunday is now published and shows John Chapman in 12th place with 1:1:49. Julian Foster also rode and recorded 1:6:14 to tie 21st place with regular visitor to our club events, Gordon Scott.

22nd July

With all of the poor weather around, it is surprising that both events featuring our members this weekend went ahead as planned. It was a close run thing on Saturday though.

Paul Gould and Ian Locock took part in the ...a3crg 25 at Liss on Saturday evening. A downpour around 45 minutes before the start put the event in some doubt and had it continued, would have caused another cancellation. However, it stopped and the roads dried sufficiently for the event to go ahead. It was still a worry that as Paul Gould was being counted down to start large raindrops began falling and lasted for probably 15 minutes. Allied to this was quite a wind blowing that didn't seem to give any help on any part of the course.

Undaunted, Paul rode an excellent race and recorded his first ride under the hour this season with 59:49. Ian Locock was off a couple of minutes behind Paul and had the same conditions to come home with 57:15 for 20th place. Lady luck was obviously shining on Ian as his front tyre punctured on the ride back to the HQ. Winner was Steve Golla with 52:00.

18th July

Eleven riders signed on for the 25 last night on a cool and very blustery evening that made for a difficult ride. Eight club members were joined by Gordon Scott and Gary Steadman together with Marcus Brewer riding a Come & Try It.

The times recorded reflected the conditions, but the 1:8:48 that Marcus returned was an excellent effort on the night. There were two DNFs this week with Peter Washington saving himself for a two-day road race at the weekend and Gary Steadman deciding to go straight on at the last roundabout and head home to Wool.

It has now come to light that Shelly suffered a puncture early on in the National 100 and called it a day, whereas Chris suffered a recurrence of a stomach bug from Friday.

16th July

There doesn't appear to have been much activity on the Tour de France weekend, or at least nothing that has reached me. There were twelve riders out for the Clouds Hill 10 last week, including three guests on what looks to have been a hard night.

We had four representatives in the Bournemouth Jubilee 25 at Lytchett Matravers on Sunday, having chosen the correct race to enter as the Yeovil 25 on the same day was cancelled on Saturday evening. Julian Thacker looks to be returning to form and was our fastest rider here with 59:28 from John Chapman with 1:0:42. Next came Paul Gould with 1:1:51 and Peter Tindley with 1:7:00. No information about weather conditions or how Peter fared in the Vets Standard section yet. Winner was Dave Dent with 53:24.

Much further afield, Michelle Lindley and Chris Jones were riding in the National 100 Championships at Garstang in Lancashire. Shelly is reported as DNF, although I don't yet know the reason, while Chris put in a time of 4:36:58. Winner was Richard Prebble with 3:44:45.

4th July

Ian Locock has sampled the delights of the new P431rev 10 course at Wareham this evening. In between the showers and on a cool and blustery evening, the ride out to the turn was something of a slog. The return journey was worth waiting for, but this course is not designed with PBs in mind. It was an enjoyable event though and his 24:20 was good enough for second place to Max Baldock's winning 22:32.

3rd July

Unsurprisingly there were only seven takers for the Hilly 18 at Charminster this evening. The thermometer showed 14C, but with a brisk westerly breeze and little sunshine, it made for a chilly ride. Despite this fact a number of decent times were returned.

John Chapman won his first hilly of the season and caught second placed Julian Thacker for a minute in the process. Chris Jones put in a fast finish for third just six seconds slower than Julian having been 28 seconds adrift with four miles to go.

Next up was Jeremy Guy with his best ride on the course for three years, despite riding the last few miles on a rear wheel puncture. This fate also befell Michelle Lindley who punctured at the turn, but had her tyres filled with "gloopy stuff" which kept the tyre at 40psi enabling her to ride to the finish.

Peter Washington put in a powerful finishing sprint only to find that the SID at the finish has been removed since the last event on this course. Julian Foster was the most unfortunate rider on the night when his cassette unscrewed itself and jammed against the frame causing him to be DNF.

2nd July

Another damp weekend and not a lot to report as a consequence. The Elm Tree Wheelers 25 on Saturday was cancelled and all three of our entrants made the right decision not to travel. No information about a new date yet though.

Paul Gould and Dean Critchell rode in the Independence Day Road Races at Wool yesterday, but still no information about results or finishing positions.

Elsewhere, John Baddeley running for Egdon Heath Harriers came in 74th place in the Portland 10 with a time of 1:13:32. Chris Kiley, who has been riding our club events of late was 25th in the same event recording 1:5:33.

27th June

After completing his timekeeping duty last evening, Ian Locock nipped over to Poole to ride in the Wheelers 10 this evening. A blustery evening and partially wet roads greeted the field of 14, but it was a dry ride between the showers. Ian turned in his fastest time to date on that course with 22:16 for 4th place to winner Max Baldock with 20:56.

26th June

Twelve riders signed on for the 10 at Warmwell this evening which was held in cool, blustery conditions. As usual the ride back from the turn was quite difficult.

Chris Jones took the win this week despite it being only two days after the West Wales 100 with a 12 second margin over John Chapman. Julian Thacker fought his chest infection to salvage third place points from Julian Foster making a welcome return after several weeks away from racing.

Paul Gould allowed his mind to wander during the event and finished up taking fifth as a result, finishing in front of regular visitor from Poole Wheelers, Michael Malins. Chris Kiley continued his build up to the world triathlon championships in seventh after completing a 22km run punctuated by intervals this morning.

Kieran Hayward huffed and puffed his way into eighth just ahead of the ever stylish and smooth pedaling Jeremy Guy, while Peter Tindley got back in front of Michelle Lindley this week. Field was completed by Peter Washington who missed his tow at the start and never recovered.

24th June

Following the cancellation of the Wessex 50 this morning, there is only one report from the weekend's activities. Chris Jones and Michelle Lindley have been in action in the Welsh CA 100 and it seems to have been mildly enjoyable. They report lots of red traffic lights, a number of inane pieces of encouragement and a lost bottle, but at least the rain held off until they finished.

Chris recorded 4:32:42 for seventh place, while Shelly was sixteenth with 4:59:30 and took the fastest lady prize. Winner was David Birch of Stourbridge CC with the only sub 4 hr ride of 3:56:30 in a field of just 21 finishers.

21st June

We now have a reciprocal arrangement in place with Egdon Heath Harriers which effectively gives membership of CC Weymouth to their members and vice versa, for no extra subscription fee. There are still some issues to iron out in respect of membership of English Athletics and insurance, but for this year EHH are happy to absorb the costs.

A list of CCW members has been supplied to EHH, but if any of our members should wish to enter a run under the EHH name, please let Ian Locock know so that this can be passed to EHH. Further details about EHH activities can be found at www.egdonheathharriers.co.uk.

19th June

There were ten entries for the 25 held at Winfrith this evening where rain threatened, but happily never materialised. A brisk south westerly wind made the westbound leg tough in places, but some good times were posted.

Once again John Chapman and Ian Locock battled for the win with the old boy coming out on top for the second week in succession. Julian Thacker is slowly coming back to good time trial form, but still suffered a stitch around 15 miles before slotting into third. Paul Gould put in another solid, if lonely ride from number one to take fourth place points.

Next up was our only visitor this week, triathlete Chris Kiley doing an excellent ride after doing running intervals this morning. Michelle Lindley did an excellent ride only two days after the national 50, which was her second ride at the distance in two weekends.

The final three places were covered by only 18 seconds with Jeremy Guy riding his road bike to good effect after a puncture when warming up, just getting the better of Peter Tindley and Andrew Preston. Finally Chris Jones was unfortunate to puncture and was DNF.

17th June

Chris Jones and Michelle Lindley have completed their third national time trial championship rides of the season in the 50 mile title races in Bedfordshire this morning. Chris managed to cover the full 50 miles this week finishing with a time of 2:2:29 for 93rd place. Michael Hutchinson took the win here as expected, with 1:42:22. A few miles away on a different course, Michelle finished 19th in the ladies race with 2:14:11, to winner Julia Shaw's 1:57:45.

Yesterday Ian Locock rode in the Bournemouth Jubilee 10 for Vets aged 50+ at Andover, finishing 8th with a season's best 21:46. Winner of this race was Roger Iddles with 20:32.

15th June

Some information about last night's TLI race at Moreton has come to light. Paul Gould and Julian Thacker both took part and finished with the first group. Julian is coming back to full fitness now and managed 6th in the gallop for the line, while Paul was content to finish at the back of the group out of harms way.

12th June

There were 18 riders out tonight for our second 10 of the season at Gallows Hill. A cool evening with a moderate south westerly breeze didn't appear to harm the times at all. Three guests this evening and it was good to see Simon Millington out for his first event of the season and Ian Lummes back in action after his exams.

Ian Locock and John Chapman again battled for the win and on the triangular course, Chris Jones struggled and failed to find a way to get lost, resulting in third place. Julian Thacker is also struggling with stitch after his attack of chickenpox and had to sit up after the climb up to Worgret.

Michelle Lindley is now starting to come into some form and another superb ride came from Graham Lummes. The rivalry in the Preston family is getting close now as Andrew gets used to his new TT bike resulting in a time only three seconds slower than son Todd.

11th June

A reasonably quiet weekend for events locally has resulted in just two events ridden by club members. Reproduced below is Paul Gould's account of the LVRC Milbury's road race at Winchester that he rode with Peter Washington.

Not knowing the course or the riders or the way things went in these races I stayed towards the back of the 50-60 group for the first lap. By then Ray Robinson and 3 others had broken away and as it turned out had connected with the 40-50 group who set off in front of us. Our group of about 35 then managed to let another group of 6 get off the front. Why I don't know, because they only got 200-300m and stayed there. By now I knew my way round and together with a couple of others tried to push along and catch the 6, but in the group no one else wanted to do anything - with 25 miles left they seemed to have decided that a sprint for 10th place was the name of the game. I was having to brake half way up rises cause guys were sitting up so that they didn't have to be on the front. This went on for a couple more laps so on the last lap I thought " well, I shall be dropped in the "sprint" anyway so lets have a go" and led for about 4-5 miles before everyone rushed past with a mile to go and I finished 100m behind the main group. Pete Washington got dropped about half way through I think.

After all these years of testing I am going to take a while to get used to riding round and not trying for 90% of the race. Still an interesting day and if the course was anything to go by (a) the organisers version of undulating suggest you wouldn't want to ride one he called hilly, and (b) the road surfaces in Hampshire are as bad as anything we've got and probably worse!

Michelle Lindley and Chris Jones ventured much further afield for their sport by riding the Finsbury Park 50. Michelle recorded a PB, knocking nearly five minutes off in recording 2:10:46. Chris meanwhile thought he had done a superfast ride around the 1:21:00 mark, until it turned out that he had managed to cover only 34 miles between start and finish points. Nice try Chris, but if you try that in the National it may be you that wins the lottery for a change.

7th June

Paul Gould and Ian Locock ventured over to Lytchett Matravers last evening to ride in the Poole Wheelers club 25 on the Holes Bay course. Both were hoping to improve on their performances last Sunday on the same course and both returned successful.

On a warm, sunny evening with a moderate NE breeze, Ian was particularly happy with his fastest 25 since 1983, recording 56:57. Paul was also happy to improve to 1:00:07, but was left wondering where those odd eight seconds could have been made up. Event winner was Rob Jefferies of Bournemouth Jubilee Whs with 56:15.

5th June

It was an eventful evening for the Hilly 18 and not quite what we all expected. It was not a quick evening with the uphill first half into a stiff breeze, but the warm weather helped as ten riders signed on. There were two visitors this week, one of whom has to be the furthest travelled yet. Chris Kiley, former Wessex RC junior from 1971, came all the way from Western Australia as he builds up for the World Triathlon championships.

The event was won by Chris Jones, despite breaking his front wheel on a pothole near the turn. On arriving at the turn to grab a lift back with Ian Locock, who was marshalling, Ian grabbed the front wheel from his bike in the back of the car and sent Chris on his way again. Just to make the whole thing even more interesting, there was a calf loose in the link road at the turn and for the later starters, the farmers 4WD to negotiate as well.

It was good to see Julian Thacker out again after his bout of chickenpox, but naturally still down on power and Andrew Preston gave his new toy from Cervelo its first outing. Kieran Hayward tried a novel approach using a machine that was part MTB and part hybrid, but unfortunately the distance was too much for his neck and he had to sit up after Lyons Gate. Michelle Lindley is now starting to find some form, but only after being dope tested at both the 10 and 25 mile championships.

3rd June

Michelle Lindley has taken 43rd in the Ladies National 25 championship in Lancashire this morning with a ride of 1:8:03. Winner was Julia Shaw with 58:41. Following on from that, Chris Jones has recorded 59:29 for 77th in the mens race where Jason MacIntyre reversed the National 10 result, beating Michael Hutchinson by 17 seconds with a time of 49:44.

John Chapman has put in a superb ride of 56:12 this morning for ninth place in the Bournemouth Arrow 25 at Lytchett Matravers. Conditions early on were very still and the morning was not that good as a result, so John's ride is even more impressive. The winning ride of 52:28 by Ray Hughes is 1:28 slower than his course record.

Ten places lower, Ian Locock chipped in with a ride of 59:09, closely followed by Paul Gould with 1:0:38. Peter Tindley was again after the vets standard award and recorded 1:6:02 for a plus of 18:20. Dave Arrowsmith on his visit from Australia, was riding his second event of the weekend and wondered about his ability to get round the course. The result was a time of 1:10:41 to go with his fine 25:05 ride in yesterday's Sotonia 10 at Andover.

29th May

Results are now available for the TLI race at Moreton last Thursday. It was a good, warm, still and sunny evening where 55 riders signed on. The race was set off in three handicap groups and it took the scratch group until 2 laps to go to catch everybody. The final sprint was made up of Red, Blue & Green handicaps and it was very difficult to get the final placings.

Thanks again to St John Ambulance, all our marshals and helpers, to Rif Tilbury for providing us with a splendid new set of numbers and especially to Jan Washington who sat and affixed 600 safety pins to them.

For the second week running there was a CCW rider in the placings - well done John Baddeley in eighth place.

Tonight there was a surprising seventeen riders for the evening 10 at Warmwell which included four visitors and a Come and Try It rider. Although a bright evening, there was a strong and cold south westerly wind blowing that made the ride back from the turn quite difficult.

Surprise winner this week was Ian Locock, from John Chapman with Chris Jones in third choosing to ride a fixed gear on the wrong night.

22nd May

There were ten riders out for the evening 25 tonight including two visitors. Chris Jones took a convincing win with 58:51, riding an 87" fixed wheel, while John Chapman and Ian Locock scrapped for second place, John getting the verdict by 4 seconds with 1:0:11. Michelle Lindley debuted her new pink TT bike and finally got the better of Peter Tindley by 31 seconds.

20th May

A quick look at the CTT website reveals that Chris Jones finished with 22:54 and Michelle Lindley with 26:56 in the National 10 mile championships at Sawtry in Cambridgeshire. No further details yet, but respective winners were Michael Hutchinson with 19:43 and Julia Shaw with 22:30.

The Bournemouth Jubilee 30 at Lytchett Matravers this morning saw four club members take part, although Julian Thacker was DNS. John Chapman was fastest of the team with 1:10:48, followed by Julian Foster with 1:15:54. Peter Tindley returned 1:19:19 to claim the Vets standard prize and it was good to see Dave Arrowsmith back from Australia for a few weeks recording 1:25:21. Winner here was Dave Dent with 1:4:42.

18th May

More information has come to hand about what members have been up to recently, but no word from the Moreton TLI race yet. Ewan Tarrant rode in the Crabwood 10 last night on the Lyndhurst - Beaulieu Road circuit. His time of 22:33 was good enough for second place in a field of 33 riders, where his fellow Uni member Tim Wallis took the win with 21:53. Elsewhere, Ian Locock was also getting a second place with 23:03 to Mike Loader's winning 21:39 in the Yeovil 10 at Podimore.

Ewan also reports riding in the BUSA National 25 Championship near Newmarket on 5th May. Here he gained 20th place with a time of 1:0:32, Gethin Butler winning the event with 54:17.

15th May

After a miserable day, a dry evening tempted twelve starters for our first 10 of the year on the Gallows Hill course. Two regular visitors from Poole Wheelers, Ken Farwell and Michael Malins, along with Derek Hambleton of New Forest CC joined nine regular CCW riders for the event.

It was a cool, bright evening and what wind there was dropped as the riders started. Reports were that the ride back up from Worgret was fairly stiff. This didn't stop John Chapman scoring another good win by 13 seconds, this time from Chris Jones warming up for Sunday's National 10. Paul Gould grabbed a tie with Julian Thacker for third place, although he did concede that the fact Julian was on a road bike may have had a bearing on the result. Todd Preston continues threatening to put in a really good ride and a break through the 25mph barrier can't be far away now. Another 25 was his result tonight.

Michelle Lindley and Peter Tindley continue to be separated by a handful of seconds, Jeremy Guy is gradually building up after his usual late start to the season and Peter Washington rode his quickest 10 of the season.

14th May

Rounding-up of the weekend's events shows that, apart from the Tour of the Milburys, all seem to have been affected by the weather in some way.

The Crabwood 10 at Andover on Saturday was cancelled because of rain on the A303, causing Shelly and Chris to waste four hours driving up and back.

They were more fortunate on Sunday where the Sotonia 25 at Poole went ahead in gradually worsening conditions. It was not a super-fast day by any means, as can be seen from Ray Hughes winning time of 53:48. Times for CCW riders are Chris Jones 1:00:05, Julian Foster 1:2:56, Peter Tindley 1:7:30 and Michelle Lindley 1:7:37.

Julian Thacker was road racing again this weekend and sent in this account of the Tour of the Milburys 2 stage event, where the weather threatened all day, but the only rainfall came between races.

The time trial was easier than last year with a tail wind and 400m less to ride. I went 2 mins quicker than last year and caught my minute man. This was still only good enough for 31st, buy as you know, I'm not a man for one off hill climbs. This stage was won by Richard Eastham (BJW) with two other BJW riders in the top 11.

The first 2 laps of the road race stage were very, very, very fast with attacks on the yellow jersey man, that saw a fair few go off the back. A group of 3 went early on containing Eamonn Deane and one of his Bournemouth Jubilee club mates. The bunch chased for a few laps until another group of 7 went away.

When these two groups linked up they were around 2 mins up on the bunch and that was the way it stayed to the finish. The penultimate lap was fast and after an easier spell I looked around and realised our group was down to 15 riders. Coming into the sprint for 13th I had more in me than last year and managed 21st.

Overall I moved up to 24th and I'm very happy with that. I think 37 finished the race, but all my positions are provisional with the official result yet to be released.

Finally, back in January, the prospect of a nice 100 mile round around Dartmoor seemed like a very agreeable idea. Yesterday's reality was a far cry from that vision, when torrential rain that had forced the abandonment of the Ten Tors Expedition, drowned the first four hours of the event. It made for difficult and unpleasant conditions on roads awash with water, where a number of the 100 mile event entrants decided to detour over the 100k route.

Andrew Preston and Ian Locock were both entered for the 100 miler and completed the full distance, Andrew around 6:55 and Ian around 7:00. Rosemary Locock and William Wilson were both entered in the 100k event and Rose took the sensible option and went DNS. No word yet from William and finishing lists are yet to be published.

Apart from the weather, this Mid Devon CC first-time promotion was a superb event with champion chip timing, tons of food and drink, excellent signing and marshalling that made going off course impossible and a momento worth having at the finish.

11th May

News has reached the webmaster that Ewan Tarrant rode the Sotonia club 10 on Thursday evening last week and came fifth with a ride lasting 23:57. Tim Wallis was the winner with 22:41.

10th May

After a summer of glorious weather on Thursdays last year, the TLI event at Moreton this evening was abandoned without a ball being bowled (sorry wrong sport). With thirty minutes to go and only 4 riders signed on, the decision was taken that the rain was going to stop play (I must stop watching cricket). Let's hope it fares better next week.

The following report has been received from Julian Thacker about his efforts in the Portsdown Hill Road Race at the weekend.

I arrived at the HQ and parked up next to a Peugeot. Sat in said Peugeot with his number was Ben Instone. (I'm blaming Barry Clewett as he cried off with a throat infection which meant an EOL could do it)

Had a word with him, where he claimed he came last in the last cat 3 race he did..........right. From that point on I knew it was going to be a fast race.

All was OK until over climb on the 3rd lap, when all hell let loose. I dug in and stayed on the wheels I was with. When we reached the flat part at the top of the climb I looked ahead to see it had been ripped to shreds. There were 3 groups ahead of ours (one of 4 and two around 8). Luckily a couple of other guys saw the danger and worked with me to close it all back together (apart from Bens group, who were disappearing into the distance).

By the time we got down the descent it was as one again, apart from a fair few off the back for good. Bens group was gone so it was a race for 5th.

Final time up the climb, I was in a good position. Robin Gillingham attacked and I was within reach of going with him, but bottled it. This was a mistake as he stayed away, just, to take 5th. I did OK in the sprint (if you can call it sprint after a 10% climb and got 12th overall (just missing the points for a change).

Ben was second, beaten by a Richard Tanguy, who sat on his wheel up to the 50 yard mark and sprinted past. Well done him. (2 mins ahead of us)

It was a good race, well marshalled and with Police outriders was silky smooth around the corners and roundabouts. The riding was also very good with no incidents. Maybe next year!

8th May

Eleven riders turned out for the second wet 10 of the season on the Owermoigne course, including two visitors. Added to the rain was a stiff headwind ride back from the turn that made fast times hard to come by. John Chapman continued his recent run of success with 23:37 to beat Chris Jones by 9 seconds.

Julian Foster took part in the Circuit of the New Forest event on Sunday, finishing with a time of 1:30:34 for the 32 miles. Winner was Russell Kober of Primera Sport with 1:14:44.

5th May

Julian Foster ventured over to Yeovil on Thursday evening to ride in their 10 on the A303. It was not the best of nights with a blustery wind making it hard going on the way back from the turn and little traffic around to help. Julian finished with 25:03 to claim fifth in a thirteen rider field where the winner was Tim Reeves of Somerset RC with 23:12.

Ian Locock made the journey to the Bentley by-pass course in Hampshire today to ride the Farnham RC 10. It was a cool, dry and overcast day with a slight wind blowing across the course making it hard going all the way. A time of 22:49 was the result, getting 29th place in the full field. Winner here was Jeremy Archer of Sigma Sport with 20:23.

3rd May

The result of the Andover Wheelers 25 last Sunday is now out and shows Ewan Tarrant in 18th place with 59:18. Paul Gould was DNS, still suffering after his accident in our club 25. Winner was Dave Dent with 54:14.

2nd May

Paul Gould, Andrew Stevenson and Ian Locock joined the long queue to sign on for the Poole Wheelers 10 at Slepe this evening where a field of nearly 40 riders took part. A blustery, warm and sunny evening was on offer, but with a headwind start was never going to be super fast. Ian managed 23:36, followed by Paul, back after his injuries, with 24:02 and Andrew on 25:00. Both rued the lack of a finishing sprint.

1st May

There were eight riders in the Hilly 18 mile time trial at Charminster this evening including one visitor, former member Gordon Scott. Jeremy Guy put in his first racing miles of the season on a warm evening with a brisk wind that really didn't trouble the riders at all, due to its direction.

Julian Thacker returned to the top of the result, leading by five seconds from Chris Jones and thirty seconds from John Chapman at the turn. Over Lyons Gate and on the ride back down the valley he extended the lead to thirty seconds and two minutes, nine seconds respectively.

28th April

A successful running of our Open 10 has gone ahead today with only 3 non-starters from a field of 54. Thanks to all club members and friends/wives/parents who turned out to assist. Hopefully you will all be able to help with the Athletes 10 in September.

Congratulations to Jimmy Little on his sub-22 minute ride and to all other prizewinners. It was especially good to see that Peter Tindley is not far from overhauling Terry Icke in the Vets standard department and a home win in the team race with all three counters within 11 seconds of each other.

26th April

Ewan Tarrant made his weekly trip to Andover last night for the Wheelers club 10, recording 22:14 for 7th place. Perhaps a pointer for Saturday is the fact that the event was won by Stuart Dodd with 20:44, who goes at number 50 in our Open 10.

24th April

A very encouraging fourteen riders turned out for the evening 10 on what promised and turned out to be an iffy night. Warming up was done in the dry with a definite headwind start, but by the time half of the riders had started, the rain arrived and the wind dropped. Two visitors, one Come and Try It rider and a brand new member joined the usual members for their evening out.

In form Johnn Chapman took the win by 11 seconds from Julian Thacker with Ian Locock, now taking the tablets, a further 40 seconds back in third. Excellent rides were put in by Todd Preston (25:12) and Graham Lummes with 25:38 on his first time out.

22nd April

A round up of the weekend racing action has seen mixed fortunes for club members. Yesterday John Chapman rode the Andover Wheelers MM 10, but as he had previously bettered the entry limit was ineligible for a prize. A PB was therefore his aim, but the wind direction and strength put paid to any hopes there and his resulting 22:26 left him sixth fastest on the day. The winning time of 20:47 by David McGaw was also ineligible for a prize.

Further west along the A303, Peter Tindley and Ian Locock were riding in the Yeovil CC 10 at Podimore. Here the wind was more across the course, but generally the return leg was reckoned to be the easier. Peter clocked 26:17 and was narrowly pipped by an old adversary of Ian's, Tony Thorne of Bath CC for the vets standard award. Ian fared less well and had to sit up after 7 miles following another of his SVT episodes. As the shortest way back to HQ was past the finish he was given a time of 25:11, but was technically DNF. Just to add insult to injury, in trying to avoid the rumble strips at the finish, Ian also managed a front wheel puncture. Winner here was Rob Pears of Bath CC with 20:54.

Today five members rode in the Poole Wheelers promoted, EDCA 27km event at Bovington. John Chapman was our fastest member here with 39:27 for eleventh place, despite claiming he 'felt pretty poor during the ride'. John was followed by Chris Jones in 14th with 40:09. Julian Foster continued to show good form with 42:09, bagging 27th place. Michelle Lindley pipped Peter Tindley by four seconds with her 45:54 for 46th and 47th respectively.

Julian Thacker was riding in the Norman Halewood Memorial Road Race near Portsmouth and picked up the second club race puncture of the weekend just after the start. He chased manfully for around half an hour, but got nowhere and sensibly decided to retire to the changing rooms.

19th April

Ewan Tarrant recorded an excellent 21:24 in the Andover Whs 10 last evening on the Thruxton course. Winner was Jake Prior with 20:43.

17th April

Ten riders took part in this evening's 5 on the Stratton by-pass course. Unfortunately there was another accident, this time involving Ollie Stevenson, who hit the kerb and came off. He is somewhat battered and scraped with a nasty cut to his lip, but fortunately has nothing broken.

Fastest ride of the night was recorded by Chris Jones with 11:28 on what looked to be a good night, but was tough on the return leg. John Chapman bagged second with 11:51, beating Julian Thacker by 3 seconds.

Two new members Matt Flux and Colin Hoskins returned encouraging times of 13:09 and 13:10 respectively and it was good to see Owen Chapman out for the first time this season. Dad John is obviously worried about being beaten by him and although he was on a new bike, John made sure that he kept the reflectors on his spokes to slow him down.

15th April

Julian Foster is starting to see the fruits of his new training plan with an excellent PB of 1:0:34 in the BDWCA 25 at Lytchett Matravers this morning. In conditions similar to yesterday afternoon there was a rash of quick rides, fastest of which was Ray Hughes with 52:03. Michelle Lindley improved on yesterday's time with 1:7:18, despite having ridden out to the start from Portland. However, Chris was on a downer of a day and desisted around 10 miles with the feeling that he was actually going backwards, but has put a positive face on the weekend giving some useful training for the hundreds later in the season.

Members might be interested in the use of a superb villa in Soo, Lanzarote as a base for training and cycling holidays in the sun.

Ideally positioned for all areas of the island which is well known as a destination for the serious cyclist. Many clubs train there all year round as you are probably already aware. It is one of the venues for the famous gruelling "Ironman" competitions.

It is a beautiful traditional Canarian Finca restored to provide fantastic accommodation for parties of between four and six people. Secure storage is available in a large garage for bikes and there is lots of space for relaxing in shade or sun, dining, swimming and generally unwinding after a hard days riding.

Check the website www.holidayslanzarote.net here, where full details of prices and the accomodation, accompanied by many photos can be viewed.

A discount of 10% will be offered if booked as a group through the club which can either be offered as a direct deduction from the price of the holiday or as an introductory commission to help with club funds.

14th April

The warmest racing day of the year so far greeted the 15 riders who took part in our first 25 of the season this afternoon. Eleven members were joined by four visitors from other clubs as far afield as Southampton. John Chapman continued his vein of good form, winning the event with a time of 59:33 to improve his line 2 time by 2:50.

Chris Jones and Michelle Lindley were glad of the weather after their recent damp training camp in Majorca, Chris grabbing second with 1:1:02 as they both warmed up for tomorrows BDWCA 25 at Poole.

Ian Locock back from two weeks holiday without the bike rode a steady race for third with 1:1:12, while Todd Preston got the better of dad Andrew again, aided and abetted by borrowing John Chapman's old TT bike. It looks like Andrew will have to spend some money on a TT bike soon.

Peter Tindley took the vets race on standard from Ian Locock with a plus of 14:11 to Ian's 12:37.

Unluckiest rider of the day award (if there had been one) would go to Paul Gould who succumbed to a momentary loss of concentration around the halfway point and landed in a heap on the grass verge. He suffered a bump to his arm and one or two scrapes with some superficial damage to the bike, but thankfully nothing more.

9th April

The two Julians, Thacker and Foster rode in the 30 at Lytchett Matravers this morning. Julian Thacker felt the effects of his non-cycling holiday in recording 1:12:21 for 5th place and Julain Foster took 7th with 1:17:23. Max Baldock was the winner with 1:7:30.

7th April

There was a great turnout of 15 riders for the 10 mile time trial this afternoon, including two Come and Try It riders and and four guests from other clubs. Not quite the perfect day we'd thought it would be, with a steady southerly wind, but still a beautiful day. The race was won by Gary Steadman of Poole Wheelers who beat Ewan Tarrant by just one second with a time of 23.23.

6th April

John Chapman took 16th place in the Bournemouth Arrow 10 at Lytchett Matravers this morning with a fine ride of 22:20. Winner was Max Baldock with 20:38.

31st March

Eleven riders turned out on a fine blustery day for the first Hardriders 21 on the P454/21 course starting near Wool. Barry Clewett was the winner with a time of 57:09, with John Chapman claiming top points with a time of 57:28 for second place.

26th March

Timekeepers are still required for some of this season's club events so please contact Shelly to volunteer your services. So far it looks like the events on 15th & 22nd September will have to be cancelled unless an official comes forward.

25th March

Julian Foster took 28th in the Bournemouth Jubilee hilly 42km at Wool today with a time of 1:14:41. The event was won by Paul Jones of the promoting club in 1:2:51.

24th March

The first club TT of the season has taken place this afternoon over 10 miles at Owermoigne. Although it was mainly sunny, a cold wind blowing across the course kept times on the slow side. Nineteen riders took part including five visitors and one Come & Try It entrant.

Julian Thacker showed that when there are points on offer, he's the man to beat, but a superb ride by John Chapman ran him close. For the full result click here.

19th March

Julian Thacker was also racing on Sunday in the RC Omega circuit events at Thruxton. Arriving late, he had no time to change his wheels and had to ride the event on his deep rim wheels. This was an interesting experience, especially in the exceptionally strong side-wind conditions around the back of the circuit. It doesn't seem to have hampered him too much though, as he managed a good 5th place in an 80+ rider field, earning 5 points towards his 3rd cat licence.

18th March

Four CCW members have been in race action this weekend and have all suffered quite windy conditions.

Yesterday Shelly and Chris travelled up to Andover for the first open 10 of the season on the P613. The super fast outward leg was followed by a block headwind return that caused even Michael Hutchinson to be outside 30mph. Only just mind, winning with 20:03. Chris gained 26th with his 22:52 and Shelly was 6th Lady with her 26:35.

Closer to home today, John Chapman and Julian Foster had an even stronger wind to contend with in the EDCA 24 at Wimborne. John returned 1:3:43 for eighth place, while Julian was down in 21st with 1:12:08 having lost around two minutes through mistaking the finish. The win was shared here by Dave Dent and Paul Jones in 57:35.

Even the club run was affected by the gale with the decision to ride a circuit in both directions, before heading for home. Andrew and Todd Preston with Pete Washington were joined by Chris, a visitor from Eagle RC, in trying to dodge the squally showers.

Andrew Stevenson has received details of a sponsored ride from London to Paris in September in aid of a childrens leukaemia charity. Further information in pdf format here.

14th March

We have been contacted by Phil and Majorie Hunt who are running a catered chalet near to Morzine in the French Alps. They are offering accommodation for road and mtb riders and are very close to Stage 8 of this year's TDF. They offer a complete service by being able to arrange airport transfers, equipment hire and guides on a daily or weekly basis. Geneva is the local airport conveniently for us served by Easyjet from Bournemouth. For more information on winter as well as summer holidays click here to view their website, or for more details tailored to CCW members, there is a PDF document here.

The club is to align with a charity each year and has chosen the Claire Lemmon Fund for 2007. A sponsored fun ride due to be organised during National Bike Week (16 - 24 June) has fallen through, but it is hoped that something can be arranged in conjunction with our 2-up 10 on July 24th.

All CCW Sunday rides start from Manor Road, Weymouth at 10am. The 9:30 start for the Dorchester based people will ride to join up at Weymouth. The routes will then be decided on the basis of the abilities of those that turn up.

11th March

CCW members took part in two events today as the winter programme gives way to the racing season. An unfortunate overlap, beyond our control, meant that our final reliability trial clashed with an inter-club time trial.

Five riders braved the 100 mile reliability trial on what must have been one of the best days ever for it. Shelly, Chris, Andrew Preston, Jeremy Guy and Nick Collins stayed together too and completed the course in seven hours. The sprint for the Jubilee \clock was won by Shelly who had towed the group for many a mile throughout the day. Well done to all.

Meanwhile Julian Thacker and Ian Locock rode solo in the inter-club 25 with Poole Wheelers and Wessex Road Club at Lytchett Matravers. John Chapman chose to ride the 2-up section with Barry Clewett. Julian and Ian were only separated by a handful of seconds throughout the event, first one leading and then the other. By the finish though, Ian had steadily pulled out a nineteen second lead finishing with 59:35 to Julian's 59:54. John and Barry rode a steady race, with John leading for much of the way in recording 1:0:52. The event was won by Max Baldock in 56:03.

4th March

The Poole Wheelers Round the Harbour time trial this morning was cancelled due to the weather and it seems that most CCW riders decided that bed, or the gym, were better options. On the subject of beds, I hear that Ian Lummes has now been testing the Poole General offerings. What seemed at first like a fairly innocent low-speed crash, has left Ian more battered than at first thought. Apart from the obligatory cuts and bruises that Ian describes as fairly minor, he has actually fractured his cheekbone. A visit to the Maxillo-facial dept at Poole on Friday has resulted in Ian having a plate inserted and another stay in hospital. However, I am assured that he is now out. We wish him well for a quick recovery and for those amongst you that are also worried about his bike, Ian's particular brand of TLC has set it well on the way to recovery.

1st March

Ian Lummes did have trouble in the Poole Wheelers event on Sunday. There is still no word from Ian himself, but from the Poole Wheelers website it would appear that he crashed in East Lulworth during the event. Although he managed to finish, it seems he spent Sunday night in hospital with facial cuts and bruising. Best wishes to Ian for a speedy recovery.

26th February

Poole Wheelers ran their second club event of the season yesterday at Lulworth, taking in the climb of Whiteways Hill in the 14 mile course. Ian Lummes was the only CCW rider taking part this week and it appears from the result that he must have encountered some trouble. Tenth place in 1:00:01 and seventeen minutes behind the winner Robin Gillingham of Wessex Road Club must hold a story, but not one that I've heard of as yet. Watch this space.

25th February

The 100k Reliability Trial attracted six entries on what turned out to be a dry, but blustery day. Not quite what the weatherman predicted, but welcome nevertheless. As usual the group broke up fairly early on to form two distinct groups, but then Shelly lost the signal to her satellite and started taking her own diversions. The fast group unfortunately went a bit quick and managed to fall foul of both the new set of club rules for reliability trials and even the old rules. As a result, Shelly, Andrew Preston and Jeremy Guy qualified as being reliable, whereas John Chapman, Chris Jones and Nick Collins didn't. They all enjoyed a good day out in the sunshine for a change though, in preparation for the 100 miler in two weeks.

21st February

There was lower than usual turnout at the club meeting last night, probably as a result of holding it in half-term week. There was some bring and buy activity particularly for the retro fans among us. Final club night of the winter is on 20th March and any ideas for a theme gratefully received.

18th February

The inter-club 27km circuit time trial organised by Poole Wheelers at Bovington today saw six CCW members kick off their 2007 season on what was not a bad morning for mid-February. There were a wide variety of bikes on show from all-up low-pros to bog standard road bikes as the sixteen riders all took their own view of an early season event.

Chris Jones was quickest of the club contingent in 4th place using the full-on approach including disc wheel to record 41:17. In 5th was Julian Thacker using the road bike method in 42:59, immediately followed by Ian Locock, also without tri-bars etc, in 43:14.

Tenth and eleventh places were taken by Ian Lummes and Michelle Lindley with 46:09 and 48:09 respectively. Our final finisher in 53:16 was Pete Washington who is obviously keen to get the miles in now as he rode out to the event and back to Weymouth again. Ian lummes and Julian Thacker also took the old-time approach of riding out to the event, but did not have their racing wheels on wheel carriers.

The event was won by Max Baldock with the only ride under 40 minutes and in fact he almost won by three minutes with his 37:46.

11th February

The 50 mile reliability trial took place today in blustery and, at times, very damp conditions. That didn't stop 10 entries plus Barry Clewett setting off, including Adrian Baker from Egdon Heath Harriers. Pete Washington lost contact around Goulds Hill and carried on to do his own thing to try to get ahead, only to take a wrong turning. Eventually he rejoined the route at Swyre.

Shelly could be heard coughing her way up out of Winterbourne Abbas and wisely decided to turn back at the start of the Roman Road. What a way to spend her birthday.

By now the group had fragmented somewhat and the only real regrouping took place at Chickerell, where John Chapman, Chris Jones, Ian Locock and Ian Lummes joined up to ride to the finish in 3hrs 5mins. Next in was Nick Collins in 3hrs 25 mins, closely followed by Jeremy Guy and Andrew Preston four minutes later.

Unfortunately, Adrian Baker was not back until 4hrs 15 mins having suffered a rear wheel puncture in Portesham, but later reported he had enjoyed the ride. It was his first ride over 40 miles and has helped his training for an End-to-End relay in the summer.

28th January

We had a good turn out this morning for the 50k Reliability Trial, seven turned up (John Chapman, Jeremy, Andrew Preston, Ian Lummes, Chris and myself representing CC Weymouth. We also had Pete Grime (no club) and Barry Clewett (Bournemouth Arrow). Pete Washington turned up later in the ride!

It was a little chilly, well 7/8 degrees and 20mph northerly wind, but it was wonderfully clear and bright.

Our average pace for this ride was 15.3mph, although there were sections that I was hanging on desperately to a wheel at a speed of 20mph +. At one point I think we had managed to split into three groups, with two of these groups taking a different route, but I am led to believe that this is normal. Our group (Chris, me, Ian, Andrew, Pete G) took the route through Litton Cheney via Long Bredy farm , the others continued straight on, it was this section that Chris and Ian were keeping the pace high, amazingly we could see the other group in the distance with our fast pace through this section.

Andrew and I rode up Eggardon Hill where Andrew pointed out a herd of deer and a white stag – we thought it was especially as Andrew said that a white stag has been seen down in those parts. Our group kindly waited for the two of us to catch up and we descended down the Roman road, to discover a lone rider coming towards us – Washy! He joined our group as we were playing at aero positions, Ian was making fin shapes on his bottom (please don’t ask!) We regrouped again at Gould’s hill with John and Barry as they had gone ahead, and the pace once we reached Dorchester road increased again, and yes there were sprint finishes along the seafront. Finishing times were 2hrs 22mins. Shelly.

18th January

Temporary Hardriders course for this season has been authorised by CTT and given the number P454/21. Details are on the Events page. A more technical and HARDER course is in design and will be submitted for authorisation in time for the 2008 Hardriders.

16th January

There was another good turnout at the club night this evening with much enthusiasm for the new season in the air. It has been decided that the next club night on 20th February will feature a bring and buy sale of cycling gear.

15th January

There were 7 riders out on the run yesterday which unfortunately fragmented after about 15 miles when it was proven that it is impossible to lead from the back. It seems likely too that our last remaining newcomer will not be joining us again after being left to her own devices. No news from Shelly and Chris yet following their double track session at Calshot on Saturday, although Chris is apparently still reeling from his encounter with a Canadian lunatic.

Mid Devon CC have announced a cyclo-sportive on Dartmoor on Sunday 13th May 2007 with a choice of 100k or 100m routes. There are 1000 places available. Rose and Ian have entered the 100k and 100m respectively, as have new member William Wilson and Andrew Preston. About 70 places were available on 6th March, so are there any more club members who fancy joining them? Further details and entry form can be found here.

9th January

Peter Tindley is off on his travels again, this time to Australia. He is determined to get fit this season and turn out some awesome performances to the extent that he is following the likes of Stuart Dangerfield et al down under to escape the rain. As with his last trip you can follow the blog of the trip here.

The Piddle Valley hardriders course has had to be shelved through safety concerns both in Piddletrenthide and at the top end of the course at Buckland Newton. An alternative has been measured using the road race circuit at Wool and been submitted to CTT for a decision at their meeting on Monday 15th. It is probably less taxing than our hilly course, but will suffice for an alternative event this season whilst a more permanent solution is found. Thoughts on whether to swap this with our hilly are sought so please let your committee know your feelings.

Unfortunately our thoughts on improvements to the Inter-club competition have fallen on stony ground and the status quo remains for this season. It is to be discussed in committee, but a withdrawal from the competition is being considered a possibility for next season (2008) if this season's events do not attract better support on all sides. Our voice will also need to be heard regarding counting events, so please give your thoughts to any committee member.