Arundel or bust

A group of the Club's senior members

enjoyed a pleasant run down to Arundel encouraged by messers Barclay and McCracken in the team car who didn't seem to be affected by the freezing wind on the way down or the constant rain on the run home

A steady pace was enjoyed until Baz & John Wise wound the pace up into the twenties which Tom McCall commented upon. A sociable lunch at Southwater before heading off to Bury Hill and Arundel which saw John Wise a clear winner ahead of Colin Bateman and Baz McDermott with Tom McCall, Noel Manchee, Roger Smith, Dave Worsfold and Alan Fidgett coming home at varing intervals.

An enjoyable evening was spent at the comfort inn before setting off into the rain for a direct route home which was made slightly easier with a tail wind

We are all looking forward to the next ride

Noel

ps thanks for the pix Brian - no JB in pix as he didn't seem keen on getting out the car and standing in the rain

Magic Homes Criterium – Saturday 20th February

I like to start my season with a circuit race (short, no hills, no cars) and Saturday seemed as good a day as any to pin my first number on. The chosen event was the Magic Homes Criterium at Hillingdon, a 3rd and 4th cat race over 25 laps, about 25 miles.

Considering the weather recently it was a great day with sun, a dry surface and not too much wind. The race was aggressive from the start but no one could hold a gap as riders were keen to blow off the cobwebs and chase anything up the road. I attacked 4-5 times up the drag to either start something or bridge to a group but it came to nothing and a bunch sprint settled things. Whilst I felt great, I started my sprint too far back (not the last time you’ll read that) and came across the line mid-pack.

Having whet my appetite my next race is 14^th March in the Dunsfold Surrey League event.

Festival RC Club dinner - pics

A few pics from the club dinner.

Florida Weather

We do not expect any sympathy but the weather here in Florida this winter has been one of extremes, nothing like we have experienced in all the years we have been staying here. In October and November we had record highs in the 80/90’s Fahrenheit plus on at least two occasions record lows down in the 40F mark. At Christmas it turned cold, in January record lows temperatures down one night to 27F. The picture displayed was taken at 3pm on Wednesday afternoon 6th January and is of part of one of the many orange groves I ride past on a regular basis. I rode past in the morning at about 11am but without a camera. When I got home Pam requested we drive out in the afternoon to see it. To my amazement although the temperature was back in the 60’s the icicles had not melted. Since then we have had the normal amount of rain for January, February and March all in one month! Two months to go before we return home with a touring holiday in Costa Rica starting at the end of February in the meantime.

SWRC Quiz Night

Had this note from the SWRC enquiring if anyone is interested in joining their Quiz Night. Details below.
It will be held in the Hook and Southborough Parish Hall, Hook Rd, Chessington.If you're interested, contact David Jordan at david.jordan34@btinternet.com


Folk,
We have decided to organize a Quiz Night on 9th Feb. at the club room. This is the brain child of Dudley Samuels who has worked hard on assembling the questions. We will start the quiz at 2100hrs.

To give you some information I list below the salient points:-

We have 30 questions – which will take about 1 hour..
We propose to have a number of teams & it would be good if we know who is coming early so we can make an effort to organize the teams efficiently!! We propose to have teams of 4 people each. The winning team will be reworded at the club lunch & prize presentation.
Subjects covered on the quiz will include Le Tour , Paris-Nice , Paris-Roubaix , 2 General cycling questions , BCF , CTT , SWRC , Team Sky
We are looking at the catering options & therefore we need to know who will participate. We have a Committee Meeting on 25th Jan. & it would be useful if those who have decided to support the quiz night would let me know before then so that we can take decisions based on facts. Once we have the requested numbers I will let you know what catering will be laid on.

This is a great opportunity to use our clubroom for a social event & I hope many of you will support us.