Tour de France

On Sunday 6th September I am organising a day trip to France. The trip will roughly comprise of:

Catch ferry as foot passengers with bikes at around 8.00am from Dover to France.

Ride a pre-arrange scenic, rural route for a couple of hours.

Have a spot of lunch in a pre-chosen cafe

Ride back to the docks to catch a late afternoon ferry.

If you like the sound of this please let me, Gordon or Michael Pumphrey know to give us a rough idea of numbers. Then Michael and I can start to flesh-out the details"

Colin Tuckwell

Thank You

I would like to thank everyone who helped to make the VTTA Kent Group 30 mile Time Trial such a success. This was, of course, down to great teamwork. Yours, Michael Winsor Chairman

Thursday Evening Summer Club Run

For anyone wishing to attend there will be a Thursday evening club ride taking place starting the 25th June and running on a weekly basis until we lose light or interest... which ever comes first. I had spoken to a couple of members about this idea and many people have said that they would like to get out one night a week in a group to have a spin around after work. So this will commence this Thursday evening with me leading the ride leaving Hythe Railway Cafe at 1800 for a ride of the same distance and time that we would cover on a Sunday morning club ride. If anyone would like to join us then please be there by six. If people are having a problem making that time we could look at this and maybe push it a little later to accommodate.

Steve

Dragon Ride 2009

Thornton member Danny took part in the Dragon Ride this Sunday gone in South Wales. Here are a few words from the man himself.

As part of my preparations for this years Etape I rode the Dragon Ride Gran Fondo 190km for the second time. This year the organisers decided to put in a couple of extra climbs before the first major climb, to thin the field out, thanks lads! Thereby extending the distance and adding an extra few metres. For those that have not ridden this sportive it is a challenge and provide a taste (very small) of what you find in the Alps and Pyrenees. As for my ride I was going well until around 90 miles until the inevitable cramp struck but I managed to ride through it and found myself in a group of around 40 with no one wanting to work, sound familiar? Which was frustrating albeit we were going 20mph in to a head wind! With the final major climb of the day approaching, the second assent of the Bwlch, which rises from Neath a distance of 14 km; the weather was very hot, salt was running in my eyes and it all did not seem like fun. However the decent of the Bwlch with speeds touching 50 mph and a fast 15 miles to the finish seeing speeds of 25 – 30 mph resulted in a time of 6:42 and an Average speed of 17.8 mph with a place of 166 out of around 1600 starters. The quickest time of the day being Dan Lloyd of the Cervello Test team who cruised in at 5:47 a week after completing the Giro. I know Mont Ventoux is going to be a lot tougher and hotter but it this was good preparation ride. Having experienced it twice now it would be nice to see a group of us next year as I do know the route?

Danny Frost

Cycle Event France

A cycling festival will be held in the Lille Metropole area in late August 2009. It includes a 160 km sportive. Anyone interested in this and other festival events can access more detail on www.lechtibiketour.org, although the English version of the site (click on the Union Jack) differs from the French.

Ever considered a 50 mile time trial?

The alarm went off but I was already awake in anticipation of my first 50 Time Trial.  The weather forecast was a bit iffy but no rain so far.

We got to HQ and the skies started to look heavy.  I was off at No.18 and Michael No.51 so we thought he would overtake me at some stage.

The heavens opened just as a couple of riders in front of me started.  Fortunately the rain stopped although the roads were pretty wet and I thought the wind was kinder than expected. Normally that stretch from Camber back to Lydd can be hell.  I seemed to be pacing myself well and with encouragement from the marshals felt even quite happy to be partaking in this event.  Michael overtook me on the second lap just after Hammond's Corner and as he went by he shouted words of encouragement - at least I think that's what he was shouting.  This gave me a boost and meant not far to go and hopefully I had left enough in the tank to give a final push at the end.  As I turned for Brenzett Green I kept looking for Pat Hill but it seemed a long way off but then she appeared on the horizon and all was done.

I was pleased to have completed the course and much comforted by all the encouragement by all around me.  It has inspired me to have another go and hopefully other riders will have a go to - anyone can do it!

 

Rachelle Pumphrey