Downland Autumn Sportive Report

Sunday Nov 8th 2009 - 100 mile route

I had early suspicions about this end of season local Sportive. For starters, why was the online entry list not managing to break 100 riders?, (maybe they'll all turn up on the day I thought), and why was no one from Thornton showing any interest? (it must be me). Maybe everyone has access to some long range weather forecast that I don't. Regardless I thought I'd give it a bash, as the route went though some very scenic parts of east kent and I had nothing else planned that day other than being a Dad and walking the dog.

The day started off cold and grey with low over cast cloud. The day finished off cold and grey with low overcast cloud and the middle part was the same. However the previous nights thunder storm had at least cleared the rain from the sky. What it had also done was wash every small shard of flint onto the lanes of East Kent.

I arrived at Downland Cycles, signed on, drank a coffee, topped up on SIS Gels and started the ride with a group of about 15 other riders that unbeknown to me were all mates from Whitstable Sailing Club. There were no marshals on the route but it was well sign posted and easy to follow. Within 5 miles I must have past at least 10 riders fixing punctures. Our group stayed puncture free until about 15 miles then we seemed to pick one up literally every mile or so for the next 15 miles. We split into 2 groups to reduce the odds of stopping, and I stayed puncture free until Aldington. By the time I reached the feed station halfway at Bethersten I had used all 3 of my spare inner tubes. I soon gave up any idea of a decent time as I continue to play puncture Russian roulette. The day turned into a war of attrition. Downland were selling cheap inners at the feed station so I topped up and left with about 4 of the original Whitstable Sailor types.

At about the 65 mile I ate a caffeine gel and suddenly thought I was Eddy Merck. In a rather naive move I decided to leave the comfort of my sailor mates and went for a lone breakaway. This was all going to plan until I punctured. .....twice. The Sailors waved merrily as they sped past during the second of the two puncture repairs and I never saw them again.

I didn't enjoy the last 20 miles, my caffeine gel had long since left my system, it got colder and I'd told my wife i'd probably be home 2 hours ago. Eventually I arrived back at Downland. I ate 5 pieces of cake and finished the route in 6 hours 59 minutes. I couldn't fault the organisation or the staff on the day. They provided two well stocked feed stations and a broom wagon. Although I thought £22 quid was a bit steep. For a local small scale sportive it was well organised and all the staff were helpful and polite. I'd do it again but would wait to sign on the day having checked the weather. I have since brought some puncture resistant tyres, so far so good. Looking forward to Ashdown in Jan but will stay with the group untill at least the last half a mile. All the best.

Jim (Diesel) Reeves

Newsletter

As you may know, I will no longer be producing the Newsletters that many of you used to receive. This is due to time constraints and the fact that the relaunched club website contains all the latest news. However, I know that some of you don’t have regular internet access so I will be producing these single-page efforts to keep you up to date with TRC activity….

ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING

This years’ AGM took place in the Shepherd & Crook on 24 October. 15 attended. A Copy of the full minutes are available on request. The main points arising were:

The 2 membership categories (Racing and Non-Racing) will be re-categorised as Social Member and Active Member (An Active Member is anyone who attends Sunday club Runs and/or takes part in Time Trials, Sportives, Racing, etc.) Fees are slightly increased to £6 and £12 respectively for 2010. This year a whopping 51 of you paid club subscriptions. Thank you for your continued support.

To support club interaction at all levels of ability we will be adjusting the time and location of the Sunday Club run. From the end of November (exact date to be confirmed) the club run will start at the Railway Café in Hythe at 9.00am for the ‘Fast’ group and Graeme’s ‘Intermediate’ group. Gordon’s steadier paced group will leave the café at 10.00am. The aim will be for all 3 groups to complete their rides at the café for 11.00am.

Thank you to Richard Foster for administering this years’ BARMY Award. Richard has now relinquished this role and I have agreed to take over. To make this job more manageable, if you wish to be involved in the race for next years’ BARMY award you need to forward me details of all your club activities at the end of each month. colin.tuckwell@ntlworld.com

AWARDS NIGHT

This years’ Awards Night will take place on Saturday 28 November, 7.30pm at the Railway Café function room, Hythe. Hopefully turnout will be excellent like last year. 2010 Club Diaries should also be available to purchase on the night, costing just £3.00.

CHRISTMAS LUNCH

A TRC lunch has been arranged and will take place on Sunday 20 December at 1pm in the Shepherd and Crook. Please let Gordon or Toni Spain (new social secretary) know if you would like to attend.

KENTISH KILLER SPORTIVE – 17 January 2010 – Badgers Mount, Nr. Orpington

In addition to the Hell of the Ashdown Sportive many of you are doing, there is another one in January which you might like the look of. It is being organised by our old friend Adie Crothall’s club, GS Avanti. Full details can be found at http://www.riderhq.com/events/kentishkillersportive

Best wishes, Colin Tuckwell

AGM APPROVES A UNIVERSAL SUNDAY-RIDE VENUE AND A HIKE IN TRC SUBSCRIPTIONS

From late November 2009 the two principal Sunday club-ride groups, i.e. the fast group that starts at Botolph’s Bridge Inn car park at 9:00 am, and the intermediate group that starts at the Light Railway Café in Hythe at 9:30 am, will both assemble at the Hythe café at 9:00 am before commencing their respective two-hour runs. The club’s third group, the leisurely-casual group that normally rides for about an hour, will continue to assemble at the Hythe café at 10:00 am. All three groups will subsequently end their runs at the Hythe café at between 11:00 and 11:30 am. Members attending the annual general meeting unanimously accepted the reasons for the venue and start-time changes, namely: that the prevalence of three separate groups meant there was little or no interaction between them; there were no obvious means of graduation from predominantly leisurely to purposefully energetic riding; and there was an incipient mood of faction rather than fusion within the club. A conjoint venue and a universal start time for the principal groups, the meeting believed, would address these issues.

Preceding the matter of a common venue and start time, the meeting was urged to consider the ravages of past and promised inflation on the club’s finances. In doing so, the secretary/treasurer hoped that the meeting would acknowledge the need for a 20% increase in membership subscriptions for 2010. He rapidly discovered that he was pushing at an open door. Members present not only endorsed the proposed increase but went on to change the categories of riders to whom the subscriptions would apply. Up to 2009, there were ‘racing’ and ‘non-racing’ member categories, where the former paid twice the subscription rate of the latter. From 2010, members will be re-categorised as ‘active’ or ‘social’. Active members would include those who rode regularly with the club, on Sunday runs, or time trials, or ‘sportives’, or in road and track races, or other club-designated rides. In contrast, social members would include those who rarely, if ever, rode with the club but maintained their membership for historical or companionability reasons. The new subscription rates would be £12 for active members and £6 for social members, with a 25% discount for families who had two or more club members. Percipient readers will note that the newsletter-only membership category will disappear because of the cessation of publication of the newsletter.

Other business of the meeting encompassed the routine appointment, or re-appointment, of officers, and the endorsement by the meeting of a proposal made by Malcolm Strickland to set up a massed-start club-sponsored race to be held on the Bettshanger cycle track in June 2010.

Anyone wanting to know more about the ruminations of this well-attended AGM should contact Gordon Davis.

Eric Bates