July Update
Our New Membership Secretary
Welcome to our new Memership Officer, Lorna Stafford
Lorna has taken over as our new membership secretary. Lorna says:
Dear Members, We're excited to announce a new initiative to help you become more confident and self-sufficient cyclists! Our club will soon offer hands-on bike maintenance workshops designed for those unsure of basic repairs and upkeep. These sessions will cover essential skills such as fixing a puncture, oiling a chain, and other simple yet crucial maintenance tasks.
Workshop Highlights:
Fixing a Puncture: Learn how to identify, patch, and prevent punctures to smooth your rides.
Oiling Your Chain: Discover the proper cleaning and lubricating techniques to ensure optimal performance.
General Maintenance Tips: Get valuable advice on tool use, safety, and routine checks to keep your bike in shape.
These workshops are fantastic opportunities to gain practical knowledge and boost cycling confidence. Whether you're a novice or just looking to improve your skills, these sessions are perfect.
We Need Your Feedback!
We want to tailor these workshops to your needs. Please let us know what specific skills or topics you want to be covered. Your input is invaluable to making these workshops as beneficial as possible. If you would like to help at the workshops, please let Duncan or Lorna know. Remember, this is your club; this is your chance to shape it!
Lorna can be contacted at Membership@sanfairyanncc.co.uk and Duncan at Chair@Sanfairyanncc.co.uk.
Want to ride FAR?
The Fairies Autumn Rides (FAR) on Sunday 1 September are open for entries.
Here's your chance to enjoy the first day of autumn (according to the Met Office anyway) while there is still lovely summer weather. There is no need to worry about wet leaves on the road or storm Abacus whistling through, hopefully. Instead, choose between completely new 100, 150 or 200 km Audax routes taking you to pretty villages and through areas of outstanding natural beauty, keeping to pretty lanes where possible. We want to take you to exciting places, too - see the map on the Club Events page. What’s not to love?
The start and finish is Linton village hall, Sunday 1st September 2024 at 8:00 for the 200km, 8:30 for the 150km and 9:00 for the 100km. Entries through the Audax UK website. There are no entries on the day.
As always, there will be a warm welcome and a decent spread of food both before and after the event. We hope to see lots of club members and maybe introduce some Audax novices to the delights of these events.
Questions? Contact Bob Watts at bobwatts999@gmail.com
Big daddy
On July 21 Tom Humphrey will be setting off from the legendary Roubaix velodrome on the epic Transcontinental Race – only the second Club member to have attempted this 4,000km race – the big daddy of all ultra races. For the first time, it ends in Asia, approaching Istanbul from the Anatolian side, visiting the Alps and Balkans on the way with some particularly tough compulsory parcours.
It will be an unrelenting test, not just of cycling but of self-belief and self-sufficiency on this unsupported event, of route planning, of logistics, of satisfying hunger and thirst, beating the daytime heat and living with the nighttime cold, of dealing with the unknown and unforeseen, of getting through the lows and enjoying the highs.
The Club wishes him bon courage. If you want to follow Tom, all 336 riders will be tracked; Tom’s cap number is 289 and you can dotwatch through the TCR website: https://www.lostdot.cc/race/tcrno10
Our Website
The board has discussed the status of the website and is of the view that the work of Lise Taylor-Vebel this year to improve the structure and the content has been excellent. While work continues and there is a need for a constant flow of content the board believes we are well served by our current communication framework - Website, club Facebook, external facing Facebook, Instagram. We continue to value input and content from members. Please contact media@sanfairyanncc.co.uk
Another way of publicising the club is through Google Maps. We have recently made changes to our presence on Google in response to a suggestion from a club member. A search for “Cycle Clubs near me” on Google Maps should highlight our entry. All members can help develop this by submitting reviews and photos.
Can you help deliver the club’s time trial programme?
John Longbottom has managed our Time Trial offering for many years; starting in 1968 (aged 17) he has held the post of Time Trial Secretary13 times and Assistant Time Trial Secretary, also for 13 times. Allied to his other roles with Cycling Time Trials as South East District secretary and chairman, time has now come for him to scale back his commitments.
Since retiring from work John has carried out the Time Trial Secretary role on his own but is unwilling to continue in 2025 without an assistant. For our time trial programme to continue we will need to recruit an assistant to work with John for the rest of this year (and for 2025) to see how the end of year awards are managed and to see how next year's programme of events is set up. In 2025 the main task for the assistant would be to deliver the club evening time trial programme, with John’s support. If an assistant does come forward then John would look to completely step away from the Time Trial Secretary role in 2026.
Time trials are an easy introduction to competing on the bike; there is no need for specialist bikes for you to get started, you can use any roadworthy bike. The object is to ride alone and unassisted to record a time around a measured course; you can then compete against yourself to improve your time or against riders of a similar level. Time trials are a significant part of the heritage of the club so not continuing with the programme would bring this side of the club to an end.
John has said that he would be happy to continue with his timekeeping and marshaling at club events.
If you would like to volunteer or find out more about the role, please contact John at timetrials@sanfairyanncc.co.uk
Incidents Out on the Road
Earlier in the year Simon Charlesworth was injured in a coming together with another rider on a club run. Fortunately Simon is well into his recovery now and is back on his bike. On the incident report the tendency for modern drop handlebars to be splayed out and the risk that this could cause them to become tangled when riders are close together was noted. When the board discussed this incident they felt that it would be useful to highlight this risk to all members.
An incident on a club run occurred recently which resulted in riders and a car driver being involved in a verbal and physical altercation. The incident has been reported to the police. The board has discussed this incident and concluded that even when strongly provoked we should avoid aggression in any form. This is for three reasons: 1) Doing so risks escalating the situation; 2) Any case we have against a 3rd party is reduced; 3) The club wishes to present a positive image to other road users in line with our ethos to enjoy cycling in all its forms.
Our Fundraising takes off!
We are delighted that the San Fairy Ann Cycling Club name will be on the new air ambulance helicopter when it takes off shortly. This is in recognition of our Sportive fundraising over the years for the air ambulance which now tops £60,000. The sportive and the fundraising has been a massive team effort over many years and we can take great pride from this recognition from the charity.
Stephen Harmer as events secretary is looking at ideas for continuing the success of the sportive, if you would like to contribute your views please contact Stephen on Events@sanfairyanncc.co.uk.
AGM on 12th October and Board
The most recent board meeting was held on 8th July. The draft minutes are here Link.
The plan is to hold the AGM in Marden following on from the Saturday club runs so that the meeting is as convenient as possible for lots of members. There will be more communication with agenda and voting nearer the time.
And Finally
Hope this is a useful update. Please let us know what you think by post on Members Facebook or reply to Chair@SanFairyAnnCC.co.uk .