South Bucks Road Club AGM 2012

At last night's Annual General Meeting the following officials were elected:

Chairman                       Peter Ayres
General Secretary          Alan Hodgson
Racing Secretary           Alan Hodgson
Treasurer                       Anona Stevens
CTT Reps.                     Alan Hodgson/Peter Ayres
WLC Rep.                     Tony Pell
Auditor                          Audrey Hughes

Club Events 2013
These will be held on the first Saturday of each month from April to September with the exception that no event will be held in May.  In addition a Hill climb will take place on Saturday 2nd. November.

Affiliations 2013
Cycling Time Trials (CTT)
West London Combine (WLC)
West London Cycling Association (WLCA)
Road Records Association (RRA)


Prize Winners 2012                   

Men's BAR                    Not Awarded
Men's Trophy                Not Awarded
Ladies BAR                   Not Awarded
Novices Cup                  Not Awarded
Points Trophy                Harjinder Obhi (Unless something extraordinary occurs in  the forthcoming Hill Climb)
12 Hour Cup                 Not Awarded
Mannheim Trophy        Not Awarded

Michelle will attempt to book the Road Club Lunch for Sunday 13th. January at Birds Hill Golf Club.

                                                              

Club Event 1 September 2012

For a change, it did not rain on us on the Maidenhead Thicket H10/2 course. One could even describe it as pleasant, at least to the extent that 15*C is reminiscent of summer. In contrast to our recent events, the morning started dull, gradually became warmer and the sun was even glimpsed, but only after the event was over, of course. Alan had no problems with damp timing sheets. Congratulations to the three SBRC members who set personal bests today.

Rider	Club	Time	Points
Michelle Ayres	South Bucks RC	25:46	9
Bhodi Morrison	Unattached	27:41
Ian Brodie	Maidenhead & D. CC	25:18
Joy Payne	South Bucks RC	27:19	8
Robert Tinn	Maidenhead & D. CC	23:43
John Grr. Payne	South Bucks RC	27:43 (PB)	7
Paul Bucknall	RAF CA	23:45
Harjinder Obhi	South Bucks RC	25:14 (PB)	10
Michael Kennedy	South Bucks RC	29:26 (PB)	6

Club Points Trophy (SBRC Members Only)

Rider	Points
Harjinder Obhi	49
Joy Payne	39
Michelle Ayres	35
John Payne	27
Peter Cockbain	19
Michael Kennedy	11
Robert Cable	6

Club Event 4 August 2012

Yet again, the warm weather was absent. To cap it all, the rain started a few minutes into the race. Now, where have I heard that before? Oh yes, at the last event! Once again, it was "soggy scoresheets" time on the line. Let's just call it "enthusiasts' weather".

Rider	Club	Time	Points
Joy Payne	South Bucks RC	27:10	8
Michelle Ayres	South Bucks RC	25:57	9
R. Wilcox	Bath RC	24:34
N. Stagg	Hounslow & D. W.	21:56
S. Aukins	Maidenhead & D. CC	23:12
C. Grant-Riach	Maidenhead & D. CC	24:11
M. Woods	Maidenhead & D. CC	25:59
Jo Wells	Hounslow & D. W.	28:58
D. Tinn	Maidenhead & D. CC	23:53
R. Tinn	Maidenhead & D. CC	24:14
Harjinder Obhi	South Bucks RC	25:33	10

Club Points Trophy (SBRC Members Only)

Rider	Points
Harjinder Obhi	39
Joy Payne	31
Michelle Ayres	26
John Payne	20
Peter Cockbain	19
Robert Cable	6
Michael Kennedy	5

South Bucks at Olympics TT

We had a fabulous day out in Weybridge, Surrey, with the South Buck CTC, cheering Bradley Wiggins and Chris Froome to Gold and Bronze respectively. To give you a flavour of the day, here's a video of the road race Gold medallist Alexander Vinokourov in his colourful TT outfit. Note the young lad with vuvuzela and Wiggo Sideburns at the end of the video (no, not Alan!). I would have put up a video of Wiggins and Froome, but was just too busy cheering.

Gustav Larsson, with the interesting looking Swedish team aero helmet (alien life form?):

And here is a mobile phone picture of Froome and Italian Marco Pinotti:

Club Event 7/07/2012

Here are the results of the time trial on Saturday 7 July 2012 (on H10/2 Maidenhead Thicket). We were blessed with 5 minutes of sunshine - but only during the warm up. Shortly after the race began, it started to drizzle. The Met Office suggests that it is the fault of the Jet Stream being too far south at the moment!

Rider	Club	Time	Points
Harjinder Obhi	SBRC	25:45	10
R. Wilcox	Bath RC	24:47
John Payne	SBRC	29:06	7
Michelle Ayres	SBRC	26:30	9
Joy Payne	SBRC	27:43	8

Club Points Trophy (SBRC Members Only)

Rider	Points
Harjinder Obhi	29
Joy Payne	23
John Payne	20
Peter Cockbain	19
Michelle Ayres	17
Robert Cable	6
Michael Kennedy	5

Club Event 02/06/2012

Here are the results of the second time trial event of the year. Once again, the sun eluded us and it felt more like winter. At least it didn't rain (spitting on the way home doesn't count!).

Rider	Club	Time	Points
T. Childs	Westerley RC	25:27
P. Oliver	Fairley United	23:11
J. Hopkins	Fairley United	28:18
C. Kitchener ?	Bayeux RT	23:03
Harjinder Obhi	SBRC	26:03	10
Owen Brunsden	A5 Rangers	29:47
Peter Cockbain	SBRC	26:48	9
Joy Payne	SBRC	28:57	8
John Payne	SBRC	30:05	7
Robert Cable	SBRC	33:17	6

Club Points Trophy (SBRC Members Only)  

Rider	Points
Peter Cockbain	19
Harjinder Obhi	19
Joy Payne	15
John Payne	13
Michelle Ayres	8
Robert Cable	6
Michael Kennedy	5

World Champion at Book Launch event, Evans Cycles in London

Earlier this week, I attended a book launch event at Evans Cycles in London. There, I met 2 times cyclocross World Champion and Omega Pharma Quick Step rider, Zdenek Stybar:

Very nice gentleman he is too! Sadly, he didn't reveal any secrets that would help me to stop being a back marker! He was also BMX World Champion at the tender age of 8. Wow!

The evening was hosted by Daniel Friebe, on the right below. Daniel is a cycling journalist and writer - he collaborated with Mark Cavendish to write Boy Racer, and also recently published Eddy Merckx: The Cannibal. Balint Hamvas (middle) launched his Cyclocross 2011/2012 photo book. A coffee table type with superb pictures, capturing a wide variety of perspectives on riders, their lives and racing. His website is cyclephotos.co.uk. Yes, I did buy a copy, and yes, I did get it signed by both Balint and Zdenek! I also have a signed copy of Daniel's book on Merckx, which is highly recommended too.

Zdenek told us the story behind his pink Specialized bike, which had caused quite a stir last winter when he started racing on it in a blaze of pink-themed publicity. I asked him what it is like to be in a team with riders like Tony Martin and Levi Leipheimer, and even whether he gets tips on time trialling from Herr Martin! He said that it is a real confidence boost to be in the same team and he learns by watching Tony Martin warm up and prepare for races. Off the bike, Stybar runs twice a week, does core/stability training in the gym and weights, mainly presses. One season, before the World Championships, he ran 3400 steps as stair climb training only to realise later that he was supposed have been working on 340! They stuck him in an ice bath to speed recovery, but during the World Championships, he was flying up the stairs! On training for cyclocross, he told me that you have to train at the intensity of races, like intervals. Makes me tired just thinking of it. Just what you'd expect, I suppose.

I wish I'd stuck around longer and harassed him for more information, but it's a fine line between being a keen fan and behaving like a stalker! A fantastic evening. There was even cold Belgian beer! I only heard about the event on the day, but I'm glad I did.


Harjinder Obhi, SBRC