Cathy Johnson deserves hearty congratulations for arranging with Bedfordshire Council to commemorate our 90th anniversary in flowers, on the embankment.
The flowers are not yet fully in bloom, but the work already looks superb, well done to the gardeners and the council for a lovely job! Thank you all!
90th Year Captains Ride & Spanish Theme/Tapas - 8 Sept
To celebrate ninety years of BRCC there will be several club rides for you to choose from. All rides start so we can all get back to see the end of that days La Vuelta stage & its a good one ... Andorra-> Peyragudes , over four tough 1stCat climbs.
There's a distance to suit everyone:-
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90miles: Old Warden, Northill, Great Barford, Chapel End, Bletsoe, Sharnbrook, Carlton, Turvey, Cranfield, Aspley Guise, Woburn, Eversholt, Harlington, Streatley, Shillington, Meppershall, Southill & back to BRCC
Note - Approx 4000 feet of climbing so be prepared.
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90k: Route splits at Sharnbrook & back via Bromham, Kempston, Wotton, Houghton Conquest, Haynes Park, Bunny Lane.
Significant climbs also - you have been warned
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90mins: Details to follow
Or 9 miles - Details to follow
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Refreshments
During ride 90M & 90K: One feed station just before routes split approx 30miles, 2nd feed station for 90M route tbc.
After ride: Enjoy some food & Rioja, whilst watching the top boys tackle the later slopes of the Col du Port de Bales, Col de Peyresoude , before climbing up to Peyragudes.
More details to follow but PLEASE put a note in your diary, 8 September. Let's get in excess of 90 people
Anniversary club tops being shown off
We are pleased to hear of members proudly wearing their new 90th anniversary tops in events around the world.
Most recently, Mark Johnston sent us these fantastic photos of his trip...
We are also delighted to have received this message from Anna and Chris Priestley...
"We proudly wore the club shirt around Alanya ahead of the race and saw lots of Beds Road CC guys.
We both rented road bikes and consequently raced on level entry bikes.
We both did the sprint
Anna LV 55-59 came 14th
Chris V 60 -64 came 14th as well but 7th on the bike and had great pleasure passing the planet X tri bike etc on my £400 triple ring roady.
Steve McKeown got gold in V45 - 50 sprint and there were others whose results I do not have."
Well, we also hear that Jason Moore earned the title or European Champion for his age group in Antalya.
The interclub 30 mile TT was held around Old Warden on Sunday 26 May. We had ideal weather compared to recent days, being bright and dry with a slight breeze.
Due to some inconveniently placed roadworks with traffic light control on the B658 in two places between Shefford and the Broom crossroads, we were forced to run a slightly different course to last year.
Well done to Simon Norman for taking the overall win, and to CC Ashwell for taking the club points with a very strong showing. Bad luck to Jon Friend who punctured 3 miles into the event.
Many thanks to HNCC for organising and hosting this second interclub competition in the series.
Bookings are now open for the InterClub 15 mile event on 23 June.
Evening League No. 1, Thursday 2 May
Perfect weather welcomed our first evening league event of the year, run on the 10 mile course. Bunny lane, as is usual early in the season, is in a rough state, so many thanks to Rob Page and Jaouade Izzo who swept the worst of the gravel and stones to the side of the road.
69 riders signed on, several for their first time trial - we hope you all enjoyed it and look forward to seeing back next week!
New for 2013 is our 'Couples-League' - introduced by Alison Cooper to encourage more women to take part in competitive sport. You can sign up here to add your team - you don't need to be related or in a relationship, but at least one of you must be female.
Particular congratulations must got to Mathilde Matthijsse, riding for Bonito Squadra Corse, in breaking the Womens course record by a huge margin!
Well done to Jim Moffat for the overall win, to Mike & Theresa Jackson to topping the Couples Event, to Richard Piron for top MX group rider, to Rachel Armstong for top FV group rider, to Mike Jackson for top MS group rider, Mathilde Matthijsse for top FS group rider, and Josh Roberts for top MJ rider.
Thanks to the following who made it all happen...
Andy Maddox - sign-on and pushing off
Derek Taylor - Start timekeeper
Clive Anderson - pushing off
Rina Brown and Paula James - Tea Bar
Jan Laming - Signs and computer times entry
Graham Laming - organiser and finish timekeeper
Detailed results for all groups are available here.
Sign on opens from Sunday for BRCC members and from Tuesday for other riders, here.
Captains Ride and BBQ, Sat 27 April
Well done to all who braved the wind, rain and hail to take part in our annual pre-evening-league BBQ and Captains Ride.
It was really humbling to see so many of the younger riders out, many aged 6-10, who seemed quite un-phased by the miserable weather or even the climb of hillfoot. Well done all!
Many thanks to all who helped make it happen, we all had a great time and our Captain was kept busy with the enormous challenge of cooking the food fast enough to feed the hoardes. As soon as a plate or burgers or sausages or chicken appeared, it vanished within seconds!
Limited Edition 90th Anniversary Club Tops
We are delighted to release our design for a limited edition of 90th Anniversary club tops, designed for us by club member Rocky Kumar.
Click for high resolution front and back images...
Price is £30.00 each to paid-up members. If you would like one, please include your waist, chest and height measurements in cm, along with your name and we will get one on the go for you. Send your order to webmaster@bedsroad.org
Many thanks to all 113 riders who joined in the fun on 3rd Feb, for our first reliability ride and all 118 who took part on the 17th Feb. The weather improved dramatically for the second one and made for a very pleasant day out indeed.
It was really nice to see so many clubs represented, and so many people getting a real buzz out of riding their bikes - which is what it is all about! Some went all out, testing their fitness to the limit, others got their enjoyment from the social aspect of riding in a group, sharing the beautiful countryside together.
Particular thanks go to everyone who helped make them happen, Andy Maddox, Terry Bush, Lorna Webb, Gail Fisher and all others who helped 'man the pumps' - very much appreciated!
New Year's Day lottery ride
A full house saw an enthusiastic start to the year, with 75 riders entered into the lottery ride. Clubs from around the region were represented, with ages ranging from 9 upwards.
Many thanks to Terry Bush for organising, to Colin Buxton for timekeeping and calculations, and to the many helpers on the tea bar. Particular thanks got to ByerCycles of Clifton who donated all the prizes.
The main winners were:-
David Cook - nearest match of time to his lottery time
Rupert Gates - biggest additional time over his lottery time
Graham Dennis - biggest negative time under his lottery time
Alison Cooper - smallest positive difference from lottery time
Billy Fadden - smallest negative difference from lottery time.
The winners then drew further random prizes to distribute more of the ByerCycles prizes.
Many thanks to everyone who took part, helped, attended - you all helped make this a very enjoyable event.
Box End BRCC CX, mud, mud, mud!
Sunday 25 November saw Beds Road CC hosting the Central CycloCross League event 7.
A few of the Beds Road riders before the start.
The river at Box End broke its banks on Saturday, and the lake level rose around 60cm over Saturday night - we weren't sure whether the event could proceed.
But it did, and it was a GREAT hit - mud, slips, slides, falls, exciting racing, scary downhills - some really exciting action. Many thanks to all the team who helped make this a thoroughly enjoyable event, and especially to Mark Anstee for organising it.
James Stewart takes a spill...
The event attracted a good field of U10, U12, U14, U16, Novice and Senior riders, and it was exciting action from all the races - well done to you all. I found the course exciting and tricky to handle, and I was only pushing a wheelbarrow, so it must have been fun in a pack.
Isaac Anstee, leading junior rider for BRCC. Photo courtesy Rob Page.
Round 5 of the Central CX League took place on a dry but bitterly cold day at Brackley.
The event hosted by A5 Rangers was on a very technical and compact course within the grounds of Magdalen College.
A good number of the BRCC youngsters braved the cold and raced well. Rosie Dunbar led the way in the U10s finishing 7th, followed by some spirited riding from Miles Varley 16th, Joseph Hadsley 20th and Rose Coggins 23rd.
Angus Hudson was the lone BRCC rider in the U12s finishing 8th. The youth race was held on the full CX course, Jan Laming rode well finishing in 20th.
Mark Anstee battling for position before the turns.
A total of 81 riders finished the main Junior / Senior / Vets / Women race. Isaac Anstee proved more durable this week leading the BRCC riders home in 30th (3rd Junior) followed by Mark Anstee 33rd, Geoff Cooper 37th, Steve James 39th and Dave Olney 46th.
Many thanks to Neil Ellison/Siobhan Butler for the photo
BRCC world champion!
Beds Road now have a world triathlon champ! Congratulations to Phil Holland who was crowned world champion at the 35-39 age-group sprint triathlon event held in New Zealand. Phil topped the times with a superb 1:05:53 - see here. Also on the podium was Beds Road athlete Steve McKeown, who came 3rd in the 40-44 category with a time of 1:06:43. Jason Moore finished 6th in the 20-24 group, with a time of 1:07:30. Jason had the fastest bike split time of all the athletes competing. Fantastic achievements from all three athletes.
Closer to home, Beds Road held its final time trial of the year around the hilly 10 mile Cardington course. A storming ride meant Simon Norman took the win in an impressive time of 24:35. Simon has been having a great season, and looks certain to achieve even more success after recently coming into the sport.
Elsewhere, several of the club riders took part in the hilly 103 mile sportive from Milton Keynes. Of the 36 finishers David Course finished fifth in an impressive time of 5:38:10. Steve LePage finished 12th in 6:14:40. Another club rider – Rob Miller – had to withdraw after 30 miles due to mechanical issues. Also on offer was a 60 mile ride, completed by 163 riders, led home by Mark Booth and Eimear Mullen in under 3 hours. Several of the club riders finished in the first third of the finishers – including Nora Haggart, Alan Shillitoe, Alastair Fadden in just under 4 hours. Just outside the four hour time was Richard Piron, Kevin Willet, Andy Purdy, Tony Parello and Simon North – all in the first 60 finishers.
Spring almost arrived, for our 2nd SPOCO event, on Sunday 13 March. The sun was out from time to time and temperatures were into double figures. Riders from 5 local clubs were competing ...
Despite the cold wind and treacherous potholes, a good turnout of hardy riders, not afraid of a challenge, signed on to get the Club's 2011 TT season off to a flying start...
