The event starts at 7.30pm. Signing on will be from 6.45pm at the Crows Nest Pub at Aston Clinton:

Crows Nest, Tring Hill, TRING, Hertfordshire HP23 4LD

Starting at 7.30 allows for 45 riders. VC10 members have preference places and can prebook start times. However, if these places are not taken by 7.00pm they will be made available to non members.

Costs for Club Events and a TT Membership Deal

£5.00 per rider non member per event £4.00 per club rider per event paying on the night for one off rides £35.00 per club rider for entry to the whole series. This works out at £3.50 per ride if you do the 10 event series. Special Membership 2nd claim offer £60.00 for membership TT series, and entry to the Open TT.

The event will be run under normal CTT guidelines and if it is deemed that the road conditions are too dangerous the event will be cancelled.

Course Details are:

Course Map:

Round 1 Results

After frenzied activity to take advantage of the pre race sign on facility available to VC10 1st and 2nd claim members a full field was expected. Plus with excellent conditions forecast it was a surprise that only 28 riders signed on.

Until you ride you never know what the conditions will yield. However, as the times show it was a fast night with many pb’s.

Winner Pete Lawrence just failed to drop into the 19 minute mark. One of his major objectives for 2012. Paul Gamlin in second place shaved 1 second off his pb making the drive from Bristol worth it.

Many other riders broke their pb’s. If we can get a good run of weather hopefully the F11/10 will become one of the more popular courses in 2012.

The temperature dropped quickly as did the traffic flow. Plus the wind shifted from a light Westerly to a very light North Easterly. So we are none the wiser to what is the desired wind direction for the course.

Thank you to Steve Quinn and Richard King for doing the start timing and pushing off. Nick Calkin and Chris Starling for excellent marshalling at the Wigginton turn. Dan Clemens for making sure people did not end up in Aylesbury at the west end of the course. Finally without Richard Wise and Vanessa Waite doing the finish timing we would have no official times.

We hope to see you next week.

Depending on the Sportive calender for 2013. We may return next year.

All entries fees paid will be refunded by the end of the week ending 11th May 2012.

Location: Princess Risborough School HP27 0DT

Date: Sunday 20th May 2011

The event starts at 7.30pm. Signing on will be from 6.45pm at the Crows Nest Pub at Aston Clinton:

Crows Nest, Tring Hill, TRING, Hertfordshire HP23 4LD

Starting at 7.30 allows for 35 riders. VC10 members have preference places and can prebook start times. However, if these places are not taken by 7.00pm they will be made available to non members.

Costs for Club Events and a TT Membership Deal

£5.00 per rider non member per event £4.00 per club rider per event paying on the night for one off rides £35.00 per club rider for entry to the whole series. This works out at £3.50 per ride if you do the 10 event series. Special Membership 2nd claim offer £60.00 for membership TT series, and entry to the Open TT.

The event will be run under normal CTT guidelines and if it is deemed that the road conditions are too dangerous the event will be cancelled.

Course Details are:

Course Map:

It’s not about the bike……

 Well according to a well-known Texan it isn’t, but is it?

I first bought a mountain bike in the early nineties – a Marin Muirwoods – no fancy suspension, no exotic materials, just a run of the mill bike with massively wide tyres, which not only sounded like a Land Rover but were liable to puncture every time I rode the thing.

Then came the day when my bike was stolen. Whilst waiting for the insurance replacement to come through months later, I discovered road bikes, and that was that for the next eighteen years.

In 2011 with mid life crisis upon me and thinking of what adventures I wanted to do, and was still physically capable of, I dusted my old replacement Marin off and rode it again for the first time, bringing back memories of punctures, accidents, back pain and rides I wouldn’t dream of repeating. Then an idea came to me after seeing pictures of the Icelandic volcanic eruption and watching a You Tube clip of someone cycling across the barren interior of the island – maybe this could be the adventure I was looking for if I was physically and mentally capable of doing such a thing – thus my Iceland idea was born.

The next question though, was what sort of bike could I use for such a expedition? I really didn’t like my old mountain bike, my road bike was far too fragile and even my trusty old Dawes Galaxy would probably not be up to the job of transporting me and all my camping gear across such rugged terrain, so what would be the bike of choice?

The requirements were simple – a strong steel frame so if I should ever need it welded in the middle of nowhere it would be possible, plenty of luggage carrying capacity, nothing fancy like suspension to go wrong or knock off on Iceland’s lava strewn roads and a big enough spread of gears to get my bulk up any hills I should encounter. Out of the blue came my revelation – the Genesis Fortitude Adventure.

I’m the first to admit that having not ridden MTBs for nearly 20 years, much has changed, but what is different about the Genesis over my old Marin? Well the first and most obvious thing is that the Genesis is a ‘29er’ – for those who don’t know, a normal mountain bike is in effect a ‘26er’ with smaller 26 inch wheels. Yes it is still sounds like a Land Rover and yes after riding my carbon road and TT bikes it is really hard work, but as Genesis say in their advertising, this is back to basics, real riding – the long and the short is, I feel like I have rediscovered my passion for riding bikes again.

So does it meet all the criteria for my Iceland trip? Well, the frame and non-suspension forks are very well made from Reynolds 752 steel tubing and every conceivable boss you could want is there, from mudguards and pannier racks, to a third bottle location for my stove fuel bottle and on the forks, a triple set for fitting Salsa Anything cages, should you prefer them to a Pannier set up.

The drivetrain supplied is an 11 speed Shimano Alfine sealed hub gear, obviously with a single front chainring. This is the perfect set up for my planned trip as there are no front or rear mechs for either the airlines or Iceland’s rough roads to break and very little to go wrong or require cleaning. The gear change is sweet and as far as I can see, the only possible downside to this is that rear punctures take a bit longer to fix than a standard set up. This is not an issue for my kind of riding but if repair time is a consideration, I suppose the cans of instant inflation sealant would solve the problem.

The brakes are Avid BB7 discs front and rear, which are easy to set up and change, and being cable pull rather than hydraulic, offer amazing stopping power without compromising mechanical reliability.

My Iceland trip is still being planned for summer 2013 which is a long time away, so I have plenty of time to ride the bike and get all my necessary gear organised, and what better way to get to know the Genesis than by taking it to another volcanic region, the Massif Central in France?

This trip would purely be to ride the bike, no camping, no panniers, just the bike in different conditions – grass, forest tracks, mud, sand, water, in rain and sun, day or night. So after this weeklong test session, what are my observations? I simply love it, love it, love it!!

I don’t profess to be or even want to be a technical rider, just someone who has ridden lovely light road bikes for years in local time trials and on Grand Tour stage routes, wanting something different – it’s new, it’s exciting and it’s back to basics – the simple joy of riding a bike again on any terrain I choose. Yes I do find that having no suspension can be hard on my arms but having never ridden with such refinements in the past, I can’t miss it but I think it would be missing the point anyway – this is all about experiencing the terrain for what it is, with no ‘artificial’ aids.

In many ways, I wish my big trip was this year, so I could just be out there riding it, but I will have to be patient, save my pennies and keep planning. In the meantime, thank you everyone at Genesis for providing the means for me to rekindle my cycling passion. One week in France and I didn’t even go near my road bike…… anyone want to buy my lightweight carbon TT machine?

Wizzer.

Last year during Trans Portugal race friend of mine did ask me ‘Do you know stage races are addictive?’. Towards the end of my first stage race this was obvious. So I started to think which one to do next. Perhaps the Cape Epic, Trans Rockies, BC, Trans Andes.. The list is long..

Eventually for this year I have chosen two. First one, Andalucia Bike Race because it is early in the year , really good for training to set up for the season and second to fulfil my life dream to visit Far East-Mongolia Bike Challenge in July/August.

While writing this I am in an aeroplane going back from Andalucia. Legs are tired, body demand for a strange things (hardly ever drink tomato juice!), soul..is very happy!

Andalucia Bike Race is 6 days UCI stage race, open also to non-professionals. First 3 days of the race are base in Cordoba, after that the race for a day is moving to Priego de Cordoba and final 2 days run in Jaen. All together 400km with 11600meters of climbing.

The route is mixture of roads, gravel, dirt tracks, steep uphills, rocky trails, snaky single tracks crossing through picturesque Mediterranean scenery of Sierra de Cordoba, Sierra de Sol and many others Andalucia’s mountain ranges.

I have entered Andalucia Bike Race (actually it was Xmas gift!) with my partner Piotr. Our team work, great effort from both of us all the way through. Only one technical problem gave us 8th place in mixed category and 140th place overall. The result which we are pleased with, considering it was my 2nd and Piotr’s 1st stage race.

Andalucia Bike Race is well organized, with very friendly, cosmopolitan (participants from 22 countries!) atmosphere. Giving you a chance to compete with the best riders in the world!

Strongly recommended! Definitely will be back next year!

Warm regards
Iwona

www.andaluciabikerace.com

Well done to everyone who took part in VC10′s third reliability ride on Sunday 4th March; particularly those who completed the ride in the difficult weather conditions.

The ride used part of the route planned for the VC10 Sportive in May (Sunday 20th May, 2012) and took riders out from Longwick primary school on a 60 mile route around the beautiful chilterns.

Riders set off from 8:30am onwards in heavy rain, which soon turned to sleet and then snow, and many took the decision to return early or divert home to warm their frozen hands and feet.

VC10 Reliability Ride Timing Sheet

No Name Elapsed Time 1. Joe Holloway 03:18:25 2. Will Dixon 03:26:28 3. Steve Chiswell 03:46:55 4. Tom Cudmore 03:49:23 5. Dan Clemens 04:16:31 6. Chris Burley 05:54:56 Kev Holloway DNF Dave Johnson DNF Stuart Hurd DNF Pete Lavery DNF Pete Lawrence DNF Nigel Smith DNF Toby Wilkinson DNF

Thank you to everyone who helped organise the event and to the riders for braving the conditions.

If you’d like to join us for the VC10 Sportive 2012, you can find out more and enter online at http://www.vc10.org.uk/sportive

Track Agenda For Newport Track Session 15/01/12

Provisional Dates:

Yet to be agreed by H and F Districts:

Open Date:

7th July 2012. Course F11/10 Start Time 16.00hrs

Despite a late night and perhaps too much bubbly 14 keen riders arrived to take part in the first club TT of 2012 for VC10.

A moderate Southerly breeze blowing across the course made for mild and pleasant conditions. The F11/10 course is in the lee of the north slope of Wendover Woods. So despite the breeze fast times looked possible.

Chief pusher Steve Chiswell assisted by Dave Johnson as the start timer soon got things going. Steve had to deal with a trike, then a tandem followed by a full blown TT bike in quick succession. The starting went without a hitch and it soon became apparent at the other end of the course that the mild winter weather had allowed people to put in some serious training over the last few months.

Ralph Dadswell started first and managed to hold off the charge of  the other riders behind him to be the first over the line. Setting a bench mark of 24.40. Which left Ralph very content that his winter miles are indeed paying off.

Standing at the finish point you get a ring side seat of the riders flying down the hill towards the Aylesbury turn. It soon becomes apparent who is going well and who is going really well.

Ian Baynes as one of the early starts soon set the time to beat with a 22.28 which turned out to be a pb for Ian. Only fellow Hemel club mate Gavin Atkins going faster with a 21.36 late in the order of running pushed Ian into second place.

Ed Clemens and Will Dixon who are both under 18 years old took 3rd and 4th places. Ed was riding his new S5 road bike which makes his time very impressive. Will had a smile from ear to ear as he had managed to get within 17 seconds of his pb. Which was set on a float night in the summer. Theses guys are set for great things in 2012.

In fifth place was Suzy Robinson who despite recovering from a 4am bed time and the remains of a cold was only 47 seconds off her pb and first lady rider. Again impressive stuff.

Dan Clemens and Chris Starling blasted the mud guard equiped Clemen’s family tandem around the course in a very respectable 24.44. Donna riding in her first TT also did well with a 36.33.

Hard luck story of the day goes to VC10 member of the year Terry Hammond who punctured early on in his ride.

The course was superbly marshalled by Steve Chiswell, Dave Johnson, Rich King, Joe Holloway, Kev Holloway, Sally Roe and Richard Wise. Without your help the event would not run. So a big Thank You.

VC10 hope to see you in May for the start of the evening league on the F11/10. There will 9 club events and two open events in 2012 on this course in 2012. The open events are being run by VC10 and Hemel Hempstead CC.

Results