Balcombe

I don't think it was just me, but the A's had a rather quick ride yesterday. We seemed to be rocketing along and it couldn't have just been the tail wind. Trevor as usual had set a route, eastwards, past our first of the month meeting location, Betchworth, then out towards Sussex and Turners Hill. I think it must be partly the fact we were on quite a few main roads, and consequently riding single file, but this in turn, made the ride into more of a training line-out than a social. There were a few big guys at the front like Dave Reynolds, Mark Williams & Niall being the main main culprits. Mind you we all managed to stay together for most the ride down and as a bit of fun I thought I would try to be the first to the green as we hit Turners Hill. I attacked and had 50m on the group at the bottom of the climb but by half way up it was, youv'e guessed it, Andy Hicks & Simon Howard who came flying past me, neck and neck, all the way to the top.

It's great to see everyone out in club kit these days, here we are all refreshed and ready for the return ride. Unfortunatly I missed off runs leader Trevor who was just on the LHS. Nick & Simon had turned off earlier for non stop rides today.




Not long after I bumped into Ex-SWRC 1st cat. road rider Steve Gowar, who was out on his bike, but not doing much racing these days, so had to leave the club run and returned home at a more leisurely pace than earlier that day.

Sport

Cycling has come a long way in the last few years, and to prove the point, London's free newspaper, that I picked up at the underground yesterday had a 4 page interview with Mark Cavendish. BUT the best bit was to be found at the back, where they usually have a glamorous picture of one of the premiership's WAGs. Not this week. WOW. Our very own cycling superstar, Queen Vic, no less. Bring it on.

WORLD MASTERS TRACK - Manchester

Starting effort in 3000m Pursuit

10th place style

Sprinting for points in the 10Km heat

Getting ready to attack in the Points race final

Breakaway trio in the Points race with Greenstreet & eventual winner Blasczyk (Ger)

Casper and the (non working) Argentinian in the final laps

Watching and waiting in the Scratch race

Attacking with 5 laps to go in the Scratch race

Caught a lap too early in the Scratch race Blasczyk (Ger) leads the string

Pictures from World Masters Points,Pursuit and Scratch race c/o Steve Walton

A Super sun-Day

Barry and Richard Gordon with a bit of Richard French ,approaching Shillinglee .

Mr Hicks exhibiting his momentary disorientation

With a lovely autumn morning it was not surprising to see a good turn out at Cobham. Soon after the ride started the sun came out and gave us all a great day.

We played tag with the B group our paths crossing at the bottom of Coombe Bottom and then again going thru Bramley as both groups made our way south. It was then that Mr Reynolds rather disgraced himself interfering with one of the riders in the other group which really was not called for .One for the committee I think .

As we travelled southwards the sun must have been rather stronger that we thought as it seemed to have a rather alarming effect on Mr Hicks. I may need to explain that if there is a hill it is customary for Mr H to exert himself and if there is a village sign he is absolutely in his element but it is,of course, below a national champion to raise himself to anything so humdrum as riding at the front on the flat. So, the evidence above needs to be filed away to show his grandchildren .

Trevor as always had done us proud with a fine route ,going down to Petworth via the unusual route of Lurgashall and the surprisingly long climb up to the village of Tillington with one false summit after another.This climb starts as the wall surrounding the Petworth Park bends southwards . For those who,like me, have not been round the house ,there are a few details below.

I had to be back by 2pm so as the others turned into the town to stop for lunch I carried on back via Balls Cross, Plaistow ,Cranleigh,over Winterfold and Coombe Bottom. No doubt the others rode the "proper" way back over Horse Block Hollow and White Down.

.Petworth House in Petworth, West Sussex, England, is a late 17th-century mansion, rebuilt in 1688 by Charles Seymour, 6th Duke of Somerset, and altered in the 1870s by Anthony Salvin. The site was previously occupied by a fortified manor house founded by Henry de Percy, the 13th-century chapel and undercroft of which still survive.

Today's building houses an important collection of paintings and sculptures, including 19 oil paintings by J. M. W. Turner (some owned by the family, some by Tate Britain), who was a regular visitor to Petworth, paintings by Van Dyck, carvings byGrinling Gibbons and Ben Harms, classical and neoclassical sculptures (including ones by John Flaxman and John Edward Carew), and wall and ceiling paintings by Louis Laguerre. There is also a terrestrial globe by Emery Molyneux, believed to the only one in the world in its original 1592 state.^[1]

It stands in a 700 acre (2.8 km²) landscaped park, known as Petworth Park, which was designed by 'Capability' Brown. The park is one of the more famous in England, largely on account of a number of pictures of it which were painted by Turner. It is inhabited by the largest herd of fallow deer in England. There is also a 30-acre (120,000 m²) woodland garden, known as the Pleasure Ground.

I had

Frensham

No one was quite sure whether it was actually autumn as we turned up at the carpark with some of us in shorts racing jerseys while others in full tights and sleeves. Trevor had e-mailed the Gpx file out so myself and Andy had the route on our Garmins which gave me and idea of the loop we were taking to reach our lunch stop destination of Frensham garden centre. The damp roads made for careful descending over the North Downs and around any sharp corners but the only thing to stop us was the punctures, both of which came from Mark Williams bike. Mind you the seconds one could have come from the leaking valve after removing it while pumping up after the first stop.

The riders at the front were Andy, Trevor, Niall & Dave, who is riding well considering we very rarely see him. Following just behind tended to be the two Mark's, John, Richard and finally me. Trevor's route was very enjoyable and he had managed to find some lovely quiet lane and with the tree on the turn it was a real pleasure to be out in the county side. It was warm enough that we could all sit outside when we eventually reached the garden centre and we didn't mind the wait as the cafe seemed to be especially busy. Niall's simple order seemed to take the longest. I mean it was only a piece of cheese and ham. Perhaps they had run out of Basil and had to search around for the plants for some more!

Trevor's 14 year old Nephew Adam joined us at the tea stop and then rode with us for a while as an introduction to group riding. He's a nice lad and perhaps he will be out with one of the other groups in the future

It was nearly 100 miles by the time Mark Williams and myself reached Wandsworth again and the light was fading enough that I had to turn on my lights for the last couple of miles so it looks like summer is truly over.

SWRC Xmas Lunch

Just a note for those of you who read the blog. I have received a query about the time lunch will be served at the Club Christmas Lunch (11th Dec). I have arranged the meal to commence at 2pm. As usual there will be a pre-lunch walk led by Roger Jackaman leaving the Parrot Inn at 10am I am advised.