DLN Jul 2002

Vets Track Championships at Herne Hill, 1,2,3, June
Brian Dacey
Three Gold's & 1 Silver medal.
1st. 500 Mt. Time Trial
1st. Points Race (Max points)
1st. 10k Scratch Race
2nd. Pursuit
Photo by Paul J. Wright

OFFICIALS
PRESIDENT JOHN KAVANAGH 40 Beverley Road Barming Maidstone Kent ME16 9JP 01622 726959	SECRETARY PETE HARRIS 91 Ashbourne Road Ealing London W5 3DH 020 8997 7852	TREASURER JAMES LETT 102 Park Road Kingston Surrey KT2 5JZ

What a Jubilee week for the De Laune! Over the three-day celebrations we had the Masters Track Championships at Herne Hill. Our two riders did us proud. Brian Dacey and Peter Jenn are their names. They gave us three gold's and two silvers.

On the first day, Peter gave us a silver medal in the 10k points race. Then, doom and gloom, Brian was pushed down to fourth place in the sprint and this his strongest event. I have an idea that our old mates from the San Fairy Ann, Roly Crayford 1st, and Roy Manser 3rd worked him over.

All of us, who know Brian well, know what determination he has. First he gets a silver in the pursuit, then a gold in the 500mt time trial. Another gold in the point's race (took every point) and then another gold in the 10 k scratch race. He took control from the gun. He sat on every break and in the last lap made it so fast at the front; riders could not get around him.

It was good to see the (new) De Laune vest on the rostrum all the time. I think that most riders in the club do not realise that the Masters Championships start at age 35. We have a lot of members in the club who are 35 or over and should think about this event next year at Herne Hill (from the information I have, Herne Hill should be open next year)

You know how your memory goes when you get older. When I was at the track, I was talking for about half an hour to a person who I thought I was Wally Happy. When I told Brian Saxton who I was talking to he said 'That's not Happy, its Johnny Winter from the Polly, and it was.

I apologised to John. He said that's OK. He then said 'That is Wally Happy ' pointing to Brian Saxton.

Our old mate John Darrock sent me an e-mail from Thailand, where he now lives, and tells me he is getting the miles in. John had an accident. He walked down a hole with a water tap in it and damaged his ankle. John it's called getting old. I keep missing steps and knock my elbows on door jams.

I know I am fit because I will go out and run 6 miles, but when I get home I miss the step and fall through the door.

I came back from France last month after a touring holiday with my wife Pat. We stopped at a place called Bedoin, which is at the foot of Mont Ventoux. It is the last village before you start to climb to the top. It is a Mecca for cyclists who will turn up in their camper vans, get the bikes out, and do the climb.

As we know, just before you get to the top, you will come across the memorial to Tom Simpson who died climbing the Mont Ventoux in the Tour of France many years ago. In the village of Bedoin I found plaque on the wall in memory of Tom. This was just outside of the Tourist Office (See Photo).

Tich Shambrook, Brian Saxton Gordon Gibbens and I will be driving down to the Pyrenees to watch the Tour in July, so I will let you know how we get on.

Did you read the article from Arthur How on 'How I came to join the De Laune.'? It was a good article. We have been discussing at committee meetings about getting new members and how to keep them, and the bit about Chip with his with starter pack for new members I remember very well.

Cliff Steel (who you could say is new) has taken over as Membership Sec and is so keen to get and keep new members. A big problem we have in the summer is that we have a job to get a club run together as everybody is racing. Cliff has turned up to take the run, but has been on his own.

We all agreed at the committee meeting that the club run should be the backbone of the club, but it is not happening. Are the days finished when we would meet at the Windmill at Clapham Common with about 30 riders headed by Jack Young? Let us make a concerted effort this winter.

Getting back to Arthur with his article; he told you all about me being his tandem partner, but let me tell you a story about Arthur. We were getting the tandem ready for the Portsmouth 30 at Emsworth, when I noticed a white bulge sticking out of the front tyre. It was the inner tube. As I was young and gullible, I believed Arthur when he said the wheel had been in the grass it was a tick and nothing to worry about!

Thank you Tom Bewsey and Terry Deeley for your donations to the club. They are appreciated.

I would also like to thank Ken Knapman for donating a set of rollers and a road frame to the club. The only problem we had was that we had to take his old broken fridge and an old mattress as well!

! The new headers on the cover and the first page have been designed by Quil Forbes, they are best viewed in colour so have a look at them on the club web site.

A reminder once more for the 0.M.Lunch on the 11th AUGUST at Brighton & Hove Golf Club, Devils' Dyke, Brighton, Carvery Lunch, meet in the Bar from 12.00, for drinks and chats, lunch approx.l3.30. All members are very welcome and their friends, so do try to come along this year, you will have a good day out, I'm sure of that. We have a very special guest coming along -all the way from Australia - this will be his first visit back home since he left in March 1961 as a £10. Pom have you guessed yet - well, I will tell you - it 's HARRY THOMAS and his wife - Sylvia. Ken & I visited them when we were 'Down Under' in 1997, but there must still be many of his 'old mates' that he would really like to see again - you know who you are - so lets' make this a very special re-union to welcome him back to his old Club. He will be over for 5weeks, arriving on 17th July.

In response to our Presidents' request - but with a slight difference -its not 'how I came to join The Do Laune' but how I came to meet up with The De Laune. (Hope this is acceptable to The Bras.) An appropriate time I think, as it was 50 years ago in June, how time flies when you are having fun, and. it really was fun on that week on the Isle of Man Race week. My friend and I (and my mum & dad!!) were at the Howstrake Holiday Camp at Onchan Head - which was at the top of the long climb out of Douglas, where the 'Kipper Boat' docked. The boat of course was full of cyclists and many headed up the climb, with suitcases across the handlebars, don't know how they managed it. My friend & I had been cycling for about 3yrs and were members of our local club in Ashton - under - Lyne, Lancs, so we also had our bikes with us. We met up with the De Laune 'boys' on the boat - they were Ken, Harry Thomas, Derek Boon, Alan Jackson, Ken Knapman, Dave Watts, Len Danby who I think was sciving off from the RAF at the time! Most were riding either the Mannin Veg or Viking R.R. or the Track meeting but that didn't stop them going to the Dances in the evenings, there was the Villa Marina where Joe Loss Orchestra was playing, and The Derby Castle, and on the night of the Prize Presentations there were the lads - all immaculate in suits, and flat caps - or cheese cutters as they were then known, all checked their cans into the Cloakroom! There was lots of harmless fun with water pistols and even a fire extinguisher - wielded by Alan. The Holiday camp held a Bathing Beauty Competition at the end of the week, Harry volunteered to be dressed up and with a pink bikini, lots of make-up, and his curly blond hair - he was declared the Winner, what a laugh. There were many more pranks and good laughs that week, it went all too quickly. But that was not the last I saw of the De Laune - as you all know Ken and I were married in 1954, Harry was Ken's Best Man, and many of the lads, Amy and Maureen came up to our Wedding I moved 'down South' afterwards, but could not join The De Laune - Gentlemen Only, in those days, so I joined the Nomads. Ladies were eventually allowed in, I think we were needed to do the 'essential lobs' like Clubroom Canteen etc. Anyway, that's all folks - thank goodness I went to The Isle of Man on that terrific week way back in 1952, and met up with a great bunch of cyclists, including my special one.. you know who....

We are holding a Quiz Night on Saturday 12th October 2002 start time 7.30 pm, at our club headquarters at Peneden Heath and wondered if your club would be interested in entering, as it is suggested that we make this an inter-club night event. We propose to have teams of six and the cost would be £5.00 per head including supper from the 'local chippy', fish, chicken or veggie meals offered and we would provide cuppa's, but ask that you bring your own drinks for the evening as we do not have a bar.

I would be pleased to know if your members are interested so that I could finalise the arrangements before our committee meeting on 2nd August, after which I would send out booking forms. (Alan and I will be on holiday 4th- 24th July)

JOHN ZARFAS

It is with much sadness that I report the death of John Zarfas who passed away earlier this month after a two-year illness.

The name Zarfas will recall many happy memories for some of our older members, as both John and his father Jack were very active and sociable members of the Club - particularly during the late 1940's. The Zarfas home was a great meeting place for many of us, John lively and full of enthusiasm, Jack ready with a warm welcome and very sound cycling advice and Mrs. Zarfas always offering the most welcome cups of tea and hospitality.

As you may know Marian, John's sister, is my sister-in-law - also a cyclist but not a De Laune member as ladies were not admitted in those far off days - and it was Marian who asked me to let you have the sad news.

I asked Marian for a few details, as precise dates are a bit confusing after so long. She tells me John joined the Club in 1946 and was one of the first juveniles - possibly the first - who became members after World War II. Marian remembers that some of the older members at the time (Roy Banham, Fred Leckie etc.) were a little apprehensive about how the new younger element would fit in because the De Laune had always been considered a gentlemanly club with very proper behavior! (I think we must have proved ourselves acceptable as many of us are still members). She recalls that, true to form, Ken Hill was always very encouraging to us younger members and gave John some sound advice, enabling him to become the Club 25 Mile Champion in 1948.

I am sure all of you who knew John and the Zarfas family will wish to join with me in sending sincere sympathy to his wife Rita and family.

Peter Gunnell

The biggest De Laune contingent yet turned out for the 3rd round of the National Points Series mountain bike race held at the popular Checkendon course.

Ross' usual presence was swelled by the addition of James Lett and Steve Price to the Masters field, while I was racing Experts in the afternoon. I'd made the long drive from Lancaster on Saturday and camped over with a friend so I'd been witness to how slippery the course was on Saturday and also the amount of torrential rain that had soaked the place on Saturday night. Mud tires were the order of the day…

The day started badly for Ross as he crashed heavily during his warm-up, losing a lot of skin from his elbow and leg. He lined up anyway and got a good start but fell again shortly afterwards and pulled out. The slippy conditions plus the crush of the mad start line scramble had contributed to this. James Lett and Steve Price both had a reasonable start and at the end of the first lap had worked their way up to 24th and 15th respectively with Steve looking particularly strong. By lap 2 (of 4) James Lett was suffering and towards the end of lap 3 blew and pulled out. The course was beginning to get chewed up badly and the sticky mud was having a tiring effect on all the riders. Steve Price meanwhile was looking about as comfortable as can be expected when you're covered in mud and pulled out a few more places in the last couple of laps to take 9th, a very good result for such a competitive field.

I was left to sit around in an increasingly muddy campsite until my race at 3pm. It rained again, turning what was already a dangerously slippery course into a quagmire of liquid mud and chewed up rutted sections. The Sports, Fun and Open categories had also been round which contributed to the general wear and tear of the track.

Within 30 seconds of the start, both me and my bike looked like we'd done battle with The Monster From The Black Lagoon…I was so grateful for my mud tires, which Ross had brought over from London for me. I knew the race would have a high number of DNF's with people suffering all kinds of mechanical problems (mainly chainsuck) in the mud so I resolved to just take it easy, ride at my own pace and finish. I made my way up through the field gradually, picking off a couple of riders a lap until the field had thinned out. Conditions were horrendous, my jersey and legs were coated in thick clingy mud and I had to stop to clear my glasses on two occasions. I timed my efforts well though and on the last lap saw another Expert rider just ahead of me on the final hill. He'd obviously seen me too because he put a spurt on and try as I might I couldn't catch him before the finish line. I rolled over in 25th position, my best result of the series so far…ironic because I'd seriously considered not racing while sat in the car earlier watching the rain lash the course.

Steve, James Lett, Ross and myself will be racing together as Team De Laune at the Red Bull 24hr Race (which will have happened by the time the next DLN comes out), after that the next major race is the National Championships at Hopton Woods near Ludlow.

Best repeatable moment: as told by Eric who heard this direct from a policeman in Frith Street at around 3.15am on Friday 21 June......"yeah, we had this over our radios 20 minutes ago....."All units, all units...there are 200 cyclists riding round Trafalgar Square. They are not Reclaim The Streets. Repeat: they are not Reclaim The Streets. They're the Primrose Hill Cycle Club".

Cycling Led Community Leisure Trust British Cycling S-E Region's (BC S-E) Herne Hill Velodrome Development Plan proposing a Cycling Led, not for profit, Trust has been adopted by Southwark Council as our joint preferred option for a feasibility study, but Southwark do want to look at other options too, before making long term financial commitments. A Steering Group, which represents organisations with a stake in the future of Herne Hill, has been established to take our first ideas forward.

o Sport England Lottery Fund The first step in the process of seeking funding for new facilities has been made. BC S-E Region has submitted a Lottery Bid Intent Form based on the adopted Development Plan. Total costs of planned improvements are estimated at £5,000,000 and include a semi-covered track, enabling all weather and all season use plus new and enhanced facilities to replace and enhance the existing dilapidated grandstand and clubroom.

o Funded Sports Development Consultant Study On the basis of the Plan, Southwark & BC S-F are jointly commissioning a feasibility study funded by Southwark (& Sport England). The Consultant selected to do the study will work with the Steering Group over this summer to confirm the feasibility of, and work up a business plan for, a Cycling Led Leisure Trust, and help us complete a detailed Lottery Bid for capital funding. Active, creative input by Cycling interests will be needed throughout this process.

o Herne Hill to Stay Open and Active Southwark & The Dulwich Estate, the freeholders of the Velodrome site, have agreed the principle of interim arrangements until October 2003 to allow the Velodrome to stay open and active under Southwarks management, until new arrangements can be agreed and put in place. We await confirmation of Southwark's resources and plans for this interim period, but assume that existing arrangements with Fusion will continue.

o Sports Development Consultant Appointment Tendered responses to what is a lengthy and challenging consultant brief will be available after 19th June. Based on these, BC S-F & Southwark will interview, select and appoint their preferred consultant in the week beginning 24~ June. Work can start with our Steering Group from the lst July.

o The Feasibility Study: Making our Ideas a Reality o The Consultant is to be jointly commissioned by BC S-F and Southwark, to work for Cycling's long-term interests at Herne Hill, and give independent advice to all parties. o The Brief for the feasibility study is to turn our first ideas about a Cycling Led Leisure Trust into something that can achieve support from all quarters necessary, be made to work for Cycling, and be successful and sustainable in the long term. These ideas will need to be developed, tested against other options, and turned into practical plans that can achieve financial support from Sport England, Southwark and elsewhere too. o The Steering Group can start work with its consultant from 1st July a number of working meetings summer will be planned over the remainder of the summer, and the feasibility study report should be completed before the end of 2002. It will be important to ensure that Cycling interests and expertise are effectively represented in the Steering group, but that we remain open to good ideas and expertise from all quarters.

o Sport England Lottery Fund Application Sport England will, based on our Lottery Intent Form, be inviting BC S-F representatives together with Southwark Council, to an initial formal meeting with them within the next month to give their preliminary advice and views on current plans. The Consultant appointed will assist us to co-ordinate and complete the next stage of the Lottery Fund Application as part of their brief.

If you have ideas to contribute, or wish to be involved in any way in planning the future of Here Hill please contact Graeme Geddes for further information Phone/Fax 0207 703 7140 E-Mail GraemeGeddes@mac.com

Hi folks. Not much in the way of news this month as some other sporting tournament seems to have taken over the world. Still, with Le Tour just around the corner I'm sure you're all in deep discussion about who is going to win this year. Will it be Armstrong, Armstrong or Armstrong. Hmm, I wonder. It's almost as bad as the Indurain days! It is always hard to find races during July but keep at it and let me know your results. It's good to see James Peckham back in the thick of things. The first ones are always the hardest so I'm sure he'll be back in the results before too long. I'm just starting my pre-season training!!!, I might make it out this season after all.

Still no news from Matt, Danny and a few others, I'm sure they'll be in touch soon.

Eurosport. Not much to report here either. Salvodelli eventually won the tour of the medicine cabinet, whoops - I mean Giro d'Italia, with Cadel Evans being the revelation of the race. A bright future beckons. The only other event on the box was the Tour of Cataluyna. It's in Spain apparently. Sorry, I was too busy watching the football to even catch one stage.

Race Reports SERRL, 16/6/02 Lamberhurst 234W by James Lett Had a good race but did far too much work. I attacked about 4 or 5 times and couldn't get away. The race was basically controlled by the Gemini boys who had about 8/9 of them in the race. They sent two boys up the road and then chased everything else down. Annoyingly a group of 8 riders got clear in the last 5k and it was the only break that I decided not to chase as I was fed up of no-one else doing any of the work! Eventually got 13th and 3 points which wasn't bad considering that I got cramp in both my hamstrings during the sprint. Still should have got the 5 points needed for my second cat. Have to be another day. By James Peckham - Not enough power to get over the steep hills, did not blow just could not push a big enough gear weird feeling but managed mid distance on a very tough course. Steve Price pulled just after me. A little disappointed but getting there, possibly could have done with a flatter course to start with.

19 May 2002, Nove Colli, Casenatico, Italy by Alan Male From 11 May to 21 May I was on holiday at Riccione, Italy. I stayed with the family and bike at Hotel Dory - this is the main Italy Bike Hotel, regularly advertised in Cycling Weekly. I would honestly recommend this hotel to anyone; it is superbly run, has a bike wash/maintenance/storage area; organised rides every morning with guides; and brilliant food. People from all over the world travel to this hotel; while we were there was a group from Panama and a family from Australia as well as many Italians, Swiss and Germans. It is about 100 meters from a safe beach and the town centre is a short walk away. While on holiday, I found out that many people were at the hotel to ride the Nove Colli - a mammoth 205 km ride up nine steep hills. Due to one participant dropping out, I was offered the chance to ride. Fortunately, there is also a shorter course of 130 km available; I decided that this was the one for me, and how right I was. The ride involves 9,000 cyclists and is truly an event. It starts and finishes in Casenatico, 40 km north of Riccione, and Marco Pantani's home town. It starts at 6.30 am, which meant getting up at 0400 hrs for breakfast - cold pasta was available, but most people stuck to cereals and croissants. For most of the week, the weather was wonderful. On the day of Nove Colli, it was chucking it down. Many people due to start from the hotel decided not to as they felt it was too dangerous. I lined up in what felt like normal British weather. At 0630 hrs the race started. I had an excellent position in the elite start. However, any advantage was almost immediately thrown away by a puncture in the first 2 km. I rejoined the race in mid position with an underinflated front tyre. The first hill was a fairly steady 10% for about 20 mins. The only problem was the number of other riders; the whole road was covered with panting cyclists. But it was easily accomplished by everyone. However, after this first hill, the hills just kept coming; the route map looked like the profile for a front door key. Even this did not do it justice; each hill seemed to have a false flat and a summit, only to continue upwards after a few kilometres. The descents were freezing with the rain that continued to fall. I managed to find a service vehicle after around 60-70 km and pumped up my front tyre; it had almost rolled off after an 18% descent. This one was scary compared to the others, especially when I passed an ambulance parked next to a tangled mess of bicycles. Finally I reached the hill that marked the point at which the race separated. However, this hill was the largest of the lot so far. It was called the Barbeto and is roughly 600 metres high. At the bottom it states the hill is 5.5 km long. It felt it. One km from the top, the roadreared up. A signed stated that the last km had a gradient of 18%. This was hard. The only way was to push out of the saddle all the way up. I kept going although my legs screaming because no-one else was walking. The spectators were all on this hill, giving it a real Giro atmosphere; names were painted on the road and the crowds were closing in. Finally I got to the top and sat down and just continued to pedal. Again further false flats followed and steep sections until I finally saw the sign indicating the separation the race. At this point I had 40 km to complete. A group quickly formed and we rode back at a quick pace; I even managed to sprint for the line and was first in my group, but way down the field in 440 place and having rode for 4:27 hrs. What made it worse was that I had to ride back to the hotel as I had no lift. In total I rode well over 100 miles, a distance I have never completed before. I would recommend this to anyone in the club and I would certainly consider doing it again. Entry can be arranged through Hotel Dory and the ride is at least as hard as the Etape du Tour. I am not sure if I could ever complete the long ride though; this needs 7 hours to complete at a fast pace.

June 3, 4th Cat Race, Eastway This was a bit of a come down after Italy; 20 laps of Eastway. However, after deciding to attack at every opportunity I finally managed to get away with Ian Cleverly with three or four laps remaining. We worked well together for a lap, but I lost Ian on Oxo, only to find that another rider joined me. We carried on for the last lap. I simply sat behind this rider and refused to come through until the sprint which I won. At last I join the ranks of third cats.

Many thanks for all your contributions. It's nice to get a continental flavour to the reports this month. Keep on rolling.

One item of debate at recent committee meetings has been clubruns. New members often ask about clubruns and training rides, but with our membership spread over such a wide area, it is hard to choose rides that suit most of our active members. As an alternative, we are compiling a list of riders who want to get involved in more group riding, where they train and how fast (if you want to avoid people who rip your legs off, like Matt Goodes!). If you want to add your name to the list or see if anyone trains near you, contact Cliff Steele. We may also put the list on the club web pages.

Many of the important items discussed at recent committee meetings were addressed at the AGM on the 20th June. You should receive minutes from the meeting soon. Thank you to everyone who volunteered to stand for office. We now have two new committee positions, Membership Secretary and Sponsorship Manager. Our new Membership Secretary is Cliff Steele, whose job is to administer membership, field enquiries and help new members settle into the club. The Sponsorship Manager will act as an intermediary between our sponsor, the committee and the riders, a job that Bill Wright effectively undertook for the past few years, that I am now doing.

We discussed the clubroom at length at the AGM. At the Special General Meeting a couple of years ago, one of the reasons there was no vote on whether to sell the clubroom was that we didn't have enough information to make an informed decision. The members present at the AGM agreed unanimously that: 1) we should invite offers for the sale of the clubroom to ascertain its market value; 2) we should continue investigating the feasibility of a move to Herne Hill stadium; 3) we should join the Herne Hill working party for a not for profit sports trust, to investigate any partnership opportunities. Depending on the outcome of these investigations, they could lead to a proposal at a general meeting to sell the clubroom and move to Herne Hill.

This is an emotive issue for many of us. When I joined the club in the mid '80s, the clubroom was packed every Thursday evening. Many members put a lot of hard work into building the clubroom and there have been some great events there, but it now sees little use. Nothing has been decided yet - and will only be agreed by a vote at a general meeting, but we will have to make decisions in the near future. Whether we end up moving to Herne Hill, whether we stay at Choumert Road or any other option, it needs to be in the best interests of the club. If you have ideas on how the club should proceed, we want to hear from you, and we want everyone to have a say in the future of De Laune CC.

SUNDAY – 11^th AUGUST

BRIGHTON & HOVE GOLF CLUB,

DEVILS DYKE, BRIGHTON.

This will be a Carvery Lunch, meet in the bar from 12.00 onwards for drinks and a chat, lunch will be at 13.30 approximately.

PLEASE PHONE ME SOON – 01689 851241.

Hope to see a lot of you there, all members are very welcome, if you have not been before, do join us, we have a very happy day, you may be lucky and see the lovely sea views from the clubhouse – Patricia has ordered sunshine I believe!

DOT