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DE LAUNE CYCLING CLUB

FOUNDED 1889

Sponsored by EVANS CYCLES (UK) Ltd. & SPECIALIZED CYCLES

De Laune News       October 2000        No. 819 -71^st Year

www.delaunecc.org

ANOTHER JACK YOUNG PHOTOGRAPH
FROM THE PAST

THE PRESIDENTS REPORTS

Alan Rowe is again a club champion!! Well he won the Old Members 10 on age standard on Saturday the 2nd September 2000. It was the way he carved his way through the field that impressed me. Well he started off number three, and finished first! He caught the dark horse of the field, Roy Savory, who was riding his new £2000 bike. Then caught Mike Peel, who was having an off day.

Roy tells me he is on this new diet, and he not only loses weight, but also has plenty of energy to spend. (He won a vets road race last week) Pity about the new clipless shoe plates. Roy he tells me that he only got his left foot in the clip at the turn. Bless him.

When I interviewed Alan Rowe after his win, I asked him technical questions like "Did he ride with his vest in or out side of his shorts?" and "Did he have the peak of his racing hat at the front or at the back ?"

Other good rides (see full result) from Peter Jenn, and Malc Adams, who also had problems. He lost his clip-on ashtray, from his handlebar, at the turn!

The event, which was held on the Ashford Road, was also an inter-club event with Sydenham Wheelers. Fastest of the morning was our Matt Goods with a 21.50. Not bad after a lay off.

The best part of the day was that we had ten De Laune starters. Not bad for a 7.30 am start on a Saturday morning and, better still, after the event, we had fourteen from the club having breakfast in the Happy Eater. Next year I am going to propose we have a club dinner, but it must be at the Happy Eater, and at 7.30 am!!

This, I think, will be the last event that Jeremy Briggs will be organising before he moves up to his new home in Norwich. I would like to say, on behalf of the club, "thanks mate". I know at times that things have not run smoothly for you, they never do, but you have been a God-send over the last few years with the work you have taken on.

Again, thanks to the band of helpers who turn up to make it all happen. Katie, Tich Shambrook, (all the way from Essex) Brian Saxton, Terry, and of course Jeremy.

Sunday, the day after this event, we will have the Autumn 25 on the Brighton Road. I will be sending my ace reporter, Brian Saxton, to cover the event. (I cannot manage two 5.30 am alarm calls in a row) The full result and report should be in this edition.

Over the years we have always had people in the club who will carry out jobs, without being asked. Dear old Ken Hill was one of them. We have a young member (any one under 30 is young to me) who reminds me of him, the way he carries out his duties. A few weeks ago we had water coming through the club roof into a bucket, so he arranged for a builder to sort it out (no he did not get a bigger bucket!) We had a leak from the ballcock in the loft, and so he got up and sorted that out. He hopes to arrange for a grant from the Southwark Council for Sports Development, which should help to get youngsters in the club. He has also arranged for Neil Simpson from the BCF to give us a talk on the 21st of September at the clubroom. The member's name, is Bill Wright. I like your initiative Bill. When I asked Bill how he gets on with the mountain bike events he organises, he said "not bad, but I had only 200 entries for my last event".

Dot Fuller (another little worker) informs me that she has written to a lot of members regarding the lunch that Mark Ballamy has arranged. This will be for all members, and will be held at his Park Wood Golf Club, Tatsfield on the 24th of September 2000. Details in the DLN. Please will you let Dot know if you can, or cannot make it.

Hope to see you all soon

Dear Mark

I recall some time ago an inquiry as to whether any members were prepared to accept the DLN electronically. Having just noticed the price of sending the magazine to me in France by post - I would be happy to convert to the electronic version if that is still an option.

Also, if it exist, is it possible to have a copy of the Club address book by the same method? I seem to have mislaid mine in the moves through Tunbridge Wells - Geneva- St. Petersburg - Moscow - Belmont Tramonet.

Brian Saxton wrote to me some months ago, threatening to bring round for a visit all 17 participants in the club members annual Ski trip to the Alps unless I produced some articles on my experiences in Russia and France.

We are not worried by the possibility of such a visit, we are more than capable of whipping up a light snack for 17. For visitors wishing to stay over night there is plenty of room in our barn, which might have a new roof by the end of the year. They would have to be hardy -- there is no heating in the Barn and we do not expect to glaze the windows before next summer.

I shall, however, try to find time to compile something on one of the locations for the DLN and let you have it in the next month or two. Getting my mind around this is a bit complicated by the fact that it is still not certain, in my mind at least, that I have retired yet. I am having a number of meetings with my former employers about some possible project/consulting work. If I can pull it off I might be able to get myself into a situation where I am getting a salary and a pension -- not so bad if you can get it. The money would be useful, roofing an old barn in this part of France will cost me slightly more than double what I had budgeted for it.

Unfortunately I will not be able to make the OMA '10' this year. I am required at my brother wedding in Scotland a couple of weeks before this (his third marriage) so we have had to fit other commitments around this. In any case I have discovered that I would not be fit enough to ride, I can barely manage evens - I am now targeting 2001 for that comeback.

I trust all is well with you and I am really pleased that you and Jason agreed to continue to produce the DLN.

Best Wishes,

Clif Pendleton

Thanks for the latest DLN by email. Could you stick my new address in the next copy?

45A Ashbourne Grove
London SE22 8RN
tel. 0208 693 3951

Maybe I'll even go down to the track again now!
Regards,
Alaric

ROAD RACING

I haven't spotted many results for De Launes this month due to being on holiday. However, ALAN MAYLE keeps up the pressure on Danny with a 3rd at Eastway in the Ciclos Uno series, only for DANNY RUDD to take 2nd at Brands Hatch on a Friday, Bryan Taylor winning the sprint. Any other results spotted over August, please let me know. Failing a last minute surge from the others, DANNY is looking good for the championship.

CORRECTIONS AND OMISSIONS

The more observant amongst you may have noticed the deliberate omission of one of the answers to the June pub quiz, leading to some strange results.

The first names of Reeves and Mortimer are, of course, Vic and Bob, not America and Europe as published. Anyone now believing that the bodies' organ which produces bile is Vic and Bob has, I'm afraid, been led astray. There is, to my knowledge, no football team in Switzerland called Liver, and Paul Young never topped the charts with a song called Grasshopper Zurich. This publication unreservedly apologises for any distress it may have caused to its' readership.

MASSAGE

The massage season has now finished. See you next year.

TRI THIS....
Having been persuaded by the effervescent Dan Haynes to enter last years' inaugural Brighton Triathlon, and wimped out at the last minute due to a head cold (or was it all in my head?), I thought I'd better have another go and actually show up on the beach this time.  I must explain that water and I, especially cold, salty water, do not mix at all, and it was a very nervous cyclist lined up on the Brighton pebbles with 80 other wet suited tri-virgins. As the klaxon sounded, a mass of hop, skip and jumping athletes entered the beautifully calm waters and continued to wade for a good 30 yards, the sea deepening at a pathetic rate, and I found myself in 6th position, a fair start. We hit the water and it all fell apart. Despite a good warm-up swim and a snug wetsuit, the freezing water left me gasping for breath and fighting to maintain any kind of recognisable swimming stroke. I was soon being overtaken and left spluttering in the wake of half the field, and came out of the water about 30th, barely able to make my legs run up to the transition.

Now I'm not sure what the rest of the field were doing in the transition, whether drying between each toe is de rigeur, or giving the bike the a full service before setting off, but I seemed to re-take most of the people who had kicked water in my face and began the bike leg a respectable 12th.I suspect that most of you are wondering what it's like to cycle in a vest and soggy swimming trunks that might comfortably accommodate a seven year old boy. Not too bad, actually, although falling off the bike, as several competitors did, is not to be recommended, as large tracts of naked flesh meeting tarmac at speed is a bad combination!  Meanwhile, I'm hammering along on the bike and taking more prisoners, but with only 10k of riding, there are a still a few to be caught as I re-enter transition. My ploy of using good old fashioned toe-clips and riding in trainers pays off as others in cleats waddle through and change their shoes, losing more time. Having not practised going from cycling to running, the feeling of other-worldliness in the legs at this point is, as Dan tried to explain to me, hard to explain! The only thing to do is take small steps for the first bit of the run and ease yourself into a rhythm, and I was soon passing another victim. Approaching the turn, I realised that the only people ahead of me were a guy who had just passed another and me who was well ahead and I kept a constant and ran in for a very satisfying 3rd and a place on the podium. Meanwhile, Dan Haynes stepped up to the sprint distance and finished about 15th out of a field of 200, an excellent result showing that all that training pays off. Alan Spelling was going great guns in the longer race, but unfortunately I was not around to see where he ended up.

See you in Brighton next year?????

ARE YOU TOUGH ENOUGH?

On Saturday September 2nd, the inaugural XTERRA British Championships took place at Minehead consisting of a 1500m rough water sea swim, a 28k off road bike circuit, finishing with a hilly 10k cross country run. Pro rider and recent British age group Mountain Bike Champion Nick Kinsey and total novice Jim Phelan took part...

We do like a challenge! I`ve done the Orion 15, the Tough Guy 10, Fell Races, down hill miles and marathons, more recently adding duathlon, triathlon and Iron Man to the list. Nick's CV is far more impressive with the further inclusion of mountain biking, time trialing and downhill racing...not to mention finishing up at the front end of most of these events.

The promotion for the event featured the legend ARE YOU TOUGH ENOUGH? And like the proverbial bullish reaction to a red rag.... we were hooked.

Two days of torrential rain wiped out the practice course and a massive jam on the M5 doubled the journey time, but we both made the pre-race party.

Appropriately enough, the swim took place at Mad brain Sands and at 10:00am 114 brave souls crashed into the surf of the Bristol Channel for two laps of a triangular course with a 100m sprint up the beach in between. It was rough, very rough. The marker buoys were only visible when both swimmer and buoy were cresting a wave and as the current was very strong, it was extremely difficult to tack a direct line. The first lap was ok but by the second, buoy number 2 had shifted further up the channel and required great deal more effort to get round. Nick exited in 12th spot in a time of 27:49,[ 3:30 behind the leader] while I took a further 12 minutes for 79th place, both times indicating a longer than advertised swim.

Wet suit off-studs on and off on the bike course. After a few hundred yards of promenade, it was off to the hills...a climb of 300 metres over the next mile brought most of the bottom gears into use and those who had started too enthusiastically were already paying for it. For the next few miles it was heath land, rough trail and tractor tracks...and then I discovered what XTERRA actually stood for...EXTREME TERROR! Nick was in his element now, charging along with the lead group as befits an off-road specialist, whilst my cross country experience was limited to a couple of circuits of Dulwich Park and Woods and a single muddy duathlon. What I was presented with now was an almost vertical descent ending in a copse of trees and a 90-degree turn-surely some mistake! But no, that WAS the route. And then it got worse vertical uphill climbs carrying the bike-steep down hills through cow-pat strewn fields-treacherous narrow gully's full of loose stones...and then we hit the plantation! What we'd tasted so far was just the hors-d`oeuvre, here was the main course.

The tracks were now churned to treacly mud, boulder strewn and pot-holed. We continuously switched between steep uphill and suicidal downhill and all bikes and riders were fully coated in a thick layer of red, sandstone coloured mud. But the best was yet to come! After yet another steep uphill climb, the path went on up at a right angle and there, in a hundred metre, almost vertical ladder, like a Dore illustration from Dante`s Inferno, were the twenty riders who were immediately in front of me. Dragging their cycles ever upwards [and thanks to their bike shoes sporadically slipping back again] they struggled on and on for what seemed an age until finally we traversed yet another steep diagonal to get back onto the roller-coaster route once again.

The most dangerous downhill followed-the bed of a once fast flowing-now dried up stream with a corkscrew twist half way down its boulder-ridden base; a descent not helped by having a grinning camera crew strategically positioned so as to capture any spectacular falls that might ensue. We finished off with some fast downhill trails and for good measure, waded a few hundred metres through the river Avill, until finally emerging at transition 2 on the lawns of Dunster castle.

How disheartening, as I raced through the transition tent and set off on the run, I was cheered on by Nick who had already finished! He had biked 1:39:23 and run his 10k in 45:53 for a combined total of 2:52:55, to give him fourth place over all, seven minutes behind the winner. My ultra-caution on the bike resulted in a 2:31:08 split, but my cross country running experience stood me in good stead as I picked up a dozen places to finish 56th in a time of 4:09:02 and 2nd V50. Suffice to say, the final 10k was testing, as the sun was now out and yet more hills were placed at our disposal.

Later, at the post-race party, it was quite satisfying to hear from the organisers that this was in fact the toughest of all the EXTERRA events staged world-wide thus far, which went some small way towards compensating me for missing my predicted finishing time by over an hour.

Were we tough enough? Yes we were-but unfortunately in my case, not quite fast enough...maybe next year!!!

Jim Phelan

Hello everyone

Yep...still alive an kickin' but if I start playing bicycle polo, who knows for how long. Can anyone get a copy of the rules for the above emailed or faxed to me? If you need my fax number, drop me a line and I'll forward it to you.

Anyway, this is just a quick request, I'm busy at work. Hopefully I can compose a year's missive for the year at a later date.

Regards

Gazza

OMA
LUNCH
24th SEPTEMBER

AUTUMN "25"

This was held on Sunday, 3rd September on the G25/18 Pease Pottage course. The event was not well supported, mainly due, it appears, to the exertions of members riding the OM "10" on the previous day.

Malcolm Adams arrived at the start but decided not to ride, whereas Peter Jenn, although prepared to ride, failed to find the start! In any case Peter missed our slot in what was a combined event with the Addiscombe, S E R C, Old Ports, Redmon and Tooting BC, etc.

We ended up with three members - Matt Goodes, John O'Brien and Alan Rowe - riding what is a fairly complicated course which Alan discovered to his cost!

It was a pretty breezy but at least dry and bright morning with an autumnal chill in the air for the earlier starters.

After the event the three racers, the two DNSs and myself, had a repeat of Saturday's greasy breakfast at the local hostelry, where Matt and John had to pay attention whilst they were given yet another lecture on the good old days. Both of them have been warned that the president will be asking questions in future to ascertain whether they are retaining this vital information!

Result Matt Goodes 56.40
John O'Brien 1-4-30
Alan Rowe 1-4-38 (rode more than 25 mls?)

Brian Saxton

CYCLO - CROSS REGISTRATION

If you want to ride any cyclo - cross events this winter, you should complete the registration form and post it off to Brian Fruness at the BCCA with a cheque for £5.00. If you don't get a card you will have to pay a £3.00 surcharge at every event.

If this sounds like a lot it's because the BCCA are having their Sport's Council grant reduced prior to them being absorbed into the BCF next season, and they have to do it to make ends meet.

Full result for the Inter Club 10 and OMA 10 - Held at Harrietsham 2nd Sep. 2000

DE LAUNE CC OPEN LONDON CYCLO - CROSS CHAMPIONSHIPS

Our promotion at Eastway on October 29th is the biggest event in the London calendar this winter. Mike Rice at EVANS CYCLES has agreed to give us £500 towards the prize fund, and as its our 111th anniversary this year I wanted to give a £111 first prize.

If anyone would like to donate any money to hump up the prize list, or for primes, it would be gratefully received.  Obviously we want as many spectators as possible, along with marshals and judges. Please don't wait to be invited, simply ring me up and let me know if you can come. We also need a few helpers to put the course up on Saturday 28th from about 1pm please.

Call BILL WRIGHT on 020 7735 9605 0r email wxwright@msn.com

O.M.A. NEWS

I found the September issue of the De Laune News somewhat nostalgic. First of all as someone who rode in several Catford 24 hour time trials during the fifties together with such stalwarts as Roy Banham, John Giles, Wally Fraser and Frank Wynne (the latter three's team record of 50 years ago still stands today but there is an error in the aggregate figure shown on page 3-6 of the Club Handbook which should read 1231m 1141y) it was pleasing to read that Jeremy Briggs had ridden in the Mersey Road Club's 24. In view of all the problems he encountered, on a course well away from home, he did a very creditable ride (the best I ever managed was just under 409 miles).

Congratulations Jeremy on your first 24 and I look forward to reading abut future long distance events you ride in when, I have no doubt, you'll end up with a much greater mileage. Good luck.

The second piece of nostalgia was to see the name of Eddie Wingrave still being associated with the promotion of cycling events. Again in the fifties he was always to be seen on southern time trial courses and even though a member of a rival club, the Old Kent CC, he was such a sportsman that whenever De Laune riders were competing on the road he was always at hand to give encouragement and assistance. It gave me great pleasure to know that he is still very active in south London cycling.

Finally, although somewhat belated, I would like to record my thanks and appreciation to Mike Peel for carrying out the Presidency with such efficiency and professionalism. Kay has quite a job in emulating Mike's standards but I know he'll do it with vigour and his own brand of humour.

Arthur How

DON'T FORGET THE OMA LUNCH on the 24th SEPTEMBER

PRODUCED by MARK & JASON BALLAMY
DISTRIBUTED BY BRIAN SAXTON

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