The April club run was a 75 mile(ish) jaunt through 4 counties and for most people a bit over 2,000 metres of climbing. 10 degrees for most of the day and I even managed to ride some of it with my gloves off. Three punctures and we are all clubbing together to buy Tony Sweeney some tyres that are newer than his bike.

There were 14 people on it at some point or another. We started with 13, lost 3 by the time we got to Hathersage (sorry, I thought everyone was on and did ask at one point), Frank found us sat at the side of the road on Long Hill waiting for Tony to fix his first puncture and Luke, who missed the start completely, appeared just as we arrived at Longnor for the cafe stop.

We stuck to quiet roads for the whole day, Abney, Worm Hill, Bole Hill, Long Hill (yes there is a theme emerging), Goyt Valley, Cat and Fiddle, Oven Bottom, Wildboar Clough, Gradbach, Flash, Longnor, Crowdecote, Monyash, Ashford, Gt Longstone then Froggat to finish off. Phew.

A little bit of ice on the way up Abney but nothing to worry about. As we turned into the Goyt Valley, ignoring the road closed signs, some other cyclists shouted that it was dangerous. We cheerily ignored them, passed a load of parked cars before the remains of the snowdrifts, skittered past them and then had wonderful quiet roads all the way up the Goyt to the main road just before the Cat and Fiddle.

Pretty knackered by the time we got to Froggat and I was aiming to slide off the back and pootle up alone but Justin spotted this manoeuvre, shouted out “shall we ride up together” prompting Dave and Tom to slow down just enough for me to ride up Froggat hanging on the back at a pace somewhere between uncomfortable and unbearable. Thanks guys!!!

Lovely day out, made even better by the company. Apologies again for losing people at the start I’ll make special efforts to prevent this happening in the future.

1^st Sunday in May (5th) is the day of Minty’s Road Race. So if you have that penciled in for cycling activities you can help out at the race. The May club run is to Lincoln to watch the Grand Prix and cheer on James Baillie.

Surely Sheffield is crying out for an event like this…

Charge TV: Week 4: Hill Chasers – Edinburgh from Charge Bikes on Vimeo.

But where would you hold it ?? We’re spoilt for choice for suitable hills…

Here are the main action points / headlines from last fridays meeting.

There were no new members this month.

Time Trial – Nick – In the 2 up we had teams that did well. And as such after on event, Rich Whitney and Ben Harvey are in top spot in the Je James league. The next event in the series is a 10 mile tomorrow (6/4/2013) on Hatfield Woodhouse.
A new North Mids Championship event is at the end of April. There was sad news that a Caravan hit a cyclist on the Hull based, V718 course.

Road Race – James – James gets all of the race licence sent to his address and then forwards these on. As James has to travel with work this may take slightly longer than anticipated so apologies if you are waiting for yours. Rob and Darren rode the first half of a vets race before it was cancelled due to snow. James T and Danny made a start a few weeks ago.

The North mids road race league starts at the end of this month. Discussion about the road race league and which groups people will be in for the coming season.
The chain gang mad a welcome return last Tuesday (2/4/2013) it is currently departing at 6:00 pm sharp.

Mintys road race – Andy needs help with Marshalling – ten marshals needed. he only has two at the minute so needs 8 more to put the event on. If anyone can help out it’s on the 5th May please email info@rutland.cc . Bren is going to do some pictures. The HQ is at Haworth.

Social – Not much to report here… Cleethorpes, decided on the date of Sunday 7th July unless we have a deluge of requests to change it, so note that date in your diaries.

Annual Do – We discussed a few new different venues. More to come on that one but the date is fixed (venue dependant) at Saturday 16th November.
Meeting venues – Any ideas ??? We are still unsure whether we can make the Palin suite at the University arms our home so if anyone has any ideas…email info@rutland.cc

Teacake Night ride in the summer is being planned. The idea being that we will have a few pints in the evening somewhere and then head out for a summer evenings spin when the pub shuts. Possible date for this is Friday 21st June so keep the date free is you fancy that.

The latest clothing order has arrived, email simon@rutland.cc for more details. We will press ahead with the next order very soon so if you want other items then again contact Simon. We are going to order some arm warmers with the next clothing order.

Big thanks went out to Andy Elston for organising a fantastic trip to Majorca this year. 30 people made the trip and a great time was had by all despite the slightly inclement weather at time!

Sunday club run this Sunday…Goyt valley…it is open and it will be on.

AOB – In the future we will include a slot for the Andy Smith – “Runs captain”.

18 Members in attendance.

My mate Laura is running this very local sportif and she wondered if any members of rutland would fancy it as it is on the doorstep.  Have a nosy at the course if you haven’t already…….. http://www.peakpunisher.co.uk/

Bren

The Sheffrec 2-up 25 mile TT at the weekend saw a good showing from several Rutlers on a glorious afternoon at Hatfield Woodhouse:-
Rich Witney partnered new member Ben Harvey and finished an excellent 4th fastest with a 57.00
James Bell and Gavin Evans were 7th with 57.43
Nathan Smith partnered Nick Downham from the Sheffrec and did a 1.03.14 and Liz Barber-Lilley rode with Vanessa Proctor to finish fastest of the ladies teams in 1.20.36
Provisional results can be seen here:-
http://www.timetriallingforum.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=76763

Flagg but dinner at Monyash
Under somewhat dreary conditions, very windy and drizzling, eight of us left Bents Road. The initial part of the ride took us through Holmsfield, Barlow and the Top Road. We left at the top of Rowsley Bar to head down towards Farley and in to Matlock via bank road. By this point we were down to seven, Matt Cooke had bailed around Eastmoor.
The quietest route from Matlock is to climb Salters Lane that takes you up to Brightgate and on to Elton common. As we passed through the barriers that now makes this road a dead end we had our first accident. Whilst adhering to the warnings of the posts, Luke Milnes then ignored the ice and hit the floor. Sorry I nearly forgot, Simon Keeton was suitably off the back up here, and looking for bail-out options. Luckily there were no “Get out of Jail” cards, so Simon continued with us.
Parwich was the next village we passed through and then on to the long climb to the A515. Dave Baillie punctured, fortunately it was a quick repair as it was starting to rain and get cold. By the time we reached Biggin and Longdale we had all warmed up.
A short stint on the A515 took us onto the lane that drops to Flagg, where despite seemingly being so well behaved up until then, Rob Fowler and Darren Otter treated us to the joys of half-wheeling and hammering it. The “club” run was in tatters, after regrouping at a junction where they were unsure of the way they were bombarded with the necessary abuse. Will they ever learn?
Being somewhat unsurprised that Flagg was closed, we rode on to Monyash where the process of charging is rather illogical. “Have more, pay less”, is the policy.
The ride home was a straight forward affair; Kirkdale, Ashford, Great Longstone and on to Calver, where a rather dubious vote was conducted. We “elected” for Froggat. Halfway up it was Darren’s turn to mend a puncture. Thankfully for him, and us, we stopped outside the Grouse pub. By the time we got home we had covered 70 miles.

See you next month,
Justin

At last months meeting the Club decided that we should have our own official Facebook Group where news and comments about the Club’s activities could be posted.

Not a member yet? Why not head over and request to join!

www.facebook.com/groups/rutlandcc/

Just wanted to say a massive to thank you to all who made it a great night last friday at the Lescar.

Hope everyone enjoyed it as much as me but if you didn’t feel free to email me on info@rutland.cc and we’ll do our best to improve it for next year.

For those of you who missed it, relive some of the magic below with Bren’s pics from his phone.

ps If anyone else has any pics email them in and I’ll add them to the site.

Below is a link to Bren’s pictures from the Mam Nick hill climb. There are some right belters … Enjoy!!!

…EPIC !!!