Stop Press! Grimpy takes silver

Hot off the press is news that John, today, took the silver medal in the UCI World Masters Championships at Loisville, USA.  Well done once again John, we are looking forward to hearing the full story of your adventures in America at the Dinner on Saturday evening.

Late entry.....................
Just arrived via the wonders of the www...........................
Hi Peter,
Silver this year conditions snowing with mud freezing real strong mens conditions my guess is bike weighed twice original when I changed onto SRAM platform saddle machine. Will post a report and hopefully send you a pic just going to podium presentation and may have to do drug test. That could be a problem with the beer last night 
Cheers 
grimpy

A few dates for your diary

Good turn out for todays Wednesday Ride - but the weather did deteriorate somewhat and not all made it to the lunch stop at Airton - and I suspect that some of those who did wished they had turned early as the buffeting winds and icy cold rain made the later part of our return journey somewhat uncomfortable - never mind it was all good training for the North West Passage, which, worryingly, is only 2 weeks away next Saturday.

A few dates for your diary -

Saturday 16th February - North West Passage Audax, 130 & 75 mile options from Rochdale, the traditional season starter for the Condor.
Sunday 24th February - Halifax Imps Reliability Ride 9am from outside Ritz, Brighouse.
Sunday 3rd March - Morvelo City Cross, Old Mill, Halifax see http://www.citycross.co.uk/
Saturday 9th March - When I'm 64  A 200k Audax from near Darlington - ideal for a relaxing Sunday.
Sunday 17th March - Delightful Dales 200k Audax from Pendleton.
Sunday 24th March - Kendal Sportive, a great looking route including a timed climb from Dentdale over to Barbondale.
Wednesday 3rd April - Monyash Peak and Icecream Wensdae 100k Audax's from Marple.
Sunday 7th April - Ronde van Calderdale - a 'must do!' Sportive, a classic route from Liversedge - enter on-line via BC website - Mick Collins, who is assisting with the organisation asks for pre-entries as soon as possible.

CTC Dinner - invitation

Dear Ian

 

I am writing to invite you and your fellow Condor RC members to the CTC Calderdale Presentation Dinner, which takes place on Friday 8 March at the Shay Stadium Banqueting suite. Our principal guest on this occasion is Yorkshire cycling legend Brian Robinson, and we are hoping for a good turnout bringing together many representatives of the local cycling scene.

 

Details of the menu choices are set out on the menu enclosed - would you be so kind as to circulate this email among your members so they have the opportunity to consider coming along and joining us. Tickets are priced £20 and the deadline for expressions of interest / menu choices is Friday 22 February. Tickets can be obtained from our Treasurer, John Keighley - if you or your colleagues require any further information please contact John on 01422 345968 or email j.keighley131@btinternet.com.

 

I do hope that we can welcome Condor RC members to the event. I have sent personal letters of invitation to John Lumb (John was our guest speaker last year) and Paul Groves (Paul has been a regular attender at the event).

 

Best wishes

 

Reid Anderson

Secretary CTC Calderdale.

Sabbath report

A tempest of biblical proportions was raging as I left home for today's club run, if the weather forecast hadn't sounded so confident that after initial rain it would brighten up and the temperatures would soar to 6 or 7 degrees I may have considered giving it a miss. I was sure no one else would venture outdoors in this weather but I was wrong, soon after passing through Queensbury, four VS's, Chris, JD, Eric & Martin came storming past me,  I momentarily caught their rear wheels but couldn't stay the pace and was spat out of the back - being dropped on the way to the start was not the perfect beginning to the day. We all re-grouped at Keighley being joined by Richard, Sean, Mel, Pete W and Oakworth Steve.  Mel was of the same opinion as me, that, considering the encouraging forecast we ought to venture to our stated destination, Burnsall, via Cringles, Kex Gill, West End and Greenhow. I volunteered to lead the Z team whilst the A team shot off up the road without glancing back.  

I'm not sure if it was intended or if he just missed the boat but Richard hung back with me as we watched the fast lads disappear into up the road. We saw in the distance that Steven was being shed from the fast lads peloton as they approached the summit of Cringles and he looked happy to join the Z's on the descent to Addingham, but in truth never really recovered from the trauma that had been inflicted by his earlier efforts.

The three of us kept together over Kex Gill, West End and Greenhow as we were buffeted by high winds and blinded by hail, we even had to work hard going down past Stump Cross Caverns and hit deep water for the 1st time on the road to Hartlington. I was more than happy to reach the cafe at Burnsall where we found the A team tucking into their baked beans. After loitering there some time we made our way back to the security of Calderdale via Thorpe and Gargrave hitting more flooding on the road from Broughton to Carleton - did you return by this route Mel?
78.2 miles at an average speed of 13.2 mph, not very fast was it,  I can assure you we hadn't been taking it easy but we had enjoyed a memorable day out.

Sunday 27th Jan

Usual time, 9am Denholmgate/9.30 Keighley for Burnsall - plenty of route options so we can decide on the day depending on conditions.

Feizor report

I was both surprised and relieved when I looked out this morning and saw that it hadn't frozen overnight, perhaps Feizor was now more of a possibility than it appeared yesterday. I hung around at Denholmgate till a few minutes after the published 9am meet but no one else arrived so I made my way Keighley where I met Mel at the bottom of Ingrow. We noted Padium Chris' bike was resting outside the cafe and pottered on to the roundabout where we were eventually joined by Sean, Simon and the aforementioned Chris, now dangerously re-fueled.

We made our way on the backroads to Broughton and towards Gargrave. Mel, Sean and Chris were keeping 22mph going up the rises, I was found wanting on the first of these rises and watched the above trio disappear into the distance. Simon, perhaps a little hampered by the mountain bike tires on his hybrid bike hung back to keep me company but decided to turn at Gargrave whilst he was still feeling strong - after witnessing his condition in the latter part of last weeks ride I dare not attempt to change his mind.
I made my way to Feizor by riding straight up the A65, not a route I normally take but, alone, with lighter than normal traffic, it proved to be a good choice.
The hard men got to the cafe about 30 minutes later having ridden a somewhat longer and harder route; Airton, Attermire, Settle, Helwith Bridge and Austwick. I quickly finished my sweet course thinking I could sneak off whilst they were still at the trough - trouble is they don't appear to eat much at all and on seeing me make a move they donned helmets and came with me - or to be more precise I sat on their wheels as they did bit and bit, until I finally said goodbye (or would have done if I'd had breath to spare) coming out of Hellifield. I was pleased to get 83 miles on the clock when I got home (just before 3pm), if I can steadily increase that each week till the NW Passage I will be more than happy.

Sunday 20th January

It may be rather optimistic but the plan is to meet at the usual times, 9am Denholmgate - 9.30 Keighley roundabout for Feizor. The A Team getting there via Settle, Little Stainforth and Austwick and the Z Team going straight there from Settle, up Buck Haw Brow. Looking at the weather just now we may have to amend on the day.

Its been a cold week but eight of us managed a day of minus temperatures on the Wednesday run when we elected to have an easyish ride up to Rylstone Duckpond and down to Gargrave cafe (home of the poorest bacon & sausage buttie its ever been my misfortune to eat).

 We were able to cool off a bit en-route, firstly to watch Everard sort out a rear wheel puncture, shortly after Peeps entertained us whilst sorting his snapped 'double clanger'.

Sunday 13th January

A short postscript to answer Melvyn's thought bubble in Pete's post.

Along with Pete and Simon I too was dropped by the A group on the climb out of Skipton and was left in no man's land not knowing whether to chaise with absolutely no prospect of getting back on or drop back to the B group and miss out on the climb from Arncliffe to Malham via Darnbrook. I chose to do the Darnbrook ride on my own hoping that I might rejoin the group at Airton cafe which I did, just after the photo shoot.

Much the same thing happened on the return home only it was the climb out of Gargrave that did for me. Notwithstanding the days trevails I still enjoyed the ride and I topped  off the day by driving across to Peel Park Bradford to see Ian Field win the Senior race in the National Cyclocross Championship

Sunday 13th Jan ride report

First of all a get well soon message to Sandy who was run down by a car that failed to give way from a side road as he was riding down through Portsmouth (not the Hampshire one) on Friday - bruised and sprained but nothing broken (except his bike).

Numbers were down this week but the quality was there. I set off a bit early in case it took me longer than usual to get to Denholmgate but a bit of a tail wind got me there at 5 to nine so instead of hanging around for ten minutes getting cold then getting dropped on the way to Keighley I kept going and met Mel at the roundabout. We were eventually joined by the above athletes plus Richard (who was late for the official photo shoot).
The route for the day was Arncliffe, Darnbrook, Malham and down to Airton Cafe. Simon and I nearly missed the boat as, in company with the Milnes lads, a brisk pace was set to Skipton. On hearing the route the Milnes boys promptly turned left on the approach to Skipton looking for less demanding pastures.
On the advice of my personal trainer (aka 'The Wife') I had never intended riding the full route so when Mel, Pete, Padhiam Chris, Richard and a couple of other lads forgot to slow down on the incline out of Skipton on the Grassington Road, Ian and Simon were considerate enough to hang back and nurse me to Cracoe where we turned left through Hetton and Winterburn to make it to Airton just before the egg curfew time of 1100 hrs.
We had a very civilized, leisurely breakfast (delighted to be joined by Nigel who, despite insisting that he has fallen out of love with cycling had ridden a longer hillier route than us to get there) and were just about to leave when the 'A' Team arrived pumped up with adrenalin after attacking the limestone escarpments to the west of Arncliffe, I had no desire to sit and watch them fight over scraps of raw meat so after a quick photo to confirm to myself that I had made it from crutches to Airton in half the expected time Ian, Simon, Nigel and I left, hoping to get up Ingrow before the wolves got scent of our trail.
The coffee and walnut cake appeared to have increased Ian's hematocrit to almost Lance Armstrong levels as he chased down the VC Bradford/Pennine team on the Keighley Road, the rest of us taking advantage of his slipstream. If the elastic broke for me at Hermit Hole bends - it exploded for Simon, who recovering from a virus and chronically short of miles in the legs over the last few months, died a thousand deaths. I loitered at Flappit  top for quite some time but eventually had to leave. Sean caught me at Mountain and informed me he had passed Simon on the moor before Manywells and sounded surprised that he hadn't jumped on his wheel - LEL training starts tomorrow.
Same times next Sunday - 9am Denholmgate, 9.30 Keighley.

Don't forget, 8.30pm, Travellers, Hipperholme, Tues 15th for Condor RC meeting
     

Grimpy does it again

At Peel Park, Bradford this morning John illustrated once again his dominance in the over 70's age bracket when he romped home to a clear win in the 2013 National Championships.

He may look confident in the above photo, at todays start line, but it hadn't all been plain sailing, the guy to his right is Stuart Walters, Kettering CC, who 6 days earlier had beaten John in Round 6 of the National Trophy Series at Derby, there was also the ever present threat from former Pro and Natioal Champ, Mick Ives.

John also managed to puncture a brand new tub whilst warming up, I imagine that got the adrenalin flowing - I know it did for his right-hand man, Paul Daly.

Good luck in America next week John.

Read This

2013 CLUB SUBS DUE, £6.00 TO HON. TREASURER, PAUL GOWER 

For starters I'll just remind everyone that the National 'Cross Champs are being held at Peel Park in Bradford this coming weekend and Grimpy will be in action in the vets race at 11am on Saturday - make sure you're there to cheer him on in his last race before jetting off to America to defend his world title


If you were at the AGM three months ago you will remember that we decided that we should have a club meeting at least every three months - so here is notice that there will be a Condor Road Club meeting next Tuesday, the 15th of January, at The Travellers Inn, Tanhouse Hill, Hipperholme. There's an exciting agenda including plans for the Condor Cross this autumn and final plans for the club dinner including working out who's won any trophies for the 2012 season - so results are required from members who have been racing and details of distances achieved in sportive's and Audax's.

Just to remind everyone the 63rd annual dinner is due to be held at Bailiff Bridge Community Centre (HD6 4DX) on Saturday 2nd of February 2013, 6.30 for 7pm. (Note that this is one week later than usual)

MENU

STARTERS

Homemade vegetable soup

Creamy garlic mushrooms

Salmon fish cakes with sweet chilli sauce

MAIN COURSE

Traditional roast beef and Yorkshire pudding

Roast pork loin with crackling & apple sauce

Individual fish pie

Vegetarian option

PUDDINGS

Sticky toffee pudding and custard

Sherry trifle

Cheese and biscuits

Coffee & mints

COST : £23.00 per person (complimentary wine included)

Please contact Paul Gower (01422 201533) with numbers and choices asap and at least by 20th January.

(or let me know petehorne@yahoo.co.uk and I'll pass details on to Paul - or you could click comments tab on this blog entry and leave details) 

Sunday 6th - Kick Off

Dry roads and mild weather encouraged a good turn out for the first 'training' ride of the year with a good showing from V.S. Cycles, Condor and Imps, (Sean being late and chasing solo all the way to Kettlewell Cafe).
Progress was halted briefly at Threshfield while several riders decided that was far enough and a reduced group carried on to Kettlewell and Zarinas Cafe, (including a slimmed down Lumby who had made an earlier start). An even smaller group pushed on to Buckden (Chris T, Young Alex and me) requiring us to bolt our breakfasts quickly if we were to join the rest for the return ride.
We left Kettlewell in 3 groups, agreeing to return via Hetton and Gargrave where we re-grouped for the ups and downs back to Keighley. We were close to a brush with the law at the traffic lights after Cross Hills when 'stragglers' from the climb from Connonley (you know who you are!) took the customary but highly un-sporting short cut through the cul-de-sac causing others to jump the lights if they wanted to stay with the group - all in view of Mr. Plod waiting at the lights who was using his horn to express his displeasure at this recklessness.  I left them all to do battle with the Ingrow while I had my own personal battle home over East Morton. 
More of the same next Sunday -  perhaps via Arncliffe &  over Darnbrook to Malham & Airton cafe ? (We may miss the egg 'cut-off time'  though !).
Other news; Nigel was spotted on the road having a ride to the Duckpond & back but he tells me the distance has unfortunately taken a toll on his 'saddle area' !
And  - how is Pete H recovering ? Hope to see him back soon, after all there are only 5 more Sundays to the N.W. Passage !

PeteH says
Recovery going great - back on the bike albeit shortish flattish easy rides so far (could become addictive) - managed 32 miles on Sunday (Spen Valley & Calder Valley Greenways  and canal bank). It took 4 and a half hours but that includes stopping to chat to people on 5 occasions, main difficulty is getting on and off the bike.   I intend to get up to Denholmgate for 9am next Sunday and to have a potter up to Airton Cafe by the flattest, easiest route available and return by a similar route.

New Years Day Ride

'9 for 9:30' - Kettlewell - 6 Jan 2013

This Sunday sees the return of regular club rides. It makes sense to stick with 9 at Denholme and 9:30 at Keighley for a few weeks - keeps it simple.

The 'A' group will no doubt want to go up to Buckden, while the B's (and C's) will be heading straight to Zarina's cafe in Kettlewell.

New Year's Day 2013 - a ride report

We did meet outside VS cycles as planned, but the shutters were down on the shop and a chill breeze drove us along the street to find shelter. So instead of drooling over the latest carbon fancies in the bike shop, we had to make do with second best and admire the lace in the window of 'Brief Encounters' ladies lingerie instead.

Pete Smith joined us shortly after the photo-op, reporting that 'just two lads' were to be seen at the Ritz.  They would be coming our way and would surely catch up soon, so we pottered on and I grabbed the front to keep the pace under control - a move that worked very well, for a while. Through Huddersfield and in short order we were scouting Holmfirth for suitable (open) cafes. Emma's tearooms provided refreshment, but sadly won't be appearing in my forthcoming 'Guide to bacon & egg butties of West Yorkshire'.  The tea was nice though, and at least the lightweight sandwich didn't hold me back too badly up the back road to Upperthong.

Padiham Chris thought we should all stop to enjoy the view from the top of the hill and let the fierce, scouring wind cool us off after the hard ascent, while he changed a front punture. Turning on to Isle of Skye road propper, Brian marshalled the troops to do sensible turns. Chris evidently wanted to study the scenery some more, this time with a rear puncture. Only Brian stopped to keep Chris company while he battled with home-made mudguard attachments, the rest of us being ignorant of his plight. Richard B eventually turned back to investigate while we sheltered in a shallow dip. Declaring all was well (or at least as good as it was going to be), we were released to press on into the slight draught/whiff/zephyr. Having done my turn at the front, inevitably the elastic just stretched too far on the next rise. Fortunately, I could then get the benefit of extra training alone without the inconvenience of my four clubmates to shelter behind. Names have been added to the book, should I ever get fit enough again to return the favour (unlikely at this rate).

They did eventually wait though down in Upper Mill, letting Brian & Chris catch up too, which took us slowly on to Denshaw and up & over 'windy gap' at Jn 22, where at last a decent tailwind made for a great run down the valley, to be met by many colleagues in the Works. Our cycling bretheren had turned up much earlier and selflessly waited nursing half-a-pint for our belated arrival. They then stayed sociably with us, and some even had another pint on the table as the main riding group had taken their restorative tonics and headed off for home.