FARNHAM ROAD CLUB NEWSLETTER SEPTEMBER 2008

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1 FARNHAM ROAD CLUB NEWSLETTER SEPTEMBER 2008 From the Editor: Doesn t time fly when you are having fun? Despite the very variable weather the club time trial season has proved to be a success once again with good performances from all. It has been pleasing to see so many club shirts at the evening starts, which suggests that the club is prospering. Open events have been well organised and successful on each occasion. The programme for these events can be found further on. I hope that you are all preparing your schedules for the winter training? It is never too soon to look ahead. The picture this month is of our own cycling celebrity who was asked to perform the opening ceremony at the new Boots the Chemist in Bordon. The lad scrubs up well and he was on his best behaviour, honest.

2 As I write reports are coming in of some strange practices occurring in Spain, involving a sheep! Seriously Stuart Willis was brought down by one leaping out into the road, (Nothing to do with a vineyard visit, so I m told.) causing him to exit over the bars. He has a broken wrist and various layers of skin removed. Hope you feeling a bit less second hand Stuart. Good news is the sheep is ok. As one time trial season ends so the off season events begin and thoughts focus on next year. Further on you will find details of the 4 Way Event, AGM and the Club Dinner and Prize Presentation. On a sadder note many of you will know that my last time keeping event will be on Tuesday 2 nd September and this will be my last edition of the newsletter. The approaching OAP status and continuing back problems have caused me to relinquish my club duties although I hope to continue with the club history which has turned into a much larger job than expected. I hope you have seen some of the pictures in the Herald group newspapers over the last year. Good luck to whoever takes over, I will give as much help as I can and all information is stored on a flash drive ready to hand over. Happy riding. Colin Tour of Flanders Sportive April 2008 Gawie Nienaber Fuelled by dinner with the Team CSC riders and staff on the Friday night and a 7 a.m. breakfast at the Team CSC hotel in Kortrijk on the Saturday of the race, we set off by car for the 80 km or so to Ninove. A long queue awaited us once we had turned off from the motorway exit. Kilometres of cars were parked next to the road while some of the 12,000 or so sportive participants rode their bikes to the start area. Managed to park, after some traffic delay, in the centre of the town, changed, got the bikes out of the back and rode to the start about a km away. The Tour of Flanders sportive takes place the day before the pro race, on the same roads. One is not timed and the rolling start (between 7a.m and 10a.m) helps to spread out the riders doing the 75km and 140km options. Riders doing the full 265 km start in Brugge, which is also where we would see the pro race start the next day. This sportive is an experience, not a race. For the duration of the ride the going was rather leisurely : no bunch riding, just a continuous stream of riders. At the same time one did not ever feel actively being slowed up, except on the climbs. Most of the riders seemed to have reasonable bike skills and comfortable with the widely varying and rapidly changing road surfaces and road widths (more so

3 it appeared than some of the pros the next day in the actual Tour of Flanders). Testimony to the fact that for many Flemings the sportive has become an annual tradition. Not that it would have been sensible to follow anyone's wheel. At no point during the race did it feel hard. I had good legs on the day though could get into a quicker group only at a few points during the day as even the more serious riders seemed to stop after every climb. In almost every way the ride is totally different from the Etape du Tour, where for e.g. riders are riding for time (and to avoid the broom wagon). The weather quickly became grim. It was not raining at the start and about 9 C. I started with my under helmet skull cap in my back pocket but quickly stopped to put it on. A life saving piece of kit. At the outset it was too cold with just a wind stopper undershirt and spring long sleeve jersey on and too warm with a rain jacket on-until it started sleeting after 2 hours or so. With temperatures dropping to 5 C or less it was cold with every bit of clothing on. I only needed to wear another under shirt and a wind stopper gilet to be fine, though after becoming wet, fingers and feet got very cold. The Saturday weather was a carbon copy of the weather the next day for the pro race. I met Stuart O Grady the next day after his race coming into the sauna at the Team CSC hotel. He abandoned with 30 km to go due to the cold. He told me that he had been frozen to the bone. The roads are narrow and often turn without warning from town roads into bike paths. The roads also often have concrete dividers in the middle. A Saunier Duval pro the next day went straight into one and smashed his bike and at least one arm. The 75 km route split from the 140 km option after about 20km and the first cobbled climb was at about 30 km in and after a steep right turn. After 20 meters of muddy cobbles it reared straight up at 20%. One rider crashed in front of me. I could see everyone else pushing bikes up the climb with a few brave souls trying to weave, usually unsuccessfully, their way up the hill between walking cyclists. So the safe, and only, option was to climb off and walk up the hill. The cleat covers I brought along came in handy. I was geared at 39/25 (the CSC pros the next day rode 38/25-as Karsten Kroon put it, they can otherwise only ride up at 50 rpm, which would kill the legs) and whilst I was probably under geared it made little difference as the crowded hills invariably forced one to walk. I discovered the next day, watching the pros up the Kluisberg, the first climb, and the famous Koppenberg, that there was little shame in this, as the back-markers all walked up part way. This pattern repeated itself over most of the 6 or so steep cobbled climbs (being most of the climbs in the pro race, given that the first 100 km or so of the pro race is fairly flat and mostly without cobbles.) The less steep cobbled climbs or those on tarmac, including the first 2/3 of the second last climb, the infamous Muur at Geraardsbergen, were no problem. Most of the climbs were less than one km in length but usually were steep-some stretches well over 20%.

4 There were two refuelling stops, where you also had a card stamped which gave you a small plastic finishing certificate at the end. One shuffled along in a long line through a warehouse or tent, picked up a strictly rationed energy drink and half a banana or piece of cake. It was necessary to bring along your own energy bars to be properly fuelled. The cobbles really shook one up and I was worried about my wheels (Campy Neutron) not being 30+ spoked. Scott Sunderland, Team CSC s directeur sportive did not think that the number of spokes was the issue but rather the tyres. He recommended I ride Vittoria Pave 24 mill tyres (as did the Team CSC pros-the tubular version) and I would swear by them. The cobbles were brutal, so much so that on one longer stretch my bottle cage sheared off cleanly. According to Scott Sunderland this is common. So next time I would use heavier duty bottle cages. With the cobbles and the climbs my average speed was decidedly unimpressive. After about 5 and a half hours in the saddle I rode into the finish at Ninove and quickly had a Belgian Leffe Brune in my hand!(well deserved I would say. Ed) FOUR WAY TROPHY This event is to be held on Sunday 12 th October starting in Bentley by the pond. The first leg is the time trial where you have to state your time to be taken. It goes through Froyle and up the hill second left towards Holybourne to the finish. No clocks watches or Sat Navs allowed throughout the event. The next leg is down to Holybourne for the hill climb. The standard time is 3minutes forty-five seconds. There then follows another trip up the hill for the club hill climb championship and it is the fastest one up to win. Then on to the free wheeling contest and then the two laps of the circuit where you have to match your time each way. No watches, clocks, sat navs or such gizmos allowed. There is also an urgent call for a time keeper for this event. Contact Jim Brown. ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING This is the formal notice that the Annual General Meeting of the Club will be held at the Leverton Hall in Wrecclesham at 2.00pm on Sunday 16 th November The hall is behind the church. Walk up the church steps and follow the path to the right and you will find it. It really is important for everyone to make the effort to attend. If you wish to raise any matters for the agenda please contact Jim Parker

5 DINNER AND PRIZE PRESENTATION As last year this will be held at the Squires Holt on the A31 Hogs Back, On the left as you go to Guildford from Farnham, on Saturday 6 th December for I hope this year that there will be a greater supply of TEA! We drank them right out last year. Please contact Paul Charman, who is endeavouring to keep the price close to last years 18 per person, on to order your tickets. Please bring your family and friends. CLAIMS FOR AWARDS There are numerous club trophies and awards up for grabs but in order to collate the winners all those first claim members are asked to submit details of your times to the Jim Brown by the end of September and for last years winners to return the trophies as soon as possible to enable the new winners names to be engraved before the presentation evening. You can find Jim at 12 Alma Lane Heath End OPEN EVENTS FOR 2009 The club have submitted the following dates for open events next year. It is important that event organisers have sufficient help to run them successfully. Those that are willing to help please contact the event organiser as soon as possible. It all helps to take some of the stress out of organising. Saturday 9 th May: Open 10 (John Cooke) Tuesday 19 th May: Ron Wickerson Open 10 (Deana Dibnah) Sunday 21 st June: Open 25 (Organiser wanted contact Jim Parker) Sunday August 9 th : Open 2-up and 4-up 25 (Paul Charman) All events to include Tandems and will hopefully run from the Froyle Hall as usual. * * * * * * Just A final thanks to all the contributors that have helped me over the last two years. Colin PS: CLUB EVENINGS COMENCE ONCE A MONTH AT THE Bull in Bentley 8.00pm onwards starting on TUESDAY 7 TH OCTOBER.