Forthcoming events
- Wednesday night winter ride starting 1st November at 18:00.
- Monday night spin classes starting 6th November.
- Monthly club night starting 8th November at 19:00.
- Club Skittles Night – Friday 17th November.
- Club AGM – Wednesday 22nd November at 19:30. Please feel free to suggest agenda topics. We are very keen to recruit enthusiastic new members to the committee, so if you have ideas and energy, do get in touch to find out more.
- Velodrome sessions – the club is looking to book some sessions in Newport in December and February. Once confirmed, these will be communicated to all members.
- Club awards, dinner and disco – a date in February 2024 is being arranged.
- Christmas and New Year Ride Program coming soon – expect all our usual traditional festive rides.
Social events
Club Night – Puncture Repairs! Wednesday 8thNovember, 7:00pm
We have reserved the Bowls Pavilion at the Chippenham Sports Club for a social gathering of members to discuss recent and future rides and anything in between over a tea or coffee and/or cake. The Bowls Pavilion is past the Sports Club at the top of the drive before the Air Dome.
The plan is to run these gatherings monthly and arrange a talk or practical session on bike repair.
This first session will include include a talk and demonstration on puncture repair practice and top tips for effecting a speedy repair on the roadside.
Those riding the Wednesday Winter Night Ride are welcome to come in for a warming cup of tea/cake. The changing rooms and shower in the main building will be available for anyone who wants to use them after the ride.
Choice of meal included in your ticket price – click this link to view. Please enter, select your meal choice and pay through Rider HQ using this link: Skittles Entry form Note entries close on 8th November or when we reach capacity. Enter soon to avoid disappointment! Any queries please email Sheni through leisureride@chippenhamwheelers.org
Skittles Night – Friday 17th November, 6:30pm
All welcome including partners/families for a fun night of Chippenham Wheelers team skittles, helping to raise funds for Doorway, our club charity. Make up a team of 6 and add your Team Name on your entry. Or come along and we’ll make up teams on the night. We’ve booked the Sports Club main function room with its 2 skittle lanes for our sole use. No prior skittle experience needed!
Choice of meal included in your ticket price – click this link to view. Please enter, select your meal choice and pay through Rider HQ using this link: Skittles Entry form Note entries close on 8th November or when we reach capacity. Enter soon to avoid disappointment! Any queries please email Sheni through leisureride@chippenhamwheelers.org
Club committee
The club is holding its annual AGM on 22nd November and all members are invited to have their say on club matters and find out more about the governance of our club. The AGM will be held in the Bowls pavilion at the Sports Club. We intend for the bar to be open in addition to teas and coffees being served. The committee has started from October publishing approved minutes and these can be found at https://www.chippenhamwheelers.org/about-us/committee/. We hope this will increase the transparency of club governance and encourage others to volunteer to help.Safety and Etiquette on Club Rides
To our knowledge, no specific safety incidents have been reported this quarter. However the club did receive a rather vitriolic complaint from a member of the public, suggesting that a group of club members were riding irresponsibly, through Rowde, some weeks ago. The complaint was thoroughly investigated and it seems likely that this was a case of mistaken identity, based on the gathered evidence. The complainant has been contacted and offered the chance to meet with club members for further discussion which seems to have diffused the situation. Whilst this was probably nothing to do with us, it does highlight a few useful reminders.
- Treat all other road users with consideration and courtesy, particularly pedestrians and horse riders.
- Announce your presence appropriately as necessary to avoid alarm and reduce risk.
- Pass wide and slow where possible.
- Be considerate to car drivers:
- Try to maintain small compact groups that are easier to pass. Be aware that two abreast groups that are not compact, look like four-abreast from behind and are challenging to pass.
- Consider leaving passing gaps between small groups on narrow lanes, to allow cars to ‘leapfrog’, safely.
- Consider pulling in to let cars past where it is particularly challenging.
Generally the riding manners of club members is excellent. Let’s keep it that way. If you are involved in an altercation, particularly if words are exchanged, do let us know via the secretary email. There is always learning in these events.
Sports Club News
Open day
On Sunday 17th September, Chippenham Sports Club held its ‘Open Day’ to coincide with the half-marathon. This should have been an opportunity for all constituent clubs to showcase their offering and the Wheelers were represented with a stand, manned by Stewart Smith. Unfortunately, the biblical weather in the day, meant there was poor attendance. The plan is return to the spring bank holiday in 2024 where the weather has traditionally been great.SSC Membership Cards
Just a reminder that these can be picked up from the sports club and entitle you to discounted members’ prices at the bar.Sports Club sections meeting
The Wheelers have a seat on the Sports Club “sections” committee and we have been rotating this seat amongst our committee members to grow our network and strengthen ties. This committee convened on 25th October where the majority of the discussions were around the replacement air-dome project. This has taken several years of planning but is now in a position to be taken to planning permission before funding applications are made. The plan is for a general purpose sports hall with changing facilities and numerous studios and storage to accommodate a range of sports. The building will be sustainable and require minimal running costs due to provision of solar panels and environmentally friendly heating. This will be a massive asset to the Chippenham community. We did ask about tagging a velodrome on the side 🙂Club Charity
As you know, this year’s chosen charity is Doorway, a local charity doing excellent work with the homeless. Recently, we supported their Supermarket Sweep Rides. Despite challenging weather a decent group with many CDW riders, completed the Tour of the Supermarkets with plenty of laughs along the way. Doorway have been very grateful for our involvement and logistical support and we have committed to helping them with another event next year, scheduled for 23 June 2024.Racing
Please see separate report on the end to the time trial season at https://www.chippenhamwheelers.org/time-trial-2023-end-of-season-report/. At the end of September we were involved in running events on both Saturday and Sunday with a couple of riders also riding in a national event later on the Sunday.Leisure, Audax and Challenge Rides
Wednesday Winter Night Rides start 1st November, 6.00pm
We’re going to resume our Wednesday Winter Night group rides, which used to be a regular club feature back in the times before COVID. The rides will start on 1st November and, if there’s enough interest, continue to the end of February. The ride is on a set 20 mile route. Usual meeting point at the Sports Club, by the tennis courts. The ride starts at 6.00pm. There will be a set pace of around 16mph depending on conditions. If there are enough people to form a faster group then that’s fine, but no one is to be left behind. A reminder that club members can make use of the shower and changing facilities in the main Sports Club building. Details and route can be found at https://www.chippenhamwheelers.org/events/wednesday-winter-night-ride-2023-11-01/Club Audax Series 2024 and Fletcher’s Flapjack Open Audax
Dates for next year’s Audax Series of rides are now in the club calendar. If you’ve never ridden an Audax before then take a look at the information through this link Audax Series. We put on a series of rides starting at 50km in January, increasing by 25km each month to finish with a grand 200km finale in the summer. It’s a great way to build your cycling confidence in the company of other riders. We have also opened entries for Fletcher’s Flapjack Open 100km Audax which will be held on Sunday 3rd March 2024. Please note the Flapjack is already filling up fast, so if you want to ride then please enter soon to avoid disappointment. Or better still, get a free entry by volunteering to ride and help out on the day of the event, which is always good fun. Entry details are available through this link Fletcher’s Flapjack.Off-Road/MTB/Gravel Rides
A few people both in and outside the club have expressed interest in mountain bike and/or “gravel” rides. We have occasionally organised off-road rides in the past and feel we could put on a lot more of these, if we had one or two members willing to help organise them. We already have over 15 local off-road routes in our route library. There is also the potential to organise rides further afield e.g. in the Wye Valley and Forest of Dean, or multi-day adventures like the King Alfred’s Way, Rebellion Way, Traws-Eyri etc. The committee will help to guide and support anyone willing to organise off-road rides, if there’s enough interest. We’ve put together a simple Google form for you to indicate your interest in participating or organising Off-Road rides, so if that appeals to you then please take a couple of minutes to fill in some details using the link below. Once we have enough responses, we’ll be in touch to bring together a group of like-minded members to see what we can organise for next year. Click here to complete our short Off-road Survey formClub kit
A reminder that club kit can be purchased on-line through our club shop at Sporting Billy. You can also visit their store on Bath Road, Chippenham to try on kit for size and arrange delivery or collection. The current range of kit can be seen through the link below. It now includes a range of leisure wear including club hoodies, t-shirts and beanies.
Generally, the response to the ‘value’ jerseys, sourced by Midge has been resoundingly positive. Because the alternative ‘branded’ kit is so much more expensive and requires minimum orders, it is likely that we will stick with the ‘value’ jerseys as the main offering. See about us for more details.