Here. is our October newsletter updating you on the varied activities across the club. As always, keep checking the club calendar on the web site for upcoming events which are generally scheduled at least a month ahead.
Special Mentions
90th Birthday Celebrations
This year, our club will be 90 years old! In recognition, we have a social ride followed by a light lunch back at the Sports and Social Club. Come and ride all or part of our 90km route, designed to look as close to a “90” as we could make it, using our local lanes.
Riders will have a brief morning stop at Cafe Tap in the Flying Monk Brewerynear Hullavington. The ride will finish up at the Sports Club for a Celebration lunch only £5 per head (sausage and mash + dessert). Or just come to the Sports Club for 2.00pm to join us for the celebration lunch if you don’t want to ride, everyone is welcome.
Full details including route can be found at https://www.chippenhamwheeler
Please book and pay for your lunch via the Rider HQ link below by 15th November. https://www.riderhq.com/event
Winter Spin Classes are back!
Winter Spin Classes will (finally) resume on Tuesdays from 8th November between 19:30 and 20:30 at Springfield Campus, Corsham. The sessions will be a great way to maintain / develop cycling fitness during the winter months and will be an opportunity to socialise with other club cyclists.
Cost will be £3.00 per session to cover room hire and insurance. Any profit will be donated to charity. Anyone wishing to attend or needing more information please contact Martin Priestley at martinpriestley@lycos.com.
Leisure and Challenge Rides
As always, there is a packed schedule of events throughout the month with rides listed up to the end of October. The list for November onwards is being finalised and will be published soon.
Sheni is also finalising dates and routes or the club Audax rides for next year. Again, once this has been finalised, they will be published on the club website.
Wiltshire Air Ambulance ride
Chippenham and District Wheelers ran a number of Charity events pre-pandemic to raise money in support of the Wiltshire Air Ambulance. The plan is to hand over a cheque on Wednesday, 2nd November 2022 at 14:00.
A ride route to the Air Ambulance base is planned, leaving the Chippenham Sports Club at 13:00 which will provide plenty of time to reach the base.
It would be great to have a good turnout in Club Colours, but we understand this is a working day and not everyone has the opportunity to take time off. All are welcome and if friends or family, who are not Club members but would like to show their support for the Air Ambulance, are free to come along, they would be welcomed too.
See https://www.chippenhamwheeler
Racing
National Youth Championship Final
These championships are for Under 17 riders where you had to qualify via district qualifiers. Unfortunately, Theo Anderson missed the West district qualifier but thankfully Paul Winchombe and Andy Cook arranged for a dispensation to be granted so Theo could race.
The race was on the O10/1 course near Doncaster, with this in mind Theo went up a couple of weeks before to take part in a TT using this course. This turned out to be an inspired decision as the roundabout was an odd shape where Theo felt he lost a lot of time in the pre championship race.
In the actual championship Theo came a superb 3rd, pipping the 4th place rider by 1 second. The winner, Finlay Tarling, broke the national 10-mile junior record the day before doing a 18:15 on course F11/10. This broke the record held by his elder brother Joshua who recently signed for Ineos Grenadiers!
Club Open Hill Climb
On Saturday 1st October, the club held its annual Open Hill Climb on course UH80 (Bowden Hill) with 32 riders entered on what was a bright and sunny morning.
Overall, a great event with a small but noisy crowd cheering the riders on outside the church. Sheni brought a load of cow bells to sell for the church. Only one sold one so hopefully next year we can sell more (assuming Sheni has kept his outstanding stock) to create an even better atmosphere for the riders.
This year, once again we were supporting St Anne’s Church, Bowden Hill (also known as the Church in the Clouds) and managed to raise £165 for them.
Club Open 10 mile Time Trial
Following on from the Club Hill Climb, we held our Open 10-mile TT on the Sunday on course U41 (Cotswold Water Park) with 37 entries.
The threat of rain was ever present, and several riders started the journeys in the pouring rain only for it to stop once they got near the course HQ. This did mean that we only had 26 riders turn up which was a shame.
Again, another well run event with good feedback from the riders.
RTTC National Closed-Circuit Championships
We had two club members entered in this event which was held at a very windy Thruxton circuit on 9th October.
Theo Anderson was entered into the Junior category and finished a very creditable 6th against a good quality field.
We also had Paul Winchcombe riding in the men’s event and finished 111/172.
Antelope RT – 4 Up TTT
Straight after the Closed-Circuit championships there was a 4-up Team Time Trial at Thruxton. The wind had picked up even more, so not the best conditions for our two teams to compete in.
The first team off comprised of Mike Griffin, Andy Lockwood, and Mike Gibbons. Unfortunately, the 4th rider James Eccleston couldn’t make it due to illness. They finished in 14th place with a time of 29:41.83.
The second team was made up of Paul Winchcombe, Matt Chapple, David English, and Theo Anderson. They finished in 11th place with a time of 28:12.64.
Everyone seemed to really enjoy the event, and everyone wants to come back and do it again next year.
Circuit/Road Racing
School Games 2022 – National Finals
Day 1 – Derby Velodrome
Theo was entered in two events which were the Scratch and Points races. In the 15KM points race Theo was his normal aggressive self with plenty of attacks and eventually finishing in 9th place.
In the 10KM Scratch race, Theo attacked about halfway through with 3 other riders and managed to maintain their gap with Theo finishing in 2nd place.
Day 2 – Loughborough University Crit Races
The second day started with sprint qualifying which was followed by three Crit Races. Theo finished in the top 20 in all three races so a good set of results.
Day 3 – Slawston Road Race
The final day was a 90-minute road race on a demanding course. This is by far the hardest race that Youth riders will do throughout the year.
Theo finished 36/48 with the effects of the previous days racing and other social events catching up with him.
Theo will be doing a more detailed account of the School Games in an upcoming newsletter.
Upcoming Events for your Diary
- 2nd November 2022 at 14:00 – Wiltshire Air Ambulance Ride
- 27th November: Club 90th Anniversary 90km Ride with a social lunch get together afterwards.
- 23rd November club AGM
- Club Awards Dinner in January 2023