Is West Berkshire (Newbury) in a local club vacuum?
Is West Berkshire (Newbury) in a local club vacuum?
A colleague at work posted the programme for her local club, North Hampshire, onto the company intranet. I pointed out that the rides centred around Alton. There is a club Reading way, but that is on the wrong side of Calcot (M4) and I am trying to cut down on car usage. So is there any CTC life in the Newbury area or am I truly in a void?
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Karen Sutton
- Posts: 608
- Joined: 9 Jan 2007, 11:18pm
- Location: Greater Manchester
There seems to be a Road Club in Newbury http://www.newburyrc.co.uk
From their website it seems that they have ordinary club rides occasionally (just a morning by the looks of it), as well as time trials etc.
From their website it seems that they have ordinary club rides occasionally (just a morning by the looks of it), as well as time trials etc.
The Road Club in Newbury is mainly interested in speed. Club rides are fast 40-60 mile distances in a morning. Beginners rides are 15 miles and the idea is that you keep doing the 15 mile circuit as many times as you can so that you build up your speed for the club ride. The rest is time trials. If you do not ride the 'right' bike you are told you soon will. The speed of the beginners ride was a 'leisurely 20km an hour'. If that is what you want, I'm sure you'll fit. We only went once! One of the members wrote on another forum that I should get a 'proper road bike'. I have a high quality 24 speed Dutch tourer!!
Is west berkshire
Ok, so if I was an athlete competing in an event, I would not make small talk with the other runners during the race, that would be the expected thing. But...........
Checking the club's website, I saw that they would be out on the A4 that evening, so I went along to have an eyeball. The first thing that I saw ahead were some cars in the layby and I think I got a look that said, "Who's he?" as I hurtled past. The members were doing an out-and-back time trial. As I saw a rider coming the other way, I would nod or raise a hand in greeting. Absolutely no response! I did this about ten times then gave up as a totally lost cause. I was now between two of their riders on their outward run and managing to keep pace with the one in front, although my legs were complaining seriously (complaining = very painful). So I slowed down and the one behind passed me, again, not a word of greeting. Just about all of the bikes were very strange beasts. At this point I turned around and headed for the finish line to engage the gentlemen on timekeeping duties in conversation. One was able to talk to me and the first thing that he said was to ask me to get off the road and out of the way! That's a B***** good start, I thought. Don't their riders look at the road ahead?
Well I established that this is the evening they do their time trials and their social rides are Sunday morning. They have a very large membership, (the gentleman was also very quick to tell me what their membership costs).
Now let's be honest, how many times have each of us seen another person on a bike and decided not to say "Hello"? Are there some that we feel no cammeraderie towards? Bob the builder going to work? Kids mucking about. He's not a real cyclist, dose'nt have the right kit and so on? It does not cost much to give a single word of greeting or raise a hand in courtesy, but I wonder what is going on here? Well since they have such a big membership, they clearly don't need one more.
About two years ago, coming home from work, I found myself mixed in with a load doing time trials. I think it was another lot. I got a puncture and guess what sort of response I got as I was struggling with fingers numb with cold? Yes, you guessed! At their turnaround point, I made a point of stopping to give the marshall a piece of my mind and told him that it does not cost anything to show a little courtesy.
So if you are one of those cyclists, I don't care how important it is that you improve your position in the club ranking, there's no excuse for bad manners!
Checking the club's website, I saw that they would be out on the A4 that evening, so I went along to have an eyeball. The first thing that I saw ahead were some cars in the layby and I think I got a look that said, "Who's he?" as I hurtled past. The members were doing an out-and-back time trial. As I saw a rider coming the other way, I would nod or raise a hand in greeting. Absolutely no response! I did this about ten times then gave up as a totally lost cause. I was now between two of their riders on their outward run and managing to keep pace with the one in front, although my legs were complaining seriously (complaining = very painful). So I slowed down and the one behind passed me, again, not a word of greeting. Just about all of the bikes were very strange beasts. At this point I turned around and headed for the finish line to engage the gentlemen on timekeeping duties in conversation. One was able to talk to me and the first thing that he said was to ask me to get off the road and out of the way! That's a B***** good start, I thought. Don't their riders look at the road ahead?
Well I established that this is the evening they do their time trials and their social rides are Sunday morning. They have a very large membership, (the gentleman was also very quick to tell me what their membership costs).
Now let's be honest, how many times have each of us seen another person on a bike and decided not to say "Hello"? Are there some that we feel no cammeraderie towards? Bob the builder going to work? Kids mucking about. He's not a real cyclist, dose'nt have the right kit and so on? It does not cost much to give a single word of greeting or raise a hand in courtesy, but I wonder what is going on here? Well since they have such a big membership, they clearly don't need one more.
About two years ago, coming home from work, I found myself mixed in with a load doing time trials. I think it was another lot. I got a puncture and guess what sort of response I got as I was struggling with fingers numb with cold? Yes, you guessed! At their turnaround point, I made a point of stopping to give the marshall a piece of my mind and told him that it does not cost anything to show a little courtesy.
So if you are one of those cyclists, I don't care how important it is that you improve your position in the club ranking, there's no excuse for bad manners!
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rogerzilla
- Posts: 2914
- Joined: 9 Jun 2008, 8:06pm
I don't think anyone in a TT would ever wave. Have you ever tried it? It's half an hour of flirting with your aerobic limit, you get tunnel vision and it's all you can do to avoid ploughing into parked cars. If you don't feel like throwing up at the end, you haven't tried hard enough.
The timekeepers are also normally very busy - I've done a stint and trying to record the times of four riders arriving within 10 seconds is remarkably difficult. I'd rather be the pusher-offer any day.
The timekeepers are also normally very busy - I've done a stint and trying to record the times of four riders arriving within 10 seconds is remarkably difficult. I'd rather be the pusher-offer any day.
Re: Is West Berkshire (Newbury) in a local club vacuum?
Alan D wrote:A colleague at work posted the programme for her local club, North Hampshire, onto the company intranet. I pointed out that the rides centred around Alton. There is a club Reading way, but that is on the wrong side of Calcot (M4) and I am trying to cut down on car usage. So is there any CTC life in the Newbury area or am I truly in a void?
Wantage is just up the road - there's a thriving CTC section there:
http://wantagectc.org.uk/
Re: Is West Berkshire (Newbury) in a local club vacuum?
Resurrecting a very old thread, but Thatcham and Newbury are still a local club vacuum, apart from the snobby roadies. Are there enough interested parties to start a CTC/Audax type club?
-Max.
-Max.
Re: Is West Berkshire (Newbury) in a local club vacuum?
MaxLock wrote:Resurrecting a very old thread, but Thatcham and Newbury are still a local club vacuum, apart from the snobby roadies. Are there enough interested parties to start a CTC/Audax type club?
-Max.
West Berkshire Spokes? CTC affiliated.
Re: Is West Berkshire (Newbury) in a local club vacuum?
Reading CTC is very active with lots of good rides in fantastic countryside and great social events. A far cry from the horrendous sort of thing you have described. Its a car journey to join in but .... ?
Al
Al
Reuse, recycle, thus do your bit to save the planet.... Get stuff at auctions, Dump, Charity Shops, Facebook Marketplace, Ebay, Car Boots. Choose an Old House, and a Banger ..... And cycle as often as you can......