DE LAUNE CYCLING CLUB

FOUNDED 1889

Sponsored by EVANS CYCLES (UK) Ltd. & SPECIALIZED CYCLES

De Laune News      December 2000        No. 821 -71^st Year

www.delaunecc.org

THE PRESIDENTS REPORTS

The De Laune is in the news again, and good news. Our team of hill climbers, Ben Neville, John O'Brien, and Alaric Lester took on the Catford and Bec hill climbs on Sunday the 15th October. Unfortunately Mat Goods did not feel too well, and could not make the start. I hope you are feeling better Mat. Despite his absence, we won the team award in both events. The results are as follows.

Catford Hill Climb (morning event)

(Tony Miller rode, but not for the DeLaune. 2.11.32)

Bec Hill Climb (afternoon event)

Well-done lads! We had our regular band of supporters out, who are let out of the old folks home every other Sunday: Brian Saxton, Roy Savery, Tich Shambrook, Mike Peel, and myself. Katie was out on her bike, as was Bill Wright. At lunchtime we made for the pub at Tatsfield. We had, supporters, riders, wives and kids out in the garden. It was good to see them all.

To date, I do not have the results of the National Hill Climb, which was on Sunday the 29th October. We entered a strong team, which I think was Ben, John, Alaric, and Mat. The full result should be in this addition of the DLN.

On Sunday the 29th October, the De Laune ran the Open London Cyclo-Cross Championships at Eastways. The event organiser was our own Bill Wright, and considering he had 6 events going from 10.30 am to 1.30 pm he did well, I can tell you. With any successful event, you have got to have a reliable band of helpers behind you like, Peter Harris, Quil Forbes and the people from the home again.

The De Laune would also like to thank members from other clubs for their help

Chief Commissar Kelvin Hoy
Chief Judge Colin Docker
Assistant Judges Alan Male, James Lett
Timekeeper Brian McCracken
Assistant Commissar Peter Baird

The club would also like to thank sponsors who generously supported our event: - Evans Cycles, Cycling Weekly, and Cyclone Car and Courier Co.  And many others who helped to make the event a success. We only had one rider, Francis Rudd, who was in the senior event, but he had a bad day and did not finish. It only seems like yesterday when I was out at a cyclo-cross event shouting the first man through, who would be Alan Jackson, with that grin, followed by Ken Fuller and Geoff Sinnett, and all covered in muck. How time flies.

On the 19th October we had a special A.G.M. This was to elect Memorial Clubroom Trustees. This was done and we now have the four required. We also discussed the progress of the clubroom. The minutes of the meeting should also be in this addition of the DLN.

The old problem has arisen again where we cannot get members to carry out official jobs in the club. This is not new. The problem has not been helped by losing our Time Trial Secretary, Jeremy Briggs, who moved to Norwich (hope you are settled in Jeremy). Ian Cleverly resigned from being Road Race Secretary and being first claim member, for reasons not known, and the biggest blow was Katie Chown who resigned from the Club Secretary's job.

Katie is good at her job, but was put under a lot pressure from members who would argue at meetings about what to do with the Clubroom; members who would not turn up for meetings, and members who will not take on official jobs for the Club. I do not know the answer to the last one.

Katie, thank you from all of us. As you say, you just want to ride your bike again. As they say in politics " sit on the back benches and keep your eye on things." I hope you will come back again soon, refreshed, and keep the men in order.

On the 9th November, we have a small band of members, Brian Saxton, Tich Shambrook, and myself, who are going to France and Belgium to visit the graves of the Club members who fell in the first and second world wars. We will be spending three days starting at the Somme, finishing at The Menin Gate, Ypres, at the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of November. I will let you know how we get on.

Kav.

PS The people from the old folks home will be going skiing on the 20th January 2001 to St Anton in Austria. If you're interested, let me know.

STOP PRESS. STOP PRESS.

Just returned from the club committee meeting, the best yet for me. Alaric Lester asked to be Roller and Track Sec, John O'Brian, asked to be Time Trial Sec, and Pete Harris asked to be Club Sec. Not cajoled, not an arm up the back job, but asked to be put forward with, and most important, with new ideas on how the jobs should be run. Thanks guys. The next step is to make sure that these people get the support from all club members, and not left out on a limb. Be it marshalling, time keeping, making tea or what ever, they must have our support. Did you know that Alan Rowe has volunteered to marshall in the ECCA events in Essex, so we as a club can use the fast courses. Bless him.

Danny Haynes (Rhino) said, as a committee member he felt he was not doing enough for the club at the meetings, so we let him make the tea! Danny came up with a good idea; as we did not have a club run, (and if you remember, this was what bonded us all together in the old days) and he went out on his bike, on a regular basis, on a regular day, with his Triathlete friends, would it not be a good idea to let people know in the DLN where and when the ride would start, so they could join and call it the club run.

It was a good meeting, and we all ended up being "positive", in the pub next door.

Kav.

O.M.A.NEWS

NEWNHAM - 19th NOVEMBER - 10.30am SERVICE

Once again it's near the time of year for our annual pilgrimage to Newnham. I hope that we have a good turn-out for our Remembrance Service for past De Laune members who gave their lives in the last 2 wars. Our new Pres. Kav will be laying the wreath of Poppies, for the first time (hope you can find the nail right away John!) As all the regulars know by now, we meet up in the Car Park at the George Pub, opposite the Church, at approx. 10.00, and make our way over to the Church for the Service n~ 10.30. Afterwards we have lunch at The George, and I must remind you all that I have to have the numbers so that the Landlord can Reserve our places, so PLEASE phone me as soon as you read this - get up and phone me now, I must have the numbers by 14th Nov.

SEE YOU AT NEWNHAM

Dot. 01689 851241.

Suzanne & Mike are now into Road Racing instead of Triathlon, and both had a good year. I thought that some members who remember them may enjoy reading this article from 'down under', that Suzanne had written for their Club news I'm sure you will notice the s1ightly different cycling/racing "language". One of the Club Sponsors is a Cafe ~ Al Frescos - in Adelaide, where they all gather for coffee/chocolate/cake, after a hard training ride they also often meet at another Cafe - which sponsors the Triathlon Club, this one is yards from miles of beautiful beaches, they meet there after riding in the Adelaide Hills, a nice down hill to the coast - does' it sound a great life. Suzanne also says she has plenty of girls to go out riding with, which is really good, and then the "guys & girls" meet up afterwards at the Cafe and ride home together, bet you wish you were there - we do!  Anyway, here is the article:- (Suzanne was FULLER before Ridding)

Vets Racing (By Suzanne Ridding)

The Keystone Girls at Outer Harbour

Mel and I, guilt ridden for not racing for so long, bravely showed up on Sunday morning in the wind and rain to show off the Keystone colours. We were not entirely sure of our fitness but the organizers were! Mel was off scratch in Div 2 and I was in block at 1:30 mins. We both had good groups to work with for our 4 lap (and that's enough) hit out.

In my group there were seven on the first lap, but we dropped one on the first hill (if you can call it that) so then there were eight, (they most count a different way down under Ed). There was a very strong gale blowing up the back straight so there was a bit of turn-missing going on - not on my part I hasten to add! On the third lap, suddenly some of my group began to sit up and rolling through, came to a halt as the oncoming scratch riders were spotted. They took a while to come tip to us; apparently they were talking tactics of how to approach us, and in the end came at us with a surge. Nevertheless, with about seven of them, it wasn't that hard to get on. Mel tells me she was willing me to hang in there.

With us all together the organization of working to catch the front-markers seemed to he put aside, and I for one completely forgot anyone else was out there and concentrated on a good sprint finish. On the last lap things hotted up a bit and coming around the last corner, three of the stronger riders tried to make a break- or was it that the rest were just bad at cornering? Mel and I gritted our teeth to bridge the gap leaving only 3 km to go before the finish. We had sort of planned that I would try to lead Mel out - not being much of a flat road sprinter myself - and so leading up to the finish, we were near the front of the pack vying for position. Mel looked to he getting boxed in as I managed to find the wheel of the guy I thought looked most like he could sprint. Another rider was nudging me, as I was boxing him a bit as Mel worked her way across to he behind me. With only about 125metres to go, the two guys at the front began to charge. I held it for about 100 metres but having had such a quick last lap didn't have it in me to keep going to the line. Mel got around me but not quite quick enough to clinch a win. She was third over the line and I fifth. But then I discovered that we hadn't caught the guys out front and so had to unclaim!! Silly me. Mel got first unplaced female - well done Mel. Its time for a come back!

Lessons learnt:
1. Mel - not to sit on Suzanne's wheel for the sprint
2. Suzanne & Mel - not to work too hard
3. That racing can he fun when you make the effort
4. That riding in the same outfit can confuse the opposition "Which one of you look-alikes was first over the line" they asked.

Suzanne rides for the KEYSTONE-TRCO BICYCLE RACING TEAM in ADELAIDE, no longer a member of the De Laune, but is always nice to hear from past members Ed.

Find them at www.go.to/team-keystone-lyco

CONGRATULATIONS
Sorry Geoff Sinnett I forgot to congratulate you earlier in the year when you reached the milestone of being a member of the De Laune for 50years (joined April 1950) Ed.

Mark,

O how the memories came flooding back... I must admit the De Launies weren't far from my mind on that Sunday morning as I was heading off for a 95km race just outside Jo'burg, rejoicing in the name of the 'Drugwise'; "Adrenalin should be the only stimulant rushing through your veins" is the catch-phrase.

Halfway up one of the Highveld's tougher climbs my mind was drifting off in the direction of Titsey... So as you all hang up your wheels for the winter., things here are picking up and the season is really getting going. I used to think 9:30 was early for Sunday club rides, here we start at 6:15...!

Send my very best wishes and thanks to Jeremy Briggs - have you got a new address or e-mail for him? Hello to all the other boys and girls in the blue and brown. If you fancy a ride in the sunshine, you know where to findme...

All the best,

Chris Gordon-Coker

Hi Mark, Tuesday 10th October 2000.

Thanks for the electronic version of the DLN this month, I particularly liked the cover picture and Ken Fuller on his hill climb. Thanks also for sending the other pics, always enjoyable to see pics and jog the memory.

I actually did some bike riding while on Bali recently, maybe the attachment is suitable for the DLN.

I have also included some pics.

Great to hear that the OMA Luncheon went well, was thinking of you all on the day, we went white water rafting that day.

Life here goes on as ever, (nice and peaceful) . Have trips planned to Taiwan, (business) Hong Kong (vacation) and Guangzhou in China (business) I am not bored.

Still manage a few miles most days on my new "Bianchi" road bike. We are in our wet season still right now but next month starts the dry season so hope to increase the miles.  Sounds like Kav is doing a great job as President.

Best wishes to all,

John D.

Cycling in Bali:

Just returned from a trip to Indonesia, five days of which were spent on the Island of Bali, (South Pacific fame) Two of the best days were the whitewater rafting and the cycling trip. Here is the account of the cycling.

BALI:
For those who may be thinking of a holiday in Bali I would say "think again". Bali 50 years ago was probably the paradise island depicted in the musical "South Pacific". Today it is home to almost five million people, it is extremely expensive, grossly over populated and very polluted. When one goes inland things do get better but most of the vacation hotels are on the coast in Nusa Dua, Sanur or Kuta. You could have a much nicer holiday for a lot less money in many other places in S.E. Asia.

CYCLING IN BALI
For our last full day in Bali we had booked a cycle ride, the mini-bus and driver came to pick us up at 8-30AM. It was almost a two-hour drive to the rim of the volcano in the center of Bali known as the Batur area. We had climbed almost continuously since leaving Sanur where we had been staying; the vegetation changed with the altitude, the Volcano rim is about three thousand five hundred feet above sea level.

We stopped at a restaurant that was perched right on the edge of the rim. We sat and enjoyed the views while drinking refreshments. Volcanoes are somewhat deceptive, one always expects to see boiling lava and a huge crater with smoke exhausting, most often this is not the case. The rim in this instance was enormous, I would calculate some twenty miles across. At one side of the huge crater was a large fresh water lake, lake Batur, to the side of the lake were two peaks that rose up higher and above the edge of the rim. I imagine that when an eruption does occur again it could happen anywhere within the rim area and not necessarily where the last one occurred.

Back in the car park a pick-up truck had arrived containing the mountain bikes. We were pleased to learn that there was only the two of us plus two guides on this trip. The ride involved cycling back to Ubud, some 30 miles, along rarely used lanes, among the rice fields and through Hindu Villages, mostly down hill, it sounded very nice.

The weather was perfect, because we were at altitude it was cool, bright and sunny. All the bikes were Taiwan made mountain bikes, forget how many speeds they had; I did not have to change gear much as it was all downhill.

We left the car park and made our way back along the main road that we had first come to the rim on and after a short distance, we turned off this road into a narrow lane. The bikes were now unloaded and adjustments made to saddle height etc.

On the first bike they gave me the saddle sloped back at an alarming 45 degree angle, they did not have a spanner to adjust it. I requested to change bikes for if I had ridden this one for 30 miles it would have surely brought tears to my eyes.

Now I know why the second guide who did ride this bike limped badly at

the end of the ride and remained unusually silent during the trip except to let out a gasp as he hit a pothole!

Was a bit concerned about Jead, she does not ride a bike much and has repeatedly told me she cannot ride a long way, she was about to learn! We set off, it was a slow start, we could not go fast for there were many potholes and loose stones.

After about fifteen minutes we stopped and the guide pointed out a "dry rice" crop that was growing in between orange trees, a strange combination. The dry rice is a special strain that does not require water to grow other than the normal rainfall. Apparently this crop is grown extensively at this elevation. It was totally quiet and free of all traffic; once in a while we would pass a small cottage, a dog would bark and children come out and wave.

OLD HINDU VILLAGE:
After about 45-minutes we came to a remote Hindu village, we stopped for some soft drinks. Some children came over and it ended up that we took their photograph, which I have promised to mail to the Guide for him in turn to pass on to them.

At the top end of the village was a Hindu Temple, then there were houses on either side of the narrow street, then another Hindu temple, then more houses and finally another Hindu temple at the end of the village. The guide said the temples were dedicated to three separate Gods, the first one was for fire, the second for peace and the third for water, (I think I have got this right).

The village was at least 300-years old and looked quite original, one would imagine that life had not changed here at all. There was electricity and water but that was about it. As we rode through the village people waved and spoke to us in Balinese, we did not understand them but responded accordingly, it was all very peaceful and friendly.

The houses were all brick construction and built in Balinese style architecture; the bricks were dark in colour, as were the temples.
Upon leaving the village and now at a somewhat lower elevation we found ourselves in the middle of rice paddies, everything was a bright shade of green and with the blue sky as the background it was a very serene and peaceful scene.

The rice irrigation for the rice fields was an engineering marvel, all the water is channeled along small canals, aided by sluice gates and valves it is directed to the various fields, these stretch over very large distances. It must have taken a great deal of planning to get all the water levels correct as this was hilly terrain with quite steep slopes. Every piece of land was under rice cultivation.

We had now covered about twenty miles, all of it down hill so it was an easy ride. Jead was doing well and actually enjoying her ride. I now tried riding my bike and shooting some video with my cam-corder at the same time, no mean feat if you saw the condition of the roads, heavily rutted and with great huge potholes.

Soon we came to some small shops where they made woodcarvings; these were exquisitely done with the most primitive of tools. We stopped and looked in several shops, had some more refreshment at a tiny cafe.

We could now sense that we were getting to the outskirts of Ubud, the cultural center on Bali, for we now joined a road where there were cars. Fortunately after about a mile our guide turned off this road and we reverted back to the quiet lanes.

Riding across a wide-open area flanked on both sides with rice fields we saw this beautiful Balinese house that was also an art gallery. We stopped and looked at the paintings, while different they were not to our taste. Took some photos of the house, thanked the artist/owner and made our way on.

After about another ten minutes we saw the pick-up truck waiting for us. We had reached the end of the bike ride. In all it had taken us two hours and it was a thoroughly enjoyable ride.

The bikes were loaded onto the pick-up truck then to our surprise the guide said we would walk back into Ubud. We followed a narrow path that ran alongside a steep ravine with a river in the bottom. On the opposite side of the ravine were some very nice bungalow type buildings; the guide told us this was a luxury hotel.

After about another mile the pathway veered to the left and crossed over another steep gorge via a bridge. There was an enormous Banyon tree perched precariously on the edge of the gorge, took some pictures but even with a zoom lens could not get this entire enormous tree in. Finally we made our way up some stone steps and came out on a main road.

We walked along the sidewalk a short way then made our way down some steps to a restaurant perched on the edge of the gorge, here we were provided with a very nice lunch. We thanked our guides for a very nice and memorable day out.

After lunch it was back to the mini-bus and an hour later we were back at Sanur. It was late afternoon now, started to pack some things for this was our last full day in Bali, we were off to the airport at 10 AM the next morning.

JOHN DARROCH

NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP HILLCLIMB UH20

29th OCTOBER 2000
The 57th National Hill climb was promoted by MENDIP CC on behalf of the WEST DC on West Close Hill located on the Mendips near Wells & Cheddar. It climbs for 1.22 miles from Rodney Stoke and rises 180m from start.

The gales and rain of Saturday had rolled away and it was a sunny start to the morning but with a strong wind. As the morning continued it clouded up and gradually deteriorated such that the last view riders had damp conditions but the distinct rain stayed off until after everyone had finished. The wind was predominantly behind the riders but was cold enough to deter many of the spectators from staying too long.

PHOTOGRAPHS OF ALL THE RIDERS IN THE NATIONAL HILLCLIMB CAN BE SEEN ON THE RTTC WEB SITE

CLUBROOM?????

At first I was against any move to close the clubroom, with other club members I spent a great deal of time there helping to build the place. But! In the light of the former trustees report in which they recommended closure for a variety of reasons, I am changing my mind.

In it they said, the clubroom is under used; well no one can deny that. If you go up there on any normal club night there is simply no atmosphere, where once there were all sorts of activity going on. There chief concern was the state of the building, which it seems is slowly being eaten away by the death watch beetle, or some other form of infestation, this together with several other matters needing attention is costing so it is said, a figure near £10,000.No firm decision one way or the other came out of the special meeting on the future of the clubroom. The working party set up to look into all the available options, produced a pamphlet setting out their findings.

I shall be surprised if both the working party and the newly elected trustees do not eventually come up with the same conclusion as the previous trustees, and recommend that a 'FOR SALE' board goes up outside No.93 Choumert Road.

For my part regretfully I shall be supporting any move in that direction.

BILL MILES

Belated birthday congratulations to LES PYNE who recently joined the Octogerions section of the club by reaching his 80th. 

Looking for something to keep those lower limbs warm during the winter, how about a pair of LONG JOHNS. Those under garments of an earlier generation, it seem they are coming back into fashion, a top designer is going to revamp them, put on a few frills perhaps.

Why Long Johns? They were named after a famous bare-knuckle prizefighter called John O'Sullivan who always wore them in the ring.

BILL MILES

INTER CLUB TT COMPETITION 2000
FINAL RESULTS

TOTAL TEAM POINT from 8 events

INDIVIDUAL PLACINGS

DE LAUNE RIDERS

VETS BAR

Congratulations to Alan Rowe on winning the competition and breaking the Vets '10' record on two occasions, thus deleting Peter Gunnell's age standard of 23.43.

Peter (Jenn) was unable to produce any last minute surprises, like last year, due to falling off his bike some 5-6 weeks before the end of the season (hope you have fully recovered Peter). However, well done in getting a Bronze at the 'Worlds' even though you were riding for Germany!! (see results in Cycling).

I have had a rest!!! This season, only riding some 30 odd events (all10's with the exception of one'25') all in Kent. I managed to salvage one Vets standard medal with a ride of 24.14 in the San Fairy Ann event when Alan did his 23.11. If I had been one year older I would have got Peter Gunnell's '10' standard by one second!!

To prepare Alan and Peter for next season the standards to beat are as follows:-

This may be the last issue before Christmas it just depends on how much copy I receive, but if this month is anything to go by then as long as I receive copy by the closing date you will all be getting another issue.

I would like to take this opportunity, to thank all those members who have sent me copy and made it possible, for me to be able to get a mag out to you monthly over the last year.

Producing the News has become a lot easier now that so much of the copy comes to me via E-mail, this saves a lot of typing, and those members that receive theirs this way have the benefit of having their copy in colour. One day we may be able to produce a colour mag, but at present this would be much too costly.

Those of you that do not have a computer, and are not connected to the net do not know what you are missing, why not add it to your Christmas list.

Well just in case this is the last issue for the year 2000 I would like to wish you all a very HAPPY CHRISTMAS.

MARK