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VCGH Announcement
The VCGH Exec Team announces that Marco Burgin is resigning from his role as Chairman of the club, effective November 2019.Due to increasing work-travel pressure over the past several months, Marco has been less able to cycle regularly, and is no longer free to spend the time the Chairman role demands. He has therefore decided it is time to step aside and allow other club members to take on those responsibilities. Marco has been involved in the leadership of VCGH for many years, and has worked very closely with Lara and the modern Exec Team since 2013, building VCGH into what it is today. On the road, Marco has been one of the most visible and enthusiastic VCGH riders. He has dedicated every Saturday and Sunday to leading groups of various sizes and levels, making all marvel at his strength, endurance (and patience!). He has been the first welcome for many new riders, guiding them in the finer points of group riding etiquette and our club’s community spirit. His charm and charisma have led to a firm set of Sunday Social apostles from all areas of the club’s ranks. Many have benefited from the trips he has organised and led over the years, from day trips in the UK to multi-day adventures to Paris, the Alps, Pyrenees, and Northern France; every trip organised to the last detail through an unstinting passion to see other people enjoy their cycling and achieve more than they thought possible. He has also been the first to volunteer on setup or support crews, from Race Across America and Land’s End John O’Groats, to Bikefest and the TT series. There are few club events at which he has not been a participant or organising force. Behind the scenes he has been a joy to work with; always driven and committed to the task at hand, passionate about fostering the club’s ethos, forever supportive of new ideas, and infusing everything with his irreverent sense of humour: An inspirational mentor. I’m sure everybody would like to join with me to thank Marco sincerely for his enormous positive contribution over the years. Though he is not disappearing altogether (we hope to see him at various club events in the future, not least at Bikefest which takes place in his back garden!), his daily presence will be much missed. For the time being, Brian Waters will step up as acting Club Chairman. The Exec Team will expand to include Pete Ross who, amongst other activities, will assist Mark Wright with the financial functions of the club; and Frank Eisenhower, a much-valued logical head. There will probably be additional changes in the next couple of months, and a full structure will be discussed at the AGM in 2020’s first quarter (date TBC). If you have a burning desire to get involved with the club’s organising team, now is the time! Please direct any questions to Lara. |
Club Hillclimb
Thanks to the 17 riders and the marshals who turned up this morning in dire wet conditions to support our final event of the year; the Club Hillclimb TT. This takes place on Staple Lane north of Shere (behind Combe Lane). It's about 1.3 miles long with an average of gradient of 5%; steeper in the first half and then levelling out to a couple of flatter sections at the top. The times were generally a few seconds slower than last year, perhaps because of the chip and tar resurfacing which has taken place during this year, or perhaps because of the relatively chilly conditions. Nevertheless some exciting close results, with 4 riders around the 6 minute mark within 6 seconds of each other. First home was our consummate expert Jon Hughes in 5:07, with Chris Carroll and Will Ranoe - the MB Cyclery team - in 2nd and 3rd place with 5:27 and 5:35 respectively. 4th (and 2nd vet) was Mark Pritchard in 5:39 and 5th (and 3rd vet) Chris Parker in 6:01. First female (and our fastest female result over the 3 years we've run this event) was Dani Forshaw in 6:40. It was a great event to watch and a good vibe at the top of Staple Lane, despite the puddles. Thanks to AllezNutrition whose mobile catering van kept us full of hot drinks and snacks. Thanks also to the guys who came out to help run the event. We only need 4 marshals for this one, but they're critical to its running so big thanks to: Push-offer: Matt Hurst Start timekeeper: Matt Hill Finish timekeeper: Peter Davies And to Nick Davison and Arlo Parker for coming out to support! Full results are here. Next year we're running this event as an Open time trial on 17th October. This means riders will need to sign up to the event in advance via the CTT website, and there will be an HQ at West Clandon Royal Legion, not far from the event start. Hopefully VCGH members won't be put off by a bit of paperwork, and we might get a bigger field from local clubs. It's never too early to start spreading the word! Thanks to all of you for your support for this season's TT series. It's been great to see the attendance grow throughout the year, with our little hardcore bunch of specialist time-trialists, a few triathletes, great attendance from the race team, and loads of new riders giving it a go. Look forward to seeing you all on the start lines next year! Lara |
Club 10 TT #6
Everybody was complaining of the 'bracing' weather this morning at sign-on, and quite right too - my car was reading 5.5 degrees when I was putting the signs out. No wonder so many people couldn't write their names properly! It was nevertheless bright, dry and sunny, even though temperatures didn't rise much before the first rider set off. Great turnout again, especially for a September event, so thanks to all of you for making the effort to be there. It's awesome to see the HQ teeming at the end of an event. The majority entered the road bike category again this month, with Will Ranoe first home in 24:19, Rob Julian second in 25:58, and Carl Wichman third in 26:30. Carl was also 2nd vet on standard, only 3 seconds behind his standard time (impressive given that standard times are set for TT bikes), and Peter Land - for his first go at our TT - was 3rd vet, only 20 seconds behind his standard time. Laura Senior was first female road bike in 27:52, with Caroline Julian second in 32:07. Well done to Simon Williams, Caroline Julian, and Poppy Porter for being the only three riders with PBs this month (not easy on a chilly September), and to junior Tom for a very excellent 31:37 for his first solo TT attempt. In the TT bike event, it was Callum Davies-Russell first home in 24:32, followed by Mark Herbert in 27:11. Lara Taylor was 3rd in 27:12, and also 1st female TT bike and first vet on standard with a plus time of 1 minute 35. Thanks also to the riders who were patient with the horse riders out on the course. It's always frustrating to have to hold back mid-race and deal with an unwanted delay, but it's not a closed road event so there's always a possibility of things going awry. It's great to see our riders being so generous to our fellow minority road users. Awesome to see a total of 6 women on the start list, and this is definitely reflective of the increase in women in VCGH as a whole. Can we do even better next year? Thanks to all the volunteers who helped out at this month's event. As you all know by now, the event series couldn't run without their help so it's always massively appreciated. This month my team was:
Thanks also to Robin Johnson for help with clearing up, and to Adrian and team at Loxwood Sports which has been a fantastic HQ for another season of club 10s.
Only one event left in our TT series this year, and that's the hillclimb on Staple Lane on 12th October. As with the 10-milers, this is a welcoming event that's suitable for all levels of rider so please come along to our grand finale! |
Club Spin 2019-2020?
As usual at this time of year I look at the interest in setting up a winter spin session for club members (and their close associates). Last year we ran this on Wednesday evenings at Broadwater Leisure Centre at about 19:45, and it seemed quite a popular session. Cost was £8 per session. I have no idea at the moment whether this slot would be available for this year, but I’d like to start by finding out who would be interested in this or a similar session over Oct 2019 - March 2020 before I speak to Broadwater? As before, it’d be likely that you’d need to commit to a 6-week block in advance although I can occasionally work some pay-as-you-go seats, for those who can only commit occasionally (but only if we have a core of committed attendees). Please email me if you're interested, and also add your evening availability in case Broadwater can’t give us Wednesdays any more. The 19:30 timing, however, is unlikely to change. If you have friends or family members who might be interested, please pass on this message. There are 12 seats in each session so I would fill with VCGH members and previous spin members first, but there are usually still a couple of places. All the best, Lara |
Club 10 TT #5
Another fantastic TT this morning, with 27 riders on the start line despite the rain over the last few days. Because of the weather, most decided to ride road bikes so there were 22 in the road bike category versus 5 in the TT category. Jon Hughes was first back on a TT bike with an excellent 23:12, followed by Rob Lucas in 27:08. Jon was also first VET on standard in the TT category, followed by Horsham CC's Brian Jones. In the road category it was Will Ranoe in top spot with 24:10 although with an unofficial time due to a missed start. Callum Davies-Russell was second in 24:44, closely followed by Matt Hill in 24:48. Laura Senior was first lady home with 27:44, followed by newbie Becky Starbuck in 29:56. First VET on standard in the road category was Matt with a plus time of 2:45, followed by Mark Pritchard with a plus time of 1:10. Fantastic to see so much variety at this event: we had a two-up team, 2 junior riders, 3 women and 6 first-timers (Robbie, Paul, Steve Street, Steve Wild, Becky and Poppy), as well as 9 PBs. Well done all! Thanks as ever to our team of volunteers without whom the event just couldn't run. This month the terrific team were:
Full results are here. Our last 10-miler of the season runs on September 14th. After which it'll be the hill climb on Staple Lane on 12th October. Please put these dates in your diaries. Thanks to everybody for supporting this event! It is much appreciated. |
Join the VCGH Big Ride 2019!
We're running the Big Ride again in 2019 on Saturday 10th August. This is a chance for all levels of riders at the Club to get together for group rides which will finish at the 3 Horseshoes in Thursley for a BBQ lunch and a beer (£10). It's run Merry Harriers style in that riders can choose whether to go solo, club together with some mates, or join a hub group at a designated pace. 2 ride lengths mean that everyone is catered for. Long ride will stop at New Arlesford for coffee, shorter rides at S Warnboro, all aiming to finish by around 14:00 in Thursley when lunch will start to be served. Would be great to see as many people as possible join these rides, and please feel free to join us for just the ride, or just the pub, if you can't make both.
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Club 10 TT #4
How totally amazing to see 32 people on the start line this morning for July's Club TT! An all time record start list, which meant that, for the first time ever, we had finishing riders passing the start corner while riders were still being set off from the start. A full-circle TT, if you will! For the amazing turnout I firstly need to thank Ali Walters for her rallying social media cry last week, encouraging you all to support the event (and making delicious cakes to entice you). It was fab to hear her encouragement and read the responses. And secondly I need to thank all you riders who listened to Ali, and came out to ride. I just know you all enjoyed it (once you'd gotten over the early wake-up call, and the painful nature of time trialing!) and it totally made my day to see all the support! Thanks guys! As you can imagine with such a huge field, the results were really interesting. The road category was the larger category, and was conclusively won by Will Ranoe in 23:23. Second was Mark Pritchard (apologies to Mark for putting him in the wrong category at the HQ) in 25:26 which is a road bike PB for him. 1st female road bike was Laura Senior in a blistering 26:45 (which as far as I know is a women's road bike course best, Angela Carpenter having achieved a 26:52 in 2016). In the TT category it was Matt Hill who topped the leaderboard with a 23:20 and was also first vet on standard (beating his VTTA time by a whopping 4 minutes 8 seconds). Matt was followed by Callum Davies-Russell in 23:41 in his second ever TT. First female TT bike was Lara T with a PB of 26:09 (just inside the women's course record) who was also 2nd vet on standard with a plus time of 2 minutes 38. Great to see a good handful of PBs this month, and also to see 6 women on the start list, which I think is a record. Can we get more? And last but not least, thanks to the volunteer team who helped run the event. It's sometimes a bit of a thankless task (not easy to communicate to riders in the zone) but the event couldn't run without them. This month those generous guys were: Start timekeeper: Lara Harrison Push-offer: Matt Hurst Marshals: Jez Ponting, David Walters, Nick Davison, Frank Eisenhower, Ali Siddall, Nathan Hoy Finish timekeeper: Brian Waters Results: Marco Burgin Yummy cakes: Ali Walters Teas: Matt Hurst Our next event is on Saturday 17th August. Please come back again everybody! Full results are here. |
Club 10 TT #3
Over 200 VCGH members and I'm still only getting 13 people entering the club TT! If anyone has any ideas about how to make this event more appealing, please get in touch! Thanks, nevertheless, to all those riders and volunteers who turned up this morning to support the event. We were lucky after the hideous rains this week to have dry roads and mild conditions. Exciting stuff on top of the leaderboard this week, both with Jez Meredith smashing his road bike PB with an excellent 24:18 (a time many would be proud of on a TT bike), and to the 3 riders who contested the top spot in the TT category, with only 8 seconds between them. First home was Matt Hill with a resounding course best of 23:12, closely followed by Jon Hughes with 23:18 after some bad luck with traffic through Kirdford, and hot on his heels David Walters with another course best of 23:20. Excellent work all three. I wonder if Jez Ponting's club best of 22:38 (set in 2017) is under threat this season? Lots of PBs today as well, so kudos to all! And thanks as usual to my dedicated team of volunteers who make this event happen. This month they were:
And thanks as usual to Adrian and crew at Loxwood Sports. Full results now available. Next event Saturday 13 July. See you there. |
VCGH Presents Bikefest!
Our summer social event is fast approaching and we on the organising team have all started doing sun dances in the hopes of a change in weather before 29th June! This is an important event in the VCGH calendar - a chance for all Club members to get together in a really relaxed environment, listen to some music, have some yummy street food, and most importantly bring along their families, kids, friends and neighbours so that they can all get involved for a change. It's very relaxed and friendly with plenty going on. You can sit and warm yourself by the fire pits or you can join in the craziness with some wacky races or turbo trainer tests (nothing too serious - you don't need lycra!) We need to get organised with numbers so please sign up and pay for your tickets (£15 each - under 16s go free). This year we're asking you to bring a salad or side-dish if you feel you can, and you will also need to bring a bottle as usual. The facilities are available for camping afterwards, if you want to (bring a tent!) More info on www.vcghbikefest.com  |
Jets Race Festival 2019
 This will be a fun and action-packed morning with loads to do. You can learn more about the event and enter via the dedicated Jets Race Festival page, and contact Jets Captain Nick Strugnell on jets@vcgh.co.uk with any questions.
Nick is still looking for volunteers to help out at this event, so if you have a free morning and fancy helping inspire some kids to get racing in a fun setting, please get in touch with Nick.  |
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