Mid Devon CC - The Hub September 2021

Welcome to "The Hub" September 2021 - the Newsletter of Mid Devon Cycling Club

Well we had certainly all missed opportunities like this. As the saying goes, sometimes you don’t know what you value until you have missed it. Well that was certainly true
for 20 members who enjoyed a terrific weekend in Penzance. The weather wasn’t at its best but that didn’t stop us enjoying a wonderful 100km tour of the peninsula over the clockwise route of the Lands End 100 Sportive, we just weren’t going to ride that long north coast stretch in to the easterly wind!

Cafe stops in Hayle and St Just saw the 4 groups meeting up and despite the cloud there were some great photo opps.

Saturday night saw us gather in the Admiral Benbow and their superb themed ‘Galleon’ rear section with great food and service, highly recommended if you’re in the area.

Sunday we walk into town to take in the action on the front and the start though some of us walked to other vantage points as the route doubled back through the town.

We then split to go our separate ways to watch at other points around Cornwall or escape back home before the traffic build up.

A great weekend, thanks everyone.

Club member Jessie Stevens made the Guardian this week - Chapeau Jessie!

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2021/sep/19/devon-teenager-plans-cycle-to-glasgow-for-cop26-climate-summit

Unable to afford the exorbitant train fare and refusing to fly, a 16-year-old environmental campaigner has decided to cycle 570 miles to the Cop26 summit in Glasgow – and has invited the public to join her for the ride.

Jessie Stevens, from Newton Abbot in south Devon, wants to attend the climate conference in November to “bring youth representation to a conversation often dominated by older voices”.

Getting to Glasgow was never going to be easy for a teenager determined not to leave a trail of carbon in her wake. “Ironically, the two easiest and cheapest ways for me to get there [were] to fly or go by car, with other (less polluting) modes of transport being far more complex and expensive,” Jessie wrote on her People Pedal Power website. “This reinforced to me the extent that our society and transport systems are inextricably reliant on fossil fuels.”

Having balked at the £150-plus train ticket, she resolved to get on her bike instead. It will be a big challenge. When she first hatched the plan, after Cop26 was postponed last year, she admits “even going 10 miles left me knackered”.

She has been strengthening her legs on the brutal hills of Dartmoor, and can now manage 70 miles in a day.

She is being supported by the Adventure Syndicate, a collective of top female cyclists renowned for their ultra long-distance marauding.

They are looking for volunteers to take part in a cross-country cargo bike relay to accompany Jessie on her mission, carrying everything she needs. In addition, they are crowdfunding to co-produce a film exploring her story and of those of people she meets along the way.

Jessie is keen for company on her ride, which will start in south Devon on 20 October, a fortnight before Cop26 starts. She aims to cover between 40 and 60 miles a day, winding her way up the western side of the UK. Anyone is welcome to join her for one mile or 50.

“The aim is to create a joyful, positive ride based on reinforcing the need for sustainable transport and climate action from our leaders,” she said on her website. Riders are told: “Bring both OPTIMISM (for the world you want to see) and OUTRAGE (for the things that aren’t being done).”

She has been given permission to skip sixth form for the 12-day journey. “They were very open to it because they can see how passionate I am and felt it would give me a great learning opportunity, beyond my A-level lessons,” she said. Negotiations are ongoing for her to get a delegate pass for the climate conference, where she hopes to give a speech.

Young people need to be heard at Cop26, said Jessie. “For so long these conferences have been mainly populated by adults, many of whom the climate crisis won’t drastically affect in their lifetime. The youth are rarely a part of these talks despite climate and ecological breakdown impacting them the most.”

She added: “My goal is to bring people together and highlight how human power is the transport of the future … I think cycling is now my favourite thing because it can both be a sport and a way to travel and a way to see the world as well.”

The Adventure Syndicate said it had been contacted by Jessie a few months ago and was impressed by her determination “to create a movement of people whose collective call for climate action was too loud to ignore”.

Mid Devon Cycling Club are proud to launch their 2021 Annual Dinner & Dance, Friday 10th December, 1830 for 1900 at The Langstone Cliff Hotel, Dawlish Warren.

The club will be subsiding any member who attends by £5 on the £31.75 cost.

Seating will be in groups of your choosing, let us know your preference when asked for the balance payment and menu choice at the next stage.

Menu choices will be taken nearer the time and their will be a disco after the meal.

The club has booked this as a private function with our own room. We will be taking all precautions necessary to male this event as safe as possible.

The Langstone Cliff has a very good reputation and should the event not be able to go ahead for you know what reasons, the hotel have promised a full refund.

The hotel info and menu are attached and you can book via the following link and you will need to pay a £10 deposit to secure each place. Places are limited.

Booking is via the following link where you will need to pay £10 for each place and record the names of those wishing to come, please put a letter ‘M” after each person who is a club member: https://paypal.me/middevoncc?locale.x=en_GB

Hotel rooms for 2 with breakfast start @ £80 and can be booked privately or through the club by email: paul@middevon.cc They only have 1 single room.

The committee hope you will join us to celebrate the past year and the further development and success of our club

Each month we'll feature the best Race Report we have received. Grace Ward has been keeping us up to date with all her exploits in the National Series MTB. We'll be giving a free Mid Devon CC casquette to the featured race report too!

HSBC National XC Series RD 4 - 4/09/2021

I had a really good race on a fast and technical course with plenty of climbing, it was a really long race clocking 1’14” minutes of effort, really pleased to have all 5 laps within 30 seconds of each other and didn’t fade at the end like some riders did, smiling nearly all the way round for this one and managed 8th which is my best finish this season.

HSBC National XC- RD 5 Cannock 12/09

A really competitive last race on a very technical natural course, had a really good race after a good start, pleased with my result of 11th

Well done Grace!

Submit your result for the next edition of the Hub

https://www.middevon.cc/race-result-form

The Moorways Leisure Centre in Derby hosted the first round of this year’s HSBC UK | Cyclo-cross National Trophy – and after such an interrupted season in 2020/21, everyone was excited to get started!

Veteran 60+ Robin Delve, Veteran 40-49 Martin Smith, Veteran Women 50‐59 Catherine Kilburn, Youth Under 16 Girls

Gridding for Round 1 was random for all categories apart from the Elite/U23 Men & Elite/U23 Women’s races, where the UCI rankings will take precedence. The Junior rankings do not come back into circulation until the 21st September,

Robin Delve started of the day for Mid Devon with a good start getting in to the front of the race. After lap 3 Robin had 3 other riders for company but managed to pull away from them with 2 laps to go and take the win taken the leaders jerseys in to the next round.

Martin Smith made his National Trophy debut in the vet 50 after recovering from a shoulder surgery 8 weeks ago he started 69th on the grid out of a 100 and he came 67th after hitting a stake with 2 laps to go.

Catherine Kilburn was next coming off a good MTB season that ended last weekend, with the temperature rising quickly throughout her race in sunny conditions, 8th place was great in a very strong field.

Due to very little cyclocross last year, this season saw a lot of first timers at this level. In the under 14’s Eva Fox came into this race in good form, riding well in the national road race through the summer and taking a win in her 1st cyclocross race last week at Western League, in hot conditions Eva managed a 13th place after being gridded 21 place getting faster every lap.

Grace Ward has been traveling the country over the last 5 months riding the national MTB series. This was her first cyclocross race of the season saw her come in 43 after being gridded 59th.

Bayley Woodger started his first national cyclocross in the under 14’s after a good strong summer season on the road and in time trails he was gridded in 60th place he managed to work his way up the field to 41st.

The other national rounds are:

The Junior Tour of Wales is the stand out event for Juniors in this country, its been running for over 40 years and has an illustrious role call over winners including Gerraint Thomas and the Mid Devon’s own Brennan Townshend in 2010. The event attracted teams from the Isle of Man, Wales, Scotland and all the leading Junior teams were in attendance.

This year the Mid Devon entered a team of four into the one hundred rider field, to gain selection the riders had raced hard all year competing in regional and National series events and accruing enough points to qualify. Harry Jukes, Callum Start, James Pearcy and Reuben Heal were primed and ready to go – supporting them in the 3 day event were Andy Parker and Mike Gibson covering Director Sportive duty’s, Andy Jukes logistics and Dominic Start head of transport !

The opening stage featured an eight kilometre individual time trial – initially flat but finishing on the reverse side of the Tumble Mountain which proved challenging. The boys timed their efforts well finishing mid pack and setting themselves up for the next days stage. The stage was won by Max Poole who earlier in the year had become the National Road Champion.

Stage 2 was a trek over to Pembrey for an hour long sprint around the Pembrey closed road circuit – like the Velopark but more technically challenging. After a good warm up the Team took their place on the grid and held on in a fast paced, no holds barred race run off in hot conditions. The event ended in a bunch sprint with Griff Lewis from Wales claiming the sprint and the Mid Devon team safely contained in the bunch.

Stage 3 later that afternoon the lads faced a 62 mile road stage on rolling roads which proved really challenging. Once again the race was run off at a blistering pace – you’d expect nothing else from an event of this standard. 1^st year Junior James Pearcy paid for his efforts earlier in the day and was tailed off at half distance eventually withdrawing from the race. At the front Josh Tarling and Josh Charlton clipped off the front in the closing stages with Charlton taking the win and Tarling the overall lead. The rest of the MDCC team finished with the leading group 10 seconds down, the overall was very close and we predicted an epic final day of racing

Stage 4, Heading into the final hilly 60 mile stage which finished on the Tumble mountain, the lads had over 100 miles of racing in their legs but were in good spirits. A team talk beforehand set the scene for the competition and gave everyone their goals. Early breaks fired up the road from the start with Harry Jukes prominent on the race radio which broadcast to the 20 team cars in the convoy and gave the MDCC car a reason to cheer ! Later in the stage Harry would pay for his efforts but it was great to see him mixing it up with the best.

The stage featured three King of the Mountains climbs which the early break tackled at speed, over the course of the race riders would be dropped from the lead group and fresh legs would bridge the gap providing renewed impetus. On to the final climb the race shattered with riders climbing in ones and two’s and trying to maintain rhythm on the 1 in 8 slopes – it was like the retreat from Stalingrad.

Both Callum and Reuben put in excellent rides and climbed through the field to finish together in 42nd/43^rd position and a similar spot overall. As 1^st year Juniors the event has set them up well for a return in 2022 and a tilt at the overall places.

Tyler Hannay from the Isle of Man won the race overall and we wish him the best for his future racing career

All the lads had a great weekend and took away many learning points , which its impossible to pick up in local races. Many thanks to everyone that helped and to the club for providing support via the Dartmoor Classic funding.

Thanks also to our friends at Lucho Dillitos for supplying the team with their fantastic energy products

Developed from Colombian energy bars, race proven for over 50 years, these delicious blocks of guava are a tasty and natural way to get an energy boost…. for all age groups and abilities.

100% Compostable leaf wrapper. Unique leaf packaging means you can dispose of it and leave no footprint. Four great flavours. Choose from Classic Plain Guava, Guava & Raspberry, Guava & Açai, Guava & Coffee flavours

Why MDCC: Joined after my running club highlighted a Level 1 British Cycling Qualification, successfully completed 'Pedal Mums' & found out about MDCC through Michelle Radant.
How has it turned out: Helped me find a buddy to ride with through the pandemic. Within 2 years I progressed from being a Social rider to now riding with the F group. I successfully completed the Dartmoor Classic Medio route gaining Gold in just under 5 hours. Also through MDCC got a 2nd hand racing bike. Everything, cycling is now in my DNA which I don’t let define me.
What I like most: The friendly people, completing new challenges, ongoing development & places explored. The feeling everyone is welcome.

Who: Dave in his 60s,
Occupation: Vaccinator and landlord, joined in 2016, for group social cycles,
How has it turned out: I love the social cycles-new routes- new cafe-new friends.
What I like most: The best thing is the Sunday club rides.

Under 23 rider Troy Wheeler has joined the Mid Devon CC with a view to competing in Mountain Bike Cross Country Endurance Racing both locally and abroad. Troy noticed that the club is strengthening its off road offer and felt that joining would help his development.

“My name is Troy Wheeler, 21, from Torbay. I am an extremely passionate mountain bike (XC/Endurance MTB) racer having competed for many years in both the UK and Asia. My most recent achievement being Exposure 24/12 6th place in pairs in a very strong field of elite and ex-elite national riders. I have made the recent and crazy change to start competing in ultra-endurance events with hopes next year to compete at the U23 World Championships(24HR) in Italy, potentially the U23 European Championships(24HR) in the Czech Republic, and then competing at a potential Marathon series next year, alongside the Marathon British Championships. I am currently training hard with my coach Jon Fearne (e3coach) with hopes of competing for good positions in these events. Alongside the Ultra-Endurance events I will be competing through the winter in the regional XC series “Soggy Bottom” – well known for their awesome, fast, and technical tracks; this should keep the fun and focus there through the winter. I am excited for the times ahead with MDCC and am looking forward to the development, support, and friendships I will build at the club. “

Sunday 17th October - Force Cancer Charity’s “Autumn Storm”, 55 mile road starting 0800h from Tedburn St Mary

Saturday 21st November - 100km Audax - “Breakfast in Bampton, starting from Cranbrook

Friday 10th December - Club Dinner & Dance at The Langstone Cliff Hotel, Dawlish Warren.

Sunday 19th December - provisional date for the Annual Mince Pie ride

Saturday 8th January - MDCC AGM & Presentations evening, Stover Golf Club, 1900h.

Sunday 27th March - Haldon Heroic

Friday 29th April - Monday 2nd May - MDCC trip to Brittany and a separate trip to Vire, Normandy

Sunday 1st May - Taunton Flyer Sportive

Saturday 10th July - Dartmoor Legend Ultra Sportive

Sizes Available: S, M, L and XL in most items, some larger sizes in some items. For sizing information refer to: www.primaleurope/pages/size-chart Orders to: paul@middevon.cc

We also have Race Kit and Merchandise stock coming in soon - message mike@midevon.cc for details