News

22/5/08 Results of the Castle Combe 2up
The Castle Combe 2up timetraila took place on 20/5/08. The full results can be found here.
21/1/08 Important changes to the Club Open timetrials
Two important changes to our Open TTs:
Bath CC Hilly 23 23/3/08 This event has been cancelled. Unfortunatly the organiser (Mark Wadey) won't be able to organise the event, and the clash with Easter has made finding replacements too hard.
Bath CC Open 10 3/5/08 The start time has been moved to 8a.m.. This is due to availablity of HQ facilities.
20/1/08 Death of an old friend
Olive Vince died pacefully this week. Olive, the widow of Les, who ran the best bike shop in Bath for many years, and built frames for several riders from both Bath CC and Bath Wheelers. Olive kept in touch with several older club members until quite recently. The funeral will be held at Bathampton church at 13-30 on Wednesday 30th. January.
14/1/08 New Year and New Events
A New year brings new events, several have been brought to our attention Also check the Bath CC events to the left, largely updated to 2008. In particular check out the Social calender; with the first event, a Cycling Team Quiz on 8/2/2008.
4/11/07 Bath CC Hill Climb
8 brave riders today took part in the last club timetrial of the season, the club hill climb up Hinton Hill. The results were:
  1. 2:59.8 Neil Richardson
  2. 3:07.2 David Summers
  3. 3:10.7 Mark Keyford
  4. 3:19.2 P Phillips
  5. 3:40.9 Nigel Vagniaux
  6. 3:52.7 A Vinall
  7. 4:01.1 Aileen Brown
  8. 4:01.5 N Skerdon
28/10/07 Nattional Hill Climb
The National Hill Climb came to the West DC this year, and was held earlier today up Cheddar Gorge. Thanks to all Bath CC members who helped marshal the event, or turned up to support the riders. One Bath CC member took part, David Summers. He came in 78th possition just under 2 minutes behind the winner, James Dobbin.
23/10/07 WTTA-Hardriders round up
The last event of the WTTA-Hardriders event, the Hill Climb, was held on Sunday 21st. Three Bath riders took part, David Summers came home first of the Bath riders with a 9m08.86s time, about 100s behind the winner, Danny Axford (Arctic Shorter Rochford RT - 7m26.97s). Second Bath rider was George Rowntree on 9m41.52s, a handful of seconds slower than his time last year. Final Bath rider home was Steve Manning on 10m04.51s. With this the last event the final standings are emerging. Bath did excelently overall with 1st individual (Rob Pears, 720points - the maximum possible score!). 1st team (Rob Pears, Mark Keyford, George Rowntree - 2041 points). 1st B team (David Summers, Tom Ryan, Pete Wilson - 1697 points, in 7th possition overall). Also 1st vet over 60, Tom Ryan with 616points - this being Toms most sucessful ever hardriders series.
21/10/07 Aileen Brown comes 4th in the Duathlon World Championships
Congratuations to Aileen Brown, for comming 4th in her age group at the Long Distance Duathlon World Championship, held in Richmond, America. Aileen was leading her category comming out of the first run, but on the exceptionally technically challenging bike course lost a few places. None the less an excpetional performance.
14/10/07 Club Run fast group rode into the ground by a woman!
Rumours persist that a woman by the name of Emma rode out with the fast Club run earlier today, and kept riding off the front of the bunch! Come on lads, where is your backbone?
28/9/07 Bath CC overall champions in the West DC Team Championship
Bath CC have been confirmed the overall champions in the West DC Team Championships, comming ahead of Severn RC and Gloucester City CC. Well done to all concerned
23/9/07 Bath CC win the District Team 50 championship
Congratulations to John French (1:57:41), Mark Keyford (2:00:39), and Tony Thorne (2:03:18) whose combined times won the District Team 50 championship. This means that Bath won both the 25m and the 50m team chapionships, and with second place in the 10m team championship, this makes Bath hot favourites for the overall Team Champions.
19/9/07 Bath CC AGM
The Annual General Meeting of Bath CC will take place at 8pm on 2/11/07 at the Methodist Church Hall in Batheaston
17/9/07 Bath CC Autum 25.
The 3rd and last Bath CC open event took place on the 16/9/07 down at Maden Braidey. 31 riders took part in the 25 mile timetrail. The wind picked up in the later stages of the race, which made going difficult - and times were generally slow. Rob Pears (returned from his early end to the season reported below) won the event in 57' [Ed: I left the times at home, I'll update this news article when I get the times ...]. Mike Halgath brushed off his LoPro bike and disk wheel to do an impressive low 1:11. Perhaps the most lunatic ride though was David Summers, who rode the event on his commuting single speed fixed wheel bike (70inch gear, e.g. medium geared) - David craweled round the course in 1:11:54, which included a slow pucture on the last lap of three. One has to wonder how Rob Pears has previously recorded a time of 58'41" in a medium gear 25!
17/9/07 The Wilsons break the vet tandem record!
Down on the P613 in the Andover Wheelers Weyhill Weekend event on 15/9/07 Pete and Janet Wilson broke the vet tandem record for 10 miles. They recored a time of 23'00" which took 3 seconds of the previous record. Congratulations to them both. Also riding the event were Bath riders Aileen Brown and Craig Green, both achieved PBs. Aileen knocked 43 seconds of her previous best to record 24'43" - her first time ever below 25 minutes. Craig finished in a time of 20'36", which only achieved 31st place! This shows the speed of the event, with 11 men and 1 women going under 20 minutes! David McGaw from Oxford Univ continued his winning steak with 19'02", but more impressive was Wendy Houvenaghels winning time in the womens event - an amazing 19'50"!
15/9/07 New Look Web Site
Many thanks for the efforts of David Summers (designer) and John Keat (who updated the old site).
2/9/07 Fast rides all round on the U47
Diamond-hf held their third 10 mile time trial this season on the U47 on the 1/9/07. Conditions were almost perfect for the course, with a stong NW wind, which aided riders on the way out, whereas the dual carriageway gave shelter on the way back. Mark Keyford was the fastest bath rider, doing a PB of 21'23". Craig Green and Tony Thorne came in second and third with 21'03" and 22'10" respectively. George Rowntree knocked 18 seconds off his PB, to record 22'27". Andy Adams improved his line one 1 time to 22'40". David Summers improved his PB by a massive 1'22" to break both 24' and 23' in one go - a time of 22'48". Tom Ryan improved his line one time by 4 seconds to 22'55". Pete Wilson did his best time in recent years, 24'39". Aileen Brown did a lifetime best of 25'26" - improving even the times she did in Scotland 20 years ago! Alan Pickard rode a 28' dead. Finally Janet Wilson and John Tooze finished in 29'31" and 30'26". Hats off to these last two for still performing in time trials. The course record was broken by Dave McGaw of Oxford Univ. in 19'45", the first person to go under 20 minutes on this course.
20/8/07 Bath riders in the WTTA 100
6 Bath riders took part in the WTTA 100 mile TT on 19/8/07, the longest TT in the West DC. First home was Bath CC new man, David Summers with a time of 4:27:46. Pete and Janet Wilson, on the tandem came home in 4:41:55. Aileen Brown performed well with a 4:54:25. Chris Atchinson was the last bath rider to finish in 5:11:31. The most unlucky ride though must have been done by Nigel Vuagniaux, Nigel punctured on the way to the start. With help he managed to change tubs and start on time. However early in the event he went off course, when he arrived at a roundabout before the signs have been erected. Back on course again he continued, until on the the last of 5 laps he punctured for a second time, and abandoned the event.
13/8/07 Bath CC win the 25m West DC Team Championship
Bath CC riders, Craig Green, Mark Keyford, and Tony Thorne made up the team which won the West DC 25mile Team Championship, held at the Severn RC open event on 12/8/07 on the U18C. Their combined time of 2:59:57 was the only team with an average speed of over 25mph. This was a very impressive results, especially as Bath fast man, Rob Pears, wasn't riding; Rob having decided to finish his TT season early this year.
8/8/07 Are you able to help running the Club Time Trials?
Bob Bolwell has indicated that due to the travel involved, its getting hard for him to run the Club Time Trials. Would you consider being able to organise some of our Club events, please contact Tony Thorne (01225 314841) if interested. Our thanks go out to Bob for the time that he has put in in the last few years.
8/8/07 Looking for Marshals for the National Hill Climb
The West DC is hosting the 2007 National Hill Climb on 28/10/07. We've been asked if we can help in proving marshals for this event. Can anyone that thinks they may be able to help out please contact Tony Thorne (01225 314841).
16/7/07 West DC '25' Team Championship Cancelled
Unfortunately the Yeovil '25' TT on the 15/7/07 was cancelled due to bad weather reports, and the expectation of bad spray on the A303. This event was due to be the West DC Team Championship. Bath CC had 12 riders signed up for this event, about 30% of the field. This shows the great commitment that the club holds for team events, and thanks must go out to all, both Bath CC members and the Yeovil organisers for their commitment. Please all support whichever event in proposed as a replacement for the West DC '25' Team Championship.
13/7/07 The Last Hurrah
New to the club this year, David Summers about to be seconded up to Nottingham for half of each week and so lose out on mid week time trials. As if on revenge he appears to have gone wild on a time trialling hurrah. On the 8/7/07 David rode in the Welsh CA '50' to achieve a PB in 2:12:31. On 10/7/07 he rode the Dursley '25', coming home in a 1:05:35 and beating Tony Thorne for the first time (by just 4 seconds), and to be part of the Bath CC team who won the team prize. On 11/7/07 David rode the Severn Road Club evening '10' (hmmm 9.4) in a PB of 23:25 - improving his PB by all of 1 second! On the 12/7/07 the Dursley Club '10' was ridden with strong winds in a time of 24:44, not a PB this time - but his 3rd fastest time. Looking forward to the weekend, David is riding Cardiff 100 Miles Road Cycling Club '25' on the 14/7/07 and the Yeovil '25' on the 15/7/07. Surly this is overdoing TTing a bit ...
Update 16/7/07 And so in the Cardif 100 Mile RCC '25' David took 4 minutes of his previous personal best, to break the hour for the first time and record a time of 59:29 - congratulations also go to Aileen Brown who recorded her best '25' time of the season with 1:06:03. The Yeovil '25' was unfortunately cancelled due to bad weather, and so David lost out on his last TT before the start of his time in Nottingham.
Read more about Davids exploits here.
10/7/07 Bath CC '25' Chamionship
Tonight the Bath CC '25' Championship was held, in conjunction with the Dursley RC Open 35 mile time trial. Seven Bath Riders rode the event, with the finishing results:
  1. 00:57:16 Rob Pears
  2. 01:03:24 George Rowntree
  3. 01:05:35 David Summers
  4. 01:05:39 Tony Thorne
  5. 01:13:21 Peter Wilson
  6. 01:15:39 Aileen Brown
  7. 01:31:39 Janet Wilson
Bath also performed excellently in the overall open event, with Rob Pears taking 2nd place overall (behind Gavin Poupart). Bath took the team prize (Pears/Rowntree/Summers). 1st Vet on standard went to Tony Thorne, who only narrowly beat Pete Wilson. 1st Woman prize was won by Aileen Brown.
19/6/07 Rob Pears sets a new club 10 record
Rob Pears at last Saturdays Bournemouth Jubilee Wheelers 10 mile TT based at Andover on the P613 bike the club 10 record. Rob rode the course in 19:30, and average speed of 31.3mph! Tom Ryan also set a new PB with a time of 22:59.
16/6/07 Rob's at it again
Saturday afternoon: Bristol South CC were hosts to a 10 mile Time Trial based at Stone, near Thornbury. The day threatened rain, but it largely held off, and there was a moderate South Westerly wind which aided riders to the turn, but made the return leg harder.
The winner was Bath CC's Rob Pears in a time of 20min 49secs, just 5 seconds outside the Course Record. Almost a minute down in second place was David Barnes (Wyre Forest CRC) in 21.42, with David Kiddell (Cavalier CC) taking the final podium place.
The fastest woman was Kim Young (Scienceinsport.com) in 25.20
Other Bath times were Andy Adams in 24.31 and Aileen Brown in 27.51
On Sunday Cheltenham & County CC held a 25 mile Time Trial based at Winchcombe near Cheltenham. The weather was grim, with heavy rain. Pears had to settle for a rare second place in a time of 54m 32s, which was a Course Record despite the conditions until bettered by former Multiple National Champion Richard Prebble (Pinarello RT) in a time of 53m 42s. In third place was another former national medallist, William Moore (Wyre Forest CRC) in 56.15
Fastest Woman was Jo Kembery (Cheltenham & County CC) in 62m 36s.
Bath's Superveterans Peter and Janet Wilson recorded a time of 73m 03s on their Tandem.
1/6/07 Midsomer Madness: 6.30pm, Wednesday 20th June 2007
'Midsomer Madness' a midsummer evening's mountain bike ride. Organised by Andy Stewart in conjunction with Somer Valley and supported by B&NES Council. A 'Bike Week' event (taking advantage of their free insurance cover). Meet at St Gregory's School, Combe Hay Lane (off the A367 Wells Road, next to Odd Down Park and Ride). 6.30pm, Wednesday 20th June 2007. Map and Route Card provided. Two route options 40km (3.5 hours) or 20km (2 hours). Wear a helmet. Bring lights. Carry a water bottle.
Optional pub stop at the end (@ The Wheatsheaf Combe Hay).
NOT a race. Social pace. Young adults (14-18) welcome if accompanied by an adult.
Poster here
Mail Andy for more details.
13/5/07 Corinium 10 and Somer Valley reults
Saturday: Corinium CC 10 mile TT on the Cirencester bypass. Based at Ashton Keynes. Weather very wet!
Won by Bath CC's Rob Pears in a time of 20m 18s, just 7 secs outside the course record. It was Pears's second fastest ever time at the distance despite the horrendous weather conditions, and underlined the potential for fast times on this course.
In 2nd place was Steve Marchant (Swindon RC) in 20m 51s, 3rd was Ben Anstie (Chippenham & District Wheelers) in 21m 25s.
Bath's George Rowntree clocked an impressive 22m 45s, and along with Tony Thorne in 22m 47s, Bath were the winners of the team competition. Thorne was also the winner of the 2nd Veteran on Standard time.
Winner of the women's competition was Christine Colquhoun (Gloucester City CC) in 28m 21s.
Other Bath times were: Chris Atchison in 26m 32s, Alan Pickard in 28m 38s, and the superveteran tandem pairing of Peter and Janet Wilson in 25m 46s.
On Sunday, Somer Valley CC hosted the 8th round of the WTTA Hardriders series based at Doulting near Frome. Weather was again appalling with continual rain.
Bath CC's Rob Pears, the winner of all of the 7 previous rounds, and already the series winner for 2007, made it 8 out of 8.
This took his tally of wins in open competition this season to 11 out of 14 events.
His time of 46m 33s on the 22 mile hilly course, was over 3 minutes clear of second placed Mike Simmons (Clevedon & District RC) in 50m 11s. In 3rd place was David Kiddell (Cavalier CC) in 50m 36s.
Bath CC won yet another Team prize with outstanding contributions from George Rowntree in 53m 18s, and an impressive 10th place overall, and Tom Ryan in 55m 42s. Ryan was also the recipient of the prize for top superveteran (over 60).
The top woman was Kim Young (CC Giro) in 1hr 00m 04s.
Other Bath times were: David Summers 57m 19s, Peter Wilson 1hr 02m 48s.
8/4/07 The hills just keep on comming
The event, promoted by the WTTA was a hilly 30 mile course based at Sutton Benger and took riders on a circuit through Seagry, Great Somerford, Brinkworth, Malmesbury and Wootton Bassett before turning and returning via Malmesbury and Startley, finishing at Upper Seagry.
A sunny wind free morning meant that weather conditions were perfect for racing.
Once again it was Bath CC's Rob Pears who won the event in a time of 1hr 6min 14 secs. This was his 4th straight win in the Hardrider series, and he also broke yet another Course Record, having already broken the Course Records in 2 out of the other 3 events. Rob puts his early season form down to having followed a structured turbo training programme over the winter.
In second place was last year's winner, the reigning National 24 hour Champion Nik Gardiner (John's Bikes) in a time of 1hr 7min 05 secs. 3rd place was Rob Lyne (Climb on Bikes RT) in 1hr 8min 30 secs, 4th Chris Madge (Severn RC) in 1hr 8min 56 secs and 5th Steve Marchant (Swindon RC) in 1hr 9min 05secs.
Continuing their dominance of the Western Time Trial scene, the Bath CC comfortably won the Team prize again with contributions from Mark Keyford in 1hr 13min 32 secs and George Rowntree in 1hr 14 min 28 secs.
Bath's Peter Wilson was the top Veteran over 70 years in a super time of 1hr 27min 05 secs.
Other Bath times were Tom Ryan in 1hr 20min 17 secs, David Summers in 1hr 21 mins 48 secs, Charlie Wigmore in 1hr 25 min 14 secs, Aileen Brown 1hr 31 min 44 secs and Janet Wilson 1hr 48 min 59 secs.
4/2/07 Tony Dale injured on Sunday Club run
Tony Dale came off his bike today whilst leading the medium group on the sunday club run. He came down hard on a greasy corner, and was out cold for a few minutes. An ambulance needed to be called. More information as it becomes available.
Update: News from the hospital. Tony sustained broken bones in his face, also minor cuts to his arms and face, and has badly bruised legs, and pulled muscles in his leg.
Update: After a long time period off the bike, Tony has been seen out and about again.