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Newsletter - September '99
Morven Ogg from Udny has joined but family and offshore commitments have meant that he hasn’t had the chance to join us on Tuesday evenings yet and his Sunday runs start at 6 am! You can read about Morven in the "Low Profile" section of the website.
The 1999 confined time trial series has started and start as usual from the Mace Supermarket in Ellon at 6.30pm. Slight changes in the handicap system have been made to make help new members and to stop the slow start to the season. NB Points will be awarded for taking part or helping at the open 10 and open 25 we are organising this year. Nigel Whaley is way out in front on the points series as he keeps improving each week. His tactics have been immaculate. Week 1 - race with no air in tyres. Etc. etc. etc. Steve Argo is winning the mountain bike class as he is the only one to do the route on a MTB this year. Read Charlie’s race report in the local press after each event. At different points in the season we may run a two-up or a mountain bike race. These will probably be a short notice so keep your ears open on Tuesday evenings.
The organisers have been chosen for the 99 race events.. Hilly 20 - Graham Ward & Bob Hill 24/4/99 Competed successfully. Well done Graham & Bob. Road Race - Graham Gerrard & Pat Flanaghan 5/6/99. Very wet day but again well organised. 10 Mile TT - Sean Monaghan & Lorna Adam 4/7/99 (The results of this race will also be included for points in the confined TT League). A large number turned up for this one on the fast Balmedie course, then off for a quick 25 miles swan round Inverurie – great. 25 Mile TT - Colin Allanach & Abby McHardy 5/9/99 (the results of this race will also be included for points in the confined TT league) – Get your entry in now !!
Quite a few members are now claiming the 1999 mile mark. Sean Monaghan was the first through and Graham Gerrard and Gordon Adams have also passed the mark. I’m just over half way so if I don’t put a spurt on soon I’ll miss out on a medal. How have you done? Put your mileage in to me to claim your 1999 Millennium Challenge Medal.
(For those of you reading the e-mail edition) The Ythan CC home page has changed to http://www.ythan.dial.pipex.com/, so update your "Favourites" folder now! The old address should continue to work for some time. Ian Jones has been working hard to get the site up and running and has developed one of the best cycling site on the web. The site includes the latest newsletter, a comprehensive dairy of events, a For Sale section, photographs of club members in action and links to other cycling sites. If you have anything you would like to add to the site please contact Ian or myself. If you have access to an E-mail address please send me a note to put you on my mailing list. The Guest list is particularly impressive with cyclists all over the world contacting the site and keeping in touch with what’s happening at Ythan CC. Results and photos of all our races are also on the site. Over 5,000 people have now accessed the site since Jan '98. P.S. there is also a link to the Deeside Thistle site if you're interested. [ Ian would like to apologise to anyone who has recently upgraded (if that's the word) from Microsoft Internet Explorer 4 to IE5 and has found some of the website's page layouts going a bit squiffy. It's being attended to (by Ian, not by Microsoft!). If anyone using IE5 or Netscape finds anything bizzarre on the website, please let Ian know so it can be investigated. ]
Graham Parley and Steve Argo are arranging the mountain bike runs on the first Sunday of each month. See the diary for details or contact Graham on Ellon (01358) 722172 or Steve on Ellon 721896. We have been severely lacking in enthusiasm for the MTB side of the Club recently. If you’ve forgotten the excitement of whooping through the woods and belting down rough tracks, it’s time to dust down the old Muddy Fox and start playing again. James Hall is organising a mountain bike race in Aberdeen at Garthdee in September. The race will have a fun section and is over a relatively short lap course. You can get entries from James at St.Andrews Street Cyclery.
We used the course for the Guide/Scout run and everyone had a great time on the obstacles, once we had managed to get Mark off !! Our youth policy is to be revised as it is clearly not working at the moment. There is a vacancy for a youth development officer in the club. Is anyone interested?
Instead of individuals turning up at races you will now be part of the YCC team. Charlie will draw up a diary of events when the SCU handbook is published. Phone Charlie if you are interested in the events he has lined up. This has been a great success with "teams" supporting each other in the local events. We even came third in one race.
The tour of Ellon attracted about 40 riders but it was quite cold. The Great Inverurie Run was again up to a high standard with over 800 riders taking part. The weather was kind and the alcohol stop at Monymusk attracted a fair number of the 800.
The Sunday morning club runs now start at the Ellon Community Centre at 9am. These are usually quite popular depending on the weather. So instead of lying about in your bed on Sunday morning get out there and get some fresh air in your lungs. Details of club runs can be obtained from Pat Flanaghan (Club Run Captain) on (01358) 724026.
Due to public demand there will be three planned long runs in '99. The venues have been decided but the dates haven’t. Venues: Here are some photos taken on the Cabrach run in May...
It's time again to order your next kit. I have included an order form in the Newsletter. Get your order in as soon as possible. Cut off date – end of September.
I didn’t see any cycling plays at the Edinburgh festival this year so we didn’t go. I have been reading a few cycling books to inspire me: Greg LeMond - "The Incredible Comeback" – Win the Tour de France, get shot by your brother-in-law, win the Tour again, get paid lots of money, get called greedy – great stuff. "20 Years in the Saddle" – Ivor Sorebum – nuff said.
How many times have you read in magazines someone saying that helmets aren’t effective in crashes. While I don’t believe that helmet wearing should be made compulsory and I know that it wont protect me much when being hit by a car, I know that I have been saved once from a fractured skull. In his latest crash I’m sure Graham Parley would have had severe head injuries had he not been wearing his helmet. As it was the Specialized helmet split open while Grahams head remained intact and as ugly as ever. When I was 16 and cycle helmets weren’t around, my friend Rob was involved in an accident while cycling towards the Mace Supermarket in Meikilemill. He doesn’t remember what happened but apparently his front wheel jammed and he flew over the handlebars landing on his head and scraping this along the ground before he came to a halt. His injuries were made worse by the fact that the road had just been re-surfaced with small loose chippings. The doctors spent three days removing these from his skull, nineteen years later and after quite a lot of surgery to remove scars Rob still has signs of the incident across the left side of his face and forehead. This is the type of injury that helmets can protect you from.
Anyone who has taken an interest in the racing scene can’t have been failed to be impressed by the dramatic improvement in Gordon’s racing times. His commitment to training and determination to progress this year have been astounding. We knew he was going for it this year when he arrived for the first time trial of the season he flew into the carpark and almost out the other side. When questioned about using his brakes he said "Brakes?, what brakes? I don’t use brakes, they only slow you down" At least that’s what I thought he said. Gordon has gone sub 26 mins for a 10, came second in a APR, and has a 1hr 6 min run for the 25 mile TT. The next lot of stuff was contributed by Lorna. Thanks girl !
In January 1997 I purchased a pair of Karrimor cycle bib tights in Tisos’ Aberdeen and within the 2nd Winter of wearing them I was very disappointed to find the bib seams coming apart (it was nothing to do with me being pregnant or fat!), so I posted them back direct to the manufacturers to have them inspected / repaired. You can imagine my delight to receive in the post a brand new pair of cycle tights with no charge so a big THANK YOU to Karrimor for their extremely good service which in my opinion comes second to none.
Colin Fraser the publican laid on a big table for all 26 people and served us their usual high quality of food which was enjoyed by all not forgetting the excellent service by the waitresses. Stuart Argo did enjoy it but due to the rough ride on his Dad’s bike (wheelies, and skiddies) he decided to entertain us with a wonderful display of projectile vomiting all over the floor and Stephen’s T-shirt - which was a bit on the dull side anyway! Mark was witness to this and had great difficulty in eating his sticky toffee pudding afterwards and could not finish it which is most unusual for him. Mark ended up being the crèche facility for all the children and is still waiting to be paid by their parents!!! (gies a pint) Everybody enjoyed themselves and we certainly intend this to become an annual event on the YCC calendar.
On Tuesday the 10th August I organised a 2-up 25-mile TT to New Deer and back to Ellon which only had 9 riders taking part which was disappointing nonetheless it was enjoyed by those involved. My thanks must go to Charlie Allan who waited very patiently at New Deer and David Carnegie who did the time keeping with the aid of his wife Elsie(behind every good man there’s a better woman). Due to Stephen’s lack of friends he did the TT all alone but did very well leaving us all behind. Nigel rode very well considering he had a dodgy stomach (something to do with alcohol poisoning from Saturday night - excuses) so on the few times I raised my voice to Nigel to put a wee bit more effort he told me very politely that he would be sick at any more effort put into it (typical whinging man) . So watch out you other riders once Nigel’s delicate tummy is not so delicate we will be leaving you all behind next year (Jackanory tell a story). The results are as follows:- Lorna and Nigel 1.14.50 With the result of Stephen’s rather good time the committee thought it would be wise to have a drugs test on him but none of us had a spare 4 hours to wait for him to have a wee wee for a specimen (you can ask shy boy Stephen for more details).
The next Newsletter will be the December edition and your input is desperately required. Any race reports, items for sale, tips, general chit-chat should be sent to...
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Editorial
