Steve's new Sprog

Congratulations to Steve Argo on the birth of his new Son. Christopher was born on the 22^nd of June and weighed in at 8lbs 14¹/₂ oz. Steve is already suffering from the lack of sleep that new arrivals bring, but showed no signs of his sleep deprivation at the last club run and belted out a quick 50 miles.

PruTour Success

Gillian was chosen by the SCU to race this years PruTour Prologue time trial. Not only did she race it - but she won it. A fast time trial course with a steep hill at the end even confused Chris Boardman with gear selection. Gillian wiped the floor with the other competitors.

• Male Winner -Chris Boardman
• Female Winner - Gillian Sowden

End to End

One of the Rotarian cyclists who Graham Gerrard cycled with in Germany in May this year (see below), undertook the Lands End to John O'Groats cycle run for the charity "BBC Children in Need" to celebrate his 70^th birthday. Graham volunteered to help him and accompanied him on the 21^st June from the Erskine Bridge over the Clyde, up by Loch Lomond to Crianlarich. Bill Norton had received support most days from Rotarian Cyclists or from his club, and on the day Graham accompanied him he had completed 680 miles in 7 days and had raised £11,000 for charity.

Rotary Cycling in Germany

Graham Gerrard has certainly been busy recently;  in addition to accompanying Bill Norton on part of his end-to-end, he also found time to go touring in Germany. Graham has written an excellent article for us on his touring trip to Germany.

Track

On 20^th June, three of our members took part in the SCU track open day at Meadowbank in Edinburgh. For Gillian this was her second visit and she set off immediately being very confident on the banking and being able to manoeuvre around the track. Luke and Dave were given tuition and were soon gaining in confidence, and by the end of the session had mastered a flying lap, an Italian Pursuit, The Devil take the Hindmost, 2 laps using starter blocks and Luke did a sprint. Luke's times in the lap and the 2 lap race were in the top three placings, so he showed great potential and hopefully he will be able to join Neil and others at the track league after his holiday in South Africa. Neil will be competing in the National Championships in Manchester at the end of July.

Confined Time Trials

The 1998 series of races started in April. (See Diary of Events and TT Results) One change for this year is the inclusion of the Ythan CC 10 mile TT. This means that members taking part in this "open" event will generate points for the series.

Jack is winning at the moment due to his remarkable ability to improve with every race. Look out for Harry's usual late charge. Gillian was heard to say she would have the series sown up by the start of August. Graham Parley is playing a waiting game and is not sure when to show his hand, one mega-fast race to pick up a lot of points or gradually pick up a few points each week.

Bill Hart managed to complete the course in 28 minutes, with his 6-year-old son Matthew on a bolt on Tandem extension behind him!

There was a large contingent of young Ellon ladies out last week to watch the rippling muscles of the men from the Fire Brigade as they took part in the race.

Help Required

The Balmedie "10" is on the 12^th July so if you are unable to enter it please help Colin with the organisation of it. Even more help is required for Graham Gerrard's SCU Development Series Road Race on the 2^nd August, and again if you have not entered it please help Graham with the organisation. This race requires an army of marshals and drivers to transport Commissaires, First Aid and service vehicles. This year the event coincides with the Inverurie Bike Run. but we would expect all our members to give our own event top priority.

As many of our members usually ride the Inverurie event and as quite a few of you have requested that we organise longer club runs, it would seem appropriate to do one of our more popular long runs on Saturday 1^st August, the run is the "Back of Benachie" run. From Ellon Community centre at 10:30am we will take the road via Craigdam to Oldmeldrum, then to Pitcaple, up to Chapel of Garioch and down to the Oyne fork, past Oyne, and to Auchleven. Then over the wee hill towards Donside, turning left through the Lords Throat, to Inverurie, Whiterashes and Ellon. Just over 60 miles, beautiful countryside, a challenge, and many of the roads used in the Inverurie bike ride.

Winter training

One of Annette's friends has just become an Aerobics teacher and is willing to put the Club through it's paces at regular intervals during the winter. Previous Aerobic sessions have been well received by the members and are good way of keeping up the fitness level during those cold winter evenings.

1998 Events

The 1998 club run open events still left are:

• 10 mile TT - 12th July

• SCU Dev Road race - 2nd August
  

Scouting About

On Sunday 7^th June, more than 80 Scouts, Guides and Cubs took part in the annual cycle outing from Ellon to Udny Station and back, with a stop off at Udny for Burger, Chips and lashings of pop.

This popular run was organised by Lorna and Jack. All the kids had a great day. This event helps keep kids interested in cycling and away from their Playstation for a few hours.

Bike Shops

Neil and James work at Alpine Bikes and St Andrews Street Cyclery respectively. Both shops give a 10% members discount on accessories; as does Cycling World. Both youngsters look promising this year with Neil doing well at the second Confined 10 race and James at the 3^rd race. Neil had a good session at Meadowbank Track and James did well at the mountain bike race at Aboyne recently. If you are unable to see Neil or James in the cycle shops, both will accept orders at Amadeus Night Club on Sunday or Monday evening/morning!

Mountain Bike Runs

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 Elton 722172 or Steve on Ellon 721896.

Club Runs

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 Abby McHardy (Club Run Captain) on 01358 721007.

New Inn

The club is no longer sponsored by the New Inn. Money was not forthcoming this year so we have decided to become independent again. The bad news is that members who have the old tops with the New Inn logo on it will not be able to wear these while competing in open events run by the SCU. It has been decided to subsidise all tops for members by £10. It is acceptable, if you are nifty with the needle, to wear a patch over the New Inn logo. I will put a form out for anyone wishing to purchase new tops shortly.
The good news is that we will now be able to enjoy our Christmas meals somewhere else - any suggestions?

Spare Kit

We have some spare Ythan CC kit from the last order. If you want to purchase a spare top or shorts please give me a call on (01358) 723909.

2 off short sleeve tops size 4
1 off short sleeve top size 3
1 off short sleeve top size 5
1 off pair shorts size 2

Please give me a phone if you want to purchase any of the above items.

If anyone wants to put an order in for kit please get in touch. I have a few orders pending.

For Sale

Campag Vento aero wheels with Record screw on block. £200 ONO phone Sean Monaghan on 01651 851835.

21" Vitus aluminium bike C/W Record groupset Mavic

Wheels and Mavic aero bars

Phone Cohn Allanach (01358 723909)

Wanted

One pair of clipless pedals, phone Chris Humble (01358 701237).

1998 Races

See the diary for a list of forthcoming events over the next month.

• 10 Mile Time Trial
• 65 Mile Road Race.

It would be nice to go back to the days when we had a few more events on our calendar but unfortunately the volunteers to organise races are few and far between.
Other suggestions for races are:

• 40 Mile APR (perhaps in the Peterhead area like the one we used to do?)
• Duathlon
• 25 mile Time trial
• 2 Up Time Trial
• Mountain Bike Race

Organising the races does take up a lot of time, but at the end of the race there is a tremendous sense of achievement and the feeling that you have put something back into the sport.

If you are interested in organising a race please contact Graham Gerrard before the end of August so that we can apply for the races through the SCU.

Membership Fees

If there's anyone out there who hasn't paid their membership yet, please do so as soon as possible. BE WARNED Lorna is on the look-out for non-payers!