Mercia CC Lloyds Cycles Bulletin 30/09/22

Posted by Kieron Patterson in Mercia Reports

Hi everybody,

I hope that everyone is well on this misty Autumn morning. It seems to be a sudden change from the summer weather that we have been enjoying. I have dusted off the winter bike but there is always next season to look forward to.

However, this season is not quite done yet! The hill climb is this Sunday, 2nd October at 11am on the usual hill in the Marchington Woodlands. Plan your Sunday ride to arrive there by 11am and have a go. The climb is steady rather than steep and quite short so not too tough but if you do fancy challenging the record time it becomes very challenging being around a 75 second flat out effort.

This is the time of year when I need to apply to Cycling Timetrials with proposed dates for club events that we propose to hold in 2023. It is usually a formality for us as other clubs do not use the local courses. The support for club time trials has not been good this year but I am applying for similar dates for 2023 with the added bonus of being able to apply to use both the Anslow and Sudbury courses on the same evening to avoid having to cancel any event because of road works.

Our club events are held on Tuesdays simply because they always have been, but this could be changed. The Sudbury course is wide enough to safely run a two up so this could be considered. I will submit a date request for the 25 on the Yoxall course in case the road works are finished but this year’s event over 5 laps of the Sudbury course was enjoyed by the riders who entered, and we could use that again wither on a Sunday or an evening in mid-summer.

All ideas, suggestions, feedback and volunteering to help will be helpful.

A big thank you to all volunteers who have timekept and marshalled this year, without you there would be no events.

The members do need to consider what type of events they wish to hold and support after next season. If time trial numbers do not increase their viability must be in doubt.

The Mercia are not alone with this issue, most clubs have declining numbers in their club time trials as do open events nationally.

Enjoy the winter riding, stay safe ,

Regards, Tony