Andy is night star...

Club member Andy Cockburn won the 2009 solo category of the "Dusk to Dawn" MTB race in Thetford forest. Andy came out on top of 130 solo competitors after 12 hours of non-stop MTB racing in the dark. An indication of his apparent domination was that he beat the 2nd placed solo rider by more than 38 minutes!

It´s also worth noting that Andy finished the season ranked 19th cross-country racer in the UK.

Cambridge Audax

The Cambridge Audax is a bit of an Autum fixture. However, this year was a little bit different. Mike Stapleton (Cambridge CTC) had run the 100km Audax for many years but had decided to retire as an organizer. Simon Proven (Cambridge CC) stepped in and took on the challenge of organising this years event which ran on 27th September.

Before going to the start at Hinxton, I first went to the clubrun start and cajoled quite a few people in to riding the Audax. We 'wasted' a bit of time riding from Addenbrooke's to Hinxton by taking a non-direct route so we did not get to the Audax start too early. Tea an buscuits set me up for the start at 10am.

The pace of the front riders is usually very quick and this years event was no different. I found this out the hard way by stopping to take some photos at the top of the hill in Barley. Despite chasing very hard, I never saw the bunch again - thanks!

Most of the 60 riders that entered sensibly decided to take a bit more leisurely pace and make best use of the lovely weather that Simon had arranged for the day. Wall-to-wall sunshine.

I usually ride almost non-stop, but with one exception. By tradition, one of the controls has a bun stop - gert big Chelsea buns with lots of sugary goo, see the picture. I am glad to say that Simon had continued this tradition with a bun stop at Gravely (south of Huntingdon).

For me the final leg south was very fast, having joined a couple of riders that were just a bit too fast for me. I was OK on the flat but a small drag through Knappwell finally finished me off. Graham (Luton CC?) kept me company for the last few kilometres.

The HQ in Hinxton was a welcome sight, but not as welcome as the tea an cakes that were inside. I cannot write without mentioning the date and walnut cake which had to be one of the best cakes I have ever tasted. I bought three slices so sorry to anybody that arrived back late only to find none left.

Another great Cambridge Audax. I hope Simon (final picture). puts it on again next year and makes that cake again!!

Words and pictures by Terry Dickerson.

Intermediate riders take the rough with the smooth

Sunday 13th September saw a large group of riders in the Intermediate Clubrun group which was heading for Finchingfield. As ride leader I decided to get a bit roughy-tufty with the group - some sections of rough stuff or off-road were planned into the route.

Actually the amount of off-road was quite small and not too rough at all and so it was not too much of a problem to those with road bikes. The excursions did make a talking point - and no complaints. However a faster splinter group did form just after the first off-road section so mabe they voted with their pedals! I thought it was quite fun but not as much fun as the smooth!

In Finchingfield we headed for the (relatively) newly opened Finchingfield Tea Rooms. Now, everybody knows I have a liking for cake and I chose a chocolate cake, see visual description opposite. Anyway the smooth came in the form of excellent butter icing. Delicious. I can heartily recommend the Finchingfield Tea Rooms for both the food and friendly service.

Cambridge stay on track to retain title for fourth year...

Cambridge Cycling club have successfully defended their Eastern Region Team Pursuit title for the 4th year running at the 2009 Eastern Region Track Championships.

This years team kept strongmen Douglas Bradshaw & Rob Cox (pictured), with Digby Symons returning briefly from sabbatical in Copenhagen to take his place at the front of the formation once again. Eric Gowland stepped forward as the 4th man, describing himself as "a rookie amongst grizzled veterans".

Digby did a stellar job of winding up to speed from out of the starting blocks, and Douglas anchored once more with his double turns on the front. Cambridge CC finishing time was 3:24, only 2 seconds slower than last year which was impressive given the limited rehearsals the new line up have had and Douglas' lack of sleep over the past 7 weeks owing to his newborn son.

Other highlights of the day include Bradshaw finishing 4th in a hotly contested Individual Pursuit, Cox 3rd by mere inches in the senior sprint competition, Katie Symons giving an impressive showing in the Ladies Omnium (sorry Katie, haven't seen results yet!).

Thanks to Eric Gowland for detail.

One hundred and not out...

A select group of Cambridge cycling members completed this years century ride. The ride which has become an annual fixture on the club calendar, which took place on the first Sunday in September , took in the cafe stops at Grafham water and Danish camps (near Bedford) was completed in an average speed of 14.8mph. In the photo (clockwise from front left) are Kevin Robertson , Sue Armstrong, Grant Armstrong and Keith Bullock enjoying a well earned rest and energy top up at Danish Camps.

Photo By Jon Schneider.

Pooleys Cambridge connection...

Any fan of cycling who follows the sport on the world stage will know the name of Emma Pooley- Womens world Champion. Most members will know that she has past connections with Cambridge and our club .. but what are they? To help bring clarity to the subject Club member Tim Williams , who has known Emma since she first took up cycling, has kindly written the following.

'The gist of Emma's background is that she was in Cambridge as a student (Civil Engineering) and took up triathlon following a running injury.
I got to know her through the triathlon club (in 2003).
She was pretty good but not quite in the same league as Heather, Rachel Horn or Rosie Clarke. She was better at duathlon than triathlon (no swimming!) but still good enough to qualify for age-group world championships at both.
Her cycling improved substantially when she bought a bike that fitted her (her first bike was miles too big). That was the summer of 2004 I think.
Her cycling career really took off in 2005. She went to the Alps with the University CC in the spring and discovered that she could climb mountains better than most of the guys. When she got back to Cambridge she started riding the chain gang and was not only able to hang on, but to join in and do turns.
She tried road racing and made an instant impact. Her second or third race was the National Champs where she got into the break with Nicole Cooke and three other continental based riders. By the end of the year she'd raced for GB at the Newport World Cup (where she did very well) and the World Champs in Madrid (where she crashed and ended up in hospital).
That was all in her final year at University. Since then she's been living in Zurich and combining her cycling with a PhD in soil engineering. She's been able to combine the two largely because her professor is one Sarah Springman. Her performances during the last two years have been particularly remarkable given that she was a part-time amateur on a small amateur team competing against full-time professionals. She finished her post graduate contract in January and is now a full-time professional cyclist with the Cervelo Test Team.
So, though she was never a member of Cambridge CC she does consider the chain gang a significant part of her cycling education and was quite excited about coming to Cambridge to ride it the other day!'

Thanks to Tim Williams for the words and to Richard Wyatt for the exclusive photo of Emma.