Archive for Rob

Emergency Contacts

As you know we hold an amount of data about our members to enable us to communicate with you and for you to be a member, British Cycling collects this information during the membership application process.

One of the fields we have added is your emergency contacts (sometimes known as ICE) and any medical conditions we may need to be aware of.

This is a periodical request from the club for members to ensure that all their contact information is correct.
This is to enable us to contact the correct person and/or inform any emergency services of any conditions in the unlikely event of an incident when out on club activities.

We ask for any medical conditions to ensure should we need to we can get the right help to you, If you believe that we should be aware of a condition or any other issues let a ride leader know before the ride starts.

If you have any new conditions or changes in current conditions please seek advice from your doctor before undertaking any activities.


10% off Bikmo Insurance

New bike? Or are you yet to protect your pride and joy? Bikmo have boosted your bonus for a limited time!

You may have read our post on Bikmo before, they’re a good bunch of like minded cyclists. They have come to us offering an increased 10% discount on policies if you take them out by 14th February 2019 (if you treat your loved one to insurance as valentines present, please do share the results with us!)

Just as before it’s really easy to use this offer, quote BLAYDON5  or click this link for the offer page.

Why don’t you start 2019 with award-winning cycle insurance from our partners Bikmo. 
We’ve secured an exclusive 10% discount for policies taken out by the 14th Feb 2019. Use code: BLAYDON5 and get geared for more. 
bikmo.com/?ref=blaydon5

Blaydon Awards & AGM 2018

On Saturday the 12th of January 2019 we held our AGM and club awards where we looked back on 2018, planned 2019 and celebrated and awarded the achievements of 2018’s season. Our venue was Tyne Amateur Rowing Club in Newburn.

Our Winners are as follows:

Club TT winners 
Vet Roadbike – Graham Mckinney
Senior Roadbike – Paul Wright
Women’s Roadbike – Rachel Galler
Vet TT – Justin Ramel
Women’s TT – Joanne Rea
Senior TT – Steven Craggs
Men’s HIll climb – Marcus Cram
Women’s Hill Climb – Angela McGurk

Club category winners
CX rider of the Year – James Hadfield
TT’er of the Year Male – Julian MacBride
TT’er of the Year Female – Joanne Rea
Road Racer of the Year Male – Marcus Cram
Road Racer of the Year Female – Gemma Hutchins

Mile Muncher – Corinne Black

Voted for by members

The Sergio Garcia (Surging award) – Del Fiddes 
Wheelsucker award – Darren McGurk
Pedal and Pint – George Russell
Wooden Sock – Paul Wright 
Crash Test Dummy – Paul Wright 
Best Newcomer Male – Marcus Cram
Best Newcomer Female – Rachel Galler
Most improved Male (Race) – Mark Whaley
Most Improved Female (Race) – Sara Cummings
Most improved Male (non Race) – Darren McGurk
Most improved Female (non Race) – Jane Aston
MTB Rider of the year – Sarah Pilkington
Club Run Rider of the Year – Richard Noble
Dev Rider of the year – Phil Conway
EW Rider of the year – Sophie Betts
Selfless Helper Award – Sharon Dyson

The club also rewarded Sharon, Frances Schultz, Peter Schultz and Jack Earl with Club branded jackets to thanks them for there amazing efforts over 2018 with stopwatches and cameras.

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas to all of our members however you are celebrating and spending the festive period. We’re almost the end of 2018 which has been a superb year for the club and our members.

We’re ending the year on over 200 members which is a landmark achievement for the club. If you’re lucky enough to have had a new bike land down the chimney don’t forget to take out insurance or update your existing policy. Remember we get a 5% discount on Bikmo policies.

2015 – Club Christmas Ride

We can’t wait for 2019, we’re aiming to have more of the same and continue to get everyone out on their bikes.
If you have not renewed yet you’ve still got a week (until 1/1/19) to renew and grab yourself a swanky exclusive Blaydon CC T-Shirt.

2019 T-Shirt Design – Available in M & F fits and Black or White

We hope to see as many of you out next year, and wish to say a huge thanks to everyone who’s come on a ride, been a time keeper, marshalled or done anything to help out our great club. We hope to keep on hosting club rides, development rides, easy wheelers and open racing / time trial events for years to come

Club Landmark – 200 active members

We’ve been approving the 2019 memberships since early December, and we’ve reached the monumental milestone of having 200 active members within our club. 

Some of you may remember, have heard of or indeed might have been one of the “original 8” members who decided we’d pop £10 into the pot for British Cycling affiliation and would “just see what happens” – that was 2013, I remember doing the Great North Bike Ride a week or two before “BCC 1” a gentle ride to Corbridge, meeting at Newburn Riverside, at that stage it was just a group of like-minded cyclists using social media to meet up. A few months later we had a little meeting and took the plunge into official affiliation, the rest as they say, is history 

One of the very first Club Rides

In the coming months we designed and had custom kit made, and the ‘club rides’ became a litre more regular and as people developed the groups got bigger and current members invited their friends and we slowly but surely began to grow in numbers and took the decision to formalise the club and have a committee structure and open it to all. 

We eventually formed a race team as a dip into The competitive side as we had been exclusively a ‘social ride’ club, after a period of bedding in and more interest flooding in we have formed a successful race team that’s regularly getting podium positions and as a club we’ve been lucky enough to host local and national level events. 

Race Team in action

We’re affiliated with both British Cycling and Cycling Time Trials so we can compete and host both Road Race and Time Trials, the fundamental social side of the club is still very much alive with our easy wheelers, development rides and club rides which have groups at all levels taking part. 

We’re opening our horizons to cycle cross and off road (MTB) riding and in the future wish to expand on our abilities to be a club for all. 

We’ve had members do many things, since our inception members past and present have took part in events both externally and organised by the club such as:

  • Spanish training camps/holidays 
  • 200/300/600km self reliant Audax rides 
  • Club “in a day” challenges, c2c in a day & Edinburgh to Newcastle. 
  • Kielder Chiller 24 endurance ride 
  • Hill night sessions 
  • Newburn ‘loops’
  • ‘Muddy Monday’ MTB/CX nights 
  • Countless sportives done as a club team
Audax Loaded bike – 600km ‘The border Raid’ 

And many more that I can’t think of! Many of these are created and organised via our very active Facebook ‘members chat’ page where our members are encouraged to play and active part helping out other members and organising their own weekday events according to their ability, schedule and availability. 

Everything that’s been done has not been possible without the hard work of both the committee and the clubs members, from the shortest of post-work rides right up the the organisation of national level events everyone’s desire to get stuck in and help, take part or volunteer is what makes the club what it is. 

Club meeting

We’re 200 strong and 2019 could be an amazing year. We look forward to seeing our regular riders back, our newest members and those making a return to the saddle. 

To join us if you’ve not already check out our 2019 membership information page. 

Join Now Button

On behalf of myself, the committee, all your other members and the local cycling community I want to say a huge thank you for being part of such a great club. 

Rob

Club Secretary 

#BlaydonCCWorks 

CANCELLED: 16/12/18 Easy Wheelers & Dev Rides

Due to the current conditions and risk of ice on minor roads we have took the decision to cancel the Easy Wheeler & Dev Ride dated 16th December 2018. We have to consider riders safety on their way, during and after events. We will re-do this route at the earliest & safest opportunity

AGM , Awards and Social 2018

Saturday 12th January 2019

Save that date in your diary (or if you’re getting one for Christmas remember to put it in later). from 6pm Join us for our AGM where we will look back on 2018 and shift our focus onto 2019.
You will have the chance to make suggestions regarding the club and deliver us any essential feedback so we can tailor your club experience to be the best possible.

After that we’ll deliver our 2018 awards to highlight what an amazing year it has been for the club at all levels, once that’s done the night is yours and we aim to have a little bit of a Blaydon CC party.

Dress smart, and come to reflect on a great year,  we’ll have a food van, details of that TBC. (once confirmed we’ll update the main event page)

Updated details and RSVP to the event in the ‘events’ tab on our Members chat page (facebook) – if you can’t find it drop us a line.
so that’s 6pm, Tyne Amateur Rowing Club, Newburn, dress smart, AGM & Club Discussion, awards, pint!

2019 Membership OPEN

It gives us great pleasure to say that 2019 subscriptions are now open for renewal and for new members to join us!

Everyone new or renewing before 1/1/19 will get a free  Blaydon Cycle Club T-shirt designed by the brilliant guys over at band of climbers. (worth £23.99)

You can choose mens/womens and if you want a black or white or t-shirt.
even better news is that our membership prices have been frozen at £15 for individuals and £25 for couples. Membership to one of the reigons biggest clubs and a T-shirt, get signed up for another epic year with the club now!!

Click here for membership or head off to

http://bit.ly/subs2019

Merry Xmas and a Happy New year from all the Committee at Blaydon CC – here’s to another amazing year whatever your cycling goals!

Info: Winter Cycling Update – Winter 2018

Winter Rides: *Updated October 2018*

Please Read the below so you fully understand our intentions for winter club events.

It might only be October but we’ve already had a light dusting of snow (a little more substantial on higher ground) and the daily ritual of scraping the car windscreen clear has started, below is our winter rides information and policy, we want to run club activities as much as possible but we must ensure it’s safe to do so. Most importantly if you have any questions please read this and ask away.

General info.

Unfortunately living in the North of England we are at the mercy of mother nature. We just wish to to re-address the issue of winter rides.

We try our best to keep club activity to as near to as full time as we can, we were lucky in previous winters as we never really had any severe weather but we can’t promise this season will be the same. The newspapers have prophesied the ‘coldest winter in 5 years’ again! That may have us all saying  “they said that last year, and the year before that, and the one before that!”  but we have to prepare for all eventualities and have contingencies for the winter months.

Alterations to club activities.

Our club rides will be shorter than the summer months to ensure we are back to base before it gets too dark or the temperature drops during the hours of darkness.

Our development and easy wheeler rides may be altered to run into a merged ‘loop’ system where ‘loop 1’ will be the Easy Wheeler ride followed by the ‘loop 2’ being development ride. You are welcome to attend both but it is essential to remember you are asked to help the newer or less experienced riders on these rides, they are designed to develop members and gain experience and these rides will always be only as fast as the last rider.

We will also be running CX rides whilst the weather comes in, check our events for further details.

Safety of all members is our top concern and it may get to the point where for these reasons we call off a ride. If you don’t feel confident riding in the weather that has been forecast, there is no shame in dropping out of the ride if you think you won’t be to manage for whatever reason. If you have any doubts or question ask us, we have many seasoned riders in the club. The chat page and the event page itself are ideal for this.
However, the final decision to go out on your bike is down to you and any ride undertaken is at your own risk.

Safety & Legal Stuff.

We recommend lights for all rides during the winter months due to visibility being lower than the brighter summer months, especially for the ride to and from the club rides. For our week night training sessions they are mandatory (these rides take place in the hours of darkness, it’s also a legal requirement to be lit up at night (Road Vehicle Lighting Regulations)) – as a minimum, on a club ride a flashing rear light is suggested in daylight hours. (just think if there was an insurance claim, have you took reasonable precautions to aid your visibility) It is your responsibility to make yourself visible to others.

Please dress suitably for the conditions and temperature, we often ride in rural and isolated locations, especially on higher ground conditions can change within seconds. Please ensure you’re dressed for the weather (for example winter specific clothing,foul weather gear,  jackets, neckwear. gloves, thermal layers). On some rides you may be required to wait for others (especially development rides and easy wheelers) so bear this ‘waiting time’ in mind, equally if you have a mechanical issue you may need to stop to fix it or wait to be picked up.

Ride alterations and cancellations.

Regarding club rides and events, the decision to cancel or alter a ride will be made where we can, the evening before so during the winter please make sure for our events you check the social media channels.

On the occasion of a ride cancellation or alteration We will post a message on the main facebook page (facebook.com/blaydoncycling)

This decision will be made amongst the committee and/or a group of our regular riders from observing the current conditions, forecast and any weather warnings in place. Rides may be also subject to delay, cancellation or alteration (generally meaning cut short (by a ride leader)) on the day if we feel that it may not be safe to continue due to sudden weather or forecasts received. Please check the individual events and main page for any relevant messages before you leave the house that morning.

In the case of a ride cancellation the clubs decision is final.

Report & Results: Blaydon Road Race 20 May 2018

Results

A very sunny Northumberland played host to the first Blaydon Cycle Club road race, Thanks to everyone who took part in a hugely successful day, this includes those racing, all that drove around the course, our marshals, officials, motorbike outriders and those working at event HQ. Results and a race report can be found below.

Men’s Race

The Race stayed together for first two laps with Steven Moon of Manilla GRN taking the lap two prime before we had the first attacks of the day.
Thomas Mein and Nick Spencer managed to clip off the front on lap 3 before Thomas accelerated and put in a stunning solo lap to push out nearly 2 mins on the bunch.
Thomas managed to push out his advantage to over 3 mins as the bunch settled down to fighting out the remaining podium spots. On the penultimate lap Gavin Richardson of Sunderland Clarion and David Nearney of South Shields Velo managed to get a gap of around 20 seconds on the bunch as they took the bell. David blew on the craggs and Gavin powered on but with half a lap to go Blaydon’s very own Marcus Cram exploded off the front to catch Gavin, who managed to hold on to 3rd to take a stunning 2nd place in his clubs very first road race. Thomas won by around 2mins after 5 laps solo.

Photo Credit: Darran Moore

Top 20

1 Thomas Mein – Hope Factory Racing
2 Marcus Cram – Blaydon CC
3 Gavin Richardson – Sunderland Clarion
4 Russell Wright – Manilla GRN
5 Nick Kalson – Reifen Racing
6 John Davidson – Reifen Racing
7 Nick Spencer – Blumilk
8 Ellis McCoy – GS Metro
9 Michael Smith – Reifen Racing
10 Fin Robertson – Derwentside CC
11 Wilson Brown – Cycleways SG Petch
12 Greame Wardale – South Shields Velo
13 Lee Cuthbertson – NTR
14 Greame Kirton – South Shields Velo
15 Russell Bayliss – GS Metro
16 Andy Hindmarch – Muckle CC
17 Lee Ridden – Reifen Racing
18 Craig Berry – GS Metro
19 Jamie Pattison – Cycleways SG Petch
20 Dan Pons – Blaydon CC

Ladies Race
Later on in the day the ladies took to the start line with a strong looking field. Lap 1 was enough for a select group of around 15 riders to go clear. This group would stay pretty much together until the final lap with a few smaller groups and solo riders racing it out behind in windy but warm conditions.
Chloe Fraser of racing chance took the first Prime on lap 2.
Gemma Hutchins of host club Blaydon CC battled out with Anna Kay of Storey racing and managed to hold her off for the lap 4 Prime meaning the host club had prize winners in both races! The final lap was selective with the group getting smaller and around 10 headed into the uphill sprint. It was a very close finish with Mary Wilkinson of Team Jadan holding off a late charge from Anna Kay to take the win by half a wheel with Chloe Fraser rounding off the podium.


Photo Credit: Darran Moore

Top 20
1 Mary Wilkinson – Team Jadan
2 Anna Kay – Storey Racing
3 Chloe Fraser – Racing Chance
4 Hannah Farran – Boompods EDCO NRG
5 Amy Graham – Boompods EDCO NRG
6 Becky Longthorp – Cliff Pratt racing
7 Georgina Ashworth – Team 22
8 Hannah Brand – VRDP
9 Laura Tissiman – York Cycleworks
10 Ellie Park – Team 22
11 Jennifer Batey – Boompods EDCO NRG
12 Susan Patterson – Honister 92
13 Gemma Hutchins – Blaydon CC
14 Josie Cram – unattached
15 Jen McMahon – Muckle CC
16 Olivia Fawcett – Boompods EDCO NRG
17 Zosia Martin – Glasgow Green Cycle club
18 Dorothea Schriever – Blaydon CC
19 Michelle Highfield – Berwick Wheelers
20 Nikki Metcalf – Prima Team Racing