31/07/2012 - Briercliffe 10 Results

In Olympic week, the Nomads took athletic competition to new heights with Nick Hickman upping the ante in this year's "Brompton Fold Off". Ahead of the World Championships, Hickman's battle with Nick Senechal for global superiority has now reached Ali versus Frasier; Bjorg versus McEnroe; Ovett versus Coe proportions.In Senechal's absence Hickman has delivered a time that will go down in history as almost unbreakable. Indeed, Hickman's "31 dead" tonight will surely be investigated by the UCI, IOC and CAMRA.

The Press Room may have been empty and the number of spectators limited to two men, a dog and a lost rambler but Danny Boyle must be ruing the day he did not include the quintessentially English Bromptoneers in the Opening Ceremony in East London last week. "Sir Paul who?" was all that could be heard echoing around the Southill environs.

In the competition for people who do not build model railways or catalogue their "screws and bolt collections" in to size and length order, Jason Stuart rode to an imperious first place with a time of 23.26.

Despite a course PB for the season the Nomads' Simon Doyle was pipped to third place in his ongoing duel with Beds Road CC's Graham Laming. Laming getting the edge in the 10 series again by five seconds. Clive Collins claims another improvement on the course for 2012 and Jon Traynor came home ahead of the out of sorts Wilson Junior. A temporary dip in form for the Biggleswade lad ahead of major TV celebrity being spotted as the resident loonies watching the Olympic TT.

Wilson, Witchell and assorted vowels and consonants.

Psychic Nigel Wilson correctly predicted the 1-2-3 for the Wiggo Gold Run. He will be provding the Euromillions numbers and also the answer to the meaning of life later in the week.

Thanks to Frank Turner for Timekeeping and also Pushing Off. There's no end to this young lad's talents.

Results

Jason Stuart		23:26 CCA
Graham Laming		24:13 BRCC
Simon Doyle		24:18
Justin Lane		25.12 CCA
Peter Gell		25:28 BRCC
Clive Collins		28.17
Jon Traynor		28.23
Ben Wilson (J)		28.24
Nigel Wilson		28.31
Nick Hickman		31:00 (Brompton) ridiculous contraption.

BRCC = Beds Road Cycle Club
CCA = CC Ashwell

Race round up

Two Nomads riders placed in the top ten in the Beds Road CC Evening League event on 26 July 2012. Competing on the 10 mile circuit Andrew Herbert placed 8th with 24.45. Simon Doyle was 10th, recording a time of 25.04. Results are available from the BRCC website.

24/07/2012 - Briercliffe 10 Results

It was the first evening of summer 2012 and conditions were hot and warm. Andy Herbert was once again the fastest man with a shade under 24 minutes. The number of riders on Bromptons doubled with Nick Senechal setting the fastest time this season on a folding bike.

Thanks to Frank Turner for Timekeeping and to Geoff Perry and Jouade Izzo for carrying out Pushing Off duties.

Andy Herbert		23:59
Graham Laming		24:43 BRCC
Andy Saunders		25:04
Ryan Witchell (J)		25:17
Steve Robinson		25:45 TSE
Peter Gell		25:50 BRCC
David Ledgerton		27:59 TSE
Mike Russell		28:17 TTS
Clive Collins		28:26
Dave Rickels		30:46
R Robinson		30:48
Nick Senechal		31:01 (Brompton)
Charlie Pugh (J)		31:41 FT
Nick Hickman		31:53 (Brompton)
David Summerell		32:36

BRCC = Beds Road Cycle Club
TSE =  Team Salesengine
TTS = Team Trisports
FT = Freedom Tri

August 2012 events

The sun has finally put in an appearance and GB is dominating the roads, why not celebrate both by coming along to one of our Sunday club runs or taking part in the remaining Tuesday night time trials around the picturesque Southill based course.

For club runs all riders are welcome but you will need a road bike in good repair and reasonable level of fitness. There are usually one or two groups of riders who ride at 12-15mph or 16-19mph average speed for a two to three hours depending on who attends on the day.   Cafe stops are normally indicated in the title of the ride.

Club runs - Sunday 0900h Market Square, Hitchin

5 August Reed Silver Ball Café

12 August St Albans H&H Café

19 August Forest Centre M.Moretaine

26 August Saffron Walden

Briercliffe 10 time trials - note the earlier start times, sign on 30 minutes prior north of Southill - courses are listed here.

7 August 1830h

14 August 1830h

Bradley Wiggins wins Le Tour

Hitchin Nomads CC would like to join the rest of the nation's well wishers in congratulating Bradley Wiggins, Chris Froome, Mark Cavendish and the rest of Team Sky in making history on many levels in this year's Tour de France.

Bradley Wiggins at the end of the 2012 Tour de France.

If you think you have what it takes to be the next "Wiggo" or "Cav", feel free to contact any of the named contacts on the site. We meet for club runs every Sunday at 0900h and hold race events and training sessions which are advertised regularly on this site. A decent road bike and reasonable level of fitness are required but we can always give you pointers and coaching on how to get in to the sport whatever your ability.

17/07/2012 - Briercliffe 10 Results

With a rest day in the Tour, 13 riders took inspiration from the pros and ventured out for the evening 10. Unfortunately it seemed that some riders had been watching stage 14 as two riders were forced to abandon with a puncture and a mechanical.

Potential new member David Rickels came out to ride his first ever Time Trial, however he must have decided that 10 miles was not challenging enough and decided to add in a couple of extra miles. Still its always good to establish a target time and one he should improve on next week.

Well done to Ryan Witchell and Graham Laming who both rode their fastest times for the course.

Thanks to Frank Turner for Timekeeping and to Geoff Perry for carrying out Pushing Off duties.

Graham Laming		24:08 BRCC
Ryan Witchell (J)		25:01
Ben Wilson (J)		25:26
James Gomm		26:38
Justin Lane		26:48 CCA
James Spence		27:24
Mike Burr		27:51 VCC
Darren Carter		28:14 CCA
Clive Collins		28:43
Nigel Wilson		29:05
David Rickels		35:03
Jaouade Izzo		DNF - Puncture BRCC
Andrew Herbert		DNF - Mechanical

BRCC = Beds Road Cycle Club
VCC =  Verulam Cycle Club
CCA = Cycle Club Ashwell

Interclub 25 mile time trial 15 July 2012

Hitchin Nomads were out in force on Sunday 15 July 2012 in the latest round of the regional Interclub series of time trials. Featuring riders from Bedfordshire Road CC, CC Ashwell, Icknield RC and the Nomads, this round of the 2012 competition saw riders compete on two laps of a 12.5 mile circuit in the rural roads around Guilden Morden and Wrestlingworth.

Conditions were favourable on the outbound leg as a westerly wind gave competitors a boost in the first five miles. Riders reported heavy going on the return aspects of the course as the wind proved to be tough to negotiate. The Nomads placed two riders in the top five but were outgunned in the middle order by riders from BRCC and CCA. The Nomads total points tally was much improved on recent series results showing an improvement in the depth and quality of this year's time trialling squad. The series will be decided in the final event which is a hill climb based on the ascent of the taxing Sharpenhoe hill.

Images of various Nomads and riders at the event were captured by Sue Clifford-Smith. 

Tim Fisher was also out on the course taking pictures of riders as they turned for the s/f line. Please give Tim's work a look and support him by ordering or downloading your favourite snaps from his site. 

Mark Collins

Simon Doyle at the start of the event

Ryan Witchell

Riders prepare for their starts at the beginning of the race

Clive Collins

Andy Herbert was lead Nomad, being one of only two riders to go under the magical hour mark. Herbert posted 59.18 for second place. Simon Doyle turned in a 60.56 to take fifth spot in what was a rare outing at the distance and despite snapping a pedal to pieces at the start. James Spence and James Gomm recorded improvements for the course and distance with Andy Saunders posting a "long 4" for thirteenth position.

1 Nigel Hale CCA 58:05
2 Andy Herbert HNCC 59:18
3 Simon Norman BRCC 60:01
4 Jason Stuart CCA 60:17
5 Simon Doyle HNCC 60:56
6 Jon Friend BRCC 61:21
7 Gavin Roberts BRCC 61:33
8 Mark Horton CCA 61:52
9 Mark Anstee BRCC 61:58
10 Carmelo Luggeri CCA 62:05
11 Graham Laming BRCC 62:33
12 Tom Sykes BRCC 63:48
13 Andy Saunders HNCC 64:28
14 Jeremy Ross CCA 64:35
15 Steve James BRCC 64:47
16 Richard Law CCA 65:07
17 James Gomm HNCC 66:16
18 Tim Skelding CCA 66:22
19 Michael Webb HNCC 67:21
20 Jon Sunderland CCA 67:25
21 Nick Porter BRCC 67:26
22 Tim Overfield CCA 67:28
23 Ryan Witchell HNCC 68:13
24 Richard Pratt IRC 68:17
25 Nick Senechal HNCC 68:43
26 Phil Keen CCA 69:11
27 James Spence HNCC 69:15
28 Nigel Tooke HNCC 70:09
29 Tony Strapp CCA 70:12
30 Andy Branch BRCC 70:25
31 James Davis CCA 71:25
32 Joshua Roberts BRCC 71:46
33 Isaac Anstee BRCC 72:08
34 Clive Collins HNCC 72:24
35 Jon Traynor HNCC 72:33
36 Darren Carter CCA 72:54
37 Geoff Russell CCA 73:39
38 Nigel Wilson HNCC 73:44
39 Andrew Hartley CCA 74:03
40 Mark Collins HNCC 74:18
41 Andrew Robertson CCA 76:18
=42 Sam James BRCC 77:32
=42 Tony Baines IRC 77:32
44 Des Roberts BRCC 78:01
45 Phil Bierton BRCC 79:37
46 Emma Koppe CCA 79:55
47 Jane Wilson CCA 81:11
48 Terry Sykes BRCC 83:32
49 Carolyn Gilks Stokes CCA 85:55
50 Emma Weisblatt BRCC 87:01
51 Maurice Burton IRC 93:52


Points for the event
BRCC332 CCA325 HNCC285 IRC39

10/07/2012 - Briercliffe 10 Results

Tonight proved be be full of surprises and close fought battles. 

The first major surprise was that despite wide spread consensus from Britain's meteorologists that it would rain, it stayed dry. It was reported at the end of the event that there was a monsoon in neighbouring Stotfold, so the weather gods were obviously smiling on the Nomads tonight. (Shame they didn't last Sunday - SD)

The second surprise was that Andrew Herbert was knocked off the top spot by a brilliant ride by Ben Wilson, with the pair being separated by a meagre two seconds. Another closely fought battle occurred between the "best of the rest" as 25 seconds separated positions three to six.

Nick Hickman decided to ride the event on his Brompton Bike (A folding bike typically used by city commuters for those who are non bike savvy) in preparation for the Brompton World Championships (Details here) in late August. His time included assembly which reportedly took 18 seconds, which is quicker than he can drink beer (see last week's TT report for details). Nick will ride the rest of the time trials on his Brompton, so we look forward to see his progress. 

Well done to Stephen Oliver who came out to ride his first Time Trial, we look forward to seeing you on the course again.

There was a bit of a downer to the event as Jason Stewart (CCA) was very nearly knocked off his bike by a (insert preferred phrase from Bradley Wiggins' press conference here) driver in a Land Rover who overtook Jason in Old Warden and preceded to slam on the breaks resulting in Jason having to lock up his wheels and slide sideways just missing the vehicle. He had to break so hard the he wore through his rear tyre to the thread which caused the tyre to deflate. Fortunately he managed to stay upright and avoid serious injury. Hopefully this is just a one off incident by a careless driver just passing through the village.

Thanks to Frank Turner for Timekeeping and to Clive Collins, Richard Bland and Geoff Perry for carrying out Pushing Off duties and assisting Frank.

Ben Wilson (J)		24:00
Andrew Herbert		24:02
Paul Ambrose		25:41  iC
James Gomm		25:57
Ryan Witchell (J)		26:05
Peter Gell		26:06  BRCC
Jaouade Izzo		27:03  BRCC
Jon Traynor		29:20
Nigel Wilson		29:34
Nick Hickman		32:19
Stephen Oliver		38:48
Jason Stuart		DNF  CCA

BRCC = Beds Road Cycle Club
iC = iCycle
CCA = Cycle Club Ashwell

Sport Everywhere - 07 July 2012

Hitchin Nomads will be exhibiting at the Sport Everywhere event in Hitchin on Saturday, 7th July 2012. A range of local sporting clubs and associations will be converging on the green by Church House, Churchyard (by Hitchin Market) for a day of informal demonstrations, displays and "come and try it" activities.

Nomads will be running some sprint challenges as well as promoting the Club and our activities throughout the day.

The event will run from 1000-1500h.

Update - and to prove we went....

Frank Turner, Nick and Jamie Senechal, Andrew Stevenson, James "Spartacus" Spence and Simon Doyle. The acceptable faces of road cycling.

03/07/2012 - David Gudgin 25 Results

July saw no improvement in the weather, but the final David Gudgin 25 had the best turn out so far with 8 riders, perhaps inspired by the start of the "Le Tour" at the weekend.  Although the rain held off for the event, a previous shower had left the course wet.

Leading the way was Ben Wilson with the fastest time this season for the evening David Gudgin series with an agonisingly close to a sub hour ride of 1:00:10. It later transpired that Ben had stopped half way round to check his bike for a phantom puncture which cost him sub-hour glory.

Deciding that riding a 25 mile time trial was not enough of a challenge, Clive Collins and Nick Hickman decided to add a beer stop at the pub in Old Warden to sink half a pint on the second lap. It was Nick who set the benchmark with a drinking time of twenty seconds, with Clive trailing him by a further six seconds. It is expected that these times will be reduced as the season goes on with some specialised training sessions.

Thanks to Frank Turner for carrying out dual roles of Timekeeping (both riding and drinking) and Pushing Off.

Ben Wilson (J)		1:00:10
Neil Fraser		1:00:49
Ryan Witchell (J)		1:06:00
James Gomm		1:07:09
Jaouade Izzo		1:09:40 BRCC
Nick Hickman		1:13:02
Clive Collins		1:15:23
Charlie Pugh (J)		1:23:15 FT

BRCC = Beds Road Cycle Club
FT = Freedom Tri