We head out for a ride with Sleaford Wheelers
Owen Rogers hits the Lincolnshire slopes with a club on the up
We were expecting a completely flat ride with Sleaford Wheelers, but two steep descents early on could mean only one thing.
On their Saturday club run, the fast group are flying across open fields towards the first real climb of the day, and all thoughts of Lincolnshire being flat are forgotten. Over a mile in length, it starts gently, and even when conversations stops on the 10 per cent ramps, no gaps appear in the neat, tightly formed group.
Despite that strength, it was apparent early in the day that Sleaford Wheelers is a club for anyone and everyone. Meeting outside the Horseshoes pub, in Silk Willoughby, perhaps it was no surprise we received a warm welcome from this sociable club, despite the proliferation of ruddy cheeks, thick gloves and headovers.
The pub serves as race HQ for their club time trials, as well as their two open events, and this morning there’s a broad mix of riders, with teenagers from the busy Go-ride section mingling with old-time club stalwarts.
It’s a homely, comfortable atmosphere, something the Wheelers have retained despite plenty of change over recent years.
“Four years ago the cub had a membership of about 60,” says Dennis Owen, one of the longest serving members present. “Typical of most clubs we had an ageing population with no young blood coming in. I was club chairman and we decided we needed to do something, so we set up the Go-ride section and it’s been absolutely amazing from day one.
“In January 2014 we held our first meeting and we had about 13
kids come down, but that very quickly grew to about 30 or 40, and we still get about the same. We’ve had a core of about 10-15 that have stayed with us, but new ones come in and they drag their parents along and now we have a membership of about 160.”
With that expansion many of the club’s activities revolve around the youth section, with Wheelers establishing a number of events, including grass-track racing. They even have a youth committee so the younger members can drive their own agenda.
Owen’s focus is now the Go-ride section, but others have stepped into his shoes on the committee. One of those is club secretary and active member Julie Close, who leads one of the monthly women’s club runs.
“We have a ladies ride every third Saturday of the month and I take out the slow group. We usually do about 25 mies and all get to the cafe at the same time,” she tells us over coffee.
“We have about 50 women in the club, and we even had two ladies-only time trials in June. I think we had 40 out — we had people coming from Boston and Grimsby, because it’s hard to find a ladies-only time trial.
“The club is for everyone, not just the elite riders. We’re just women who want to go out in a group and we don’t want to feel we don’t know what we’re doing,” she concludes before finishing her drink.
All four of the club run groups merge at the cafe, packing it out.
Perhaps that is Sleaford’s strength. While it may be the numbers competing in local time trials which has seen them crowned Lincolnshire’s top club for the last four years, it is perhaps their togetherness which is the real key to the club’s success.
Club history
The first record of a cycling club in Sleaford comes from the May 17, 1879 edition of the Grantham Journal. Of Sleaford Wheelers’ two open time trials, members — when pushed — say the Easter 10 is the best.
Held on Easter Saturday for the last 15 years, this year’s early Easter attracted 145 riders.
Run on the C10/10 west of Sleaford, the course is not the fastest for this charity event, with only three times under 20 minutes recorded. Though competition is fierce, times aren’t so important for Sleaford Wheelers; it’s more about the whole club turning out for a quality event. It reported that 12 club members wearing “uniform” rode from the town to the Tally-ho Inn at Aswarby, a return trip of around 12 miles on today’s roads.
Over the following 80 years, until 1965, the town struggled to sustain a regular club scene, then former professional Nev Crane moved to Sleaford to open a bike shop.
Crane had a storied career in the sport. Third at the inaugural Lincoln GP in 1956, he also represented Great Britain and competed in five Tours of Britain, winning a stage and finishing ninth overall in 1964.
A Lincolnshire native, when Crane opened his bike shop he and John Porter revived the defunct
Wheelers, in which he remained a leading light until his death in 2006.
After standing for 40 years, his 100-mile club record was broken the season after he died, and his 12-hour record of 251 miles was only recently bested. To this day the club’s open ‘25’ is named in his memory.
Club membership remained static at around 60 for many years, but the 2014 introduction of the Go-ride section brought a rapid expansion as children brought their parents along.
Now Sleaford Wheelers is one the biggest clubs in the county, and has been named Lincolnshire’s number one for the last four years, though members modestly assert that is more due to strength in numbers than anything else.