CYCLING FOR A CENTURY
My name is Peter Seaward and I’m a member of Cheltenham & County Cycling Club. I know that sounds very roadie, but the reason I’m contacting you is that the club is 100-years-old this year and as we have a healthy mtb section I wondered if you’d like to mention this in your magazine?
Originally founded as a section of the Cheltenham and County Harriers, 23 October 1921 saw the first club group ride. A mere two years later the club disaffiliated from the Harriers and became a completely separate cycling club.
Our club has gone from strength to strength in all areas over the years. We have several successful racers across the disciplines and age ranges, one of them being a national masters cyclo-cross champion.
C&CCC covers all aspects of cycling; road, mountain bike, cyclo-cross and gravel riding. Our rides take place over differing terrain, distances and speeds to cater for all abilities and tastes. Usually we’ll have around 10 different rides taking place each week.
In addition to just riding we are looking to promote safe and considerate cycling together with its many benefits to the public at large, and at the same time broadening our appeal. To this end we now welcome electric bikes on our Saturday social road and mountain bike rides.
As we’re lucky enough to have plenty of hills and woods around Cheltenham a lot of our mtb rides take place over local blue/red routes with regular trips further afield to the Malverns, Forest of Dean and the Welsh trail centres.
We currently have around 300 members who regularly ride with the club. Being part of the Cheltenham area community we’re aiming to be as inclusive as possible and see more women and younger members coming on board.
It’s not just purely social riding that the club can offer, the club also helps riders develop their skills and techniques for their chosen cycling discipline.
We’ve organised a number of special rides and events to celebrate the centenary including 100km and 100 mile runs and timed laps of the local Pittville Park cyclo-cross track open to all comers. Of course though, our main event will be a special club ride on the actual centenary date on 23
October, with or without the tweed and ties.
As our club chairman
Steve Smith says “We’re proud of our club, and would like to increase membership across all areas of Cheltenham and county society. We’re a genuinely friendly club and we’d like to invite anyone who’s interested in joining us to contact the appropriate ride captain via the website at cheltenhamandcounty.cc We hope our greatgrandchildren are celebrating the bicentenary in another hundred years!”
I’ve attached some information and a couple of photos, one from the first club ride in 1921 which really gives you an idea how cycling kit has changed over the years. At any event it’s a relevant bike story and a little different to usual.
Ed – Congratulations on the centenary milestone to everyone at Cheltenham & County Cycling Club. Enjoy the celebrations and good luck for the next 100 years.
STEM STUMPED
Within the Race Face Ride stem review on your website, dated 13 September, 2017, written by James Bracey, there are two different variants showing within the photos. Do you know which of the two variants was reviewed please?
One is shown with black bolts and a different faceplate from the one that is shown with chrome bolts.
Ed – Mark, the stem with the black bolts was the one tested and is the current model manufactured by Race Face. The model with the silver bolts must have been pulled from an archive studio shot. We’ve updated the review now to show only the correct stem.
RIPPERS FOR NIPPERS
As a keen mountain biker and mother of a 7-year-old girl who is also into this two-wheeled lifestyle. I would love to see an article/review in your magazine about kids mountain bikes. We would be looking for as lightweight a bike as possible for our little one, yet as budget friendly as possible (as, y’know, they