NEWSLETTER December 2003
Welcome to the December 2003 edition of the Oxford City Section (CTC)
Newsletter. The newsletter that keeps you up to date with the
activities of the Oxford City Section of the CTC.
As usual, we have a mixture of rides and events to suit all tastes. This
quarter's rides list takes us from New Year through till April. It certainly
feels better planning rides for the spring, than thinking about the short, cold
days of winter. Mind you, winter isn't all bad. There's nothing quite like a
cold crisp winter's day with the low sun emphasising
the contours of the countryside, and the leafless trees offering different,
more open views of our countryside. This quarter our rides will start short and
lengthen with the days. Hopefully you will find something to tempt you out to
join us. Remember you are most welcome to join us just for coffee, if you can't
fit in a whole day ride.
All Change in
The AGM season has come
and gone, and it is all change among the Oxford City Section committee. This
committee oversees the running of the section, and meets four times each year,
at the end of November, February, May, and August. The officers are:
Secretary: JAMES DAWTON (Oxfordcity@oxonctc.org.uk
or 01865 327969)
James' job is to ensure the smooth running of the section and its committee, to
represent us on the DA committee, and to let the section and the committee know
what's happening at the DA (District Association i.e. county) level. James also
registers new rides leader with HQ to ensure that they are covered by CTC
insurance.
Treasurer: EILEEN JOHNSON
(01865 739997)
Eileen keeps our day to day accounts, makes sure expenses are paid, and that
details of our section accounts are readily available to the DA treasurer for
his accounts.
Rides Secretary: JOHN BROUGHTON (JBrough669@aol.com or 01865 513492)
John badgers us (in the nicest possible way!) to volunteer to take rides.
Without him there would be no quarterly rides program. He designs and prints
out our rides list, ensures it gets onto our DA website, into the Oxfordshire Cyclist magazine, and into this newsletter. He
would love to hear from you if you have an idea for somewhere to visit or if
you would like to lead a ride.
Publicity Secretary: ELLEN LEE (ellenm.lee@ntlworld.com or 01865
437456)
That's me! My job is to advertise our program of rides in the local media, and
to write, distribute this newsletter, and arrange displays about the club in
local libraries etc. I am generally trying to raise the profile of the club in
the city and surrounding area.
Social Secretary: HELEN BEANE (helen@beane.fsworld.co.uk and 01865
726750)
This post is new this year, and Helen has been given the job of adding a social
dimension to the club activities, so watch this space!
If you have any ideas for activities and rides, please contact the committee.
Also if you can think of anything you think we should be discussing on your
behalf at our committee meetings.
Catering for Everyone
Some of our stronger riders have commented that
they would like to be doing longer (and therefore faster) rides. After much
thought we have decided that we will concentrate on organising
a single short to medium length ride at this time of year. However, if there
are several people at the start who want to ride further and faster, we
encourage them to get together and “do their own thing”, perhaps
joining the main group for lunch via a more circuitous route. The only proviso
is that there should be one person among them who is a CTC approved rides
leader, and who is willing to be the nominal “leader” for the ride.
I'm sure it won't take those of you who want more challenging rides long to get
to know each other, and possibly arrange between you when you want to do this.
We gave the matter much thought at our recent Section AGM. Our club needs to
cater for quite a broad range of abilities and cycling aspirations. There
simply aren't enough of us to be able to properly organise
and run two rides each week. In the past when we tried this we discovered that
mostly one of the two rides is well supported, and the other often only has one
or two riders. So instead of spreading ourselves too thin we decided to
concentrate in autumn and winter on the shorter and medium length rides, while
encouraging more ambitious riders to organise their
own “impromptu” rides, hopefully joining the main ride for the
social aspect of lunch. Be assured though, next spring and summer, we will be organising longer rides on the main rides program.
How many stars?
Another topic at our recent AGM was our three star ride rating program. It was
felt that there is not really sufficient space in the rides list to fully
explain our ride rating system, and that perhaps for the benefit of our newer
members we should take some time in our newsletter to explain it more
thoroughly. After all for those of you new to the club, picking the wrong ride
(especially if it turns out to be too long) may well not be a happy
introduction to our activities.
We rate our rides *, ** or ***, in order of increasing length and speed. As a
rule of thumb:
*
Ride = 40 miles or less all day ride with at least two breaks (usually coffee
and lunch). The pace is steady, averaging in the region of 11mph. The ride will
include a designated back marker who will ensure that nobody gets lost off the
back. The route of * rides is usually fairly flat, but the riders will wait for
everybody to arrive at the top of any hills, and for them to get their breath
back. Riders finding the pace too slow (and who may be getting cold) can
arrange with the leader to ride ahead off the front, and meet up ahead (for
example at a lunch or coffee break). Please do not do this unilaterally, as the
rest of us may spend time looking for you!
**
Rides = 40 – 55 miles all day ride with at least two breaks (usually
coffee and lunch). The pace is steady, around 11.5mph. In winter ** rides may
be faster (averaging 12mph) in order to fit the ride in during daylight hours.
Once again, the ride will have a back marker, and every effort will be made to
ensure nobody gets lost. If there are one or two riders who are slower than the
rest the riders may get strung out, but the leader will see to it that the
riders regroup as necessary. Once again, faster riders can if they wish ride
off the front, but we ask them to let the leader know, and to arrange a meeting
point, for example at a coffee or lunch stop. ** Rides often attract the widest
range of ability, and some compromise is required on everybody's part to ensure
their success. This is specially so of the more able riders. We would much
rather you arranged with the leader to ride off the front and meet later, than
for you not to enjoy your days riding! We hope that this way you can both get
the social benefit of being in a club, and the riding you desire.
***
Rides are 50 miles upwards and include at least one break, but often more. They
often include hillier and more challenging terrain. These rides usually average
11.5-12.5mph. In the winter especially, they need to average this sort of speed
in order to get to their destinations and back in daylight, and therefore they
can't afford to spend so long stopping and waiting for slower riders. We
therefore ask riders who can't keep this pace up, or find that others are always having to wait for them not to take part in the
whole of the ride, but either just ride as far as the coffee stop, or to use
the email mailing list or phone to arrange a shorter impromptu ride.
GET INVOLVED!
We want to organise the sorts of rides and events
that you want. Even now we are beginning to plan for the Winter/Spring of 2004.
If you have any ideas of places to visit, rides of particular styles or with
specific themes, or any social events the section could organise,
please email us with your ideas at Oxfordcity@oxonctc.org.uk
.
WINTER HIGHLIGHTS!
- ·Come
and celebrate the New Year with us!
On New Years Day
we are having a morning ride followed by pot luck lunch at James' house. Why
not give James a ring to arrange what food to bring, and then join us at
- ·The
Mulled Wine Picnic – Feb 29th
This enjoyable winter get-together
of the three sections will be happening this year on February 29th.
As ever, all are welcome to come to the event which this year is at a new
venue, Hinton Waldrist Village Hall. Just bring a
picnic lunch, we'll provide mulled wine, tea and coffee! Either meet from
CAMPAIGNING NEWS
If you have an interest in campaigning issues, and might be prepared to look at
plans and visit sites in your local area to help James out (before he is
completely buried in a pile of paper), he would love to hear from you on 01865
327969 or james@dawton.fsworld.co.uk.
AND FINALLY…..
A very Happy Christmas
Ellen Lee (Publicity Secretary,
Oxford City Section, CTC)