The route from Chichester to West Dean was extended last year to reach the main A286 passing under the road but ended at a fence. The South Downs National Park announced today that new steps have now been built with a bike ramp to reach Motor Road, which leads to the main road, opposite the pub at West Dean village.
Over the years I have received a number of adverse comments about the fact that these rides finish about 12 miles from where they start. A few have also commented that they like the ride to Kirdford but are not so keen on the ride from there to Holmbury St Mary. As a trial to gauge reaction, this year’s rides will finish back at the Crown Court car park, Godalming where they start . If you can’t see me outside at the start it will probably be because I’m in the Jack Phillips having breakfast. Click below to download route sheets and TCX files for the new routes.
Roger
It is with great sadness that I have to advise members that Geoff Smith passed away recently. Geoff was a true stalwart of the Club, being a tireless editor of the magazine, and an enthusiast in all that he did – whether that was cycling, swimming, or indeed anything else to which he turned his hand. He was very much his own man, and after he moved down to Devon we missed his cheerful presence on our rides, and now we shall miss him even more.
A personal recollection from Rico Signore is attached, together with some wonderful photographs of Geoff
John Murdoch
Rico Signore writes:
I was very sorry to hear of the death of my good friend Geoff Smith. Having heard of his illness (leukemia) I spoke to him on the phone not that long ago and he seemed very cheerful and upbeat. So it came as quite a shock to hear he had died.
Most of our members remember him as the very capable editor of our West Surrey CTC magazine, a post which he held for several years, until he moved to the Exmouth area.
Together we organised three trips abroad which, luckily, were very successful and are apparently fondly remembered by those who took part, many of whom were Geoffs friends who attended his cycling weekends:
– June 2001 to Switzerland to Morat/Murten – Meiringen – Andermatt
– June/July 2003: Buriet (Lake Constance) – Lavin (Engadine Valley)
– 04 to 15 June 2005: Twinning trip to Rastatt And Freiburg (Woking & Guildford)
This was our most ambitious and daring trip, by chartering the Bike Express double-decker coach and trailer for the bikes – 3 nights in Bouillon (Belgian Ardennes), 4 nights in Rastatt (Woking) and 4 nights in Freiburg (Guildford). We had over 40 participants – not all cyclists, some were members of the Twinning Associations.
Returning from this last trip Geoff and I were asked: “Where are we going next year?” We just looked at each other, shook our heads and declared that we were lucky enough to have organised three successful trips – so anybody else was welcome to carry on – which sadly never happened.
Geoff’s other great passion was of course “Jazz”. He was lucky enough, as a young journalist, to be granted an interview with Duke Ellington and became one of the great admirers of this Giant of Jazz.
These are just some of my personal and fond memories I have of Geoff.
Our thoughts are of course with Debbie and Geoff’s family at this very sad time.
Christine & Rico Signore, Jeff Banks, Bob & Pauline Mcleod, John Murdoch and all members of CTC West Surrey.
The latest edition of Cycling UK’s monthly newsletter to member groups included this piece* :
Too Close for Comfort?
Cars overtaking too close…. we’ve all experienced it and we wish they wouldn’t. West Midlands Police back in September last year began to tackle this problem with plain clothes officers on bikes and close pass education mats. The results were instant, with a 50% drop in reported close passes. Cycling UK decided to try and make sure this result was replicated in other areas by raising enough money to ensure every force across the UK had its own mat.
Our ‘Too Close for Comfort’ appeal reached its target in 48 hours, and now we’re looking to pass these mats on to police forces across England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland.
We’d love to get our groups involved in their handover and create a bit of a local PR about the perils of close passes, and how cyclists and police are working together to make our roads safer. If your group might be interested in taking part, please contact Sam Jones on 01483 238 313.
[*Edited slightly]
This sounds like a good idea; is there anyone in the club who would like to get involved in this? Please contact Sam Jones (phone number above) and post a comment on this blog to say you’ve done so. And many thanks to you for contributing to safe cycling.
This was a right old ‘suffer-fest’ for me: I mean, 89 miles and it’s still only March, not to mention only my third ride of the year! Paddy and Chris – sorry no photos – sensibly headed home after coffee, but that would still have been about 60 miles. Good to see Dane at coffee too, which was at a café in Alresford. We – that is Clive, Dave, Keith and yours truly then headed south east to cross the South Downs bound for lunch at Rowlands Castle.
Clive deserves a medal for ensuring that the journey home – he peeled off at Liphook of course – was as flat as it could be, and to Dave and Keith for their excellent company; if it wasn’t for them I think I’d still be lying in a ditch somewhere along the way. There’s no doubt it was a lovely ride, and we enjoyed lovely weather too, as the pics below show.
Apologies as usual that they’re not in the order they were taken – it’s a strange quirk of this website that they load up randomly. The band of folk dressed up like they’re on their way to a fight were found in the Meon Valley. The final picture is of my heroes, Dave and Keith. Hope you made it OK back to Guildford – you must have easily topped the ton: well done, guys!
The route may be found on Strava here: https://www.strava.com/activities/915649606 It was 89.1 miles in length and total ascent was 4,333ft.
