Blog posts

No doubt we will be approached by a number of charities for the RideLondon 100, so we will post them on the website for your information.  Here is the first one:

SeeAbility are offering one of the lowest fundraising targets, just £199. 

To sign up registration is only £10 (+£2 vat).

SeeAbility supports people with autism and learning disabilities, many of whom also have sight loss and we’d love to fill our team in the RideLondon 100 event on Sunday 16^th August. Our charity has services across the South of England offering personalised care we believe everyone deserves, as well as offering eye testing in special schools, including working to move closer towards our vision of inclusive communities in which everyone can participate equally. Several of our services are located along the route, particularly in Leatherhead and Ashtead.

Surrey County council have announced a consultation on the future of the Prudential Ride 100 event. They are considering whether to extend the event until 2025 and are seeking views via a short survey questionnaire. 

Ride 100 is the most successful cycling-related fund-raising event in Europe, generating more than £10m per year for good causes.  It also provides a great focal point for cycle challenges and for participation in cycling.

If you would like to have your views registered with this consultation please click on the link below. It takes only five minutes to complete the survey and the consultation document makes interesting reading.

https://www.surreysays.co.uk/deputy-ceo/survey-on-prudential-ridelondon-surrey

The deadline for this is the 16th of February so act now if you would like your views to be heard.

On rare occasions we may get vulnerable adults or younger cyclists joining our rides. Under these circumstances it’s important for ride leaders to be aware of the precautions to be taken, and to ensure an awkward situation does not occur. Cycling UK has a number of useful safeguarding guides – see here. If you anticipate leading a ride that may include vulnerable adults or children, please read in particular the Safeguarding Code of Conduct.

The Guidelines and Advice to Ride Leaders on our WSCC website have been updated accordingly.

Laurie

An incredible journey began in 1951 when Russell (known as Russ) Mantle was given a Hercules upright bike by his father.  Some 68 years later on Nov 7^th, 2019 Russ recorded his millionth mile by bicycle, a truly staggering achievement unlikely to be repeated very often. 

Russ will be 83 this December. A true cycling legend who over a lifetime has an impressive record as a racer, time-triallist and cycle tourer. His achievement of 1 million miles is equivalent to riding 40 times around the earth or riding nearly 15,000 miles every year for 68 years!

Russ is a long-standing member of West Surrey CTC.  For nearly twenty years, from 1970 to 1989 he led the ‘hard’ riders for West Surrey CTC and has a collection of attendance notebooks kept of every West Surrey ride he led during this period. 

Recognition of Russ’s amazing achievement came in many guises – coverage on national news channels, articles in national daily papers, video clips etc. Here is a link to Cycling UK which includes a short video celebrating the millionth mile with West Surrey Cycling Club members and others. 

click here to see video

Back in 2016, West Surrey Cycling Member Paul Gillingham wrote a wonderful article about Russ and his cycling achievements. This article was published in the April-June 2016 addition of the West Surrey Cycling magazine (see page 17). 

All,

Unfortunately I’ve had to cancel today’s Grade 3 ride due to icy road conditions. I went out early to check parts of the route this morning and there are substantial patches of ice – some in unexpected lower reaches of the ride. It was a clearer night than forecast and much colder (-4 degrees). The ice might lift in the course of the day but we can’t take a chance.

Laurie