by Will Lowden

January is oft remembered as that dreary month proceeding Christmas, when the festive memories of wine and mince pies fade into obscurity behind the grey pall of a brooding British sky. Whilst most opt for hibernation and prepare for the slow trudge toward spring, CUCC riders know that the best way to tackle this glorious mire of sleet sludge and snow is to beat a hasty retreat to sunny Spain.
And so, it was here in the Spanish sanctuary of Calpe – A destination known for its sunshine and warmth – that the Annual 2026 training camp was held for a week of cycling in glorious rain and 5 degrees of…. Oh wait, surely this can’t be right? 
Despite the 2000 mile quest for sunshine, the rain clouds followed our brave cyclists like Gollum to the one ring. Upon arrival in Calpe, the forecast looked bleak with rain predicted over the next two days. But the [ever optimistic] CUCC spirit prevailed and, arming themselves with the most favourable weather report available, our riders set out the next day for a Sunday spin on *mostly* dry roads. 
Apparently, Monday’s weather didn’t get the sunshine memo, and the ensuing rivers of roads discouraged even the hardiest of cyclists. Having decided that four hours on a gym bike “wasn’t it”, and with the weather looking promising for the next few days, an early rest day ensued providing the opportunity to explore all the wonders that an off-peak seaside town has to offer.
Tuesday dawned bright and sunny and, with the rain clouds receding, our riders headed out in three guided groups to explore the spectacular roads that Calpe has to offer. The famous climb of the Col du Rates was tackled in a cool sub-15 minute by our very own Nathan and Issac, before a rapid descent down Tarbena, followed by an evening Spa session and music bingo with Jamie Maxen^TM. Despite the earlier rain, things were looking up!

Wednesday and Thursday remained chilly, but the sun was out and so it was time to get high. The climbs of Val d’Ebo and Tudons were ticked off in quick succession, and despite the slippery descents, there were [absolutely no] crashes thanks to the confidence inspiring ‘ultra-grip’ tires of the hire bikes. Word of Lennart’s gravel bike had clearly reached the Comunitat Valenciana, which laid on a special treat by liberally salting the roads, much to the benefit of everyone’s electrolyte balance and bike maintenance schedule. Post-ride, the Evening’s entertainment was sorted in the form of a ‘profiterole eating competition’ from the hotel buffet. An initial lead of 48 from Alex seemed unassailable, were it not for the unstoppable force that is Jamie Maxen^TM. Both athletes pushed each other to a draw at an incredible 50 profiteroles each – A new Training Camp record! To round off the evening’s extravaganza, a nighttime Karaoke session was held, featuring The Eagles, Slim shady, and a special post-modernist rendition of the song ‘Firework’, featuring a unique and flexible approach to melody.

The final day of riding promised a sunny and pleasant 18 degrees. This is, according to Freya, the optimum conditions for a coastal bimble and a café stop. But not everyone agreed with this outlook, and those not yet considered cracked enough planned a 210 km ride to really drive the boot home. And so it was that eleven brave CUCClings set out at 8 a.m. for the coastal roads of Dénia. The stiff headwind on the way out was made more bearable by Will’s Zone 2 obsession, ensuring the group’s pace remained steady as the kilometres ticked by. On reaching Gandia, the group split, with most opting for a sensibly paced return. Fuelled by profiteroles and a desire to send it (not to mention a looming hire-bike deadline) Alex and Ilya joined the ‘supercruise’ group, taking full advantage of the tailwind to fly back along the flat coastal roads to Calpe, with a cheeky ascent of Rates thrown in for good measure. After the hottest day of the week so far, the only fitting conclusion to a long ride was a dip in the hotel pool. Apparently, some penguins had managed to access the pool heating controls, resulting in positively glacial conditions, though this did little to prevent Kat from spending an impressive amount of time swimming in it.

Following an evening on the beach featuring the annual awards and a guest appearance from Borat (at no extra charge), the training camp was wrapped up. Our riders departed for Alicante airport with bikes packed, collarbones intact, and passports not left at the hotel, to return to their respective homes. And so, as Lent term begins once again here in Cambridge, all that remains is to say a heartfelt thanks to Evan, the president of CUCC, and to Frankie and Russel at Ciclo magic for organising an amazing trip, as well as to everyone who attended, for making training camp once again a: 

‘Great success!’ 

W L

by Helen Hatcher

When I joined CUCC in the 1990s there were very few women and even less of us were interested in competing. I had come from Scotland where I had even ridden with Sir Chris Hoy in a club and was keen to raise the profile of women in cycling in Cambridge. I set about starting to ride with others and to find out if we could get a group of women trained to do time trial and team trial events. Often, we rode around roads that will be familiar with those in the club near six mile bottom and over to Shelford and Newton. Sometimes, we rode with the men, especially learning the chain gang techniques. Our bikes were old steel with the odd luxury aluminium and only the fastest men had access to the glory carbon. The club, as ever, was very social and the men supported us to compete in Varsity matches and for some of us in BUSA (now known as BUCS) and national events. The men let us join them for team time trial training by Orwell and we joined in the yearly hill climb and roll down challenges at Barrington hill. Some of us also branched out into mountain biking and triathlon, collecting more members along the way. By 1996 we had an established Varsity team who had trained and competed in some team time trial events as well. A few of us competed in the National 10, 25 and 50 milers as well as some team trial events and obviously the individual time trials around the region.

Our 4-Up time, from the 1997 BUSA national 50 km championship, still stands as the women’s record. This is something of a miracle as I had been up all night the night before delivering a baby on my maternity attachment and fell asleep briefly but was woken as my wheel hit the verge and the adrenaline probably powered all of us for the rest of the event! The team are pictured in the photo of the four of us. We had an international team with members from New Zealand, Chris Couldrey, who still rides joined in 1996, and Nicolle Laviolette from Canada joined in 1998. I represented CUCC as the Captain of the Team from 1996 and had the sport accepted as a Blues event given years of Varsity and high performances nationally. Two of us (Helen Clark and Nicolle Laviolette) came 3rd nationally in the 2Up in 1998 beating the Oxford crew. Helen also came in the top 5 in the National series of 10/25/50 time trials in 1997 and 1998.  Many of us continued in cycling and represented other clubs or the country. I was lucky to compete in the world Ironman Championships in Hawaii in 2008 for the hottest time trial (over 40 degrees Celsius) I have ever completed where I met the amazing athlete and fellow CUCC rider from years later, Lucy Gossage, a triathlon and ultra legend. I am still cycling in all forms from road to MTB and triathlon and the love of riding a bike with friends never leaves you. It’s a great sport and it’s good to see how many more people are involved both men and women. I hope the club continues to grow, enjoy all forms of riding and compete for those who enjoy it.