North Road Hard Riders Report

Report by Race Captain, John Mulvey

Ed Lee-Six, Hal Bradbury, Seb Dickson and myself showed our lack of knobbly-tyred inclinations and on the same date as the Varsity MTB race headed down to north London to ride the early season classic that is the North Road Hardriders.

Whilst the weather was kind this year, road works meant the hilly course was shortened to 22 miles. Seb placed 6th in 53.15, 2 mins down on winner Lloyd Chapman, with Hal 8th, myself 10th and Ed in 42nd. CUCC missed out on the team prize only because someone (cough Seb cough)  is not racing in light blue colours, so an encouraging result considering so many of us were away racing against Oxford.

Seb Receives his cheque for £50

Seb Receives his cheque for £50

Full race report available here: https://www.cyclingtimetrials.org.uk/race-report/14538

Results

6th – Seb Dickson – 53:15
8th – Harold Bradbury – 54:04
10th – John Mulvey – 54:39
42nd  – Ed Lee-Six – 1:02:59

Ely Hardriders Report

Nine CUCC riders braved the cold, wet and even slightly snowy conditions to compete in the traditional, season opening Ely Hardriders Time Trial.

The cold weather, strong breeze and wet conditions meant that no super quick times would be posted, and many decided that the aero gains of a skinsuit and carbon wheels would be better traded for some warmer clothes and effective braking! Continue reading

Tom and Toby’s Hog Hill Diary (Episode 1)

For the last two weekends running Toby and I have been heading down to Hog Hill to work on our crit racing skillz in the Cat 4 only Saturday race series. The ‘chopperfest’ description is unwarranted, although both our crashes at training camp have landed us firmly in the chopper camp (I’m speaking on your behalf here, Toby). Anyway, to simplify our report we decided to split it into a nice and simple ‘what went well’ and ‘what we can do better’. So here goes: Continue reading

London to Cambridge – TRIBE/Brother Cycles/RLR RIDE

The day began with the sun still tucked up in bed, a fact which would make the cycle through London just that little bit more interesting. We boarded the 6:15 train to Kings Cross still half asleep, but excited about the day ahead none the less, wondering how many people would turn up for the ride, who on Earth RLR were, and most importantly, how many free Tribe bars we would get! On the train journey Kaitlynn swapped out the stock saddle on her bike for a better one, which she would then carry all the way back to Cambridge!

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CUCC go to Manchester (ft. BUCS Track)

On the weekend of 19th/20th November a small group of us took the excuse of BUCS track Championships to take a trip to the mecca of british cycling that is National Cycling Centre. Home of British Cycling and Team Sky, the current generation of world beating British cyclists were formed and molded here, in the hard kilometres of training and countless hours spent on the boards lapping the track. The astute amongst you might be aware that the current generation of CUCC cyclists were not formed and molded on the boards, due to what I can only assume is an oversight by leadership of British Cycling to have not yet built a velodrome in or around Cambridge. Wholly inadequate as it was, 2 hours of track time at Derby would have to do.Continue reading

Recap of Touring activities – Michaelmas 2016

It’s been an incredibly successful start to the year for social cycling with CUCC. A few rides have been reported already – to Ely, and to cafes in Saffron Walden and Linton – but a highlight of the term has to be the trip to the Hotel Chocolat factory in Huntingdon.

 

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On Saturday 19th November, a cold but crisp winter’s day, a whopping 17 cyclists showed up to Brookside at 9.30am, keen to stock up on chocolatey stocking fillers in time for Christmas.

Braving the frost up the guided busway to St Ives, we then split into two more manageable groups, with Natasha and Emilie leading both halves to Huntingdon. Although there was a bit of confusion and one half went clockwise, with the other anti-clockwise, we all happily met up at the chocolate factory and were rewarded with a few tasters.Continue reading

CUCC Women Michaelmas 2016!

For the past two years, I was aware of (at most) five other women that cycled in Cambridge. Coming into my third year, I reluctantly agreed to take on the role of women’s captain for fear of the role becoming redundant otherwise. Now, after eight weeks of term, I am extremely pleased to say that our women’s mailing list is 54 strong (and still growing), and I have led weekly rides of up to 14 women (yes, we beat the men). So, here’s how it all happened in under 8 weeks…Continue reading

Ride to Linton

With Cambridge firmly in the grip of winter the turnout for this weeks ride wasn’t as high as previous rides this term, none the less 5 of us set off South in high spirits. The route took us over some of the ‘big’ hills that Cambridgeshire has to offer, which everyone dealt with easily. Toughness points for the guy tackling them on his single speed! Shortly after going through Great Chishill we spotted a Red Kite, a rare sight this far from The Chilterns where they’re being reintroduced! One of our group pealed off after Littlebury Green to catch the train back to Cambridge where he had left his friends who were visiting for the weekend, I hope they understood the importance of riding. Onwards now as a quartet we passed the beautiful Audley End House & Gardens, where I snapped the picture below, mis-timed and not quite getting the house but still capturing a happy cyclist at least!

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Next we went through Saffron Walden past Bicicletta, beloved by cyclists and café enthusiasts alike, however that was not our stop for today so we waved as we rolled past with Linton in our minds.

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Q&A With Jason Kenny 25 Nov 2016!

Cambridge University Cycling Club are very happy to announce we will be hosting a Q&A session with Britain’s joint most successful Olympian, Jason Kenny OBE, in conjunction with Prof Tony Purnell and Trinity Hall.

Jason kenny

Everyone is more than welcome to attend, cyclist or not, but space in the hall is limited!

A bit of background (for those who need it!), Kenny is the current joint most successful British Olympian with 6 Gold medals and one silver.Continue reading

Revel Winter XC Round 1

CUCC MTB Captain, Tom Simpson reports:

​The last Sunday of October was the date of the first round of the KLMTB Revel Outdoors Winter XC Series, and we had a strong CUCC contingent of five riders head over to Thetford forest to race. The changing clocks (we eventually worked out) would allow us an extra hour in bed, which was a relief as we had been busy trying to obtain a bike for Arnav to race on well into the evening. Myself, Arnav Kapur, Sam Haigh and Toby Cowell rode the 1.5hr course format – Toby in the junior category – while Andy Zhao chose the slightly shorter 1hr race.Continue reading