A Happy New Year to all Exeter Wheelers members, as we enter our 101st year of existence.
* * * * * Stop Press * * * * * New Year’s Ten – the current adverse weather conditions, which are a mix of unpleasant, dangerous and highly unpredictable, mean that we are not sure if the New Year Ten on Sunday (5th) will run. The club’s Time Trial Secretary, Mike Rose, will be making a final decision on Saturday afternoon – he’ll post something on EWCC Facebook and an update will feature on the EWCC website in ‘News’.
As one of the South-West’s largest cycling clubs, we have always prided ourselves on the range of events and activities for members, and 2025 will see a continuation of that fine tradition.
Last year’s Centenary Rides day and the accompanying post-pedalling BBQ proved to be a popular event, providing the ideal mix of riding and socialising, so we’re looking to make such an event a yearly occurrence. Details TBA in due course.
Last year’s Centenary Celebration & Awards Night went very well, and we’re currently planning next Awards Night, which we hope to calendar in for late February. We will let you know when date and location details have been finalised.
The regular Club Rides will of course continue, with the Saturday Social rides being particularly popular, and featuring as it does the post-ride coffee stop at one of the cafes on the Piazza Terracina by the Exeter Canal Basin.
We also run a number of Audaxes throughout the year, and club Chair and Audax Officer Ian Hennessey has updated the list of EWCC Audaxes, which range from a cosy 100km ‘Mad-March Up & Blackdown’ a figure of eight route around Otterton, Uffculme and Churchinford, to the much more challenging 600km ’Exe-Buzzard’ from Exeter to Leighton Buzzard and back. Details of all individual EWCC Audax events can be found on Ian’s dedicated web page.
Exeter Wheelers is amongst those clubs in the South-West region who stage competitive racing events, although we are struggling with this as we need more volunteers; without volunteers we won’t be able to run these events. Please consider helping – it’s a great way of meeting fellow cyclists and club members.
On the Time Trials front we hope to hold our long-running ‘Four Firs’ 17mile Hilly Time Trial in April, an evening Open Ten Mile TT on the Honiton A30 course in May, an Open 25 Mile ‘Sporting’ TT in the summer and our ever-popular Stoke Woods Open Hill Climb in the Autumn.
We’ll also be heavily involved in organising and running the ‘Evening Tens’ series on the Honiton Club Course during May, June and July, in conjunction with other East Devon clubs. We’re hoping to perhaps include a Ten within the series on a new course nearer to Exeter, on the old A30 just outside of the city, pending a successful Risk Assessment visit from SW CTT.
Our New Year’s Ten will be on Sunday the 5th of January, as long as adverse weather doesn’t interfere with plans . . .
Road Racing within the region continues to face challenges posed by ever-increasing traffic volumes and ‘road furniture’ but we can confirm that we will be holding the prestigious Tom Hawkins Road Race, this year 2025 in early May, on the Devon-Somerset border around the Culm Valley. We’ll also be running a couple of Westpoint Circuit Race evenings in midsummer.
Our most active set of racers in the club are those that opt for the extreme exertion (and extreme good fun & camaraderie) that is Cyclo-Cross, and we are justifiably proud of our South-West CX League ‘Escot Superprestige’ event that we run every winter, and we’ll be expecting it to again feature in the SWCX calendar next CX season. There is a prize awarded to the most popular SWCX course, so if you’re a CX’er in the SW League then you can vote here for Escot ! Voting closes on the 11th of January so get your skates on….
Don’t forget that our monthly Committee Meetings are open to all club members, and we welcome your input. The club is also looking for new committee members – we are in need of filling the roles of EWCC Women’s Officer, EWCC Treasurer and an EWCC British Cycling Secretary. Currently our meetings are held in an upstairs room of The Cuckoo Bar in Sidwell Street, after which we retire to the bar area to chat in a less formal fashion. Committee Meetings are timetabled for the 2nd Monday evening of the month, with a 7.30 p.m. start, the next being Monday the 13th of January. You can find further info relating to governance here.
Don’t forget that your club subs for 2025 are now due, and you can pay them via the payment page.
Best wishes for the New Year, here’s hoping for safe cycling for all of us, and for cyclists everywhere.
