The Exeter Wheelers’ Centenary Year Celebrations continue on Sunday the 14^th of July with The Centenary Rides and a BBQ/Picnic. We are now extending the invite to join us to other cycling clubs in the area, whose members are welcome to join us for any of the rides and also the following BBQ/Picnic, although please note that non-EWCC members will need to bring their own food (the BBQ will be operating by EWCC members) as per below.

The venue for the BBQ/Picnic is the Devon & Exeter Squash Club, Prince of Wales Road, Exeter, EX4 4PR. Please note – this is also where the rides will start.

Car parking will be available here, so you can leave things in cars such as clothing and your own food. Leave a nice clear note on the dashboard saying ‘Exeter Wheelers Centenary Ride member’. Vehicles should be fine to be left overnight Sunday night should you choose to have a drink or two (the bar will be open), but do check with Squash Club staff first.

Showers will be available at the Squash Club.

Friends and family of EWCC members and other clubs are welcome to join in the fun at the BBQ/Picnic but please note that they (and non-riding EWCC’ers) will need to provide their own food, BBQ-style or otherwise. The BBQ will be fired up from around 2pm onwards.

If you could let us know if you intend to partake of one of the rides and/or the BBQ/Picnic – you can do this here https://forms.gle/mLULY4B7YkxCw9r57

Start times for the rides are:

8am for the 100 miler.

10am for the 100km ride

11am for the 50km.

The routes are all visible on Strava (you do not need to be on Strava to view the routes) –

100 miles is https://www.strava.com/routes/3236623296309093934

100 km is https://www.strava.com/routes/12888189

50 km is https://www.strava.com/routes/3242826674682035928

Note that the 50km is very much a social ride, beginning and ending with the flat run down to Dawlish Warren via canal/river, meaning those who want to cut things short, leave out Mamhead Hill and stop for an ice cream or a cuppa somewhere then rejoin on the return can easily do so.

Looking forward to seeing you all on the 14^th of July ! This is of course Bastille Day, so if the TDF isn’t available to watch on TV at the Squash Club we’ll just have to storm somewhere. Later on in the day England will win Euro 2024.

Following the unfortunate cancellation of the 10th of July Evening Ten the final table is as below.

There will be one final ‘ten’ on the 24th of July, run by EWCC, after which there will be prize presentations for the various categories at The Otter Inn, Weston, EX14 3NZ (a few hundred metres from the start line). A full list of category winners is here. This final event is not a league event – no points on offer.

And don’t forget that the 17th July Ten is Women only (and Juveniles/Juniors/Espoirs but as we haven’t had any of those except for one Espoir (Finn  Webb of EWCC, who’ll be away on the 17th) then it will probably be Women only competing). This event will be FREE ENTRY  for those riding.

Tonight saw Round 8 in the East Devon Evening Ten series, and twenty riders from various clubs headed out to Honiton to give it their all.

*****    STOP PRESS    *****  Announcement – provided we can sort out organisers from amongst ourselves, the four clubs who run the evening tens (Exeter Whs CC, Cranbrook CC, Sid Valley CC, CS Dynamo), we are hoping we can extend the season to the end of July, giving us additional tens on the 24th and 31st of July. We will hopefully be able to update you on this after next week’s event.

Back to this evening – many thanks to CS Dynamo members David Hall & Paul Martin for managing sign-on and results, plus Juan, Tony, George and Ted for their marshalling, whilst timekeeping was provided by EWCC’s Sally Hutter and Mike Rose.

Zooming round the course in one of the fastest times this year was George Kimber on 21.50. Last weekend George was competing in Belgium, in the Midden-Brabant Poort Omloop Road Race, where he finished a creditable 18^th of the 150+ elite starters . . . and this evening . . . . paying his fiver and signing on in a car park next to the A30 near Honiton and competing against a rather different set of riders. But it’s all bike racing innit?

Aidan King (FTP) was runner-up at 23.29 then James Greenaway again going well at 24.12, the fastest of the six Exeter Wheelers riding.

It was not an easy night. My belief is that a NW wind on the course is worst of all, worse than a straight-in-your-face wind. My belief is that the wind coming slightly from the right as we head west gets funnelled along the hedges and then on the single eastwards leg doesn’t give us the backing we’d like as we are sheltered by the hedge on t’other side.

An aside –

“What were you doing on the 3^rd of July 2024”?

“Yeah, the third of July 2024, when Mark Cavendish won his 35^th stage of the Tour de France, breaking Mercx’s record of 34 wins…”

What were we doing? Getting ready to go off bike racing ourselves ! An evening ten in East Devon, but all part of the same world of putting yourself through it on two wheels. And we love it. Mostly.

The results – I’ll get the updated league table up tomorrow.