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So, the last of the autumnal weather is starting to dissipate (after an unseasonably warm October/November) and the bad weather seems to be settling in. Your season goals may be way past and your road bike either tucked up in mothballs or attached to a horrible contraption that allows you to ride in the company of your family/housemates as well as a haze of your own sweat.

Lovely stuff.

Through just a few small steps, you can get your bike “winterproofed”, get your mojo back and enjoy that camaraderie that just isn’t possible unless you spend a few hours out in the elements with a band of brothers/sisters, tackling whatever is thrown at you.

I’ve compiled a few top tips to get you back on the road.

The Bike

Your bike is incredibly adaptable. Most frames will take either clip on or fixed mudguards, which give the benefit of you not getting water splashed up from the road, your groupset doesn’t get as much flicked onto it and the person behind you doesn’t get a face full of “Belgian toothpaste”. A win all round. At a minimum, an “ass saver” (google it…..) is a good purchase.

You want to stay rubber down, and comfortable for those long, low level rides so get bigger tyres. Most frames will take at least a 25mm tyre, some up to 28mm. This gives you increased traction and more of a cushion. Check your tyres regularly for cuts and bits of grit in the rubber as this will save you much pain in the long run……

And finally keeping it clean….. It will get dirty. There is an emphasis on less is more, as you run the risk of sluicing out the essential grease from the bottom bracket bearing, wheel bearings and headsets (speak to J.Kirby for horror stories!). Wiping down the groupset (chainrings, chain, cassette, jockey wheels) with baby wipes is quick and easy, remembering to re-oil the chain afterwards. Dry the bike down when washed to reduce rusting.

You

Weather

Once you’ve decided to go out for a ride, or join another ride, be clear about one thing – the weather. This will guide your clothing options and fuelling. The other point is go out with an aim. This will keep your motivation to step out of the door.

If its cold and dry – FABULOUS! These are great days to get out, layer up (extremities need special attention – shoe covers and wind proof gloves help) but don’t go too over the top, as you may over heat. An extra layer in the pocket (gilet etc) can help if the temp drops. I love these days.

If its wet, don’t assume you will need every layer in your wardrobe – quite often this just means you will carry more water. Wetter days are often a little warmer than you think. And remember, you will get wet, that’s just part of the fun!

Fuelling

This isn’t rocket science, but you still require fluids in the cold and wet. So consider the intensity of your ride and plan accordingly. Are you planning to stop? What have you got in your pocket? Throw a gel in either way as a back up.

Routes

If going out alone, consider safety as paramount. You don’t have the luxury of endless hours of warmth and daylight if you have a problem. Let someone know you are going and charge your phone.

As to what route to plan, road surfaces are rarely good at this time of year, with mud from farms on smaller tracks and grit from the council on larger roads. If there is a risk of ice, stick to bigger roads where there is a likelihood of more vehicles having warmed up the surface, and being gritted. Maybe go out a little later, depending on forecast.

The Club

We ride all year. It can be a little more ad-hoc in the winter, but there is usually at least 1 ride out on the weekend and often on tues and thurs eves.

If you are planning to come to someone else’s ride, consider a few points

• Can I deal with that speed and distance. IS it going to push me too much or perhaps not enough (both can be frustrating!).
• Is my bike going to be able to deal with this? As much as your legs might be willing to do 60 miles at 20mph, having mudguards and fat tyres will probably mean this isn’t going to happen!
• Are they stopping for coffee (important for fuelling considerations)
• Does this fit with what I want to do?

The key thing is that you may need to be adaptable. If a ride isn’t exactly what you wanted, but close, then go for it. If the weather has been saying all week its rain, you’ve said you are coming to the ride, then ride. No one likes a flaky Fred!

If you don’t see a ride you want to do – then set one up!

Think of a safe route you would like to do, advertise where to meet, what time and the plan for the ride and, voila! You are away.

Club no-no’s;

• If its going to be windy, don’t turn up with ridiculous deep section wheels. No one will want to ride with you!
• Put the hammer down with a tailwind and have nothing left for the return leg into a block headwind. We all have to do this at least 10 times to learn it 😉 Learn from the more experienced riders.
• Don’t spend all your time on the front half wheeling (google it, or watch Anthony) and remember safety outweighs a 0.001mph average speed improvement from risking a junction, wet corner etc.
• Bring your own food! No one minds that one time you forgot to pick up a bar on the way out, but they will if you are a repeat offender. Same goes for puncture repair kit and a way home if you have a serious mechanical.

Club dos;

• Schedule a coffee stop on your ride. It’s the best thing about going out!
• Enjoy some downtime from hard training. Enjoy being on the bike.
• Be brave and offer to lead a ride. There is less “performance” pressure in the winter, start with something small and build up your confidence.
• Wave at other clubs, KTFU!

Jonny

EDIT p.s. for any Condors looking for an alternative to Jonny’s ‘ride or die’ outside mantra, check out the British cycling article detailing how to get the most from training on your turbo or rollers here (shhh don’t tell him)

We know that we’ve got some pretty talented designers nestling in the Condor flock, so rather than rely on the board’s creative talents we thought we’d throw this one open.

If you think you can help, and want to put your skills to work producing the perfect pocket Condor, then here’s what we’re looking for:

Colours: pretty obvious – pink ‘n’ black all the way!

Dimensions: 85mm x 55mm – printed on both sides

File format: this is probably something you know more about, but a) and editable file format so we can use it again b) something that a printing service can use

Logos: You can download the Condor artwork from this Dropbox folder. We’ll add the new style horizontal bird (that you see on the website) soon, and you can choose whichever images work best.

Here’s the current card if you’ve not seen it before.

Key info we’d like to include:

• The club name! 
• Oxford’s friendliest cycling club
• Space for member’s name
• Expiry dates (we’ve moved into a rolling membership system now, so your membership runs for 12 months from when you sign up. This means that cards won’t be for a particular year).
• Space for club secretary’s signature
• Key member discounts: Beeline 15%, Rick’s 20% and a link to the membership page for info on other benefits www.cowleyroadcondors.cc/condors-membership
• And perhaps more controversially, we’d like to drop the KTFU slogan from the cards

The deadline for entries is Monday 30th November.

That’s it from us, over to you! Any questions, get in touch with Jon at [email protected]

President – Cheryl Reid takes over from Ollie Jaques

Club Secretary – Jon Harle takes over from Sam Hampton

Treasurer – Hari Lehal takes over from club hard man ‘Ron Damage’

Race Secretary – Daniel Bradley takes over from Jonny Revis

Women’s Officer – Aimee Fenwick takes over from Cheryl Reid and Laura Cee

Training & Development Officer – Michael Devaney takes on this post newly created for 2015/16

Kit Officer – Mark Glendinning takes over from Hari Lehal

Social Secretary – Dave Dyer takes over from Sam Elliott

Web Officer – Tom Woodforde steps down and the search for a replacement continues!

You can read more about the roles and what each person is responsible for here. If you’ve not met any of us yet, come and say hello next time you see us out riding (or in the pub).

We’d like to offer an enormous thanks to everyone involved in helping to run the club over the last 18 months, especially the fantastic ‘El Presidente’ Ollie Jaques. Many people also help behind the scenes to support the TT committee, women’s committee and other events such as the ORRL and Bike Oxford. We are extremely grateful for all your efforts, the club wouldn’t be the success that it is without you. Chapeau!

The following club aims were agreed at the first board meeting on 2nd November 2015

Club Aims for 2015/16

• To always be the friendliest and most inclusive cycling club in Oxford
• Continue to grow the membership base whilst aiming for a 50:50 male/female split
• Identify training needs and provide support for all levels of ability, from social to developing in-house racing talent
• Maintain regular, good value, spinning classes for members during the winter

We have lots of exciting things planned for you over the coming year. Please keep an eye out for news about our spinning classes and Christmas party!

Keep the Friendly Up!

The Condors Board

While many of us will continue to cycle over the autumn and winter, for some it’s time to retreat inside for a winter of spinning, turbos or our new yoga sessions. So it’s a great opportunity to look back on a fantastic summer season of Condor riding, racing and socialising, and who better to take us through it than former president Ollie. I’ve put this together from Ollie’s ‘top 10 highlights’ at the AGM – you can see the slides here in all their multimedia glory.

Back in November we linked up with the Oxford Brookes Cycle Club and it’s been great to welcome some regular Brookes faces to our regular weekly rides this season. Even if it has meant many of us being ridden ragged by some incredibly strong riders! For the club it anchors us further in our local East Oxford community.

It’s not only been about the riding this year. Thanks to social secretary Sam Elliot we’ve had some great nights out, Joe Perks has become a regular haunt (and the hardiest of us have spent a few epic nights in Hilos too). It’s brought a whole new dimension to the club: you now get to see what people look like without helmets and lycra! And 20 Condors took the riding and socialising to the Brecon Beacons again in late September with beautiful early autumn days and some tough climbing.

Last winter the club introduced spinning sessions, led by Michael Devaney. And this year the indoor training has expanded to include a new series of yoga classes led by Becci Curtis.

This September saw the second Bike Oxford, not only great for Oxford cycling, but a great platform for the club. Thanks are due to the many Condors who helped get the event set up. It was followed swiftly by the annual Hill Climb Championships, which draw 36 riders – from the serious climbers to several in fancy dress –  and raised £280 for Helen and Douglas House. Once again, huge thanks to all the Condors who helped put the event on, and to Jo for our brilliant new series of Condor artwork.

It’s been a great season for racing, under the captaincy of Jonny Revis. Our fourth year at Silverstone saw us take four teams to race in the annual 9-up team time trial, including our first all-women’s team.  After several months of training, 36 riders took to the track on a beautiful summer evening, and a gaggle (or is it a flock?) of Condors shouted themselves hoarse from Condors Corner. 2015 also saw the second year of the Oxfordshire Road Race League – a series of races co-founded by the Condors and which we had an impressive showing. Michael Devaney took the men’s trophy, Laura Cee was second in the women’s, and the women won overall. It was great to see so much pink and black on show. Several Condors also had their first crack at racing this year, and will no doubt be back for more next year, and there was a great supporters crew at each race. Condors also raced across the region most weekends, and Laura went on to take 1st place in the South East Women’s Time Trial Series 25 mile event. In recent weeks the cyclo-cross season has started with Andy and Aron competing. We also had a series of club time trials this season, organised expertly by Cathy and Brett with many helpers on the day. The August TT saw 35 Condors pin a number on their back and take on the Stadhampton circuit and it has been great to see so many keen to have a go.

Condors.cc, this website, has had a complete overhaul, and is not only smarter and pinker, but will make it much easier for members to join, renew, and book events.

Ride leadership is the backbone of the club, and this year we’ve welcomed many more new ride leaders, with several ride leader training sessions organised to help new leaders build confidence to take groups out during the week. 

Our membership has really grown this year – hitting 138. But the year’s top story has to be the incredible growth in women’s cycling, thanks to the fantastic work of some committed Condors. Thanks to Cheryl’s Summer Sessions, we now have 58 women, more than double what we had last season, a new women’s committee. Perhaps most importantly of all, we’ve remained the welcoming and friendly club that we want to be above all.

Ollie Jaques, President 2014-15

Hey everyone,

First of all I want to take this opportunity to welcome all the new Condors who have joined the club during past few months. It’s been unbelievable turning up to Beeline and seeing so many faces on the green next door. They’ll be naming that piece of land after us soon! A big thank you for choosing our club – I hope to meet you all properly soon.

The start of each Condors season sees the club’s board set aims for the coming year; for 2015/16 we’ve set ourselves a target of getting as close to the 200 member mark as possible, but with the aim of considerably increasing the amount of women members. At the time of writing this piece we find ourselves on a simply brilliant 38 women members, approximately a third of our total membership! Significantly we had 22 women members in total last season (up to and including 31/03/15) so we’re on course to double that! I think you’ll agree this is fantastic progress and something everyone involved in the club should be immensely proud of.

Joining a cycling club can be a big step and the Summer Sessions have helped to break down many of the barriers. Huge credit and thanks must go to both Cheryl Reid and Jo Lankester for getting this off the ground, and to all of you who have helped out with the ride leading – I’ve heard numerous positive stories from participants and helpers. These sessions really have emphasised just what a friendly and inclusive club we are.

A further aim for this season is to establish spinning classes for Condors again during the winter months, following the success of last year’s sessions. We’re currently looking at options and will do our best to make these as regular and as cheap as possible for our members. Do look out for an update soon.

The season’s successes and achievements are many and varied. It’s impossible to mention them all within this newsletter, so we’ll make sure we revisit as many as possible at the upcoming October AGM. This will therefore make the AGM both an opportunity to talk serious Condors ‘business’ and a chance to celebrate a great season of cycling.

Ollie

Some further updates:

ORRL and Competition update

Huge congratulations to Michael Devaney for winning the men’s competition at this year’s Oxfordshire Road Race League, ably assisted by a strong race team who gave everything throughout. The race series was compelling. We had storming performances from the ladies too; and I’m very proud to highlight that the women’s team won the team competition and Laura Cubiss took 2nd overall in the individual! This is excellent stuff. Laura also recently smashed around the SEWTTS National 25 TT competition in Essex, coming 35th overall and 1st in her SEWTTS event category. This performance brought significant recognition from the organisers. You can read about it here. Well done, Laura.

A quick word on the wonderful support seen at each race too. It is so good to see such big turnouts this year, it really does give those competing a boost.

Bike Oxford – Sunday 13th September | www.bikeoxford.co.uk

Bike Oxford is soon approaching! This is a massive event for Oxfordshire and one the Condors are a big part of. The 20, 50 and 80mi routes offer something for everyone and, like last year, a big turnout is expected. Jonny has once again been at the forefront for this and would appreciate volunteers to assist on the Saturday (signing the routes) and Sunday (at event HQ, feed stations, and marshals along the course). Check out the Facebook group for further info.

Condor Away Weekend – 25th – 27th September

This year we’ll be heading back to the awesome Brecon Beacons for some hilly, and extremely rewarding, late Summer riding. We’ll once again being staying at Baskerville Hall (Yes, the inspiration for Sherlock Holmes’ creepiest outing) which caters perfectly for cyclists, with plenty of bike storage, male and female dormitories and a pretty fine bar! There’s also good pubs serving great food in the immediate locale. Getting to Brecon is pretty quick from Oxford, about two hours by car, so do come along if you can. Contact Jonny Revis for more info.

AGM – Save the date!

Our next AGM is to be held on 10th October at 6.30pm in the East Oxford Community Centre. This is a chance for members to get together and express your views, and really help to shape the direction of the club. There’ll be opportunity prior to the AGM to register your interest in joining the Condors’ board and apply for positions. If you would like to discuss anything relating to Condor governance, or have specific questions about any of the roles, then contact Ollie. Do bring some cash along as there is a bar at the venue; we’ll also likely head out somewhere after. You know, Joe Perks or somewhere else traditional… like Hi-Lo.

Questionnaire

We’ll soon be publishing our first questionnaire and we’d like to get some views from you, our members, before October’s AGM. This will really help us in future decision making and help to ensure the right things are being done to keep our club moving forward. Details to follow soon.

Kit Stocks

Hari has set up a Condors kit swap-shop.  This is perfect if you have any kit which doesn’t fit quite as well as you’d like. Condor water bottles are now available from Beeline, as are the much sought after Condor key rings. There are also small quantities of club kit in stock – check the following link for details, and more items will soon be added here once we receive the latest kit order. Do contact Hari at [email protected] if you have any queries.

Last but certainly not least…

Did you know that Dave Dyer is taking part in the upcoming Amateur Road Cycling Championships in Denmark?! Dave qualified alongside Thomas Peutz and Adrian Sell at a recent event in Cambridge. Thomas has sadly had to pull out though injury but has promised to show off his Dutch kit in the very near future. Good luck, Dave…with all the training you’ve been doing I reckon you’ll bring home the bacon ☺

With so many Condors having helped out with all facets of club activity recently, I want to pass on a massive thanks from myself and the rest of the board. Without member input it’s simply impossible for the club to run and take part in all the activities we do. We’re always on the lookout for more volunteers so please do get in touch if you’d like to get involved. See you all soon,

The Condors’ Board.