Dear Nomads,
What better way to spend a rainy Sunday afternoon than writing the Nomads newsletter to remind you of a few important events! First however, some ‘well dones’.
Well done to Michael Thyer, who has once again been winning bottles of wines during his regular appearances around Sussex at various TT events. I am fairly sure he will soon have enough wine to open an off license. His latest achievement was at the Sussex CA/BMCC 10 mile TT yesterday on the G10/45 course, where he came first in his age category with a time of 25:20.
Also, well done to Gary Jones who completed the rather hilly 94 mile Skye Mor Sportive yesterday. The route starts and finishes in the village of Portree and then heads north up the east coast of the island, passing The Old Man of Storr, and then continues on around the wild and beautiful Trotternish Peninsula, right to the Northern tip of the Isle of Skye and on to the port of Uig before turning south through some fantastic and rarely explored roads back to Portree. Great riding Gary!
Also, news from Preston Park. Alex and Janet competed at the final senior track league meeting of the year the other week, having done most of the meetings this year. Alex has had a great season, full of brave sprints right from the start line and Janet feels like she has finally got her track legs back after keeping up with the bunch and picking up a point. Well done both!
Now on to the events. We’ve had a very low take up of ticket reservations for the Nomads Anniversary Party on the 22nd September. We need to confirm catering numbers and purchase the bubbly and soft drinks soon, so if you are coming please, please, PLEASE fill out the order form and transfer the correct amount of money to the Nomads account asap. Tickets are £10 each and you can order them by clicking here. Reserving your tickets will also save me having to send out loads of reminders on facebook, twitter, strava and in the newsletters, which means less work for me, so I’d be very grateful!
Another great event which we are putting on is a reliability trial. This will be held on the 30th September and is being organised by Steve Ratford. The event is open to all cyclists and all cycling clubs. A team prize will be awarded to the cycling club with the most riders who successfully complete the 50 mile route in 3 or 3.5 hours. Steve has put together a page on the website with more info on the event, so feel free to take a look by clicking here.
Next up, Will has asked me to put another shout out about the friendship ride. It’s on Sun 2nd Sept and 25 French cyclists from 3 different clubs will be travelling over to have a ride out with any Sussex based cyclists that are interested. There will be 2 rides to choose from (70km and 100km), and the event is suitable for all levels of ability. The starting point is the South Downs YHA, Itford Farm at around 8am. The cost to take part is £6 and several Nomads have already expressed an interest, so if you want to join in the fun, then let Will know (willfaas@btinternet.com)
The last event to mention is our Nomads Annual Hill Climb Race on Ditchling Beacon. This year it is being held on Sunday 28th October and the HQ will once again be Ditchling Village Hall. It would be fantastic to see another great turn out of Nomads riders. You can enter online by clicking here. There will be the usual generous cash prizes for youth, standard and vets riders and I have also been in talks with Jura Cycle Clothing, Hunt Wheels and Orro bikes to secure some additional prizes (sadly those prizes will neither be new wheels nor a new bike). For anyone who is not riding, Alex will need plenty of volunteers to marshall and help with sign on etc. so if you are free to help out, please whatsapp him or drop him an email (ratsbeyfus@gmail.com).
That’s all for now, except to say good luck to Eoghan McHugh, Peter Marshall, Mike Thyer, Jason Blenkarn and Adrian Bennett, who are all taking part in the SCA 25 mile TT tomorrow. Hopefully the weather will have improved by then!
Enjoy the rest of the bank holiday and have a great week.
Sally