With the weather being rotten to the core on Sunday morning, we only had one club run going out, and that was Richard Chaplin's solo BC Guided Ride, although we did get 3 riders on Cedric's C-Ride on Saturday, so all was not lost...although the weather was the primary reason for that, it was also the Mad March Hare weekend of course, and superb to see so many Beacon riders out enjoying this excellent and local sportive over the familiar lumpy lanes of Worcestershire. Well done to all those who competed and finished, albeit the weather improved considerably after the first hour...
So what else went on? Well, Celia Brown was up to her old tricks again by being fastest female (even though she was on a road bike) at the hilly Bridgnorth 21-mile TT at the weekend, and isn't it a little bit ridiculous (a lot ridiculous actually) that the 'fastest rider on a road bike' was named as a man, whereas Celia was quicker than him by over a minute but was still labelled as 'fastest female on a road bike'!! Get with it, TT administrators...
Anyway, talking of TT's...it's the first Beacon TT of the series this coming Saturday morning (1st April), the 20-mile one from Shell Ford starting at 10am...why not get down there and give it a go, our TT's are designed to be inclusive, welcoming to all riders, and ideal for first timers wishing to give time trialling a go but without the paraphernalia of having to have the best equipment, so go on, test yourself.
Good to see Stuart White blasting around a mountainous 300kms audax on Saturday in Wales...these long rides are not only fun things to so on a weekend, but are qualifying rides for Paris Brest Paris this coming summer!
Also, don't forget, if you have a child, or are aware of a friend's child aged between 5 and 12, then get them off the X-Box and get them down to Moseley School from 17:30-18:30 every Wednesday for some fun cycling all organised by the Beacon Academy, an off-road venue designed to build skills and fitness, and you can even borrow a bike if your child doesn't have one...let's get our kids keen on cycling, they can do their homework when they get home, algebra homework can wait!
... and finally, you may have received an email or seen a Facebook post about renewing your Beacon membership for 2023. The deadline is this Friday (March 31st), otherwise we'll be sending round one of our bruisers with an industrial torque wrench and will tighten your fingers to 12 newton/metres...so get your untightened fingers out! (for the purposes of clarity and potential litigation, we won't be doing this
)Have a good week all
Phil