South Bucks Midweek Cycling Newsletter - July 2023

I would like to welcome our new committee and thank them for volunteering to help the club.  We don't all know each other yet so that will be interesting.  We have quite a good geographical spread of members, but we fall far short of a gender balance.  This is the first year that we have had a Safeguarding Officer at the request of Cycling UK.  Paul brings professional experience to the role and has taken the online Safeguarding Adults course that Cycling UK recommends.

Chair:    Ken Bailey with Brian Jackson as vice chair 

Secretary: Peter Robinson. 

Treasurer:  David Ullathorne. 

Safeguarding Officer: Paul Marchant. 

Rides Secretary: Phil Jarvis. 

Publicity Officer:           No volunteer

Committee members: Jill Armshaw, Richard Daniels, Sam Morrison

Ride Coordinator EP:  Chris Loader with Brian Jackson as representative at meetings

Ride Coordinator M:  Derek Ransom

Ride Coordinator MF: Peter Robinson

Ride Coordinator FL: Richard Jennings

I can't give out the email addresses of the committee members, but if you wish to contact any of them please contact me and I will pass your message on.

Hughenden Valley Village Fete takes place on Saturday 15th July from 1-5pm on King George's Playing Field near the village hall.  It is billed as a day of fun and food, but this year also with a cycling flavour as I understand that there will be e-bikes to try.  We will be represented on the Climate Change stall by Sam Morrison and William Pettinger hoping to encourage local people to take up cycling and perhaps join our rides.  If you can help by being there and talking to people about cycling and why you love it, contact Sam Morrison.  If you go to the fete do look out for us and say hello.

Terry Lister reports:

2023 South Bucks Midweek Century ride got off to a good start, early yes 7:30 am, but a cool partly cloudy morning at Cholesbury and a promise to be fine all day. Our leader Richard W said it is just like four short rides one after the other, so five riders set off on our first ride of the day, it was a pleasant pace as Emily's at Whitwell our destination, was not open until 10:00 am. Of course this was a bonus as the route crossed several Chiltern valleys giving us a reasonable amount of climbing. A few minutes before 10 am, a touch of perfect timing saw us finishing our first ride which meant a celebration, yes the largest tea cakes in Herts were on offer with the usual choice of jams. We were joined here by Hector on his e-bike conscious of battery consumption but couldn't resist joining the big ride event of the year, Alan C was to leave us having had his fun but had to get back to Watford. Such is the casual nature of our century ride which focussed on a day out rather than a challenge to be fastest home.

Our second ride of the day was to take us up the Lilley valley and to take us out of our normal club riding area, it was a pleasure to ride up the picturesque valley until Ray L. shouted puncture! Well it was a nice spot and the farmer came out for a chat, he jokingly said he had cut the hedge especially for us, but it was a flint that caused the puncture, a good specimen which was passed round for discussion whilst the tyre was inflated. Once we had passed Lilly with it's countless speed bumps and crossed the Icknield Way the ride became less hilly, just rolling countryside, with the natural stone noticeable on the churches becoming a rusty brown. We passed through Shefford and did a loop up towards Biggleswade before turning back towards the end of our second ride featuring a lunch stop.

The Shuttleworth Old Warden Airfield was busy with aircraft enthusiasts, the café provided us with a good selection of food and a super biplane acrobatics' display enjoyed by all. But we had to leave, our third ride awaited, to take us through the picturesque village of Old Warden and along the Mid Bedfordshire gently rolling countryside, Ampthill soon passed and we soon got a glimpse of Eversholt, a favourite of longer rides of past years, as we reminisced we found ourselves entering Woburn over the cattle grids with numerous sightings of the many deer in the park. Our third ride completed so quickly, but it was afternoon tea time, with no rush we enjoyed the High Street bustle with some excellent cake.

Sadly we sensed the end of our day with only our forth ride left, and a few hills out of Woburn and we felt our legs tire a little and the pace become a little more gentle, we were back in bumpy Bucks and familiar territory, up and down, up and down and finally up to Wigginton and on to Cholesbury, we congratulated each other and said our farewells each decided we could do that again next year, such a super day out, thank you Richard for doing all the preparation and spot on leadership.

Mauro Liviero drew this to my attention; it is worth a listen.

Which cycle helmets give you the best protection?  BBC Presenter Greg Foot says:

I’m a big fan of cycling and so when listener Migue got in touch wanting to know what cycle helmet he should buy next, I was really keen to investigate. Migue wanted to know what factors make a cycle helmet the most effective when it comes to protecting your head: the shape, the material, the fit? He’s seen all sorts of neat tech, including collapsible helmets and ones that fit around your neck and act like airbags!

To find out more I speak to an expert at one of the world’s leading helmet testing labs in Virginia, USA. And in researching this episode I also discovered there is a hotly-contested debate about whether cycle helmets should be the focus at all when it comes to safety. Some - including the organisation Cycling UK and the charity Sustrans - argue that introducing tougher rules around helmets would mean far more lives lost through physical inactivity than would be saved in protecting from collisions, which are rare.

That’s a view shared by Dr Ian Walker from Swansea University, who also features in this episode. Once again this series we’re testing and investigating your suggested wonder-products, so if you’ve seen an ad, trend or fad, and wonder if there’s any evidence to back up a claim, drop us an email to sliced.bread@bbc.co.uk or you can send us a voice note to our WhatsApp number: 07543 306807 PRESENTER: Greg Foot

Thanks to Ray Bennett and others for highlighting this latest bad news!

Network Rail reports:

As part of Network Rail's work to realign the railway, we need to close Marsh Lane level crossing during the railway closures to allow our engineers and engineering trains safe continuous access to the work site. 

After the track realignment work has been completed and the railway reopens in October, upgrades to make Marsh Lane level crossing safer are needed and will take place in 2024. 

This means that Marsh Lane level crossing will be closed to pedestrians, cyclists and vehicles from 10pm on Friday 18 August 2023 until spring 2024.

Our webmaster Phil Jarvis has added an extra column to the rides list, next to the leader, where ride coordinators can add a web link to the intended route.  If routes are planned on GarminConnect, Strava, Plotaroute, RidewithGPS or one of the many other route planning websites then a link can be added so that the route can be viewed, and if required downloaded to a GPS device.  We are trying this to see if it helps people who may want  to join or leave a ride part way.