South Bucks Midweek Cycling Newsletter - May 2023

John David obituary

John loved competitive cycling in all its forms.  He joined his first cycling club, Rickmansworth CC in 1946 and rode his first race, a Hill Climb at Berkhamsted aged 15 that year.  In 1949 John first raced on the track at Paddington and Slough and the following year was selected for the RAF Team Pursuit Squad in the inter-services championships at Herne Hill.

He continued to Time Trial and in 1952 was the first in London North to go under the hour for 25 miles at 59:42.

John’s career was as a journalist and in 1953 he joined the staff of Cycling magazine, now Cycling Weekly.  In 1955 he covered the whole of the Tour de France for Cycling; only the second Brit to do this.  During his time with Cycling he still found time to ride an international road race on the Isle of Wight and ride his first 50 and 100 mile Time Trials.

When he moved to Welwyn Garden City in 1956 he got involved with the proposed cycling track there, where he subsequently participated as a rider, promoter and commentator.

By the late 1950s John was sufficiently keen on cyclocross to become secretary of the North London Cyclo-Cross Association.  As he moved around for work, John would join his local cycling club and so it was that he was at various times a member of Dunedin Amateur CC in New Zealand, Nomads CC (Hitchin), Letchworth Velo and Marlborough AC, where he became chairman.

John continued to Time Trial during the 1970s and qualified as a BCF/RTTC cycling club coach in 1984.

John joined the Cyclists’ Touring Club in 1967 and toured in the UK and much of Europe with his wife Wendy, also riding in Australia, New Zealand, China, Zimbabwe, Hong Kong, Canada and Uganda.

John was involved in the running of the Chiltern Hills and Midweek sections of the South Bucks District Association of the CTC in the 1980s and 1990s.  He was at Coffee Pot meets with his wife Wendy, though not cycling himself, until recently.

John's funeral took place at Chilterns Crematorium, Amersham on Wednesday 3rd May at 1:15 pm followed by a wake at Amersham Free Church Hall.  We send our deepest sympathy to Wendy, their daughter Gale and to John's wider family and friends.

If you would like to receive monthly updates on the progress of the construction of the Misbourne Greenway you can subscribe by emailing Sustrans at [email protected].  You can see the latest April 2023 update attached.  The route constructed so far runs from Wendover Dean south parallel with the A413 and the railway.  If you have a ride along it, let me know what you think, or post a Youtube video and send a link.

Organised by WheelPower, the Tour de Vale Charity Bike Ride is Buckinghamshire's largest charity cycling event.  I have planned the routes for the Tour de Vale for many years and we have new ones for this year venturing into the quiet lanes of north Bucks and giving you a rare opportunity to ride through beautiful Eythrope Park.

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.