February is a quiet month for the Wheelers usually but this year there has been a lot going on in preparation for the racing season ahead.
On Feb 5 no less than 15 members took part in the San Fairy Ann Cycling Club’s Reliability Trial. Nine rode the 33 mile event (three ladies included) and six braved the 50 mile distance. All fifteen completed the course in the allotted time and took home certificates.
The next big event on the agenda is the Southborough Wheelers Open Ten Mile Time Trial on the Tenterden course where as many as twenty riders from Rye & District Wheelers are expected to compete.
On the home front the Sunday training runs have been well supported with as many as fourteen riders out. The Tuesday gentle runs attract a regular eight to ten riders who enjoy a ‘potter’ in the countryside with a stop off for tea and a bacon sandwich at a ‘watering hole’ on the way round.
Lady riders are becoming a more common sight on runs and in races. Sonia Holmes, Sue Spice, Brenda Davies, Liz King, Kate Alexander, Julie Bryant, Ros Harrow, Claire Reed, Lucy Bryant and Rita Thomson are all very active members. The newly initiated Ladies Points Competition, run in conjunction with the Rye evening “10” events, starting in May, are keenly looked forward to
Harbour Road Safeway for Cyclists and Pedestrians.
At the monthly meeting the long delay in the starting of the Cycle/Footway on the Rye Harbour Road caused concern among members. The continual putting back the starting date month by month does not coincide with the Club’s original demand that, in the light of the death of Graham Matthews, work should have started immediately. Excuse after excuse has been offered for delays but the Wheelers say they are not good enough. Work must start on the latest promised date in April or members will be getting together with the people of Rye harbour and others who use the dangerous road to explore actions that can be taken in addition to circulating a very strong letter to all the powers that be. The feeling was that if the Cycle and Footpath is not constructed soon there will be more deaths and blood on the County Council’s hands.
From March 2006 “Rye’s Own”