Frank Blake – Obituary

FRANK BLAKE,  1930 – 2020

Very sadly, Frank, a life member of the club for at least five decades, passed away recently.  He joined the club in April 1945, when one had to be 16 years old to apply, by being economical with his age.  National Service saw him with the R.A.F. in Yorkshire and riding time trials with fields of over 200 riders.  After resuming a civilian life and marrying Sally, they moved to Suffolk Street in Hove and was the owner of the first car in the road.  Forty years later, he remarked how he had trouble finding a parking space in the same road.  He worked in Queens Road, Brighton in the 1960’s and 1970’s selling and repairing typewriters prior to starting a bike shop, Kingfisher Cycles, in St. James Street, Kemp Town in 1980.  This was a tough time for the trade and he did well to survive almost two years.  After that, he drove taxis until his retirement.

Frank raced in time trials in the early 1950’s including a 2-8 “50” and 4-32 “100” before stopping racing in order to care for his father who had carried a shrapnel wound from WW2 and latterly worked on the local buses.  Frank seemed proud that he never had to pay a fare when his father was the conductor.  In the late 1970’s and early 1980’s, Frank organised a popular 4-up team time trial around each April, running for several years.  He was the club’s secretary for many years, including the early 90’s, which were a lean time for clubs in general and the Mitre in particular had only some 30 members – it was said we could hold a committee meeting in a telephone box but the Mitre still managed to run a National 24 hours Championship in 1994.  Deservedly he was club President for several terms and, quite simply, without him the Mitre would not be in existence today.  He would always be found at club events until becoming poor of health, about three years ago, and every Wednesday evening during the track season he could be found at Preston Park dressing room corner cheering on the competitors.

Frank recently reached the finishing line of life and he will be greatly missed by his widow, Sally, and children Stephen, Martin and Simone, plus anyone that had the pleasure of knowing this very kind and genuine man.

Hove Park Crits 2020 Update

Unfortunately the impact Covid 19 has reached Hove Park. We have reluctantly made the decision to cancel Hove Park Crits for this year.

Existing entrants will be refunded.

COVID19 Update

We have just received updated guidance from British Cycling regarding the developing situation around COVID19 and organised cycling activities.

British Cycling themselves are suspended all of its sanctioned, cycling activities, initially until April 30. * Update, now 30th June.

Including but not limited to;

• Competitive events at all levels

• Non-competitive, registered events (eg sportives, reliability trials)

• Recreational rides (including HSBC UK Breeze, HSBC UK Guided Rides, HSBC UK Ride Social, Let’s Ride Pop-up)

• All educational courses or activities (eg coaching courses, Ride Leader courses, commissaire courses)

Based on the combination of British Cycling and Government advice the committee has decided to suspend ALL organised club rides and events until further notice.

We will keep you all updated about events due to take place after 30th April and if there are any changes to British Cycling advice.

It is an individual choice if you wish to continue riding solo or in small groups but we please ask that you refrain from wearing club kit as opinion will be divided as to whether we should still be riding and hostility on the road may well increase in the coming weeks.

The full British Cycling update can be found here;

https://www.britishcycling.org.uk/…/20200317-about-bc-news-…

Government Advice can be found here;

https://www.gov.uk/…/coronavirus-covid-19-uk-government-res…—

feeling disappointed.

The Monument Series

A bit more info about our monument series of rides taking place over the next few weeks.

Sadly, proper racing in Italy is not taking place at the moment which has led to the cancellation of Milan-San Remo, but that doesn’t need to stop us riding our own tribute to La Classicissima around the weekend of 20th and 21st March.

The route (link below) we’ve chosen is generally pretty flat (like the real thing) but does have a longish climb mid ride up the Passo del Bury Hill Turchino and finishes with a sting in its tail on the short, sharp ascent of the Bear Poggio.  There is then the technical(ish) descent of Wilson Avenue before the final dash to the sea front and the traditional sprint along Via Madeiroma to the finish at the pier.  At 149km long, it is exactly half the distance of the Italian Milan San Remo.

For the monument series as a whole, there will be a presentation on awards night for anyone who completes the full set of rides so get this one in early to keep yourself in the game.  I won’t be checking Strava feeds to check everyone’s claims (life really is too short) so it’s just down to your honesty to claim your prize.  However, what I do want to see is lots of photos on the Mitre Facebook page.  To recreate something of the feel of the Spring Classics, we need to see some muddy legs so full length tights are forbidden for these rides and there will be a bonus prize for the best photo of razor sharp post ride mud lines (Rule 7.1).

On monument weekends, there will still be the usual club ride leaving from the café at 8.30 on Saturday but, to allow as much flexibility as possible, you can ride the monument anytime in the week before or after.  Choose to ride it on your own or in a group with your friends, and either take it easy or smash it up; the choice is yours.  The only thing we would advocate is to keep group sizes small: ideally no more than 6 but 8 at a maximum as per BC guidelines.

As ever, your safety and that of your fellow riders is your own responsibility.  As this is a self-led ride, you need to make sure that you are equipped physically, technically and mentally to complete the ride even if, by some quirk of fate, you end up on your own.  For this first Milan-San Remo ride, you will need to take particular care on Bury Hill as it is a very busy section of road on which the cars and lorries travel quickly.

https://ridewithgps.com/routes/31766904

Notice of Annual General Meeting

AGM notice

Brighton Mitre CC will be holding its annual general meeting on Wednesday 26th February at 1930 at The Nightingale Room, Upstairs in the Grand Central Pub, Brighton. 

Please do come along and have a say in how your club is run, or just join us for a few beers and catch up with friends. We will keep the business side of the proceedings short and sweet, promise…

Agenda

  1. Chairs welcome address & Review of 2019
  2. Highlights of the year from each of the committee officers
  3. Introduction to safeguarding in the club
  4. Exceptional items for membership vote (Adoption of the club constitution) Please read the club constitution before coming along. you can find it here
  5. Election of the Committee
  6. AOB 

Committee roles up for re-election:

  • Chair
  • Secretary
  • Treasurer
  • Club Ride Road Captain
  • Road Race Officer
  • TT and Hill Climb Officer
  • Communications & Media Officer
  • Women’s Development Officer
  • Track Race Officer
  • CycloCross Development Officer
  • Membership Secretary
  • Social Secretary
  • Club Kit Officer
  • Volunteer Coordinator

We are looking for an additional Social Secretary to aid with the organising of an ever increasing number of social activities and also a volunteer coordinator to help the event organisers throughout the year. 

Events are very time consuming to organise but volunteering is a relatively small time commitment to help in the running of club events.  This year we will also be honouring those volunteers who do give up their time with something of a treat… We look forward to seeing you all there