Brighton Mitre Cycling Club

Sunday Rides

We will be resuming our Sunday led rides for new and prospect members from Sunday 5^th July.

There will be a maximum of 10 places for the ‘Come & Try it’ and 10 places on the ‘Steady Social Rides’ on a Sunday and you need to sign up in advance on the google doc here. In order to add your name against the ride you will need to click on ‘Open with Google Sheets’ to enter your name, and contact details for your next of kin, and then close it again when you have finished. If you have any problems, please email chair@brightonmitre.co.uk with your name and next of kin contact details to book your place. If a place is available you will receive a confirmation email. The Sunday rides are prioritised for new/recently joined members and also prospect members who want to come along and try a ride before joining. Regular club members are being encouraged to self organise rides during this time.

We cannot accommodate any more than 5 riders plus a leader on any ride so when a ride is full please do not turn up, you will be refused a ride with the group. We will monitor demand and also any changes to government and British Cycling advice on group activities.

Saturday and Thursday night Rides

There will NOT be a return to organised Saturday or Thursday evening rides for club members until we can meet safely in larger groups. We realise how keen everyone (including us!) is to resume normal club rides, so we will obviously try to reintroduce these as soon as practically possible. Please use Facebook and your existing social networks to arrange meet ups and group rides amongst yourselves and do not use St Ann’s Wells Gardens to meet up for the time being.

Guidelines for all riders.

 Participants must not attend a ride or session if they have Covid-19 symptoms, have someone in their household who does and are in the extremely vulnerable category or if they have been asked to remain at home by the UK Government track and trace system. Stay local, cycle to your activity where possible and avoid public transport if you can.

You will see on the sheet that start times are staggered, please do not turn up early or late for your allocated ride so as to avoid more than the maximum allowable number to congregate.

There will be no sign on sheets on the day, you will need to submit your next of kin details when you sign up. Ride leaders will do a verbal safety briefing before you set off and all riders should conduct a pre-ride check of their bike. Do the M check.

Participants must practice good respiratory hygiene during the activity (i.e. coughing, sneezing into a tissue or the crook of an elbow and no snot-rocketing)

Ensure all those involved maintain social distancing at least 2 meters. As we know 2m is an arbitrary distance when it comes to fast moving cyclists so consider the need to leave greater than 2 meters depending on wind direction etc. Try to avoid drafting. Riding 2 m apart and 2 abreast will cause problems for other road users so consider the road and act sensibly. When slowing or stopping at lights or junctions riders must remain 2 meters apart.

Don’t share food, snacks, water bottles or handle each others bikes.

Carry hand sanitiser with you to use at any stops

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.

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.

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.

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 20^th and 21^st 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