BEST ALL ROUNDER COMPETITION HERE

WEDNESDAY EVENING TT HANDICAP SERIES HERE

Membership Benefits

• Free Jersey
• 10% discount at Bicycle Chain
• Points based loyalty scheme from Bicycle Chain
• Access to OPEN time trials
• Various social events
• Wealth of knowledge & support

It seems Dave Poole has been busy lately, here is a report received from Dave recently. Any budding MTB'ers should make contact with Dave. "Last weekend was a new experience for me, I was the only SRC representative in the Axe valley peddlers seafront crit at Seaton prom. After afew laps I got gapped from the 6 leaders, and settled down with two others to race for 7th 8th and 9th, I won the sprint for 7th place. Week before that was the MTB Southwest Champs at Newnham Plymouth, again I was lucky enough to enjoy a hard fought battle with two others guys at the sharp end of the race this time, quite happy with third place though, Its surprising how self conscious you can feel standing on a podium! And the week before that, my regular team mates and I raced 24hrs at Original Source Mountain Mayhem. We were 4th Vet team but for 23hrs we were 3rd, just losing out to some better tactics by our rivals in the last hour. This was out of a field of 108 teams."

Mallorca Master 2010

Its that time of the year when thought start to turn to our annual trip to Mallorca. The proposed dates are from 9th to 14th October, that's Saturday to Thursday. Last time I checked flights including bike and one item of luggage was £130.00. You could save £9.00 each by sharing one suitcase between two. The Hotel Manaus would cost out at £63.00 each if sharing a twin room for the five nights. Confirmed attendees so far are: - Steuart Saunders, Tim Reeves, Darren Avery and Mark Kurpyta with Andy Wellings working on 'she who must be obeyed'. Please liase with either Steuart or Tim so that we can co-ordinate the hotel situation to try and get on the same floor and to share cost of taxis. Some of us will be racing in the European Masters, the full details of which can be found AQUI

The next (27th July) TVCRA Tuesday night training at Ilton , British Cycling are running a coached session on bunch riding. All are well, if you are not a TVCRA member a come try it pass can be used to come along these available from your club TVCRA rep. The session will start at the usual 1900 and gates will be open at 1830.

It seems the club has discovered a new time trialling prodigy in Junior rider Jack Plummer. This is Jack's first season and he has got consistantly quicker all season culminating in a 22m 34s ride in the Weston Wheelers 10 on Wednesday Night. Jack knocked a whole minute off his personal best which he put down to a purchase of a new skinsuit! Jack easily leads the Handicap Series. See the link at the top of the page. Well done Jack.

Andy & Steuart's Welsh (Mis)adventure

Andy and Steuart travelled to Wales in an attempt to secure fast times for the BAR competition but came away bitterly disappointed! First mistake was the course selection. Thinking they had entered the super fast 25 mile course they instead found they had entered the slowest of the three courses in the area. Undeterred and thinking anything is an improvement on the S4/25 they went anyway. Problem number two. The weather. It was raining on much of the 'sporting' course with a very strong south westerly resulting in half the field not starting and a vicious side wind in both directions. The result? Steuart 1h 1m 55s and Andy 1h 7m 17s. To rub salt into already sore legs when they got back to Bridgwater it was dry, brighter and just a gentle breeze. Thats time trialling I guess.

It seems the slow weather wasn't confined to just South Wales as Tim Reeves & Sarah Dunn found out on Sunday as they produced times in the region of 1h 2m and 1h 7m respectively down in Dorset.

The road racers weren't immune to the bad weather either. Thursday night probably saw the worst conditions for a circuit race at Ilton period. Driving rain and almost gail force winds were the order of the day. A healthy number of hardy SRC riders turned up looking for easy points, thinking that no one else would turn up. Seems everyone else had the same ideas though. However the more sensible ones packed in fairly quick time leaving a few hardy fools to continue. Best SRC rider was Ben Turp in 5th, Dan Cox claimed 6th closely followed by Keith Nicholls and Ian Hutchings.

Jack Plummer extended his lead in the 10 Mile Evening TT Handicap Series on Wednesday with a ride od 23m 38s. An identical time to last week although conditions this week were far less favourable. It seems that Jack has sewn up first place in the series.

Three club riders travelled to South Wales to ride a 25 mile TT. Darren improved on his previous best time for the course with a 57m 24s ride. Sarah Dunn missed her first sub hour ride by just 5 secs to record a personal best time for the distance. Mark Kurpyta produced a 1h 4m 48s ride.

CLUB 10 MILE TT CHAMPIONSHIP will be incorporated into the weekly club 10 mile TT to be held on Wednesday August 11th at Cross. Medals will be awarded to the first three SRC riders on the night. As usual entry on the night only. Let's have a big turn out!

Six riders competed in the evening 10 mile TT at Cross on Wednesday evening with Steuart Saunders coming out on top with a 23m 10s ride. Fast improving Junior Jack Plummer produced another personal best with a 23m 38s ride. Andy Wellings, Dave Lane and Colin Rutter produced 24m 22s, 24m 40s and 25m 0s respectively.

'Testers' were in action at the Yeovil CC 25 on Sunday. Andy Winterbottom continued his run of top placings with 4th in 55m 42s. Daren Avery and Carl Ward just failed to break the hour with 1h 0m 15s and 1h 0m 20s respectively. The night before Mark Kurpyta rode in Dorset producing a 24m 20s ride for the ten mile time trial.

Wow what a great nights racing at Ilton on Thursday evening! SRC managed to achieve 7 starters (Steuart Saunders, Dan Cox, Andy Wellings, Mark Deakin, Jack Plummer, Ian Hutchings and Keith Nicholls) in the third category race and controlled the race from the start by either trying to create a move or bringing others back. It was a windy evening so the going was quite tough at times. The aim was to try and get a rider in the top three at the finish. Two riders got away on the penultimate lap so SRC worked hard to bring them back - or so they thought. With so many lapped riders on the circuit it appears that one of the two stayed away so the group were sprinting for second rather than first place! Towards the end of the final lap a Team Certini rider attacked off the front gaining a reasonable gap. Some unselfish riding by Steuart with Dan on his wheel brought the rider back just before the finishing straight giving Dan the perfect leadout to win the bunch sprint for second place as it happens.

Riders were in action again this weekend with Andy Wellings and Steuart Saunders travelling to Holt near Wimborne to ride a 45 mile road race over three laps of a 15 mile circuit with the finish at the top of the fourth ascent up the preem hill. Steuart tried to get away on the final lap several times only to be brought back by a bunch only interested in getting to the finish as a group. Halfway up the finish Steuart was well placed with four others when the dreaded cramp set in and finished outside the points closely followed by Andy.

Darren Avery and Mark Kurpyta travelled to Wiltshire to ride a 10 mile TT on the U47 course. Darren produced a 23:01 and Mark 25:19.Darren is still chasing that ellusive sub 23 minute 10! The next day Mark was in action again this time on the U48 and produced a season best 23:46.

Racing Returns to the Mendips on the 25th July 2010 with the Colin Carfield Memorial Road Race. The event is open to 2nd, 3rd and 4th category riders and is over a distance of 65 miles in the Mendips starting at 10.00am. The race takes in 4 climbs around the Mendips Hills - Burington Combe, Two trees, lower Bristol Road and finally finishing up Smithens Hill! With a prize fund of £500 plus. Lets bring racing back to the Mendips, ride and support the event and watch the final stage of the tour once its over! Entry £15.00, Entries to; Mr. Robert Edgell, 1 Butter Buildings House, Woodborough Road, RADSTOCK, Banes, BA3 3JE, Mobile: 07525 354966 and cheques payable to Somer Valley CC. Closing Date 7th July 2010.

A five man team has just completed day one of the Kalas Two Day Stage Race with some of the countries top Elite riders. In fact Team SRC are five of only six 3rd category riders in the field of 80. Stage One was a prologue time trial over one circuit of the Ilton Airfield. Ben Turp produced a super ride to finish 22 with Dan, Ian and Steuart finishing further down the field and split by just 7 secs. Andy Welling also finished the stage. Stage Two was a circuit race of one hour plus one lap. By now the wind had increased quite considerably making the going even tougher. Unfortunately Ben crashed out on the last lap bringing 3 riders down with him. Ben has some cuts and bruises and went off to A&E for an x ray after the event. Top placed finisher was Steuart Saunders who finished ahead of Andy Wellings, Dan Cox and Ian Hutchings who became detached from the group on the penultimate lap. With speeds way in excess of 30 mph plenty of riders were on the rivet with many packing. This left just a team of 4 for the TTT. On paper SRC were the weakest team in the event and as such expectations were not too high. With three riders needing to finish Steuart, Dan and Andy kept it together once Ian had been distanced. Standings after day one were Steuart 53rd place, Andy a further 3 mins down on 62nd, Dan another 5 mins down in 71st with Ian paying the price for being dropped in the TTT a couple of places further down. The four only have a few hours to recover in time for the 'Queen' stage on Sunday which constists a 75 mile lumpy RR around Somerton and Compton Dundon. A reduced field of approx. 50 riders took the start of the RR stage and all SRC riders suffering from the ill effects of the previous day. Steuart and keith (Nicholls) completed 3 laps, Dan punctured on the first lap and Andy completed one lap. Ian crashed out on lap four. Day 2 was always going to be a challenge but particularly so after such a tough first day. Remember out team of thirds cats were probably giving away a decade or two to most of the other riders who were predominantly elite/1st cats. Well done lads.

Andy Winterbottom improved his overall time on the BAR competition with a 54:44 ride at the weekend. Carl Ward produced a consistant ride with a 59:08 ride just 2 secs slower than the previous week. Andy now heads the BAR table with an average speed just over 28mph!

'Testers' were in 25 mile action on Sunday morning in particularly good conditions on the A303. Andy Winterbottom continued his fine run of placings with 2nd place in the event with 55m 35s. Carl Ward achieved 9th place with 59. 06s and Tim Reeves produced a fine 59m 41s ride to help SRC win the 'Team' prize. Well done lads. Four SRC riders were in action nearby in the Yeovil CC John Andrews Memorial RR over 65 miles of a fast but rolling course based around Langport. Alec Leslie and Andy Wellings failed to finish after completing four or five of the 12 laps. Steuart Saunders was going well untill a bad case of leg cramps on lap 9 or 10 ended his race. Ian Hutchings rode a fine race finishing in the bunch.

Next weekend the clubs 'roadies' will be in action again this time in the Kalas Two Day Stage Race. The 5 man team will comprise; Steuart Saunders, Ian Hutchings, Dan Cox, Andy Wellings and Ben Turp. Stage One is an individual TT, followed by a Circuit Race and then a TTT. Day Two is an 80 mile RR based around Somerton & Street. With some of the countries top riders down to ride it is going to be a hard day or two at the office!

Personl bests were the order of the day in the latest round of the Wednesday evening 'club' 10. Darren Avery won the event with 23:00 (PB) closely followed by Steuart Saunders 23:04 (PB). Andy Wellings and Jack Plummer both produced PB's with 23:51 & 23:52 respectively.

On a windy Saturday night the Somerset Road Club (SRC) ran the second of its two 10 mile TT at Cross. There was a strong headwind out which made the going pretty tough. Top SRC rider was Andy Winterbottom who produced a 21:49 ride for third place. The event was won by R Coomber (Chippenham & Dist Wheelers) in 21:36 by just 1 sec. to George Gori (Tor 2000). SRC's Sarah Dunn won the ladies prize. SRC missed out on the team prize by just 14secs. Eleven SRC riders took part and their times are listed below.

Full results can be found by clicking HERE


• Andy Winterbottom 21:49
• Ian Hutchings 23:31
• Carl Ward 23:41
• Steuart Saunders 23:48
• Sarah Dunn 24:41
• Mark Kurpyta 24:55
• Andy Wellings 25:12
• Mark Deakin 26:16
• Gerald Page 27:07
• Jessica Steer 28:18
• Paulette Steer 29:44

Dean Robson competed in the National 25 Mile Championship at the weekend aquiting himself well with a 54:17 to finish in the top quartile.

Darren Avery and Mark Kurpyta travelled to Wales to ride a 25 mile TT on Saturday morning. Darren continued his fine run of results with yet another 'personal best' with a 56:37. Mark produced a season best of 1:02:07.

Ian Hutchings & Ben Turp scored the clubs first mass start victories of the 2010 season on Thursday evening. Ian attacked at the end of the penultimate lap in the 3rd Cat. race and managed to stay away for the rest of the race as the bunch took their foot off the gas. Ian was helped by the disrupting tactics of his team mates who did their best to slow down any chaces. Ben won the 4th Cat. race in only his 2nd ever circuit race! A great night for the club!

Somersetcycling.com are arranging a 'vets' training camp in Portugal in November. Full details can be found by clicking HERE Their web address is somerset cycling.com

Three SRC riders participated in the Alltrax 10 on the S4 course on a stormy Saturday evening. Conditions were far from ideal with a strong diagonal cross wind making the going tough for all but the strong men. Which makes Darren Avery's personal best ride of 23:08 all the more remarkable! Steuart Saunders suffered a bad evening "leaving his legs at home" to produce a 23:58 ride. Andy Wellings produced a mid 24 minute ride. All three times will improve their average speed in the clubs BAR competition though. The event was won by John Wynn in 20:38. I said the weather doesn't seem to affect the strong men!

We are pleased to announce a new sub sponsor for the club in the form of Bridgwater based Progressive Heating Supplies. You can find out more about what services they offer by clicking on their link on the 'sponsors' tab. They replace Voice Mobile who have ceased trading. For those of you who know of Angie Nicholls she is employed by PHS so I guess good discounts could be available!

Seven members of Somerset Road Club/Bicycle Chain/Notaro Windows travelled to Usk in South Wales to participate in the Pontypool RCC 25 Mile Open Time Trial event on Sunday. Riders were greeted with super weather conditions and some fast times were on the cards. Andy Winterbottom was the fastest SRC rider producing a personal best time of 52m 11s to claim 3rd place overall. Second fastest SRC rider was Tim Reeves with 57m 04s, followed up by Steuart Saunders who produced a personal best time of 58m 38s just ahead of Darren Avery with 58m 54s also a personal best. The clubs top lady rider, suffering two unshipped chains still managed to produce a time of 1h 1m 57s, just missing out on the ladies prize in the process. Andrew Wellings also produced a personal best time of 1h 2m 54s followed up by Mark Kurpyta with 1h 3m 59s. With all these times counting for the clubs 'Best All Rounder' Competition it will be interesting to see what the impact will be. With most of these riders down to ride a 10 mile time trial in Devon on Saturday the pace is definately hotting up!

Dean Robson added another win to his palmaris by winning the VTTA 10 at the weekend in 20:08.

Several SRC riders participated in the second of the Tor 2000 Circuit Race series. Across all categories the only rider pointing was Steuart Saunders who claimed a fine ninth in the 3rd Cat. race.

Our second open 10 mile TT takes place on Saturday 5th June. Entry is £7.00 and entries need to go to organiser Tim Reeves, 6 Combe Close, Bicknoller, TA4 4EP.

CHARITY CYCLING SPINATHON on Sunday 13th June 2010 from 10am to 1pm at Wellspring Sports Centre in Taunton. In aid of the children's charity, Action Medical Research. The event is being organised by Jayne Steer who can be contacted on jaynesteer@hotmail.com or 07709625263. You can spin alone or as part of a team but you will need to raise a minimum of £20.00 per bike to take part. Please book early to avoid disappointment as places are strictly limited.

SRC riders performed well in the first round of the Tor Series of circuit races at Ilton on Thusday night with Dan Cox claiming 6th, Andrew Wellings 9th and Steuart Saunders just outside the top 10 in the bunch sprint at the end of a faster than usual race run out at nearly 26mph. Other SRC finishers were Mark Deakin and Ian Hutchings. In fact the 3rd cats were holding the gap to the Elite race for the first 3 laps or so. Jack Plummer of SRC won his under 16 race so well done Jack. Dave Poole riding in the 4th Category race finished his race safely in the bunch along with Ben Turp riding his first circuit race and Peter Robinson.

On a cold, wet and windy morning SRC evergreen Andy Winterbottom claimed second place in the Clevedon & District RC 25 mile TT on Sunday. In real 'hardman' conditions Andy was one of only two riders to break the hour for the event which saw 18 non starters! Andy produced a time of 59m 04s just one minute behind the winner. Andy was also the fastest 'veteran' (rider over the age of 40) - sorry Andy. Carl Ward finished in a fine 10th place with a time of 1h 5m 36s.

To add some extra spice the the evening time trials we are running them as a 'handicap series' with riders requiring 5 counting times to qualify. Riders handicaps were set by their fastest time the previous year as set against the fastest rider last year. The rider with the fastest average speed against their handicap will be the series winner. There are some prizes for the top three. 1st = Long sleeve club jersey. 2nd = Pair of armwarmers and mitts. 3rd Club overshoes. The table after four events can be found here.2010 Club TT Handicap Series.

Recent complaints include: -

• Riding 4 abreast.
• Going through red lights.
• Filtering down both sides of stationery traffic. (This is fine with a small group of say up to 10 but there is no way you can get 40 riders all to the front of the queue so they end up surrounding dozens of car drivers causing meyhem and resentment.)
• Blocking junctions whilst waiting for the lights to change.

• Ride two abreast.
• In a neat line.
• When filtering to the back get there as quickly as possible.
• Be patient when coming up to a queue of traffic particularly one that is moving albeit slowly.
• Consider the 40+ riders who are following behind you!
• Please aquaint yourself with the club run etiquette on the website if you are a new member.

• 2 x Jimmy Carr Tickets Adult Comedian at Wellspring Sports Centre
• 1 day pass to kids camp arts and craft and activity day for 5 to 12 year olds at Wellsprings Sports Centre
• Harley Davidson Teddy Bear
• Harley Davidson T-Shirt
• Bike Function Computor
• Bike Lights
• £5 Judith Goss Voucher
• £5 Holland & Barrett Voucher
• 2 x swimming passes for Taunton pool
• Water Bottle
• Free gents haircut at Simm's Barbers, Taunton
• Free Ladies Haircut at County Salon, Taunton
• Fruit Basket

• Dean Robson
• Greg Sandy
• Andy Winterbottom
• Sarah Dunn



• Road Race Cup - Steve Chattell
• Mass Start Cup - Greg Sandy
• 25 Mile TT Cup - Dean Robson
• 10 Mile TT Cup - Greg Sandy
• Youth Cup - Sam Deakin
• Novice Cup - Mike Waterjohn
• Sandy Cup - Steve Chattell
• Clubman of the Year Cup - Barry Searle