Club Annual Awards Dinner, Friday 3rd March 2023
This year’s annual awards dinner will be held again at Beech village hall.
We have organised a great evening:
- A cashless bar (card only) managed by our lovely bartenders;
- Drinks and canapes, whilst listening to our very own Kelvin on sax;
- A 2-course dinner served at your table;
- After-dinner speaker, Simon Potter, talking about his experiences of the world-famous Race Across America last year;
- Awards – trophies and medals for our high achievers from 2022;
- The opportunity to strut your stuff to after-dinner music from Kelvin
So, roll up, roll up! Buy your tickets for £22 per person, which includes canapés, a main course and desserts, great company and fine entertainment! Partners and guests are very welcome as always. If you would like to attend, please buy your tickets via this link https://membermojo.co.uk/alton_cc/store. It would help if you could pay via BACS and ensure your payment reaches the club bank account by no later than Friday 17th February. BACS details will be on your checkout confirmation, please use your surname as reference.
Membership renewals for 2023
Membership renewals are now due. Our new membership management system will make it easier to manage your membership, is fully GDPR compliant and is an upgrade from our current system. Go to the Membership page for more information or click the image opposite.
Club AGM, 7th December 2022, summary of key points
- 23 members participated in our first face-to-face AGM since 2019
- The 2023 committee were elected
- The Club will retain its affiliation to Cycling Time Trials (CTT) for 2023
- Suggestions were made for new activities and social events
- Two changes to the club constitution were approved:
- Subscriptions will now be due on 1st January each year and must be paid by 31st March
- Any former club member who rejoins the club within 24 months of leaving shall not be required to pay the initial joining fee
Club Quiz Night, Thursday 2nd February 2023
Our quiz night returns to the French Horn. First question from our very own quizmaster, John, will be at 7.30pm. Partners and friends are very welcome. See you in the function room.
2023 club cycling holiday in Provence
Based on our recent members’ survey, our next club trip overseas will be to Provence in June 2023. We’ve picked a great hotel at which our trip organiser, Darren, has stayed before. For more details, take a look here and to book, complete this online form by 16th October.
2022 Hill Climb competition
Our annual hill climb competition is scheduled to take place on the Brightstone Lane Course on 16th October. It’s an open event, meaning that anyone can come along and enter on the day. Come along and take part by competing or supporting!
Club skills coaching
Six club members joined our own qualified coach, John Mansfield, for an hour of riding skills coaching in Bordon on Friday 26th August. Assisted by his daughter, Daisy, John ran through a range of exercises designed to improve bike handling and cornering. Two further sessions on 5th and 16th September have been completed. Please let John know if you’d like to join future sessions.
Club kit
Halosports currently has a stock of club kit ready for immediate dispatch. Please order via their website as per the instructions on our club kit page.
Wessex bikepacking trip
Eleven cyclists from Alton Cycling Club – average age: mature – set off from the old mediaeval archery ground The Butts in the town on a three-day tour of Hampshire, Dorset and Wiltshire … and four of them conquered the tour’s ultimate challenge of Gold Hill, Shaftesbury.
This near vertical, curved and cobbled lane – famous from Ridley Scott’s 1970s Hovis bread advert – was by far the most demanding of the many hills scaled that day, albeit on foot by most of us.
Enjoying wonderful August weather, we routed through Winchester, boarded the Southampton – Hythe ferry, then through the New Forest, braving a head wind and gravel trails – the only mishap being a puncture and broken spoke (fixed in Christchurch the next day).
On a variety of bikes, including a recumbent and an old Belgian Diamant, some laden with camping kit, but most travelling light, we ended the first day with a slap-up dinner at The Woolpack, at Sopley.
The next day started with another ferry ride across the water at Mudeford and over treacherous beach sand that had drifted onto the cycle lane.
We scrupulously navigated Bournemouth’s maze of cycle paths, and then pressed on through lovely Dorset countryside for lunch at Wimborne Minster, with a visit into the Minster, then onwards to Gold Hill …
The second day ended in Salisbury, where we had booked into the Italian Zizzi restaurant that was the scene of the novichok poisoning in 2018 of former Russian spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter, Yulia.
On day 3, radiating good cheer – and goodness knows what else – we set off home for Alton, with a following wind, and a calorie stop at the Waitrose Estate at Longstock, outside Stockbridge, before arriving home and recovering in the late summer sun.
2022 Inaugural Jim Woods Memorial Ride
The inaugural Jim Woods Memorial Ride took place on Sunday 10th July. The ride was organised by ex-club Treasurer, John Heath in memory of club member Jim Woods who sadly died of a brain tumour in 2020 and who is remembered fondly by many. 60 riders completed the 100km route to Leckford and back, raising an impressive £793.31 for brainstrust. Following the success of this event, it will become a regular fixture with next year’s event planned for 9th July 2023.
More can be found about brainstrust here
