ANNUAL REPORT OF THE LONDON WEST DISTRICT COUNCIL 2005

At the 2004 Annual General Meeting 24 clubs out of 72 were represented by 36 delegates The following were elected to the District Committee.

Chairman. Paul Newby, (High Wycombe CC)

District Secretary Brian Rogers (Farnborough and Camberley CC)

Treasurer John Taylor (Bicester Millennium CC)

Open Events Secretary, Brian Rogers

Courses Secretary (South), Brian Rogers

Club Events Secretary, Ms Audrey Hughes (South Bucks RC)

Courses Secretary (North), Chris Hart (Oxonian CC)

Traffic Counts Secretary, Alisdair Oakley, (Middlesex RC)

Peter Ayres, (South Bucks RC), Mick Fountain (Didcot Phoenix CC)

Alan Hodgson, (South Bucks RC), Malcolm Woolsey (Westerley RC)

During the course of the year Chris Hart became District Secretary, assisted by Brian Rogers. Jim Burgin assisted Brian Rogers as Open Events Secretary. Maggie Smith (North Hants RC and Stuart House were co-opted to the District Committee and Jim Burgin is now able to return after recovery from illness.

Delegates to the National Council AGM, December 2004.

P Newby, A Oakley, M Woolsey and C Hart. The District Council met on 28 November 2004 to consider the National Council AGM agenda and to instruct our delegates. None of the 3 motions proposed by the District was passed.

Committee Meetings (Held at Liston Hall, Marlow, at 7.45pm on the second Monday in the month.)

The number was reduced but urgent matters between meetings were resolved by e-mail. The Committee met in November 2004 and in February, April, June, August and September. Attendances were: P Newby 6, A Hodgson 6, P Ayres 6, M Fountain 6, C Hart 6, B Rogers 5, J Taylor 5, A Oakley 4, M Woolsey 4 , A Hughes 3 (all out of 6)

S House 4 out of 4, M Smith 3 out of 3. Several Members had difficulty in attending winter meetings on Monday nights and it is suggested that the new Committee may wish to consider holding their November and February meetings on Sundays.

Sri Chinmoy Cycling Team

Viner Bikes, Agisco Sports Nutrition. (www.agiscoviner.com)

Eton Triathlon Club

Marlborough and District, (MAD) Triathlon Club

AW Cycles.co.uk

Army CU, Sigma Sport and Timetrial.co.uk had to pay a late re-affiliation fee.

There are now 72 Member Clubs in the District.

2 accidents were reported during the year, the first due to loosening tri-bars and the second a collision with a stationary broken- down car, both on the A31 dual carriageway. Neither resulted in serious injury. Investigation of the second case is still in progress. A case of alleged "Paced and Company Riding "was transferred to the National Committee under the provisions of Rule 2. This case remains sub judice and no further details are available.

John Taylor of Bicester Millennium CC was appointed as a Timekeeper and Dave Smith and Bob Lyle, both of Newbury RC, as Assistant Timekeepers . All three stated that they would only be available to time events promoted by their own clubs by their clubs on behalf of Associations. The existing course measurers had much to do, the handicappers little.

Jim Burgin undertook the bulk of the work behind the scenes, despite a serious illness. Without his efforts the District would not have been able to continue and now that he is restored to health we can look forward to this vital task being continued. Brian Rogers negotiated an agreement with the Police that henceforth, providing that the AGM approves the proposal, all Type A events will be notified by a District Official to the Police in bulk by 31 December and all Type B events by 31 January. Event secretaries will therefore only have to notify subsequent alterations to the Police and only then will have to copy notifications to the Open or Club events Secretary. This admirable innovation should markedly reduce the workload for all concerned.

The National Committee demanded at short notice a survey of all open events in 2004 to show what proportion of the roads covered were on dual carriageway or single carriageways and on which type accidents had been reported. An expanded survey to include some 400 club events as well as our open events, is requested for later this year unless the National Committee decide that it will not be justified by the results.

The number of Type A events seems to have stabilised and entries per event are slightly up. The Rudy Project District Series has been abolished for 2006.

This event was promoted by the Westerley CC with the District Council on 17 July on a hard course between Farnham and Winchester devised by Brian Rogers and based on the Alton Sports Centre. Michael Hutchinson won by over 10 minutes but the other places were closely contested. Ruth Eyles won the ladies’ event fro the reigning Champion, Carol Gandy, who described the H100A course as "honest". London West District riders also shone. Michelle Ayres, whose husband, Peter, is a member of the District Committee, did an outstanding ride for third place and 100 mile novice, Richard Pettinger of Sri Chinmoy Cycling Team in Oxford, a club he founded himself, managed a brilliant 3-55 riding without a helper and having to stop to collect his drinks. Organisation, by the Westerley CC, was perfect and it is sad that this may be the last 100 of a great tradition.

This event will be promoted on behalf of the District Council by the Farnborough and Camberley CC on the Heckfield Circuit, H11/5. Distances will 19,339km for the one lap event, 37.188 km for 2 laps and 54.977 (or 34.141 miles) for the elite men’s event. The HQ will be at Heckfield Village Hall. All local clubs are requested to ask their members to volunteer to help.

During the year the National 100 Mile Championships were successfully promoted on a new course (H100/8A) based entirely on the A.31. (Farnham-Winchester). A few weeks earlier the Hounslow & Dist Whs 100 was also promoted successfully on the A.31 using a variation of the course used for the Championship, this was known as H100/8B.(Also Farnham-Winchester).. Due to the possibility of there being temporary road works and traffic lights sited at the underpass bridge across the A.31 at Froyle it was necessary to change the course for the Border C.A. 50 on Sept 3^rd to the Bath Road course H50/1,originally this event was on the H50/8 on the A.31,also Farnham R.C. and Alton C.C. have been advised to change course for the month of September for the remaining evening club events to the original H10/8 course which is still a viable course and Starts and Finishes the other side of the proposed road works using the Chawton Rbt as the turn.

The Hounslow & Dist Whs have also been advised to change course for their Open 25 on H25/8 (A.31)on September 25th for the reason mentioned. The Heckfield circuit course, (H11/5) to be used for the BTTC 2006 Championships has been measured and the distances stated in miles and kms ,it is a rolling course and will test competitors machine handling skills and Time Trialing ability to the full.

Course design, measurement and modification is a continuous procedure as roads are altered, Traffic Lights installed and roundabouts constructed and some roads can no longer be used for competition purposes due to increasing Traffic Counts which exceed the limits laid down by the CTT National Committee guidelines.

H50/17 on the A420 again produced some fast times and with a course record of 1-49-52 should attract more entries than it does. Events on Sunday mornings should finish by 10.30 as the traffic becomes too heavy be then. The H25/17 is becoming more popular locally. High traffic counts late on Saturday afternoons suggest that the best start time will be about 14.20, with a limitation to 100 riders to clear the road by 17.00. The start of the Ten course H10/17 on the B4017 was varied to obtain the fastest version, omitting the previous uphill finish but eventually a course starting and finishing at Frilford Heath on the A338 but using the same Kingston Bagpuize turn was approved. This has a high proportion of dual carriageway on the A420 and can now again be used for weekday evening events after 19.30 and for early afternoon events on Saturdays. Two new club circuit courses using the B4508, A420 and A417, HCC263 (Ten) and HCC264 (25) were also approved for use on weekdays after 19.30 when traffic has dropped considerably. The Ten will only require 2 left turns. A new open Ten course, H10/18 on the B4449 from Hardwick to Eynsham west of Oxford has been approved in place of the sinuous HCC140. It promises to be easier to marshal and quite fast. A flat Ten course near Weston-on-the Green HCC260, a hilly Ten east of Charlbury (HCC261)and a sporting 18.8 mile circuit with two major climbs between Charlbury, Chipping Norton and Shipton-under-Wychwood, (HCC262), again with only 2 left turns, were used successfully. A slight adjustment is being made to the tough Brill Hardriders circuit, H29/19 to omit the village of Long Crendon. A few events were promoted on "N" courses on the A43 and A421 in S-E Midlands District.

The most significant change for 2006 is the revival of H25/2 "ski-slope" on the border between the North and South Courses area. Planned road works on the Handy Cross roundabout may be a complication. It is hoped to find ways of stationing the finish timekeeper to overcome previous objections by the Highways authority on safety grounds. Traffic counts on the A404 before 10.00am are well within limits so it is hoped that local riders may again be able to enjoy a course almost comparable to the A34. The HCC 235 Ten course, partly on A34, was revived. Safety concerns about the unrestricted traffic speeds, the slip roads and sleepy drivers, rather than high traffic counts, led to the rejection of proposed 25 and 50 mile courses on the A34 between Milton and Botley.

It has become harder to run events on some courses within the CTT limits of 500 units per hour for single carriageways and 1,000 for dual carriageways. Much effort has been devoted to finding the best times to run events on the busier roads. The latest news bulletin from CTT has instructed all Districts to observe these limits although we are permitted and emergency margin of 20%. We have no problems on the A31 and the H25/2 should be useable until 10am on Sundays. The A420 is useable until about 10.30 on Sundays but not on weekdays until after 7.30pm and only on Saturday afternoons between about 2.20 and 5pm with a limit of 100 riders for 25s. The A4 east of Reading is not a problem but west of Reading traffic is heavy on Saturday afternoons from 2 to 6pm but much lighter soon after 6pm so that some events may be run after then. But there have been so many events recently on that road that drivers seem to have accepted them. A problem is now of cars slowing down well before the speed cameras in Woolhampton and impeding the faster riders. The poor road surface on A4 both sides of Reading may be a greater risk and the Highways authorities have not responded to our complaints.

As mentioned in last year’s report the previous web master was unable to continue his very comprehensive website and a fresh one had to be established. Unfortunately his successor did not have the time to provide a fully up-dated site and it has also proved very difficult for even the most skilled to access and amend. Mick Fountain has now undertaken this task. Due to Jim Burgin’s illness he has not been able to issue a District Newsletter regularly and there were difficulties in updating the list of courses in the Yearbook which could have been corrected had the website been fully functional. Every effort will be made to improve matters during the coming year.

The National Committee has raised the levy for all club events from 20p to 50p for the 2006 season. Clubs may wish to take this increase into account in setting their entry fees.

Before last year’s AGM the District Committee came close to collapse due to the difficulty in replacing key officials. Some progress has been made in strengthening the original Committee during the year. The main problem has been the very heavy load on the District Secretary and the loading of several tasks onto a few shoulders. The original Secretary, Brian Rogers, has continued to give substantial support to his successor, Chris Hart, while performing miracles in coping with course changes in his own area. Brian has also innovated the new Police Notification scheme which will cut the workload on promoters, the Open Events Secretary and the Police themselves. The size of the various District Councils in terms of club membership varies greatly, if not in their geographical area. With 72 member clubs London West DC is one of the largest and possibly has the busiest roads. We need to address the problem of the over-loaded Secretary and to distribute the workload more equally among the members of the District Committee. One measure, which some Districts have adopted, would be to appoint an Assistant Secretary to take and compile the minutes and to arrange meetings. The geographical split for courses areas has proved successful over the past but it would be difficult to extend this principle. The difficult problem of reconciling National Committee policy on such matters as traffic counts with District Committee policy has been a particular problem for the District Secretary. . Member Clubs may have to accept that a few changes, especially in start times on busy roads, may have to be made, but no courses will be lost. Time trialling in London West will survive.