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One from the forum's route library this week. A venture into Northants sweeping round to the west for a stop at Limes Farm in Farthinghoe. Average speed aim is 17mph.

Here's the route and the café stop

@JamesT, @Philmet1 thank you for raising this. We discussed at the committee last week so apologies for my tardiness in getting back to you (lots on this week).

You are right there is no easy answer to this. Whatever rides we put on there will always be a few people who are "inbetweeners". Realistically we don't have enough ride leaders to run a fourth ride every week, nor do we have enough members to populate and sustain four rides a week.

The best middle ground that we could come up with at the committee meeting was bringing in "step up rides". This means the first Sunday of each month would allow those who are thinking of moving up to the medium or fast rides to have a go without fear of being dropped i.e. the rides aim for their usual pace but it is given on those Sundays that the pace would fall to the slowest rider (provided of course they are realistic about their nearness of ability to maintain the ride speed - we wouldn't want someone trying to jump up 4mph for example).

Hopefully this will help "inbetweeners" get an idea of the next pace up and help them work towards it.

That was the committee suggestion. What do you think?

Does anyone have a redundant rear wheel they would be willing to sell for a fair price?

I'm after one, regardless of brand, the only requirements are it runs true and is compatible with a 10 speed SRAM/Shimano cassette.

Cheers,

Matt

As with all the events in the forum please could anyone who wants to go hit the Yes, I'm attending button in this post.

Cheers.

I have received a size pack from Champion System. It contains various sizes bib shorts in male and female fit, race fit jerseys, club jerseys and ladies jerseys.

What day would suit people to try on kit? Late Saturday afternoon at Solstice? Or if I could work the logistics and have the kit at the Swan Pool ahead of the ride on Sunday morning would the work better?

Please let me known thoughts or other ideas. I have to have the kit returned by the 21st and I'll be sending it back second class to minimise costs so it'll be going early next week! Don't miss out!

What day would suit people to try on kit? Late Saturday afternoon at Solstice? Or if I could work the logistics and have the kit at the Swan Pool ahead of the ride on Sunday morning would the work better?

Please let me known thoughts or other ideas. I have to have the kit returned by the 21st and I'll be sending it back second class to minimise costs so it'll be going early next week!

I've got a size pack on the way from them. I've asked for as many different sizes as possible in the jerseys and bib shorts.

I'll set up a session or two, perhaps at Solstice next weekend if Paul is agreeable,when anyone who wants to can drop by and try them on.

For those of you who have either read the minutes from the August committee meeting or were at the social evening at the end of September, you'll be aware that we've been searching out a new kit supplier. Velotec have provided our kit for the past 18 months and whilst they provided us with a great design, transactions with them haven't been the smoothest - we've had incorrect orders, the order sent to the wrong address and the sizing on the latest batch of kit didn't seem to follow any particular UK, European or other sizing standard!

We've been looking for a new supplier since the end of August and have settled on Champion System UK. They came recommended by @Stephanie and have the following going for them:

1. they're UK based (Velotec were based in Eire)
   
2. the kit is of good quality, as those who were at the social last week and examined the sample pack will attest
   
3. the provide a wide range of items in both male and female sizes
   
4. they provide an online ordering and payment service so we can wave goodbye to paper forms and messing about dropping cash and cheques off
   
5. best of all, the minimum order is 10, but unlike Velotec and other suppliers this does not have to be 10 of the same item. As long as we're ordering 10 of a mix something, eg 5 winter jackets, 3 gilets and 2 jerseys then we have an order.
   
   

Our current kit design has been sent off to Champion System and they will produce it in their software ready for printing the gear. Once that is done we're ready to order our winter gear. Based on the responses to the winter kit post, we have enough interest to open an order window as soon as the designs are ready, so please watch this space!

Find out more here = http://champ-sys.co.uk/

If you have any queries, please don't hesitate to drop me a line.

Cheers,

Matt

The names are fun but might serve better as nicknames, as publicising the rides as such possibly may make us sound a little pretentious?

That was just a suggestion for the midweek ride only where there is just currently the one ride going out and a mix of preferred speed. I hadn't intended suggesting it for the Sunday rides. I think that could make life a little complex with three rides.

We'll put @JamesT point on the agenda for Tuesday in respect of the Sunday rides. More thoughts on that subject welcome ahead of that of course.

Sorted @TallTim

Have you got your keyboard set to European too hence the dodgy characters causing the black box? 😄

Do you have anything you want to raise with the committee? A query, a grumble, a suggestion for a change, an event or something new?

If you have, you'll be pleased to know that a committee meeting is scheduled for Tuesday 4th October.

Add an item to the agenda by doing one of the following by Monday evening:

1. Replying to this thread
   
2. Sending me a message via the forum
   
3. Emailing the committee via swanwheelerscc@gmail.com
   
4. Speaking to a member of the committee on this weekend's rides
   
   

Cheers,

Matt

If you're after some Swan Wheelers kit we currently have the following left in stock available for purchase on a first come, first served basis:

1. Pro bib shorts in XL - £43.05
   
2. Short sleeved jersey in L - £45.00 (note this is 'race fit' so may come up smaller than other jersey 'large' sizes)
   
   

Please email me at swanwheelerscc@gmail.com if you're interested in either of the items.

Cheers,

Matt

The calendar has now been updated to show all rides are on (thank you very much @keithrose and @Chainreaction) As we depend on a small but very committed pool of ride leaders to put on the rides each week, we occasionally run into availability difficulties. If anyone fancies helping out leading some of the rides please let one of the committee know. We'd be very grateful for any further volunteers.

If you want to know what's involved in ride leading please check out the ride leader page on the website.

The club's web site has had a lick of paint. It's just a freshen up rather than a radical overhaul to the site to keep the content up to date and relevant and the style fresh and modern.

Here's a summary of what's changed:

1. revised styling
   
2. more simple navigation options at the top
   
3. full navigation available in the footer
   
4. reduced number of pages to click through by amalgamating related content (eg about us page)
   
5. taster rides page removed and a 'join us for a club ride and this is what you can expect' page put in its place
   
6. full description of each committee roles (useful for committee election times)
   
7. disputes policy (aka complaints procedure) added following a request from the membership and sign off by the committee
   
8. emphasis placed on the on-line joining facility
   
9. most importantly... our Brill photo is now the main site image!
   
   

The aim is to try and keep Swan Wheelers as the cycling club with the best web site (OK I'm not counting Rapha, but they're not a normal cycling club). If you spot any errors or have any suggestions for improvements to the site, please don't hesitate to let me know. Feedback (good or bad) is always very welcome please.

Cheers,

Matt

Not decided yet Pete @Chainreaction. This informal survey on the kind of kit people want will help with the decision making!

Sorry for the delay. Photos from @Malman and @StephenT now on our Flickr site. Here's a direct link to the album...

https://www.flickr.com/photos/swanwheelerscc/albums/72157674085105266

I'll wave if I see you as the sportive I'm doing heads up Oving way!

Another reminder to vote before Sunday please. If you don't vote you can't grumble about how the club is run. So there's a big incentive :-)

A few people have expressed interest in ordering Swan Wheelers kit for the winter. What type of items would be of interest.

Some ideas...

1. bib tights
   
2. long sleeved jersey
   
3. jackets
   
4. gillet
   
5. other suggestions?
   
   

Please post your suggestions and thoughts on this.

Cheers

Matt

If you haven't voted yet, please don't forget to do so. In a club this size every vote really does make a difference! The votes cast so far have set up an extremely close race for two of the positions (but no prizes on offer for guessing which two!!)

Please do use your vote, it's vital that members (both old and new) choose the people they want to steer the club going forward.

Please find attached the minutes from the committee meeting on 31 August.

Just in case you didn't receive it, here is the email sent out by @StephenT on Monday regarding the voting for the three committee roles.

The nomination period for the new committee roles has now closed and the results have been collated. I would like to thank all of those that have taken the time to put themselves forward to take on a role, the club will only ever succeed when members are willing to take part.

Without further ado the nominations are (drum roll please!):

Membership Secretary: Pete Coomber, Julian Lewis and Paul Woodham
Treasurer: Lucy Seaborn
Social Secretary: Julie Brash, Pete Coomber, Tim Selby and James Tebboth

The voting period is now open. Please email your votes for each role to swanwheelerscc@gmail.com

We are operating a cumulative voting process so the nominee with the highest number of votes will be offered the role. You all have until the end of the day on September 25th to email through your votes, any received after this time will not count.

We would appreciate it if you were to use your vote, if there is a role that you do not want to vote for then please leave it empty in your response. Please note that individual votes will be kept confidential and only the cumulative numbers will be published in the results on September 26th.

We wish the nominees the best of luck.

Kind regards,

Stephen Turnock
Swan Wheelers CC Club Chair
http://www.swanwheelers.cc

By the way if you have any photos from today, please email them to our Flickr email address: fin75till@photos.flickr.com

(Yes it looks like a dodgy email but it's so no one can guess it and send us spam.)

I hope to get the Swans 2016 at Brill photo up as the main photo on the website, Strava and Facebook in the next day or two.

A summer event and the sun shone! Wow!

Thank you very much to everyone who helped make today happen. The ride leaders @StephenT @Woods and @paulS who planned out the routes and kept everything to time; @stack for the teas and coffees at Solstice and most of all @lucyS for sorting out a brilliant coffee stop after the Pheasant at Brill let us down at the eleventh hour and, of course, for the absolutely delicious Swan Wheelers cup cakes!!

Finally, thank you to everyone who turned up today and made the event an excellent, whole club affair.