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Before the Grand Prix rolls into town next week, it's a good opportunity to head north in to Northamptonshire. This route heads up to Preston Capes and then banks round to stop at Harley Equestrian.

Average speed on this week's ride will be 16mph+ although we'll be riding in a proper group with lead rotation so we'll probably easily achieve higher speeds without expending additional effort.

https://ridewithgps.com/routes/22836219

Le Tour is almost upon us. For a bit of added excitement and inter-club competition we've set up a Fantasy Tour de France mini league for the club.

How does it work?
Each player takes the role of a Directeur Sportif of a professional cycling team. The aim of the contest is to select the best possible team of 9 riders, while operating within the conditions set on team selection. The better your racers perform during the 3 week event, the more points they will accumulate for your fantasy squad.

Rules/guidance here

How do I enter
We're making use of the established velogames.com to host our competition. You'll need to register with them and then enter a team.

How do enter my team into the Swan Wheelers league?
Once you have created a team go to your team page by logging-in with your username and password, and clicking on the My Team link towards the top-right of the screen.

At the bottom of the team roster page is the Mini-League manager and click on "Join or Create New League" to go to the League Entry page.

You will then be required to enter the Swan Wheelers league code which is 776247622 and confirm you want to join the league.

How much does this cost?
Nothing. Nowt. Zero. It's completely free. The site is funded by advertising so the price is having to endure some adverts.

What do I win?
There are no prizes, it's just for fun and bragging rights over your fellow club members!

When do I need to enter by?
You must enter your team by 2pm (our time, BST) on Saturday 1st July. So be quick!

It feels like it's been ages since the last social due to the way the last Friday of the month has fallen in May and June.

So it's finally come around and hopefully we'll see you down the Mitre from 7:30pm on Friday for a chat and a drink.

Hi John

We've probably got as many responses as we're going to get now (of course if anyone hasn't filled out the survey please do.)

We'll take the results to the next committee meeting in a few weeks and look to see what is needed to recalibrate the ride speed bands.

Cheers

Matt

This week we've got two events coming up...

Tuesday 13th June - time trial training evening
Rearranged from last week due to the howling wind, this Tuesday evening looks much calmer for a spot of TT practice.

Register here for TT training

Sunday 18th June - Summer Solstice whole club rides
The second of our regular, seasonal all club rides where we all meet up at the same coffee stop. For our summer meet up it's the George & Dragon in Quainton. Take your pick on how to get there from either leisure, medium and fast (NB you will need to pay for your own refreshments at the coffee stop.) Please let us know if you are coming asap so we can advise the G&D of expected numbers.

Register here for the summer solstice rides

Apologies for the late posting of the route for tomorrow's fast ride. We're off to Stone and Haddenham using the route from the route library.

The stop will be the excellent 94 Coffee Shop in Waddesdon.

https://swanwheelersforum.microcosm.app/con­versations/283525

...

Please find attached the following items from the AGM...

1. Minutes from the meeting (also contains register, nomination forms and accounts)
   
2. A copy of the slide deck from the evening
   
   

The link to the video shown around the style of group riding we need to move to as our numbers grow is: https://youtu.be/OTGRQgw6PDA

If you spot any inaccuracies or have any queries about the output from the AGM, please let me know.

This week, the fast ride will mostly be heading north. Preston Capes and Canons Ashby to be precise.

Total distance is 42 miles and the planned average speed for tomorrow is 17 mph.

Download the route

Stop will be the NT coffee shop at Canons Ashby.

Please bring sufficient water for the forecasted temperature, a snack, some money for the stop and don't forget your sun cream before the ride 😀

There are two new sections on the forum that are well worth clicking the "follow" button on.

Club events
This section will hold details of club organised special events. These are events that are in addition to the usual club rides. The committee has been busy planning events for the summer and the first special event will appear in there later today. (To clarify special events will still appear in our ride calendar. The segregation in the forum means that they don't get lost in amongst the five club ride postings each week.)

Classifieds
Want to buy, sell or trade? The classifieds section is there to facilitate that. We've taken the decision to make this section of the forum public to widen the potential buyer audience. There are some important things to know before you use this section, particularly around not posting personal details so please do take some time to read Classifieds: rules of engagement.

To make sure you get notified when items are added, please "follow" the new sections.

In order to make sure we provide the best groupings of club rides for club members, we'd like to ask you to complete a short survey. Don't worry, it's possibly the world's quickest and simplest survey ever!

Without thinking of the speed of the current club rides, we would like to know what your average speed on a 40 mile ride with 1,500 feet of elevation is.

We also ask for your name, but please be assured that the data collected will not be shared beyond the committee and will not be used for any other purpose other than the one described here.

I would encourage every member of the club to complete this survey but please consider your fitness and abilities honestly when answering the question as this outcome of this could result in a reorganisation of the club ride bands.

Tell us your speed

Thanks,

Matt (on behalf of the committee)

What better way to start a bank holiday weekend than with the club social and (I won't say this too loudly) even the weather looks promising.

You never know we might even make it into the beer garden.

See you down there from 7:30pm onwards for our usual monthly get together.

Departing from Ganderton's Garage this week, the fast ride is heading out west on in a clockwise loop. The stop will be the excellent Limes Farm (hopefully they've got their "Cheeky Chocolate" cake on this week.)

A total of 53 miles and splash of elevation...

https://ridewithgps.com/routes/19335755

More good news... the kit has arrived and it's looking good.

If you ordered kit expect an email shortly from me once I've checked everything is there.

The Buckingham Triathlon is taking place on Sunday 21st May at the Swan Pool. The car park and areas around the building will probably be quite chaotic, so rather than get caught up in that chaos of cars, spectators and people running around looking for bikes in swimming costumes, the club rides will meet and depart from W Ganderton & Son (aka John's garage) as a one off.

We'll meet on Sunday 21st may at the usual time of 08:45 but on the forecourt of John's garage.

I'll be posting this message several times on various different media throughout the week to make sure everyone is aware so apologies if you get it more than once!

Thanks @JohnnyG - we promise not to trash the place!

https://www.google.co.uk/maps/place/W.+Ganderton+%26+Son/@51.9962231,-0.9848099,17z/data=!4m5!3m4!1s0x4876e2bfa4046b21:0x876d26d6a5f00d08!8m2!3d51.998152!4d-0.9854

Good news - the kit has been produced and is now on its way. I'll keep you posted.

We're holding the next committee meeting on Wednesday 17th May.

Included on the agenda already is planning for events over the summer. But is there something you would like to raise with the committee? A query, a grumble, a suggestion for a change, an event or something new?

Add an item to the agenda by doing one of the following by the evening of Tuesday 18th May:

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 (@PaulW , @StephenT , @lucyS , @paulS or me) on a club ride.
   
   

Cheers,

Matt

Extremely delayed minutes from this meeting in March now available

Would do @Scott.H but still trying to find my legs. I seem to have lost them somewhere in the Peak District at the weekend 😀

Sorry! Forgot to add the route!

https://swanwheelersforum.microcosm.app/conversations/285589/

The fast ride heads north this weekend into Northamptonshire. We'll head up to Preston Capes and then swing back round for a brew and some cake at Canons Ashby before heading back to Buckingham.

Please note this is not a step up ride (that's next weekend) and average speed will be around the 17.5/18mph mark.

I thought step up rides were on the first Sunday of the month?

http://www.tourofbritain.co.uk/stages/stage-seven/

Last night saw our AGM and inaugural awards. Well done to the following:

@Malman​ (Malcolm Manning) for winning the big one: the 2016/17 rider competition with 111 points. (Thanks for our sponsor Solstice Cycles UK for the prize)

@salochinthims (Nik Smith)​ scored a brace with photo of the year and selfie of the year https://www.flickr.com/photos/swanwheelerscc/31867489540/in/photostream/ https://www.flickr.com/photos/swanwheelerscc/30068077380/in/photostream/

@johnclucas was the most prolific rider on Swan Wheelers rides (small prize on its way to you John)

@PaulW​ blew the competition away to win Most Miles Logged on Strava in 2016 (Swan Wheelers group) with 6,690 miles

Finally, from newbie to Sportive Smasher; @AJMcVail​ took the award for most improved rider.

Well done everyone and thanks to all who came along and input in to the AGM.

Thanks to all who have confirmed for the AGM.

Just a reminder that we'll see you at 7:30pm in the back room at PREGO (not Prezzo!) where pre meeting pizzas will be available. It's a cash bar - some change would be good to have on you as the I don't believe the retaurant carries much float due to most of their transactions being card based but I'm sure they'll also take cards for drinks.

The meeting will start at 8pm. The room is ours for the night so once the meeting is over please feel free to stay and enjoy a chat and a few more drinks with your fellow club members if you wish.