The route took us to some busy and some more quiet roads around Baslow and Hassop, where we enjoyed the sunshine, the view of the snowy Peaks and lots of chatting. After about 35 miles and some minor mechanics, we stopped at Hathersage pool cafe for some well deserved tea, coffee, cake and bike talk.

We then set off for the last 10 or so miles back to Sheffield, only stopping to take some photos of the snow and to get some chains back to where they should be! Once back in Sheffield, the planning of future rides continued all the way to the pub, where we also organised races, sportives and trips.

With the enthusiasm from all the cycling ladies of Sheffield we can be certain that our male cycling friends will look less surprised in the future when they meet groups of cycling women in the Peak District!

We began by rolling up Eccy Rd to get out of the city and the customary Sheffield gradient soon got the blood coursing and began to warm us, the plan being to cut east as far as Ollerton before swooping southward. Plunged into darkness as we outpaced the sodium lighting in Coal Aston Rob was expressing his enjoyment of night riding moments before a suicidal rabbit raced across the road just about avoiding our front wheels as we hit the brakes, phew! We cracked along through the freezing darkness, riding over a few patches of ice and seeing less cars still, before arriving at Ollerton services for cake and banana ice cream. The hour and a half of pedalling to Lowdham which followed was pretty much ideal, smooth flat roads with  a light tail wind saw us flying along as the sun gradually set the sky ablaze with reddy, orangey hues beautifully silhouetting winter bare trees on the horizon.

In stark contrast the A46 which was next along the route was not such a poetic affair, a tough slip road climb to join followed by a draggy 2 mile climb up the coned off dual carriage way was topped off by a deflation event for Rob’s rear wheel. Riding back down the road in the wrong direction, not advisable, once I realised Rob was gone I came back to find him hands caked in the mud we had just ridden through searching for the culprit. Must admit I had a bit of a laugh at this scene but as the chill started setting in on top of the hill with the faint but present threat of a blizzard we worked together to and were quickly under way again. Leaving the A46 behind and hitting the road to Melton Mowbray and eventually Market Harborough our spirits finally started to flag as the road relentlessly rose and fell, testing our resolve and making our friend Adam and a hot cup of coffee seem further and further away; we pressed on through this tough section and hit Market Harborough just after 11.

Revived by  a ubiquitous Christmas themed turkey sandwich, coffee and millionaire short bread kindly paid for by Adam (thanks!), and having timely avoided a snow shower,  it was time for the second half of the ride- a mere 110 miles lay ahead. Not long after leaving MH behind the sun began to shine, just in time to turn the ice to slush as we hit a couple of sketchy descents whilst riding through quaint villages and passing the rah Jack Wills bag toting girl, “is that Gap-Yah’s girlfriend?” Rob joked.   Around this time we picked up Martin who was joining us en route at Earls Barton, and with the sun blazing overhead we scorched across the midlands towards the home counties making only two brief stops as we went. The second of these was at Tescos, Flitwick where the strain was again starting to show as Rob struggled to make basic conversation with the checkout girl and to retrieve his coke bottle from the floor (sorry Rob…). After almost 9 hours in the saddle it finally felt like the end was nye as we cut across the M1 north of Luton to Dunstable and hit the A5, route one and dead straight all the way into London, hooking up with the very laid back Andy A just north of St Albans. We finally rode into suburbia down the Edgeware Rd spotting our first London bus and battling traffic, here we said goodbye to Martin who was 3 hours late for a dinner party, and made stuttering progress towards Hyde Park before triumphantly rolling down Constitution Hill and the Mall passing the palace and reaching the finish line amongst the hustle and bustle of Trafalgar Square. Photos and a sense of relieved accomplishment all round, as well as Robs soigneur and carers (mum, dad and brother) were on hand with chocolate milk and apple crumble- mild embarrassment turned to delight as we stood freezing but happy. We decided to forego the planned Maccy D’s on the strand as the mercury continued to fall and we still had a job to finish we weren’t home yet! Rolling down the embankment and over Blackfriars bridged with renewed vigour we shot out to Lewisham where Andy A and I left Rob to finish the journey to Bexleyheath and carried on south to Bromley and Orpington.

Lastly a massive thanks to everyone who has donated so far, and a reminder that it’s not too late http://www.justgiving.com/Robert-Ricketts

The 8.30 start was a killer, with Myself, Harry ‘HT Sauce’ Tate, Arthur Kershaw, Danny ’4some’ Whitehead and my little hardtail ripper brother Joe Camus all meeting at the Arts Tower. All apart from me in fact were reppin hardtail pride! Lloyd Woolacott was nowhere to be seen, so after waiting until 9, we set off to Wharncliffe.

Urban X was on XC descent this time round, so after trekking through to the far end of Wharncliffe after riding from Sheffield, Team Shef Uni/Team Camus Racing just made it before the deadline of 10am and signed on.

The course looked horrifically muddy after rain overnight, and being so late meant only Dave and Joe got a practice run in, with the rest of the boys hitting it blind. In the case of Harry Tate, who had never been to Wharncliffe before, was definitely blind!

After racing kicked off, guess who turned up but Lloyd Woolacott! The classic story of going out for a quiet drink and not knowing how you got home, Lloyd was a true trooper riding there probably still a little drunk on a full downhill bike.

Danny Whitehead was down first, and went down hard into the mud on his first run, coming with a time of 2.33, and his second run improving on that and getting a 2.03, very respectable for a hardtail.

Lloyd went next, being quite hungover didn’t manage to pedal much which was crucial on this muddy course, so put in a time of 2.03, and improved on that by pedalling a bit on his second run, gaining a 1.57 gaining him a 13th place!

Arthur was up, and probably the only person on a dirt jump bike- these Hallamers have no common sense! He put in a solid time though with those miniscule bars, and did Hallam proud with a 2.12

Harry Tate was looking butter smooth on his hardtail, and really showing a lot of these full sus boys how its done on an XC hardtail, going 2nd in the hardtail category by 0.1 of a second with a 1.57.83

Joe Camus was reppin’ his battered hardtail, and looking incredibly wild as always- we thought that him being singlespeed would be a huge disadvantage on this course, but he managed to put out a 1.57.70, taking the 1st place in the hardtail category by a mere 0.1 seconds, with a fair few crashes in his race run. Watch out for this kid, he’s a complete nutter.

Last down the hill was Dave Camus, big expectations after coming 2nd in the last Urban X, managed a 1.43 on his first run, securing 4th place, and smashing another 3 seconds off that to come away with a 1.40 and 4th place overall, only beaten by Jack Bower, Tom Kelly and Josh Lewis.

Overall, a good day- 2 podium spots for Team Camus, and 3 top 15 finishes for Team Sheffield Uni!

Thanks to Trevor and crew for organising it, and Filip Rhys for the photos.

The fleet of Adam ‘Get In My Van’ Dobson’s hire van, Arthurs executive Vauxhall hire car, Chris Batts’ ‘Battsmobile’, Danny’s pimp Mini, Sam Reeves Corsa and my trusty Yaris assembled in the Arts Tower car park at approximately 6pm. Typically, it had to start pissing it down whilst loading the van- it was definitely a tight squeeze with 26 peoples bikes and kit being shoved in the back.

After 3 hours on the road, we finally made it to Idwal Cottage youth hostel, nestled in the far depths of Snowdonia. The setting was spectacular, and the youth hostel well equipped and in a perfect place for riding bikes!

Once all assembled and unpacked, it was time for a special surprise from committee- autentic UOSCC Lads on Tour T shirts, with custom artwork and nicknames! A presentation ceremony was held in the lounge of the youth hostel, providing much hilarity for all. Personal highlights were Chris ‘Quim Fisher’ Davey and Robin ‘The Sex Pistol’ Groves.

Day 1- Saturday

UOSCC Snowdon from Duncan Philpott on Vimeo.

Up bright and early on Saturday, the mountainbikers headed for the summit of the largest mountain in Wales- Snowdon. The plan was to head up the Llanberis path up to the summit, and ride back down Rangers path and back across to Llanberis. After bikes being unloaded, the ascent started.

The ascent took around 2 and a half hours, with a few stops. Most people managed to ride a lot of the climb- an impressive feat, considering how technical it was. However, when we got to the top ¼ of the summit it just wasn’t rideable anymore, and also covered in a thick layer of fog, so everyone started to push to that elusive summit.

Once we were all at the top, due to the wind and cold, most people wanted to grab a quick bite to eat, admire the non existent view and hang it wild down the descent!

The top of the descent was super tech and quite quick- think we definitely scared and shocked a few walkers! After crossing the train lines, it opened out into a flat out peaks style descent, with head sized rocks littered everywhere. Even 2 minutes in, we had 3 punctures between 18 of us, really shows how knarly it was. This was only the start though- it quickly descended into loose, no real line, rocky sections with steep rollers- almost unrideable. Certainly some of the hardest and most technical riding I’ve ever done.

The best (or worst?) was yet to come- dubbed ‘the escape from Mordor’ a super technical, steep section that traversed the hill, claimed the derailleur hanger of many, and punctures came thick and fast. If you got down here without crashing you did well. I don’t think anyone got down clean, proof as to how knarly it was. Dobson took a heavy spill here, supermanning over the bars.

Fowles making it look easy

Dobby can fly!

After us all escaping from mordor, a flowy section and a push up a hill and through a bog, endless flowing singletrack awaited us. However smooth it was though, Ben ‘Flatden’ White managed 4 punctures, sealing his nickname for life.

Everyone did make it back to the car alive, even Jonny ‘Chorley FM’ with a flat, proving tubeless maybe isn’t the way forward on a flint ridden descent.

Day 2 – Coed Y Brenin

UOSCC Coed y Brenin from Duncan Philpott on Vimeo.

Another early start, this time to set off to the classic trail centre Coed Y Brenin. I’d heard mixed things about this place, so was unsure of what to expect. We decided on the black graded MBR trail, as it mixed in the best bits from the centres many routes.

It opened with a technical rocky climb, which sounds like hell but it just flowed so brilliantly. Such a well constructed bit of trail. Onto the fireroad and it just kept climbing and climbing- surely it had to end somewhere? And it did, and opened into an endless descent- first section was flowing singletrack corners, then into a mini A line, with jumps and rollers galore. So much fun in fact, we pushed back up for another run.

All the way round the trail was just flowing endlessly, and the descents put a grin on everyones face, with cheeky drops, tabletops, and berms thrown in everywhere. I highly recommend Coed, and if you ever get the chance to go, go.

And so the weekend was done, and everyone agreed a great success- Beer, Banter, Bikes, and Bunkbeds.

Sheffield University BUCS Hill Climb from Duncan Philpott on Vimeo.

It was a bright and sunny start to Saturday 29th October 2011, which was just as well. As the University of Sheffield Cycling Club were about to tear up the BUCS Hill Climb!! Road Captain Jerome Jacob was dropped off 2 hours earlier than everyone else (in the Batts-mobile) to set up the gazebo so he was particularly happy with this meteorological development. Oh, what an awesome spot we nabbed (see it in the picture below behind the start line)! Never one to shy from the event, UOSCC signed 19 racers up to the event (almost 1/10 of the overall field). The clubs positioning right by the start line was intimidating to say the least, as all the other Uni’s were forced to pass the feared Black and Gold as they went to take their starting position. Curbar Gap is between 5 and 15 minutes long dependent on ability and it hurts like hell. What a notoriously gruesome race it is.

So everyone met at the Arts Tower at 10:15 to leave at 10:30, with a very steady slow pace being set by The Albaya Express to ensure every KJ (provided by Leisure Lakes Bikes) would be used on the hill-of-pain and not on the way out. Needless to say, fresher Joe Drane was running late… As Uni arrived to their stronghold including all 7 turbos, it became apparent that it was their day to shine. All the riders had a 40-minute slot on the turbo before they raced, which ensured adequate warm up time was available to all – a real advantage in this game. Nothing a bit of turbo-skewer-banter could displace.

All 5 women and 14 men put in great efforts, however it was fresher Clem Berrill who really stole the show as he finished joint 5th overall with a resounding 6:02. Joe Drane made up for being late by being a great 6:48, only 7 seconds behind Captain Jerome ‘Va-JJ’ Jacob who got the Uni’s 2nd quickest time of the year with a beautiful 6:41. A time that should inspire UOSCC’s riders of the future as Jerome has knocked several minutes of his first attempt and almost a minute off of last years time.

Other impressive 6-minute riders included Adam Dunajko and John Albaya who were fighting it out for quickest ‘older persons’ time with Dunajko off form this year as he nailed a 6:28 last year. The Albaya Express has lost a lot of weight recently, thus improving his power to weight ratio brilliantly.

Jacob Storey was disappointed with his time (so is one to watch next year) although he beat newcomer Ed ‘Femidom’ Walker to the post by a whole second! Others in the 7 minute territory were Luke ‘Flash Gordon’ Bennett (just watch him pose), Rob ‘Scurvy’ Ricketts and Alex Longfellow whilst XC Captain Robin Groves just pipped the 8 minute mark – a great improvement on last years time. Zach Smith did well to get a 7:39 after recently being involved in a collision with a car, having tonsillitis and for racing on his heavier winter bike after the car incident wrote off his beloved machine.

Hopefully by next year Will ‘Hench’ Swain will have proper cycling shoes after riding the race in everyday trainers and still nabbing a cheeky 8:36. Perhaps the most improved rider though, goes to 30 year old Chris Neal who gave up smoking and lost a lot of weight to smash the 10 minute mark by an incredible 43 seconds! It just goes to show what some decent hill reps and correct training can do. A truly epic day by the Mens team from the University of Sheffield where the winning time of the day was 5:37 set by Leeds’ Henry King who was seeded first after coming second by only 2 seconds last year.

Alice Miller followed a rather unconventional training plan, of riding mainly indoors, prior to the race this year. However, it can be said to have worked as she nabbed 13th out of the 33 women who entered with 8:43. The other female riders: Lucy Harris, Nicky Shaw and Hannah Beezer did well to finish mid-table with times in the 9 minute zone and Zoe Smart took a day off of the court to come and ride the lactic acid inferno.

Sheffield Hallam were embarrassingly bad on the day with both Sheffield 1st’s and Sheffield 2nd’s mens absolutely wiping the floor with the dirty Hallam scum in the team rankings. A BUCS point was gained from both UOSCC’s Men and Women’s teams as both secured 8th overall out of the 38 and 13 teams entered overall, respectively.

Perhaps the highlight of the day though was having the marshalls of the day: Andrew Cater, Dave Camus and Danny Whitehead, along with Dave’s brother dressed as a Santa running alongside every single Uni rider at the top to ensure there was no lactic tolerance left once the line was crossed and that no seconds were lost. EPIC, it was!

However the day wasn’t over yet. As after the results and a free pint in the landmark The Bridge Inn, the team headed home to quickly shower and get looking pretty, before heading up to the Rajput Indian in Crookesmoor. The food was delicious and the banter ripe, where we packed the restaurant full of Sheffield’s hottest young cycling talent. Had half the team not gotten food poisoning and the staff been quite so obnoxious it would have been perfect, however the company was excellent and a speech was made by Jerome who is quoted as saying “What an emotional day we’ve had together, and what a bright future this club holds”.

Naturally, this led to a non-student-pub bar crawl taking place after the curry, where the lads (including ‘Powerhouse’ Simon Powderham) tore up the disco at The Springvale, were given quad vods for the price of doubles at The Closed Shop, sang karaoke including ‘Living la vida lycra’ with Stevie G at The Hadfield and got started on in the infamous outlaw establishment known as… The Star & Garter. Wow, what a place.

Then Bar One was sieged upon before the lycra-lovers headed on up to Scary Tarts, where shenanigan after shenanigan occurred. Epic, epic, epic. UOSCC rule the roost!

It’s worth noting Uni were without 2 of their strongmen this weekend; Tom Stewart and Jamie Caldwell and so who know’s what might have happened. Yet perhaps the most exciting fact is the prospect of Clem Berrill, Joe Drane, Luke Bennett, Jacob ‘LADder’ Storey, Ed Walker and Rob Ricketts all getting 6 minute times next year with top 10 places a real possibility and if Berrill doesn’t win it next year or the one after, I’ll eat my casquette.

(A big thank you to Chris Batts for his endless driving, to Duncan Philpott for filming the event and to photographers Andy Cater and Andy Frost for capturing the day).

. (Written by Jerome Jacob)

5= Clem Berrill 6:02
39 Jerome Jacob 6:41
48 Joe Drane 6:48
53 Adam Dunajko 6:51
57 John Albaya 6:57
65 Jacob Storey 7:05
66 Ed Walker 7:06
76 Luke Bennett 7:10
103 Zach Smith 7:39
108 Rob Ricketts 7:43
111 Alex Longfellow 7:55
113 Robin Groves 7:59
128 Will Swain 8:36
135 Chris Neal 9:17

13 Alice Miller 8:43
17 Lucy Harris 9:02
20 Nicky Shaw 9:05
23 Hannah Beezer 9:17
32 Zoe Smart 11:56

This weeks outing was held on the questionably named Vajazzle, but not as you local boys know it. Due to some people not being a massive fan of the bottom section (mainly the course tapers Dave Camus and Steve Hardcastle) a ‘Death Section’ was taped, which involved a very off camber corner that led into the bottom section of NEMBA.

Being the all inclusive club that we are, locals boys were allowed to race for a minuscule fee of a quid, bargain. This prompted some real fast riders such as Callum ‘CallumTPhotography’ Biggin, SPS rider Freddie Oxley, and Polish National Champion Josh Mezza to come out of the Wharncliffe woodwork. Some kid rippers turned up too, with the troublesome twins Oscar and Jake Monk making an appearance.

After an hour or so of practice, racing got underway with the help of some synchronised stopwatches, couple of phones and a long line of bikes in start order.

Wharny vajazle race run 2 on pinkbike.com

Old man Steve Hardcastle got proceedings going with a not-so-old-man time of just over 50 seconds, putting the yewths in their place. Josh Mezza was looking rapid all practice, even though he hasn’t ridden his bike much in the last few weeks/months, and some rivalry was brewing between him and favourite Freddie Oxley. They both put down sub 47second runs, leading the way in the first heat. Uni’s fastest rider of the day Andrew Fowles tried to keep up, but just fell short with a fastest time of 48 seconds.

In the hardtail category, Ruari ‘Bar Drag’ Hallam was doing his thing and looking super smooth, and took the win as expected. Rob Newman in the 456 put in a solid 53 second run, but on him second run had a nasty crash and ended up with a lump on his rib and had an early bath. Scott Anderson decided to ride in a dress after ripping his shorts, and christened them by going heavily over the bars down the death section, in definitely the most impressive crash of the day.

At the end of the day, the top 3 Riders went Freddie Oxley, Josh Mieszczak, Andy Fowles.

I want to thank Callum Biggin for the video edit and photos, and to everyone for turning up and racing- was such a good day and everything went so smoothly apart from a few crashes. Keep your internets locked to www.weridebikes.co.uk for information on upcoming ghetto races…

The First of the ghetto races is upon us, and will be held on the loose/tight/steep track Vajazzle at Wharncliffe. Don’t let this put you off though, it’ll be a cracker!

Meet at the arts tower 10am sharp and we’ll ride out to Wharncliffe. Should be a good day of racing and banter. From past experience no-one takes it super serious, it’s just a bit of a laugh-

Although a serious undertone is that we have to have a top 3 seeded riders for BUCS- do not worry too much though, this literally just decides who goes down the hill first on the BUCS weekend!

Max entry 30 people, otherwise we’ll never get everyone down the track before the light goes.

If you’ve not ridden the track before, heres a cheeky chestcam of it

Look forward to a good turnout for this!

See you then…

Dave Camus (Captain)

NB. Open to Non- UoSCC members, although a fee of a 1 quid will be imposed.

FACEBOOK EVENT HERE

https://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=115067375268438

We met on Monday night in front of the Edge at Endcliffe student village, and made our way down to a secluded spot in the nearby Endcliffe Park. Poles were set out and any lights we could get our hands on were attached to them, and slideways action commenced!

After a hefty practice session, the light started to fade and we knew it was time to race- the woods were dimly lit with red lights like a Dutch backstreet, and the smell of friendly competition was in the air. Seeding runs were first, to find the top 16 riders to go through to the knockouts, with Sam Reeve our resident timing cripple overseeing proceedings.

Harry Tate went fastest in seeding, looking so smooth through the poles, whereas favourite old boys Ruari Hallam and Andy Fowles both crashed in seeding and only just making the cut for top 16. Duncan ‘Drunkan Sexpott’ Philpott made the cut without a chain, having sheared his rear mech into 2 pieces riding to the woods.

Knockouts rolled around and there were 16 riders all eager to to get to the final- Andy Fowles and Ruari ‘Bardrag’ Hallam ended up being pitted against each other in the quarters, with Fowles narrowly finding a pass to the semis, with some debating about timing issues…

Battle of the flatmates in the quarters, and with a heated rivalry between these boys, the race between Dave Camus and Danny Whitehead was always going to be a cracker- with Danny slipping a pedal in the second race Dave took the win easily to face Andy Fowles in the semis

Ross Phelps had a storming quarter against Adam Dobson  and narrowly took it to get to the semis. Visiting High Peak Club member Matt Orford had a storming 1st round and quarter to go through to the semis to take on Phelps .

Semis-

Andy Fowles and Dave Camus got pitted together in the semi final, and it was always going to be close, especially with the light completely gone – there were only milliseconds in it, but Dave went through and onto the final.

Ross Phelps vs Matt ‘HPC’ Orford was the battle of the 456′s in the semi, it was very close but UOSCC’s Ross Phelps just couldn’t hold it and Matt went through onto the final.

FINAL

The kind of  Final dreams are made of- The HPC Biking Co-ordinator against UOSCC’s Captain Dave Camus. After a lot of loose turns and wild lines, Dave made the cut in both rounds, did UOSCC proud and took the win.

UoSCC Endcliffe Night Dual Slalom on pinkbike.com

Edit by Arthur Kershaw

Just to say a thanks to everyone that turned up, I hope you all enjoyed yourselves, and here’s to more Ghetto Races!

UOSCC

Practise from 5.30pm to 6.30ish, racing from 6.30

We’ll do seeding runs then top 16 go through to race knockouts (Standard TiS format)

Hopefully we can make the course pretty even so there will be no ‘faster track’ so we don’t have to do 2 races per round.

Should be Sick- if you don’t want to race come to spectate/heckle!

See you then

UoSCC

We are committed to arranging regular rides for each and every one of our members; locally in the Peak District and further a field to wildly exotic places such as Wales and Scotland. For more information see the Club Page.

Join our Facebook groups (Linked on the right) and read our blog posts for up to date information on the clubs activities; rides, trips, races, socials and events.

Our standard riding times are 1:30 Wednesday (All Disciplines), 10:00 Saturday (Road), 10:00 Sunday(XC + Downhill). Usually meeting at the arts tower.