This week:
- A Blast from the Past
- Coming Up
- Racing Round up
- Club Hill Climb
- National Hill Climb Championship
- Danny Hart Talk
- Youth Training/Racing Calendar
A Blast from the Past
This week we open with a look back to the good old days when you could go out on your bike without fear of a 40 tonne truck cutting you up. The photo above (no, not taken at the latest committee meeting!) was received by the club from Sue Andrews, née Lowton. She writes:
The photograph… ‘was in my grandfather’s possessions when he died in 1987. Apparently the photo was taken in Ide. The chap on the tricycle is Robert Lowton (1832-1915), who was a blacksmith in Ide and Dunchideok. He was my great great grandfather.
Penny-farthings were, I think, developed around 1870, making Robert at least 38 in the photo. I’m astonished that penny-farthing would have been owned by the likes of blacksmiths in rural Devon so soon after their development. Do you know of others at that time? I have also wondered if the blacksmiths might have made their own?
I appreciate I’m asking very niche questions. My main hope is that some in your club may find the photo, taken locally, interesting. My branch of the Lowton family moved from Devon on the late 19th century. I moved to the county (Plymouth, Exeter and now the South Hams) in the 1990s.’
Club Chair, Ian Hennessy, has uncovered an advert dated to 1881 for a tricycle similar to that in the photo.
If any one has any more information that we can feedback to Sue please do get in touch.
Coming Up:
27 September – SWCX League Round 2 – Scorrier House, Redruth, TR16 5AW (On the day entry available)
3 October – SWCX League Round 3 – Saltash School, Saltash School, Wearde Road, Saltash, PL12 4AY (SWCX 2026/27 Round 3 Events – British Cycling)
18 October – EWCC Hill Climb, Stoke Hill
25 October – National Hill Climb Championship (https://www.cyclingtimetrials.org.uk/events/42188-rttc-national-hill-climb-championship) See below
Looking Forward:
- 15 November – EWCC Cyclo Cross, Escot Park
- 28 November – Sarah’s ‘Breakfast in Bampton’ Audax Ride
Racing Round Up
The road racing season might be coming to an end but EWCC riders have been getting out on to the start line.
Finlay Webb took the ferry to Brittany to race at a UCI sanctioned event:
Finlay and Joe Monk also flew the club colours on the Mendip Hill on Sunday 19th September.
Club Hill Climb
Still plenty of time to get training for the club Hill Climb on the 18th October.
Get those entries in now for what will be a fun and exhausting, but short, effort….
Entries are open now at CTT | Exeter Wheelers – Stoke Hill – Hill Climb 2026
National Hill Climb Championship
Closing date for entries 6 October…….
Danny Hart Talk
For those interested in all things off road, especially where gravity is involved, this talk at the Barnfield Theatre on Monday 16 November will be of interest.
Danny Hart is one of Downhill Mountain Biking’s racing elite; 2x World Champion, Red Bull Hardline winner, multiple National Championships winner and 2x World Cup overall silver medal winner, the ‘Redcar Rocket’ has secured his place in mountain biking history, including an iconic first World Championship winning run that is still legendary today.
In ‘Won’t Sit Down’, Danny will bring his dry wit and cool composure to take audiences on a journey through his life and impressive racing career and give a glimpse behind the scenes of what becoming a World Champion really takes.
Youth Training/Racing Calendar
If you have children (up to 16) who are interested in racing a new website has been developed that lists all activities, training days and racing events, where children and youth categories are available.
This includes the Haldon Forest Rides that EWCC run in partnership with MDCC
It could be a really useful resource.