Hello Members,
you will have noticed that after a promising start the monthly Exeter Wheelers Monthly Newsletters died a death: there have been none since the Spring. This was due to the person creating them having to, unfortunately, step down from club duties as a result of circumstances beyond their own control.
We will, however, endeavour to at least get the occasional news bulletin out but they probably won’t be as regular.
This month – ESCOT CYCLO-CROSS !! This is the club’s BIG annual event, attracting a large field of the south-west’s CX’ers of all age categories. Whilst the top riders are . . . top riders, and enjoy the fruits of their athletic prowess, CX racing is just plain good fun regardless of your placing in the results table. If you’ve never done it before, get some spuddly tyres on Any Old Bike and turn up – you’ll enjoy the demands on your fitness and bike-handling ! And the mud. And the beer (see further below). Plenty more info over at https://swcx.org/wordpress/ and plenty of photos from previous rounds to inspire you at https://www.facebook.com/swcx.org/. and don’t forget that Exeter Wheelers CC members can RIDE FOR FREE – in the words of our fantastic Jon Hare “Great fun event, just pop me your BC number and DOB !!” You can find Jon’s email address on the race entry page on BC.
As our largest event we obviously need club personnel to run the event, and as things stand we are SHORT OF VOLUNTEERS especially on the Sunday, and especially for the sign-on table – this is where riders pick up their race numbers, sign their names, etc. It’s nothing very difficult – you’ll be shown what to do and there will be others with experience on hand to answer any queries. PLEASE PLEASE GET IN TOUCH IF YOU CAN HELP – YOU WILL GET FREE BEER AFTER COURTESY OF EXETER BREWERY ! As will all volunteers. And EWCC riders taking part. Exeter Brewery are also kindly providing the adult prizes for the races, bless their cotton sockses.
If you can’t manage the Sunday, then Saturday will be course set-up day, and the more people we have the quicker it will be to peg out all the many stakes, posts etc and course tape. Please get in touch via
YOUR CLUB NEEDS YOU !
On the subject of which, and this is very very very important, it’s the Exeter Wheelers AGM next Monday, 7.30pm at upstairs at The Cuckoo Bar in Paris Street. Committee members will be present downstairs from 7pm for informal chat etc. WE URGE YOU TO READ AND TAKE NOTE OF THE WORDS IN THE INVITE THAT WENT OUT to club members on the 21st of October (check your inbox) – the club is suffering nothing less than an existential crisis and unless something changes then it will be a case of R.I.P. Exeter Wheelers CC after just over 100 years of history. Anyone joining the committee will not be dropped in at the deep end – whilst we continue to exist we are a committed but caring club.
On a lighter note in these not very light times we have a neat CLUB VIDEO – you may have seen it already. Please don’t sue us if you see yourself in it and we haven’t asked your permission . . . we can’t afford to pay you.
It is with sadness that we tell you that ‘he’s one of our own’ Andrew Feather, is not National Hill Climb Champion 2025. The ex-Exeter Wheeler was (an excellent) Guest of Honour at our Annual Awards Night and Social earlier this year. Andrew did at least finish Top Veteran in the National Hill Climb at the end of October, but was third overall. He was of course much in the news after his ‘beating’ of a Mr. Pogačar on a long long climb in Slovenia recently, and even The Times newspaper featured a write-up, but as The Times doesn’t allow non-subscribers to view their web pages then here’s one you can read (and unlike a Cycling Weekly web page doesn’t bombard you with adverts and videos etc) https://www.bikeradar.com/news/pogacar-beaten-by-andrew-feather
Best wishes from your cycling club. Which needs your help.