Please note, all current members and partners are invited to the above event at the Causeway Hotel on Thursday 22nd February 2024, commencing 19:00.
Please see attached the VTTA 2024 Year Book and Open Events.
The dates for the Croft 2024 Summer ‘Come & Try’ 10 Mile Time Trial series have been announced. This is an excellent series of Time Trials on a traffic free course for all abilities and can be ridden on any type of bicycle. If you want to test your speed over 10 miles, this is one of the best events to come and try it. If you would like more information or require help with getting to an event, please let us know.
Please find below the 2023 Event & Competition Booklet, the 2023 District Courses Booklet and the latest CTT Bulletin including some new events!
2023 Event & Competition Booklet 11 Jan 2023
Please note: John Hubbard funeral service will be on February 10th at 11am at St Luke’s.
Internment at West View Cemetery afterwards in West Rugby club.
There will be a collection box in aid of Cancer research and Macmillan nursing and the club will be giving a donation in John’s memory.
John was well known to Stockton Wheelers CC when he was a member for a lot of years.
Membership Status
This year we have 30 active members, 10 Social members, 4 Life members and 1 second claim member. Some members prefer to just ride their bike alone, some members enjoy cycling in our Sunday club ride and we also have some members who like to race in Time Trials. This year we have a range of events planned to suit everyone and there is also the HCC Strava Leaderboard to help you get the miles in. Therefore, we would like to thank everyone who has renewed their subs for 2023 and hope you all have a good year. Enjoy your cycling and stay safe and follow the club guidelines at http://hartlepool-cycleclub.org/?page_id=242
Sunday Ride Group
The club still holds regular Sunday morning group rides at 9am from the Golden Lion. These range from 40 to 50 miles at a steady 14-15mph with a cafe stop. The Sunday ride is generally a steady sociable and enjoyable ride with fellow club members where nobody is left behind and all riders are looked after and safety is paramount. The Sunday ride is usually advertised on the club Strava & Facebook pages on a Friday. New members are very welcome to join us and we would love to see more cyclists join in on our ever popular group rides in 2023.
Club Hosted Events
This year the club will be hosting the following Open Time Trial events on the A19 from Crathorne. These are official CTT approved course events held and supported by HCC. Entries are via the CTT website and competed by cyclists from many clubs.
21st May – The Hartlepool CC 10 Mile Open Time Trial event.
25th June – The Hartlepool CC 25 Mile Open Time Trial event.
Please let the club know if you would like to ride or help marshall an event. Event entries will be open in a few weeks time. Transport and Refreshments provided if required for marshalling.
This year we are not hosting a 50 Mile Open TT due to the number of marshalls required. Therefore, hosting just the 2 events we hope would allow members to better support the club. We would also like to thank all our amazing marshalls, timekeepers and organisers for all last years events, including the hosting of the National 50 Mile Open TT event, which was a big event and a great success!
Club Championship Events
This year the club will continue to hold a range of Club Championship events. These are set events that HCC members can compete in to win cups/trophies and plaques. Please see http://hartlepool-cycleclub.org/?page_id=1800 for all last years winners. The 2023 events will be added to the club website in a few weeks time. But these will include the following….
10 Mile TT, 25 Mile TT, Spoco 23 Mile TT and a Hill Climb TT.
There is no 50 Mile TT club Championship event this year as the club have decided to streamline the events.
Weekly Time Trial League
This year we have decided to continue our popular weekly Time Trial League held on the Seal Sands road on Wednesday nights starting in May.
This is a weekly timed 10 Mile time trial from Billingham Country Park to the Hartlepool Power Station and back, which is available for anyone to enter including non members. Entry is on the night and club members who take part are awarded points for their position each week and the person with the most points out of so many qualifying events wins the HCC 2023 League TT plaque. Last year this was won by Lee Morley. The event is a club held event and is designed to improve your speed.
Non Competitive Events/Rides
Club members also regularly look forward to riding the following events and arrange meet ups to ride them together.
May 14th – The Stokesley Charity Ride – this is a 30 Mile ride starting and finishing at Stokesley Town Hall. This is a great non competitive event with riders of all abilities riding for charity. On it’s 25th anniversary and final reported ride, this is likely to be a good one!
TBC – The club 100 in 8 event – this is a club organised ride of 100 miles which must be completed in under 8 hours.
TBC July – The Stockton Sportive – always a good ride with varying distances and has a huge turnout every year.
TBC Oct – A Weekend of Cycling in Menorca – some club members arrange a weekend of cycling in Spain.
Other Events
Croft 10 Mile Time Trials – Often a series of 6 ‘come and try it’ events over the summer round the Croft Motor Circuit track. These are well organised traffic free time trials open to all abilities and you can enter on the night. Some of our members love this event!
Subs for 2023
I would like to remind all members that annual subs are now due for the 2023 season. The club have decided to keep the fee to £10 to make this affordable for all. Although we would still highly recommend signing up to British Cycling for third party insurance purposes.
To renew your subs for 2023, please pay £10 to Hartlepool Cycling Club, Sort No 05-09-75, Account Number 42357332. Please ensure you add your name so that we know who has paid.
To join Hartlepool Cycling Club, please complete the form on our website at http://hartlepool-cycleclub.org/?page_id=101 and pay the relevant fee as above.
Bereavements
In 2022 the club witnessed the passing of three former well known and respected club members:-
Norman Bielby who was heavily involved in the timekeeping of club events for many years.
Ken Bainbridge who was a life member and joined the club in the 1940s was a well known member of the club and his sister Dot was also a member of the club. Her husband Lewis Hall is still a life member of the club.
Norman Taylor – who was a well known club member in the 1950s/60s who enjoyed training with the club, but never raced.
The club would like to thank you, you will not be forgotten and hope you all rest in peace.
This Sunday was another good weather day for cycling, even though the autumn weather is now upon us. It was an even better day as a ‘gaggle’ of riders (6) turned out at the Golden Lion for the 9am start – Sean, Steve A, Matt, Steve S, Csaba and the welcome return of Peter after his 3 weeks of blissful holidays (although he might say otherwise). This was a good turn out for the club and nicely manageable. With nice weather and a good turnout, the group decided to head for a slightly longer ride to Girsby.
The route took the group up Elwick Rise and round Dalton Piercy, towards Greatham Back Lane and then Cowpen Lane to Yarm Road. The route continued to Kirklevington and Crathorne before arriving at the Rusty Bike cafe in Swainby. A slight headwind all the way there and an unusually busy period with traffic past Stockton and along Yarm Road gave the group a nice appetite when they arrived at the cafe and Sean had already placed his order before he dismounted the bike.
The standard coffees and scones were consumed with the
luxury of sitting inside the cafe, which is usually very busy.
Steve S was particularly impressed with the cappucinos…
After re-fuelling, the group were keen to get back (in some cases too keen). They headed west towards East Rownton and Appleton Wiske and Horsby before going past Girsby, then Neasham and then towards Middleton St George. With the wind on their back, the pace picked up as they headed along past Long Newton, before reaching Norton, Wolviston and Newton Bewley where Sean decided to Time Trial the rest of the way home in an effort to get home in time before Asda closed. The rest of the group continued along the black path along Catcote Road and said their goodbyes for another fantastic days cycling.
The distance was 65-70 miles at 14-15mph. Great rides by everyone with each member looking after each other and also putting in the odd efforts up climbs. Well done to all!
There was no racing news this week as the racing season is almost over. Although please find below the 2022 Hartlepool CC Championship Trophy Winners. The winners will be awarded their respective cups/trophies at the Annual Social night in February 2023. Well done to all who took part in another successful year of racing.
This week for the 2nd week running, The Thirlwind claimed the top spot in the general classification with 175.4 miles, Lee Morley was 2nd with 150.2 miles and Max Headroom was 3rd with 140.8 miles.
Max Headroom took his first King Of The Mountains polka dot jersey with 6,568 ft of climbing. The biggest single ride of the week was by Trevor Jones with 86.0 miles.
This week 3 riders joined the 100 mile club for the week – The Thirlwind, Lee Morley and Max Headroom. Well done all!
This week only 14 riders put miles on the board out of 49 Strava HCC members. Well done to everyone! Achievements to note, well done on a great week of cycling for Max Headroom with 3rd place and highest elevation, also to Csaba Nadas for his longest ride to date of 63.7 miles and well done to everyone else who managed to get on the bike. But however you add the miles in, enjoy your cycling!
Summerhill Cycle Track
Saturday 15th October will see the Grand opening of the Summerhill Cycle track. A range of activities is planned from 9.45am, with the official opening at 10am.
The cycle track is a 750m length paved track and is located just off Catcote Road in Hartlepool at the top of Summerhill Lane. The track will offer a range of activities but will also be open to the general public at set times. Please see the brochure attached and as below for more information on the planned activities and times on the day.
