A tribute to Lee
Thank you to Daryl Collis and Paul White for putting together this piece about Lee James’ cycling story with Welland Valley. A friend and club member, Lee will be sorely missed. Funeral details will be posted when known.
Lee first joined Welland Valley ANC back in the late 90’s, riding with work mates from Tungstone Batteries and he soon took up time trailing and road racing. In April 1st in 2000 he rode his first road race, the NCRA 30-mile handicap race, and achieved 5th overall. He went on to do the Jack Granger and Jim Watts Road Races in that same year. On the 30th of August 2000 he set his 10-mile PB of 22:35 on the 45RC course at Western Favell
His best 25-mile TT was on October 14th 2000, where he achieved 1:00.18, only six minutes behind winner Ian Cammish at 54:00. Also in 2000 he took on the Welland Valley trip to Snowdon with Mick Shaw, Joe Barlow, Guy McLaughlan and Paul White.
After his short spell racing, he got involved in mountain biking, riding with the Harborough Friday night group. That led to competing in the mountain bike orienteering series.
Lee re-joined Welland Valley in 2017 after several years away from cycling, during which time he swapped two wheels for four legs, spending several years riding horses in local events.
Since 2017 he spent a lot of time rebuilding his cycling fitness, and rode mainly for pleasure, rather than as a competitor. He was a regular on the Sunday morning club rides and when time permitted the Friday rides too.
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