A Tale of Two Chairs Part One

The time has come for me to give up the role of chair of WVCC and hand over to someone with fresh, new ideas. Ian Parker was elected as the club chair at the AGM on Monday 2nd November and in part 2 of this post, you can hear what he has to say. Below is the “speech” I gave at the AGM but I must now add thanks for the lovely painting, called Starting Out,  that is already hanging in pride of place in my hall. 

Judith Rout

 

 

Thank You Welland Valley Cycling Club

I do not have a background in sport of any description. I hated PE and all games and sport at school and that didn’t change as I got older Fortunately for me, my dad taught me to ride when I was a small child, and I had a bike for most of my life – I just never ever rode it.

On 23^rd March 2020, the first day of lockdown, I dug out my bike from the garage, wiped off the layers of dust and muck and ventured out for a ride. I rode to the end of Welham Lane and back, (less than 10km) and when I got off the bike, my legs were like jelly and it was genuinely hard to walk. But I felt exhilarated!  I carried on riding pretty well every day. It was gorgeous weather and there was no traffic – remember that spring?

By April 2021, I’d lost 20kg (3 stone) and got way fitter than I’d ever been in my life. I was loving cycling. I’d bought a Liv road bike and had another bike on order. I wanted to start cycling with other people. I joined WVCC. I was very apprehensive. I studied the website carefully; would I be able to keep up? Would everyone think I was rubbish?  I took the plunge and on Sunday 18^th April joined the “steady” club run group.

I needn’t have worried; I was made very welcome. Ray was so encouraging, Jane and Mark made me feel as if I was part of the group and Dave Birch was simply inspiring and even congratulated me on how well I was doing.

Well, that was it, I was part of the Welland Valley family and Io and behold by the end of 2022 I was the chair of the club, the first female in that role. I’d been cycling for less than 2 years and knew very little about the sport. But I was and am surrounded by those who have considerable expertise. They have run the club while I’ve stood back, watched and learnt. One of the best things about WVCC is the willingness of its members to share their knowledge and support one another.

What has Welland Valley done for me?

• I’ve learnt some off-road skills at mud-larks and attempted to ride the Whizz Kids cyclocross course. I don’t think I’ll ever be racing cyclocross but I enjoy marshalling the races because I can exclaim about the mud without having to experience it first-hand.
• I’ve raced at Bruntingthorpe and Mallory. That’s enough racing to know that I’m not a racer! But I have presented prizes and marshalled at plenty of road races. I’ll never forget the pirate race but I enjoy them all of them.
• I’ve learnt a lot about time trialling and I’ve taken part in a few. A few is enough for me I think! But I’ve also trained as a timekeeper and I’m looking forward to doing more of that on lovely summer evenings.
• I’ve ridden the Derby velodrome twice. That was enough to establish that track racing is not my strength, but I just loved whooping down from the top of the bank – talk about exhilarating!
• I’ve come to understand that riding a mountain bike without falling off is something of a challenge for me. But I’ve decided that I must watch a mountain bike race and I’ll be signing up to marshal at the FNSS next summer.
• I’ve become an accredited marshal qualified to stop traffic and help to run cycle races safely. I really enjoy that job – it’s particularly thrilling when you feel the peloton fly past behind you rather than see them.
• I’ve ridden a good number of wonderful club sportives and even got Steve, my husband to join me on some of them. If you know Steve, you’ll know that’s no small achievement.
• I have ridden and led so many club rides that I’ve completely lost count. However, I’ve never actually been lost.
• I have welcomed many, many new members into the club and have been delighted to watch them ride from strength to strength and leave me way behind. That has given me real pleasure.
• I’ve run Breeze rides to encourage women into cycling. I love these rides! Watching others catch the cycling bug, gain confidence and realise just how much they can do is wonderful. It’s great that such a good number have gone on to join Welland Valley too.
• I’ve made some very good friends who mean a huge amount to me. If I start saying any more about this, you’ll never shut me up, so I’ll simply say that I feel incredibly lucky.

In summary, I’m still a pretty rubbish cyclist. I’m probably the slowest rider in the club and definitely the member most likely to fall off their bike. But neither of those things will stop me cycling and or wanting to support other cyclists. Cycling has genuinely changed my life. I’ve ridden nearly 90 000 km since 2020 and thanks to WVCC I plan to keep riding on conventional bikes, move on to e-bikes when the time comes and keep pedalling for as long as possible. And when eventually I can’t ride, I hope I’ll still be able to be part of the cycling community, helping others to discover and enjoy cycling and the club that has given me so much.

Next year is the club’s centenary year.  I dare to think that the original members would be pleased to see what the club is doing today. I’m sure they would be delighted to see such a strong club with so many members, so many different activities and such a supportive and encouraging spirit.  I hope they would be pleased to know that the club they established a hundred years ago is still thriving and ready to embark on its second century.

The person leading that will be Ian Parker I’ve ridden with Ian enough to know he’s a far, far better cyclist than me, although admittedly, that isn’t a particularly high bar.  More importantly, he’s got the skills and attributes needed by a good leader. Being chair of Welland Valley Cycling Club has been an unexpected privilege for me and I wish Ian as much pleasure, encouragement and fulfilment in the role as I’ve had. I know that he will have the full support of the membership as we move into 2027 and that will be more than enough to keep us all pedalling