News 2006

Read all about it!

All the latest about the doings and dealings of the Old Ports' month by month through the year.

The latest news is always at the top.

"Power to all our friends......"

April 2006

Gary Bryant finds the Crawley wheelers Good Friday 41 a bit too far! Report

Bashers under the hour early this year

Bashers begins to show some for m in the Redmon CC 25 on April 9th Report here

March 2006

Gary and Bashers start the Time Trial season in Fine Fettle!

See all the early season reports here

We celebrate our 'El Presidentes' Diamond jubilee

On 25th March we gathered to celebrate Dons 60 years with the club. He forever be our 'El Presidente' Report here

February 2006

Dave Sinclair

It is with great sadness that we report the death of Dave Sinclair.

David passed away on February 15th having suffered a heart attack in
the early hours. This was totally unexpected as his family all considered
David to be the fittest of them.  There was a funeral service at Lambeth crematorium
which was attended by many of Davids cycling friends including Old Portlians CC members.


Oz has some special memories of Dave and has written a moving account.  Read it here

January 2006

El Presidente's New Year Message

When I think of all the wonderful people in the Old Ports, and in the cycling world in general, of whom it has been a privilege for me to have known during my lifetime, it quite amazes me. Yet, but for a quick decision or chance encounter, I might have joined a different club or even moved to another area but that would have been less likely in my early days.

If our incredible sport had never been invented, I cannot imagine any other activity even remotely taking its place. Can you?

Apart from the competitive side of it , which I personally enjoyed (?) for more than 50 years, the sheer joy of being astride a bike, a continuous feeling of well being that emanates from cycling regularly and the fact that you can even socialise when riding, providing you carefully choose someone slower to ride with(!)' means, as we all know instinctively, that for people like us , it is the best there is.

Anyway, all I am trying to say is that I am so very pleased and proud that I joined the Old Ports in 1946 and that most of the existing members at the time stayed (despite my joining) and, even more relevant , that all you lot eventually joined and ensured that it remained the great club we still are today.

Here's wishing you all a very happy and fruitful New Year and that you will all be able to ride your bikes as often as possible throughout the year!

El Presidente

Don

Preview Our new Bulletin Board

Fatherjac has been working very hard on a project to provide the Old Ports with a Bulletin board to replace the Yahoo email group. This can be accessed directly from this website and should provide a much better discussion and information forum for all club matters. You will need to register. Why not take a sneak preview click Here!!

Planning ahead:

Reliability Rides 2006

It will soon be time for the traditional Reliability ride season. The Old Ports event is on 12th February 2006. For the dates and details of all the Kent reliability ride click here

Adventure 2006 Get Marmottized!

Many of us who did the RAID in the Pyrenees last year have been scratching our heads and wondering what we might do in 2006. All that scratching has finally paid off and we proudly announce that we will be organising a trip of about 4 or 5 days to the Alps to ride, a Cyclo Sportif event, called La Marmotte.

175 Km of Alpine' heaven' , La Marmotte takes in some gentle' undulating' byways including the Galibier and Alpe D'Huez !! This has been the summer training ground of he Old Ports for many years and so is particularly apt as our choice of adventure location. I have started an information page which will be updated as and when we crystalise our planning. See here

December 2005

The Old Ports Christmas activities

Roll up! Roll up! for the Chrismas Party

Our Christmas party will be held at our Clubnight on the 12th December this year Details Here

Post Christmas Clubrun Tuesday 27th December

Traditional easy ride form bottom Corkscrew Hill, West Wickham to the Polhill Arms where sandwiches and beer by a roaring log fire. Start 10:15 form Corkscrew. Details here

November

Gary Bryant riding well in the London Cyclo Cross League

Gary is seen here doing his thing at Eastway . Read all about it here

Simon Steel learns road racing Down-under

Simon Steel our main weapon against Bashers in recent years, went to Australia at the beginning of the year. Not one to let the grass grow under his feet, he has partaken in a few Circuit races with the local club 'Randwick Botany CC'. He has done very very well! as the other OZ might say. Read his reports here

Gary Bryant storms home to win the Old Ports club Hillclimb by a big margin.

A great turnout of Old Ports on a very rough day led to a very exciting competition where Gary turned in a blistering performance to a very deserved win.

In our traditional downhill freewheeling event Clive Jeffery took the honours yet again. What is his secret one wonders?

Report from Dangerous Dave here

October

2 Hill climbs in one day!! for Owen and the Old 'Col De Ports'

Owen Brolly was the best Old Port as our boys put in a great show at the Catford and then the Bec Hill Climbs. Full results and reports here

End of Season De-training ride to Eastbourne

Sheena Gillard and Oz report on the Eastbourne ride. Read about all the goings on and frolics over this eventful weekend click here

September

Old Ports race the Duo Normand in France

You should have seen us we were a sight for sore eyes!! see Ozzies bizarre story of the event. Twas indeed a laff! Click here

Bashers last ride of the season bags 4th place in the ECCA 25 mile TT Championships see report here

August

Gary Bryant third overall in Beastway MTB Series.

Gary rode consistently well in the 11 race series to take third place overall in the masters category. Report here

Brighton Bash 2005 - a great day out in the sunshine!

This years ride to Brighton and back was held in wonderful sunny balmy weather and was a great success. Everyone had a great time. The photo below shows the number of Old Ports who made it to the Roedean Cafe in Brighton. Read Bashers report with pictures here

Bashers does Gravesend 25: sub-hour for first time.

See Here for report

Sean Yates takes the Old Ports Open 10 Saturday 6th August

Sean Yates stormed the Old Ports Open 10 mile Time Trial at over 30mph!! Report here

July

July Time Trial reports

Bashers takes the 50 and 100 mile Championships again!!

Bashers dominated the July Time trial scene once again taking both the Club 50 and 100mile Time Trial Championships. Full reports of July TT's here here

June

Old Ports Tour de Pyrenees

From Hendaye on the Atlantic coast of France to Cerbere on the Mediteranean 12 Old Ports traversed the Pyrenees taking in some of the most famous climbs such as the Cols of the Tourmalet and the Aubisque. Read the reports of this exciting RAID trek here

In the Atlantic at Hendaye some Old Ports get ready for the adventure ahead

Grahame Fife's Pyrenean RAID Diary click here

June Time trial reports

See how the Testers fared in June here

May

San Fairy Ann 50 mile TT 29 May

Bashers best 50 of the year so far - although he's far from happy! Report here

'Dangerous' runs Bashers close in the Evening TT series:

Click here for points table and reports

22 May: see the reports of weekend exploits of Oz the Squire and Bashers. reports here

Gary Bryant excels in the Tonbridge and Edenbridge Triathlons 7 and 8 May

Gary took in 2 Triathlons on consecutive days over the weekend and excelled in both....What a star!!

Gary was pipped by just 4 seconds in the Male Under 40 category of theTonbridge Tiathlon by Todd Leckie. " Well and truly robbed I wos!!" said Gary . And then next day he came 4th in the more competitive Edenbridge Triathlon...Wow!

Read the Garys report here

The Squire and Fatherjac Struggle in the Tooting BC Sporting 37. 8 May

The Squire and Fatherjac floundered on a cold windy day around a hilly course From Dorking to Southwater and back. Report here

OPCC Evening Time Trial Series starts

The Crowhurst Thursday evening club time trial series started on May 5th and will continue through until the end of August.

The first event was won by the usual suspect, Bashers in an excellent 31m:51s for the 12.5 mile course.

Oz! Reports and results here

Old Portlians CC Road races 2005 1st May

May 1st and the sun shone on Crowhurst where the Old Ports road races were running in association with the Surrey League.

In the morning the 4th cats had their head with Shannon Durrant, of the Pearson cycles squad ploughing a lone furrow about 30 secs ahead of the bunch for about 25 of the 40 mile race to win by 10 seconds from a sprinting peloton

The afternoon saw the 3rd cats and Juniors had a turn and in a sprint finish up the final hill Lewis Atkins of the Glendene CC took the honours

for the full results click here

Bashers first 25 miles 'under the hour' in 2005 at the Addiscombe CC 25 on 1st May

For Full Report click here

APRIL

Bashers 'conkers' Ozzie again!! in the Sydenham Wheelers 25

But not by much this time as Ozzie fights back

Full unexpurgatiated report here

A distinct chill in the air as Bashers thrashes Ozzie in the Southern Counties 25 (24 April)

For the full gory report click here

Bashers just pips Ozzie in the Redmon 25 (17th April)

A bit of rivalry developing here methinks! Ozzie ran Bashers pretty close

For full report click here

March

'Rwengy' is sweet for Oz

In the Croydon and District 20 miles hilly time trial Ozzie leads the Old Ports home.

For Ozzies full unexpurgated report on the event click here

The Squire pips Bashers

In the first Time Trial of the season Dave Hickman bests Ian Bashford by more than a minute!!.

On a cold morning in the East Surrey Hardriders 30 mile time trial near Reigate, the Old Ports fielded a team of 4. Ozzie, The Squire, Bashers and Fatherjac. Simon Steel was also down to ride but, due the arrival of his first child Phillipa, was otherwise engaged. Excuse accepted Simon, and many congratulations to you and Hillary!!

Dave confounded expectations, that Bashers would win easily, coming home in 1hr:25m 06s more than a minute quicker than Ian. Full Report here

Squire Hickman chillin'

A Chilly Eastbourne trip

A fairly frozen group of Old Ports in Battle during our sojourn to Eastbourne.

February

We welcome to our ranks 5 new members:-

Chris Ogilvie, Marc Lloyd, Keith Thornton, Simon Jones and Kevin Smith.

Marc Joined us following the reliability trials having been kept company by Chris Whitlock and the rest of the guys are coming on the RAID Pyrenees and have been on many a club ride already. We hope you will enjoy being part of the Old Ports!

January 2005

A New Year Message from our 'El Presidente'

I was rummaging around in a bits and pieces drawer when I found and Old Ports handbook c1937 (which I was amazed that I possessed) Although I was not sure how I got it. I was familiar with most of the names of the officials and, in fact, a few were still in office at the time I joined in 1946 as a 17 year old. Although the Old Ports survived, several clubs ceased to function during the war years and most of those failed to start up again when it was all over.

I noticed in the handbook that in 1937 the club run started in Cherry Orchard Road , East Croydon, outside Brown Brothers premises which was exactly the same place we used in 1946 and almost 10 years after that. Club runs in 1937 were very familiar destinations to me that we still used in the 40's and 50's. With regard to competitive events, the free wheel contest was in January, the open tandem 50 (later a 30) was in April and there were no fewer than 6 club events from a low gear 25 in March to a 100 mile event in August and a final consolation 25 in October. Again , all similar to what I remember in the 40s. Also , for the princely sum of the equivalent of 7.5p, you could be presented with a gold medal for beating the standard time 0f 1.06 for a 25, 1.18 for a 30, 2.18 for a 50 and 5.05 for a 100. Of course in 1937, nobody had beaten the hour so a 1.06 was quite a challenge.

Anyway, I found it quite fascinating and a very pleasant trip down memory lane. However, apologies for my usual year end meanderings and I offer my very good wishes to all members and their families for the New year. May you find success and happiness either competitively or just riding a bike during 2005. Hope to see some of you on our training weekend in March if not before. The date for the club dinner and prize presentation this year is Saturday 19 November at the Darenth Valley Golf Club (as before) so please make a note in your diaries for the usual good evening

Viva Los Portlianos Vejios