Happy Friday Nomads!
I hope you are all well and managing to get the miles in despite the weather and clock changes. It’s been a good few weeks since the last newsletter, so there are quite a few items to bring to your attention. You might want to grab a cuppa and get comfy because this newsletter has become a bit of a long one (again)!
As you know, we had the Nomads AGM last month. Some of you attended, but many couldn’t make it. Quite a few people raised items for discussion and there was some good debate around the issues raised. The minutes and discussions points have now been written up and published online and you can read them by clicking here. A few key issues that came out and are worth mentioning are as follows:
- Not everyone knew we had whatsapp discussion groups. A lot of chat that used to take place on the forum now takes place on whatsapp (although don’t let that stop you making use of the forum if you prefer to do so). There are several whatsapp groups. One is a general Nomads chat for all members, one is a TT chat group for those interesting in time trialling, there is also a road racing group, a cyclocross group and a ride leaders group (for anyone willing to learn to be a ride leader, or for those already leading rides). If you wish to be added to any of these groups, please reply to this email with your mobile number and I will add you. If you don’t want to be in any of the groups, or don’t use whatsapp, then please don’t think you are missing out on important information because I make sure that anything super important and worth mentioning goes on FB/twitter/strava/insta and most importantly, in these newsletters (and the newsletters are emailed to ALL members).
- There was a lot of discussion around club run etiquette at the AGM, or rather lack of it! It seems that some people are using the club runs as training rides, and are pushing the advertised pace up, racing off the front, losing members off the back etc. So, we promised the many people raising this issue that in the next newsletter we would remind everyone that the club run is a social ride and that we advertise a no drop policy. Riders should be choosing a group that suits their social pace and sticking to that pace. If you are struggling to keep up with the advertised pace, you are in the wrong group. Equally, if the advertised pace is too slow for you and you feel the need to regularly race off the front, then it might be time to move up to the next group! Don’t forget to regularly check over your shoulder on a ride to make sure there are riders behind you. If there isn’t and you are not acting as lanterne rouge, then you and the riders ahead of you are going too fast and you need to shout up the line to slow down and regroup. The club run rules and etiquette can be found by clicking here, and as a club, we encourage everyone who is attending the Sunday rides to re-read them and keep them in mind.
- Adrian is standing down from the TT secretary role and Steve is standing down from the Road Racing role, and as it stands no one has volunteered to take their places. This means there will be no club TT’s next year (other than the open hill climb which Alex still plans to organise). Whilst this may upset some of you, it’s worth remembering that there are lots of other club TT’s through the week nights in spring and summer held by Brighton Excelsior, Lewes Wanderers etc. and you are welcome and encouraged to attend their events. However, one point to note is that Adrian was also doing all the CTT affiliation work, which enables Nomad riders to take part in open TT’s (the ones that are held at ridiculous times on Sat/Sun mornings and that you have to enter on the CTT website). Adrian has done the affiliation work required for Nomads to ride in 2019 open TTs, but if we don’t find someone to fill this part of his role, then no one will be able to ride any open TT’s in 2020. If you are interested in helping out with the CTT part of the role, then let me know. Similarly, since we now have no road racing secretary, we won’t be affiliating to the road racing leagues that would have enabled people to race in 2019. There are not many people road racing in the Nomads, so this won’t be as much of a loss at the TT’s, but if you are interested in road racing, then please drop Alex a line (ratsbeyfus@gmail.com) or join the road racing whatsapp group, and he will discuss alternate available options with you.
Now onto more cheerful matters. Just look at how much fun Helen and Alex had at the CX National Trophy league race at Ardingly on Saturday! Well done to both of them. John and I popped along to watch Alex race and it was a great atmosphere, with lots of friendly people and lots of riders having a huge amount of fun! If you think cyclocross might be something you would enjoy, then feel free to join the CX whatsapp group because there are lots of races and team events to take part in and I’m sure the Nomads CX gang would love to grow the team and get more people involved.
Next up a message from Jason. He has ordered loads of Nomad’s winter kit, so if you are in need of a new winter jersey or anything else, then drop him a line (jasonblenkarn@live.co.uk). The order is due to arrive at the end of this month, so you won’t have to wait long for your order and it might be nice to treat yourself for Christmas (or even better, get someone else to buy you a new Nomad’s jersey for Christmas!).
Speaking of Christmas, the very last club TT event is coming up next month on the Norvington Lane course at East Chiltington. It’s the Nomads Xmas 10 and it’s on Sunday 23rd December at 10am. The plan is to head to Velusso in Ditchling for Tea/Coffee and cake after the event. For more information about the TT and the course, click here.
Next up a reminder from Adrian about club trophies. If you currently hold a club trophy, you must return it to Adrian by the 30th December, so that they can be engraved ready for the winners of this years events and presented at the Nomads annual dinner (or the Jason Blenkarn show as we now like to call it). You can bring it/them along to the xmas 10 TT if that makes life easier and Adrian will take them from you there. With regards to the annual dinner, this is yet to be arranged but will definitely go ahead, so watch out for further announcements on that once we have organised it.
Also, if you took part in open races and TT’s this year, then Adrian needs to know what your best times or points totals were and on which courses. He will then work out who the winners of the racing trophies are. There is a form to fill in and send to him, and you can find it by clicking here: TROPHY FORM 2018. Without returning this form to him, he will exclude you from awards you may have won, so it’s super important to send it to him. Please note that this only applies to open events, and not our own club events, so Adrian already has all the information he needs to award the hill climb winners, and those that took part in the Friday night club TT series. Please return the form to Adrian (agmorris@ntlworld.com) by 30th December.
Another social event coming up is the Nomads Xmas curry organised by Stuart. Quite a few people have now signed up for it, so I can confirm it will definitely go ahead. Stuart has confirmed there are still places left, so it’s not too late to sign up. If you want to go, then please read up about it on the forum by clicking here, and drop Stuart an email. If you are intending to go, then you need to have paid for your place by the 23rd Nov. Also, please check the forum post a few days before the event for confirmation of the meeting place and time (we usually go for a couple of drinks first).
Lastly, it’s the ESCA Reliability Trial this Sunday which is hosted by Brighton Mitre CC, so good luck to everyone who is riding it. For those not riding it, there is still a club run and it’s heading to the Castle Cottage Tea Rooms in Pevensey.
For those that are enjoying taking part in Reliability Trials and have got the bug, you’ll be pleased to know that there is another one coming up on the 27th January, organised by the Lewes Wanderers and they have sent us a message encouraging us to take part. Click here for more information on it and to enter online.
That’s all for now, except to say that this is my very last newsletter to you all. I have been on the Nomads committee for around 5 years and as I alluded to previously, I was looking for someone to take over my role. The main reason for this was that I felt that the club might benefit from having a fresh face on the committee, and from having all the comms, marketing and social media stuff done by someone who is more visible to club members and is regularly on club runs. For me, the role is a bit of a catch 22. I have enjoyed doing it, but it takes up quite a bit of time some weeks, leaving less time to keep on top of the cycling fitness that enables me to get out on club runs. I also have a full time job in IT, and a few of you will also know that my Mum had a massive stroke last year and has never recovered from it, leaving her paralysed and suffering from stroke related complications, so many weekends this year have been taken up with trips to Kent to help her or visit her in hospital, hence why you won’t have seen me out on club runs much.
The good news is that I think we have found someone to coordinate Nomads information and write it up into the newsletters on a regular basis, so you should get another newsletter within the next few weeks. Steve Ratford will be taking over some of my other duties as part of the Membership Secretary Role (adding people to email lists, booting people off/adding people to the strava group etc.), but no one came forward to volunteer to take over the rest of my role. I have worked really hard at boosting the social media side of the Nomads and you’ll notice I regularly share stuff across insta/fb/twitter, which I hope you all enjoy and find useful. It has also became an important way for cycling clubs to interact with each other and an important way to promote our events (as noticed by the SCA who contacted us to congratulate us on our 119 hill climb entrants, compared to their 20 entrants due to no social media marketing!) It would make me really sad to see the Nomads social media stuff disappear, and so the good news is (or bad, you decide!), I have agreed to continue in the role for now. So, to summarise a very long winded ramble, the newsletter will come from someone else, but the FB/Twitter/Insta and strava posts will all continue to be done by me. So if you have anything you want to see featured, or any news or photos, continue to fire them over to me. I genuinely love to see all your photos and cycling news, because on the weeks where I can’t get out on the bike much, it still makes me feel part of what is a very special cycling club.
That REALLY is all for now. Have a great weekend lovely Nomads!
Sally
So sorry to see you go, Sally, but very happy that you’ll continue to keep involved in pushing out photos and tweets. Many, many thanks for all the informative and lively emails! You’ve really raised the bar high for our comms.