dundeethistlecycleclubblog

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We’ve updated our website!

You can now find us at dundeethistle.com but all our current news is on our Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/groups/dundeethistle

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query

Hello! I’m doing some research into the history of mountain guiding and it seems Dundee has a good pedigree in that area. George (Scottie) Dwyer, Dick Gowers and Davie Glen were all involved in taking folk out on the hill from the 1930’s onwards, and interestingly, they were all cyclists and I think, members of a cycling club, though I don’t know which one, maybe someone out there does. Meanwhile I have a very good picture of three Heather Belles from the 1930/40’s which I think features Mary Stewart which I see mentioned as a founder of the Belles, happy to send it wherever required and hope someone can help with a little info. Thanks, Mick Tighe, Mountain Guide 

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With All cycling events cancelled this is the latest advice from British Cycling on Coronavirus/COVID19

With All cycling events cancelled this is the latest advice. Latest advice from British Cycling on Coronavirus/COVID19 Riding a bicycle is a generally low-risk activity, but with our health and emergency services under such intense pressure it is important that we all take steps to manage risk wherever we can. Please only ride on routes you know well, that are close to home and that are well within your ability level; this is a time for calm recreation, not for challenging yourself. British Cycling would like to emphasise that our individual liberty to get out on our own and ride our bikes, is dependent on continued
common-sense behaviour from all of us, and strict adherence to Government guidelines.

https://www.britishcycling.org.uk/about/article/20200319-about-bc-news-Coronavirus-Covid-19-FAQs-0

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Thistle Office-Bearers for 2020

Dundee Thistle Office-Bearers for 2020 as elected at the clubs AGM.

Treasurer.                     Phil Morris

Secretary.                     Andrew Woodward

Club Captain.                Stephen Smith

Recruitment Lead.         Nadine Keira Reilly

Vice Chairman.             Nadine Keira Reilly

Chairman.                     Alasdair Chisholm

Thistle Race Committee.

Angus Wilson (Chair)

Stuart MacCallum

Sonya Drummond

Jonny May

Alasdair Chisholm

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2019 Trophy winners

Trophy winners

Clubman Trophy. Nadine Keira Reilly for her continuing hard work promoting new membership and club runs.

APR Trophy. Ricky Barlow for a consistently strong performance

25 TT Trophy. Stewart Irvine

50 TT Trophy. Ali Merry

Best road race, BAR or track performance Trophy. – Angus Wilson for excellent times across 10, 25, 50, 100 and 12 hour TTs

Club Hill Climb Trophy. Angus Wilson with 8.02 up Craigowl.

Best Sportive performance Trophy. Slawek Lezala for completing PoppyScotland which was his toughest to date by far in terms of miles and climbing.

Most Improved rider Trophy. Nic MacCallum

Crash of the Year Trophy. Allan Davidson for a spectacular crash over snapped bars!

Bastard of the year Trophy. Went to ‘Silly Bastard’ Angus Wilson who rode in Fife Century kit after forgetting his.

STRAVA award Trophy (Mug!)   Scott Taylor who placed consistently highest over the series.

Recognition award. Nico Anelli. For his attitude and raising awareness of riding with Crohn's & Colitis

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Scottish National 25-mile Time Trial Championships

A relatively warm but rather damp Forfar saw the return of Scotland’s Time Trial specialists for the 2019 Scottish National 25-mile Time Trial Championships.  Dundee Thistle RC celebrating their 90th year did another fantastic job of hosting the event, despite the inclement condition.

The weather may not have been ideal but it didn’t seem to dampen the enthusiasm of the riders or slow their pace. Despite a tailwind on the first leg of the course, the homeward leg would prove testing for many on this rolling course.

The first riders off were the non-Championship Youth A trio of Jack McManus (Royal Albert CC), Cameron Stromberg (Deeside Thistle CC) and Daniel Kain (Squadra Scozzese), heading off in that order.  The organisers had the seeding absolutely spot on, with Kain romping home in a time of 00:54:13, an improvement of over a minute on his time in last year’s event. Stromberg came home in 01:07:14 and McManus in 01:08:07.  Next to go was the beginning of the Championship categories; Junior rider Kyle Cartmell (RT23) who was unchallenged on the day, coming home exactly a minute quicker than the previous year in a time of 00:55:24.

Next up were the Senior Women and last year’s winner Vicky Smith (AeroCoach) was favourite to add another win to her already successful season, having already bagged the 10-Mile TT title recently.  Her main challenger, Catriona MacGillivray (RT23) won the title back in 2017 but took 2018 off to become a mum. They would be the only riders to come home in under an hour, but their fight for the top spot was not the only battle going on, as the tussle for third couldn’t have been any closer. Just 1 second separated Dooleys Cycles team mates Laura Nicolson and Mireille Captieux in the end, with Captieux snatching third recording 1:00:48.

Meanwhile MacGillivray came home in a blistering 00:55:02 and had a short wait to see if she’d done enough for gold. Smith, last woman off, did her best to retain her title, but had to settle for second, recording 00:55:25, 22 secs behind a delighted MacGillivray.

MacGillivray also led RT 23 team mate, Pamela Craig to a new Scottish Cycling National 25 mile TT record of 1:56:26, shaving 47secs off the previous record set in 2009 as well as the team prize.

As the rain intensified, it was time for the senior men to decide their title.

First man, or rather men, to beat the 1 hour, was the tandem pairing of Nigel Holl (Stirling Bike Club) and Steve Clayton (RT23) with a 00:54:47. They didn’t hold the hot seat for long though, with Jamie Kennedy (GTR Return To Life) coming home in 00:54:02. However despite a good 30 mins at the top of the board, Kennedy wouldn’t be stepping onto the podium.

The conditions continued to take its toll on the field, with one of the pre-race favourites, Liam Beaty (Hawick CC) taking a fall at the turn in slippery conditions, dropping him out of contention.

David Griffiths (Bioracer-Moriarty Bikes), used the drama in his favour, recording the first sub 50 mins of the day with 00:49:24, superb for the conditions and was looking a tough time to beat.  However his time in the hot seat was short lived as next man in, Wilson Renwick promptly snatched the lead from Griffiths, by 8 seconds, recording a time of 00:49:16.

The countdown was on, with just 5 riders left on course, Renwick was looking good for a medal, as none could better his time, or so it seemed. Last year’s winner Kyle Gordon (RT23) was last man out and despite the conditions and the fierce competition crossed the line with a time of 00:48:53 to retain his title and leaving Renwick to pick up the silver and Griffiths the bronze.

Taking the men’s team prize and helping make it a clean sweep for RT23 were Alistair Munro and Alan Thompson, along with event winner Kyle Gordon.  

It was another great day of racing, full of drama, thrills, and the odd spill. Thanks to the volunteers, marshals and everyone from Dundee Thistle RC who made it happen.

Results:

Senior Women

1.               Catriona MacGillivray (RT23) - 00:55:02

2.               Vicky Smith (AeroCoach) - 00:55:25

3.               Mireille Captieux (Dooleys Cycles) - 1:00:48.

4.               Laura Nicolson (Dooleys Cycles) - 1:00:49.

5.               Pamela Craig (RT 23) - 1:01:24

Senior men

1.               Kyle Gordon (RT23) - 00:48:53

2.               Wilson Renwick (Java Partizan Pro Cycling Team) -00:49:16

3.               David Griffiths (Bioracer-Moriarty Bikes) - 00:49:24

4.               Iain MacLeod (Aberdeen Wheelers) - 00:50:12

5.               Joe Reilly (Wheelbase Cabtech) - 0:50:12

Junior Men.

1.Kyle Cartmell (RT23)

Youth Men.

1.               Daniel Kain (Squadra Scozzese) - 0:54:13

[dundeethistlecycleclubblog]

Reliability Cancelled due to forecast

Dear folks, After some discussion in the club we have made the difficult and disappointing decision to cancel tomorrow's reliability rides. The weather on the route is forecast to be horrendous and as it is in places remote and exposed we feel it would be irreponsible to proceed. We apologise for the disappointment this may cause - we do not want to cancel but feel it is the only appropriate course of action. We look forward to seeing you at other Dundee Thistle events later on this year - our season starts with a club confined time trial on April 16th and will continue with the usual evening APR series and some open time trials.

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Event dates coming up

Sunday 10 March 2019 Dundee Thistle Reliability Trial
 HQ 46th Angus Scout Hall, Muirhead.

Tuesday 16th April 2019 Thistle Club Confined 10TT Arbroath road course

Thursday 25th April 2019 Thistle Weekly Thursday night APR kicks off for the summer

Other Thistle event dates for your diary

2nd June 2019 SC National Championship 25TT

12th June 2019 Mid week 10TT as part of the FCA

10th July 2019 Mid week 10TT as part of the FCA

20th July 2019 Tour of the Glens SC National Championship RR (Men and Women’s races)

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2018 Club Trophy Winners

2018 Trophy winners

- APR Trophy. - Stewart Irving

- Best Race Performance Ali Merry. Student national hill climb

- 25 TT Trophy. - Stewart Irving 51.16

- 50 TT Trophy. - Angus Wilson 1.59.25

- Club Hill Climb. Ali Merry Craigowl in 7:40

- Best Sportive Performance. - Andrew Woodward Rise Above Sportive

- Most Improved Rider. - Stephen Smith. LEJOG. and hitting 5000 Miles.

- Crash of the Year. Stuart McCallum.

- Bastard of the year.  Lucky. Phil Morris

- Clubman of the Year Trophy. Alasdair Chisholm

- Recognition award? Sean Douglas for Everesting The Law to raise funds for MND and tayside Mountain rescue. To reach the height of Everest Sean had to Climb up the Dundee Law 139 times.

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Thistle now on ‘twitter’

You can now join us and share your stories or news on a ‘twitter’ page.

https://twitter.com/DundeeThistle

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Sean completes Law ‘Everest’ challenge in style!

Sean Douglas, a member of the Dundee Thistle and the Dundee University Mountain and Road Cycling Club (DUMRCC)

Completed the challenge of ‘Everesting’ the Dundee Law on Saturday 17 November fundraises for Motor Neurone Disease Scotland (MND Scotland), a charity close to his heart.

“Sean worked out that if I set off at 5am, he would have to do 150 ascents of the Law hill to achieve the dizzying heights of Everest. That’s about 30,000ft of climbing in roughly 140 miles, so it was a mental challenge as much as it was physical.

Before the event Sean said: “I returned to cycling less than two years ago having taken some time off but I’m confident that if I don’t overthink it and just go for it I will summit before 7pm on Saturday. More importantly, I just hope that the funds we raise will make a significant difference to those facing motor neurone disease. If you are up for the challenge feel free to join me for a few laps of the Law next week.”

Mostly supported by his DUMRCC student friends over the long day I'm pleased to say a good few Thistle riders also joined him over the different stages of the day. Sean finally completed the challenge around 11.30 Saturday night haven ride for 13hrs, covering 139 miles and climbing 29049ft.

The Dundee University Mountain and Road Cycling Club (DUMRCC) will set the pace earlier by completing the North Coast 500 challenge on static bikes.

“All the proceeds that we raise will go directly to MND Scotland and Scottish Mountain Rescue – both charities are very important to our club. DUMRCC caters to a range of cycling disciplines, including mountain bikers who value the incredible work the mountain rescue teams do year round.”

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Dates for your diaries

Club Meeting and a few drinks - Friday 16th November

7pm at the Wild Rover Bar (was the drouthys/mayfly) opposite the art college on the Perth Road.

We've booked some space but let me know if you are coming.

For discussion:

1. Winter training runs and format ideas for the Multi Storey Carpark events.

2. Race calendar 2019.

3. 2018 Trophy winners. (Need the Best Crash award back and the Bastard Award)

4. Clubs 90th Anniversary.

5. Club AGM need to fix a date According to the Thistle Club Constitution it meant to be the last Thursday of the month so that would be the 27th December. Should we move this?

AOB

Thistle Christmas Lunch - Sunday 16th December 2018.

£20 for three course lunch and tea / coffee.

The Red House Hotel, Station Road, Coupar Angus.

There will be a Road and MTB run to get you there for 12 for lunch around 12.30.

3 course menu with choices, but you can choose on the day, and there will be a Veggie option.

Meantime save the date.

Hope to see as many club memebrs at the above as possible, so please share with anyone who you think would be interested or doesn't do email or Facebook.

AL Chisholm, Chairman, Dundee Thistle Cycling Club

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Fort William - There and Back Again (247 miles) Saturday 22nd September.

By Stephen King

Almost full Tolkien.

Fort William - There and Back Again (247 miles) Saturday 22nd September:

A Muppet’s Tale (Lord of the Kings version)

So I left ‘The Shire’ at 5am and headed off in to the darkness, Mount Moulin beckoned and Sauron had stirred up an evil headwind . I should have asked Gandalf to magic up some tri-bars ,no matter, I had good heart and adopted the rule 5 approach. Mind you ,I was still a bit miffed having to pedal down Moulin. Through Pitlochry and nothing stirred ,not even an Orc. Was almost tempted by a Bruar breakfast but carried on, no tartan or shortbread were purchased.

Cycle path from Calvine even though I kept hearing a Sproul howling in the wind “You would be quicker on the road daftie” .I ignored this and the A9,even though it was quite. On to Dalwhinnie ,(Dalwindie more like) and the first stop at Laggan cake shop (80 miles if anyone cares) ,excellent cake but only soup as a hot option. Things speeded up a bit once I turned along Laggan and i started looking forward to the dam ,where it’s mostly all downhill to Spean bridge, jeez that’s a long loch. Got to the dam (100miles) and it proper chucked it down, just long and hard enough to get soaked. Still,it was now easy pedalling to the lovely A82 ,populated by halfwits and tour busses.I think my rain jacket was doubling as an invisibility cloak. I wanted to get this bit of the road over and done with so went straight through Fort Bill. Road stayed super busy all the way to the second stop at Ballachulish and had me wishing that I had done a midnight start so I could have hit it quieter.

Glencoe was stunning in the Autumn light and the tourist traffic was starting to calm down as they all rushed home to watch Strictly. :-)

Even with a bit of a tailwind it felt like a slog along to Tyndrum), straight past the Green Welly (160ish miles) and on to Crianlarich ,then the tailwind really got going towards Glen Ogle, where it was lights on for the downhill to Lochearnhead. Roads really quite now so I could ride in the middle and cut all the corners, great hill that. Blown along loch Earn and Comrie appeared pretty quick. Stopped in Crieff and while changing over the batteries in the front light I managed to somehow bump one of the buttons on my Garmin, it went on pause, IDIOT!!.So the last mileage recorded was 194 :-( . I think I will have a wee pedal back sometime to see what was missed. Back road to Newmiln and it didn’t seem to take long to get to Perth .

I did look at the Kinnoull hill option for about 10 seconds but went for the cycle path along the A90 to Glencarse which was fine. The back roads through Errol and Kingoodie were done on auto pilot with only Ninewells to worry about. When we used to do that trip as a weekender we always thought it was around 250,but it may come out closer to 240,which is a shame as doing a 400km ride always sounds way more impressive ;-) . Anyway it’s done and I am kinda glad that I didn’t try the ‘Lang Way Doon’ which is what I had originally planned for this weekend,I think that extra 100 on top would have been too much. 

Good points--- Being out when it’s quite and watching the sun come up--tailwinds when you most need them---the Glens (that is some back yard we have to play in)---choosing the steel frame over carbon, it may be a heavy old thing by modern standards ,but I love that bike--- Assos Crème . Bad points --- That headwind—the A82 – Garmin side buttons – Ninewells hill finish (I almost cried).

No Hobbits were harmed in this adventure. Looks like it was St Fillans where I nudged the Garmin ,so working it out with a bit of google mapping the total was 247 and a bit miles.Glad I didn't know that at the time or I would have had to cyle to the ferry to make it 400km

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SCU National Alba Series #4 - The Tour of the Glens

Thistle organised race as part of the SCU Alba series.

E123 road race over 79 miles held on a challenging course in the Angus and Perthshire glens. Starting near Lintrathen reservoir and covering the Glen Isla and Mount Blair area. The finish is on the dam wall at Backwater reservoir.

Tour of the glens Strava stats for Alex Luhrs, an Elite rider with Team Ribble who was sixth on the day.

126.87km (80 miles) 
Distance 
 3:31:43 
Moving Time

Climbing 
2,178m

Average speed just over 22mph Max speed was 46mph

Avg Power 298W

22 finished with 27 packing including our Ali Merry and his brother Andrew who according to Ali "I made to many wrong decisions / tactical errors".

Other riders on the day referred to the course as 'savage' or a 'a big day'

Tour of the Glens, part of the SCU Alba series

Top ten were 1. William Corbett, Ribble Cycling, 1st Cat 2. Finn Crockett, Wheelbase Castelli MGD, 1st Cat 3. Ruari Grant, Veloclub Edinburgh, Elite 4. Richard Jones, Ribble Cycling, Elite 5. David Rowlands 6. Alex Luhrs, Ribble Cycling, Elite 7. Grant Martin, Vitus Pro Cycling, 2nd Cat 8. Ross Clark, dooleys cycles, 1st Cat 9. Richard McDonald, Bioracer-Project GO, 1st Cat 10.Neil Scott, Deeside Thistle CC, 2nd Cat

Race Organiser Angus Wilson has already said it but a massive thanks to all those club members who turned out to help and make the event a success again.

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Thistle riders at 2018  Snow Roads Audax.

Stuart MacCallum,  Angus Wilson and Morris Butchart rode the Snow Roads Audax a 300km cycling event with  3,964m of climbing. Starting from and finishing in Kirriemuir with controls at Banchory, Dufftown and Braemar.

Morris siad "A superb but hard day, and night. My Garmin lost some 14. 84k after recharge in Ballater giving my befuddled brain problems with the excellent route sheet provided by the organiser. The last stage from Braemar was to say the least exciting. From The Glen Shea ski centre on It was pitch black, and my only company was Dear, Rabbits, Hairs, Foxes and Badgers plus some birds of prey. Thankfully I had my Cat Eye Volt 1200 plus the second one I purchased for the event. Even so riding downhill at up to 38k/hour was to say the lest interesting. I had not expected to make it by the 0200 deadline, but mainly due to the excellent route sheet provided by the organiser I made it with 4.0 minutes to spare. I was the last back, but several people gave up at Braemar and accepted lifts back."

Morris,who is 74, did it in 14h:46m

 Angus Wilson and Stuart MacCallum both smashed it in just over 11h

Completely separately Ali Merry did a mid week solo run to Fort William of 407km and climbed 3,345m in under 15 hours 43 minutes!

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Thistle hosted the Scottish National 25-Mile Time Trial Championships 2018

Published: 6 June 2018 Words: The Press Room

It was a day of fast times and more personal bests than you could shake a stick at, as Forfar and Dundee Thistle RC played host to the Scottish National 25-Mile Time Trial Championships 2018.

Returning Commonwealth Games rider, Kyle Gordon (RT23) took time off his personal best to take the senior win in a scintillating time of 48:38, unusually for him, using gears on this occasion.

In the Women’s race though we witnessed a new Scottish record as Vicky Smith (AeroCoach) set a superb time of 54:52 to win her race by over three minutes. All records are subject to the usual ratification but another three dropped on the roads above Forfar.

Douglas Watson (GTR-Return to Life) came home in a time of 49:01 to break the Veteran Men’s record while the Men’s Team record fell to Bioracer-Project Go (David Griffiths, Rob Friel, Ross Thomson) in a time of 2:30:29. In fact, the record had already been broken by RT23 but it was bettered by Bioracer. It was a good day though for RT23 as their Junior riders Alasdair Munro and Kyle Cartmell set a new Junior Men’s Team record in a time of 1:50:49. The riders must have known that the supreme keeper of the record books, former Scottish Cycling President Jock Shaw, was there to witness their efforts.

Despite the rain of the previous day the early riders were greeted with bright sunshine and pleasant temperatures. It clouded over a little for the later starters but that was maybe no bad thing as it stopped it getting too hot. The wind was light and was reported by some as quite odd…headwind and cross, turning to tailwind and back again, all in the same direction.

We’d positioned ourselves at our favourite wildlife-watching spot about 9 miles in and the first rider to come past was the Youth A rider Daniel Kain (Squadra Scozzese). It had been a busy weekend of riding for Danny but he looking good. Not too far behind was Kyle Cartmell (RT23) but he was being chased down by his teammate Alasdair Munro. Munro would finish in 54:25 and Cartmell would post 56:24. This would give the RT23 duo a new Scottish record but they were split on the podium by Kain who finished in 55:30.

Onto the Women’s race and a whole load of riders posted personal bests but it was the top three who set the pace as they all came home under the hour. Fourth woman off was Debbie Moore and she set the pace with a time of 58:07. Rider after rider tried to unseat her but none could manage it and the penultimate starter Mireille Captieux (Dooleys Cycles) set a time of 59:10. That only left Vicky Smith (AeroCoach) but she was more than up to the task, powering her way around the course in a super time of 54:52, beating Moore by over three minutes and smashing the Competition Record in the process. A superb performance!

Finishing fourth was Captieux’s teammate Laura Nicolson in a time of 1:00:16 and this secured the Women’s Team prize.

First man off was David Kirton (Kennoway RC) though by the time he passed us he had been passed by seven other riders…but Dave’s a real gent. Some riders smile, others wave, and yet more give thumbs up but Dave always shouts out “thank you” as he passes, even on the way back and from the other side of the road.

So many riders were going fast that almost 40 broke the 55-minute barrier. Riding a little out of sequence was Wilson Renwick (Java Partizan Pro Cycling Team) and he set the first sub-50 time, finishing in 49:18. This would set the pace until the final riders returned to the timekeeper and would end up being good enough to secure 7thoverall.

Next to come close was Angus Claxton (Wheelbase Castelli MGD) in 51:06 which would see him end in 9th with the host club’s Stewart Irving (Dundee Thistle RC) finishing in 51:16 to secure the final top-ten position.

Fast men now with Alan Thomson (RT23) unseating Renwick with 49:03 and ending in 5th position. His supremacy was short-lived as Liam Beaty (Hawick CC) blasted home in 48:50 and this looked unbeatable. But he was up against tough competition and would finish the day on the second step.

Rob Friel (Bioracer-Project GO) failed to unseat him finishing with 49:08 to end in 6th place just behind Thomson. Hotly tipped Jamie Davidson (Aberdeen Wheelers) finished just three seconds behind Beaty in 48:53 to take the third step of the podium.

A few minutes later, Douglas Watson (GTR-Return to Life) returned in a time two seconds quicker than Thomson to post 49:01 and finish just off the podium…although he did break the Competition Record for Veterans at this distance.

This left just Commie Games rider Kyle Gordon (RT23) and David Griffiths (Bioracer-Project GO) and the deep-sea diver was in sparkling form. Giving it everything he had as he approached the finish line, he posted a time of 48:38 which was superb as it bettered Beaty’s time by 12 seconds. Griffiths just couldn’t compete and finished in 49:59, ending the day in 8th spot.

It was back to the HQ where the times were read out and medals awarded, tea drunk and cakes eaten. A fantastic day of records being broken and personal times being set. Well done to everyone from Dundee Thistle RC for an excellent event.

Follow @ScottishCycling for event updates #SCNatChamps

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We had an excellent night at the Dundee Museum of Transport to launch the Thistle Cycling Club display there. Followed by a really enjoyable tour from the guides a really welcoming and enthusiastic bunch with excellent catering. A big thanks to all volunteers who made the evening such good fun. The display covers the 40s through to the 70′s mostly and will be part of our celebrations for the clubs 90th year in 2019.

David Martins pics from the night can be found here

https://www.flickr.com/ph…/davidmam/albums/72157696066863774