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Amherst News
October 2004

The Amherst Cyclo Sportive is now the biggest event in our calendar.
With 372 riders registered and 329 riders appearing on the day, this event is now the biggest commitment that Amherst has in its programme of fund raising events.

Money received so far is £12,000. This sum will increase as further sponsorship money is received (in 2003 at this stage we had received £7,000 and the final amount was £10,600).

This event and result was only possible due to a massive effort from the Club and numerous partners, friends and acquaintances. Many thanks to everyone who helped - arrow placers, marshals, Feed Station helpers, scaffolders, drivers, cooks, registration ladies, car parking attendants, etc, etc, etc. Twenty club members and twenty friends helped make this event so successful.

A very special "thank you" to the ladies who helped at the Prep School. A 7.30am start with the registration of all of the riders followed by the preparation of 400 meals and a finish at 4.30pm is a feat worth recording - "Sausage in a bap, please" still rings in my ears!

Also, a very special "thank you" to Edward Oatley who not only allowed us to use all of the school facilities in a superb setting and thus gave us a great venue but also worked on Saturday and Sunday to help make the day a success - AND rode the 50 mile route!
Running an event of this size obviously creates some organisational problems and we have some opportunities to improve next year. There will be a debriefing meeting in mid-October, so if you wish to give some constructive comments on your experiences in this year's event please pass them on to either Derek or myself - e-mailed comments would be preferred.
Well done Amherst, and thank you for your support.

Bill

The success of this event was due to the work of all the people Bill thanks, but the Club and Marie Curie Cancer Care must thank him for the tremendous imagination and sheer hard work that he personally put into the project.

Wednesday Meetings
13 October, Speaker Martyn Berry "Pollution Solution"
20 October, Vocational event - Robert Wicks, Westerham Brewery
27 October, Trevor Bond Hoverspeed
3 November, Business Meeting
10 November, Roz Ward - Rumania Update

Service and Social Diary
22-24 October, District Conference
25 October, Charity Golf Day at Hever Golf Club
6 November, St Julians' Firework Night
19-20 November, Collections in aid of BBC Children in Need Appeal
1 December, Special General Meeting - Officers 2005-6
15 December, Club Christmas Party

Gordon’s Reflections
We are now beginning to get into our stride for the year, or should I say on our bikes!

The Cyclo Sportive was an outstanding success for which thanks go to Bill, Derek and Eileen and all their helpers. With a record number of riders, the prospect is for the highest funds raised. Marie Curie has already received £12,000 with more to come; and we get 10%! As with all things, some patience is required. What happened to the write-up? No need to worry as we then had full page spreads in both the Sevenoaks Chronicle and the Focus. It was pretty accurate as well. (Sorry, Derek, not many people know the difference between a race and a ride. Anyway why did all the riders ask for their time on the new electronic timing system?)

On Sunday week, Roy, Eric and their team of walkers organised our Walk for Life: a gentle stroll in the countryside around Bough Beach. Why were there so many stiles, which got more and more slippery as the Scotch mist increased and our boots got more muddy? Well at least it gave the ‘gentlemen’ the opportunity to give assistance to the ladies!

Although it turned out that the Wheatsheaf was full, it did give many of us the chance to sample St Julians on a Sunday; quite different to a Wednesday.

The District Conference comes up at the end of the month. We will have a good representation this year with 21 present on the Saturday, despite losing 3 to Australian and American travels. Thank you for supporting my Presidential Challenge from the DG for his charities.

On the last Monday of the month Simon, together with the Sevenoaks Club, has organised a second Golf Day for the year at Hever Golf Club. There is an entry of about 30 players which for the first year is excellent. Please help, as required, to make this an event, which will grow.

The darker evenings remind us that Autumn is coming on. This is the time for the Guy Fawkes night at St Julians. Remember that our help is generously rewarded by St Julians providing the wine for our Christmas Party.

Copies of the Centenary Leaflet are now available. They contain a comprehensive story of Rotary’s contribution to our local community, of which members may justly be proud. It also implies a commitment for the future.
It could be helpful in giving a picture of Rotary to prospective members. Ken Arthur and I have copies so please obtain extra copies for any events where they could be used.

Gordon

Footnote
The latest word is that the District Fun Day at Detling raised over £35,000 for the six children’s hospices Wow!

Points from the Council Meeting held on 27 September
• The old Lloyds TSB and the new CAF bank accounts are being consolidated, but some 2003-4 cheques have still to be cleared. Currently our balances are at least £2723 in the general account (plus the international hosting fund) and £2200 in the charity account.

• Graham has taken on the Foundation brief and Roy is our official Welfare Officer again.

• The centenary wrap for Sevenoaks News in Focus could become a fund-raising success if enough sponsors can be found.

• We will not be offering to host the Calcutta GSE Team next month.

• We will not be responding to a request from Turkish Rotarians to lobby in favour of their country's admission to the EU.

• The club was encouraged to sponsor Gordon in the Presidents' Challenge at the District Conference.

• We awaited a reply to our suggestions to Roubaix Est of dates for a pre-Christmas raid on their club – November 29 has since been mooted.

• All committee chairmen present gave detailed accounts of their plans and accomplishments for Council's approval.

Geoff

Errata

The missing bit in last month’s news was “…organising a new golf day at the Hever Golf Club on 25 October. Please support him in this new venture.”

Hands up all readers who haven’t a clue what I’m on about.

Ed.

NEWS FROM AMHERST INNER WHEEL
Mary hosted the club for our September meeting and did so right royally I must say. Gladys chaired the meeting as our new President.

We enjoyed a ladies evening at Rotary on the 29th September, the bonus being that the speaker was I.W.District Chairman Val Proctor. Val is such a delightfully friendly person and we all enjoyed her company and that of her husband Mike also.
Roy (my significant other half) found that Mike is a Pharmacist and that they had studied at Chelsea School of Pharmacy - at the same time!

We all enjoyed a very happy time at Jean & Jack’s House Warming in August and wish them much happiness in their new home.

Our next meeting will be on the 19th October, again Jean Wilson has kindly offered to host us and Val Proctor will join us as part of her journey to visit all the clubs in the District during her year in Office. Busy lady!

During October members will be attending Sevenoaks Inter Club luncheon at Chipstead Lake Yacht Club, and some will also visit Westerham for an Inter Club Tea during the same month - MORE FOOD!
Ena

Mail Travail
Our postman comes early and we are accustomed to stirring to the “plop” of letters on the hall floor.

Recently the sound changed and we found our letters scattered broadcast across the porch. We put out a polite note, to no avail. Royal Mail confirmed that there was no change of working practice and we put out another polite note. This time the letters were neatly stacked against the door.

We thought the unthinkable – do we have a postman who does not perceive the aperture in our front door to be a letterbox? We made a sign and stuck LETTERBOX in 1” letters on the flap…..
and once again we stir to the “plop” of our letters on the hall floor

Ron A
Étape du Tour 2004

Last month, we left Graham as he began to struggle a little…
To control the level of exertion I watch my heart rate monitor with the view of keeping it below 160 bpm (beats per minute). However I realise I’m falling back on the hills against ‘contemporaries’ I’d been riding with, so I work to keep up with ‘my’ group that changes its composition as some riders drop off the pace and others power through.

I’m running on 180 bpm on the stiffer ascents, particularly the first major climb, the Col de Lestards, which is 5 miles long and rises to 2,800 feet. This col is rapidly followed by two others and I’m feeling OK, nibbling steadily and drinking every 5 miles or so.

As we ride, the local villagers are out on the roadside cheering and encouraging the riders. I guess there are not too many competing attractions in the vastly rural Massif Central so the colour, speed and size of the ever growing length of the riders’ peloton, plus the escort of marshals, maintenance and ambulance vehicles makes a vivid spectacle.

I find the shouts of “allez” and “bon courage” a good stimulus and between breaths mutter a “merci bien” to these kind people who also are involved in L’Étape.

At the rest stop in Egletons there are a line of trestle tables of 150 yards by the roadside displaying an array of food and drinks. The helpers quickly serve the riders, no waiting necessary, and I have a cheese and ham sandwich, some fruit and an energy drink and fill my jersey pockets with bananas and more power bars, plus refilling my bidons (the plastic cycling bottles) with water and energy drinks.

I’m thinking 70 miles is nearly half way, I covered it in 4½ hours and I’m feeling OK. Nearby to me is an English participant being photographed by some locals as he’s wearing a white silk cycling jersey with a huge white upturned collar, dark glasses, a ‘gold’ medallion and an Elvis wig over his cycling helmet.
I set off from Egeltons, quickly catching a group of 40 or so riders down the road, and ride comfortably with them for the next 25 miles. This section is a bit lumpy, but not too difficult and has great scenery. There’s a large contingent of British riders in L’Étape, easily recognised by their club jerseys or English frame manufacturer. The chance to chat to other riders is a relief from worrying about the chances of finishing.

( Side note: - if you don’t ride at a reasonable average speed, you are pulled out by the organisers and put in a following coach at the timing zones because they cannot close the roads for more than the 12 hours.)

After some two further hours the tough terrain is reached. In front of us are 20 miles of virtually uninterrupted climbing that concludes with the Col Pas de Peryol, a first category mountain in the Tour de France’s classification. I’ve parked the bpm theory completely. I ride the cols and use landmarks as interim destinations, e.g. let me get to that copse/rock outcrop/telegraph and thus plod up the mountains, nibbling, and especially drinking, regularly. Cramp attacks in my left thigh ‘kick in’ a few times, forcing me to stop and stretch my leg, only for it to recur on the next steep section.

The Col Pas de Peryol is particularly unforgiving because when you think you’re near the summit there is an unexpected “U” turn, which is 500 meters long at a gradient of 16%. Many riders are walking this section, but I keep riding slowly to the top, thankful for my triple chain rings that give me a range of low gears.

The spectators at the summit are crowded thickly and are still enthusiastically cheering the slower/older riders. After all, these ‘fans’ have been on the mountainside for several hours by the time we pass. (Of course they can’t leave easily as the roads are still closed!).

The descent into Saint Flour is magnificent. While other riders seem to freewheel the 12 miles into the valley, I put my bike into top gear and pedal furiously, passing riders with shouts of “à gauche” or “à droit” as I pass them on the left or right. My maximum speed on this section was 50 mph.

From the valley there is one more major climb, the Col de Prat de Bouc which is 5 miles long and rises to 1500 feet. I know I’m going to finish L’Étape, but I’m very tired.

In climbing I alternate frequently from sitting down and pedalling and standing up pushing the pedals round. I count the revs between the kilometre signs to the Col’s summit as a distraction from the fatigue.

Eventually I’m at the top and there is now 14 miles of rolling descent into Saint Flour. There are no large groups of riders now. The distance and the terrain have spread the field thinly for those who have been riding for over 9 hours. I “big gear” it and pass riders in bunches of four or five, rest in their slipstream for a bit and then look to chase the next group ahead. Nearly there, so” lets do the best we can” is my motto.
As I roll in as a single rider “sprinting” up to the inflated finish line, my transponder is taken off my ankle, I’m given a medal and pointed to the refreshment tent.

There are thousands of people in the park area, but everything is fine and I sink down to enjoy my refreshment bag containing a tin of coke, a ham sandwich, a confectionery bar and a pear.

My recorded time was 10 hours and 37 minutes and I’m very satisfied. I don’t think I could have ridden it any faster. Overall I finished 4680 out of 8230 participants and 1060 in my age group of 45 to 55.

Graham
Footnote 1: When the professionals rode the stage three days later Richard Virenque won in 6 hours after riding 130 miles of the stage alone. He was the Tour’s King of the Mountains winner.
Footnote 2: Among the clients of the cycling tour company that I travelled with was a 60 year old who completed the course in 8½ hours. Oh dear, there’s still more to do!

Membership Services Committee
The main points discussed at this month’s meeting were

Christmas party – the St Julians menu will be put around next month. The menu offers more choices than last year. Cost £25. Pre-dinner drinks in the Gallery (the room where we normally meet) will be from 7pm in the hope that we will be able to sit down more promptly than usual i.e. at 8.00.

We are looking for a prestigious local speaker for our meeting on Wednesday 23 February which coincides with Rotary’s Centenary birthday. There are one or two irons in the fire but suggestions to Derek will be welcome.

We are looking at ideas for the display of our magnificent collection of Rotary Club pennants, not least on February 23.
Our next meeting will focus on the perennial question of new membership. In the meantime, members might reflect on how they came to join.