Angus Cycling Club
Newsletter
Summer 2007
Forfar Weekend
Pat and Ron Harrow arranged an Audax/DATC weekend on Saturday 28th and Sunday the 29th April. Over the weekend, there were 53 entrants to one or more of the events. Leaving from Lochside Leisure Centre Forfar on the Saturday were 2 events, the Pitlochry 150k and the Glen Isla 100k. It was a glorious day with blue skies and sunshine from start to finish, 15 cyclists started the Pitlochry event at 8:30am on a route that took them out by Lochlands and Douglastown to Newtyle where they climbed up by Kinpurnie Castle then down to Campmuir and on to the control at Murthly. The route to Pitlochry was by Pitensorn, Dunkeld, Dalguise, and Logierait, with a few steep ups and downs as they followed the cycle route by Dunfallandy.
The easterly breeze which had helped them make good time on the way out, started to work against them as they completed the long haul up to the Moulin Moors and made for the control at Kirmichael. From there it was up by Dalrulzion and Drumore before heading down Glen Isla as far as Dykend where they made for Peel Farm before completing the return trip by Kingoldrum and Kirrie. 12 opted for the Glen Isla run which left half an hour later at 9am. Once they had made their way to Alyth, they had a bit of climbing to do round by the Den, up by TullyMurdoch and over the 3 Carins Road to Blackwater Inn where they turned for the control and midway point at Kirkmichael, with village shop and cafe there doing a bit more trade than usual. The return route by Glen Isla and Kirrie same as the Pitlochry run was into the breeze. Compared with Saturday’s excellent weather, Sunday was overcast and much colder as 10 bikers set off on the “Scone the Flat Way “ 100k. Heading out by Glamis and Newtyle, they then continued on through Collace and Kinrossie before joining the main road and making for the control at Balbeggie. Many paused there for a cuppie before going on to Scone where they turned down to Waulkmill and Stormontfield, before joining the main road just North of Guildtown. They followed the A93 as far as Kinclaven before taking the back roads around by Coupar Angus and on through Ardler to Meigle where there was another welcome café stop for those pushing along against a cool east wind. Back home by the Bogside Road and Paddy. The 15 entrants in the “Glen’s Explorer” off road event, starting from Dykehead, had the better weather as, after reaching Cormuir, they climbed up the hill and out of the cool cloudy morning into a fine sunny day. The going was fairly dry compared with previous years as they climbed over to the Backwater Dam before negotiating some difficult sections through glens Qhuarity and Uig and on to the foot of Lednathie Brae. Rejoining the road they completed the return trip to Dykehead..
It was a successful weekend, with quite a few travelling from other areas to take part.
Next Club meeting.
The next club meeting will be held in the club rooms on Thursday 10th
May at 7:30pm. All members welcome.
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Forthcoming Audax and DATC
Events this year to be hosted by Angus CC members.
27th May: Deeside Loop 200k (Alan Ferrier)
27th May: Howe O the Mearns 114k (Alan Ferrier)
5th Aug : Kirkmichael and Glenisla (Dave Fawcett)
8h Sept : A Tour of Angus 204k (Alan Ferrier)
8th Sept : Girdlestane and Cabby Latch 100k (Alan Ferrier)
9th Sept : Braes O’ Angus 102k (Alan Ferrier)
9th Sept: Glen Doll Dander 71k (Alan Ferrier)
16th
Sept: Pitlochry 200k (Dave Husband)
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Fothcoming Events For Club Members
Proposed Bothy Weekend:
There has been a suggestion to have a social weekend up at the club bothy at
Reekie Linn this summer. Involving perhaps camping food and drinks barbeque etc.
Nothing hard and fast arranged with suggested dates, to avoid audax events etc,
the weekend 7th and 8th of July. Feedback and
alternative dates and suggestions welcome. To be discussed at meeting on 10th
May.
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Cycling Weekend at Callander
Keith has arranged another cycling weekend following on from the 2 popular
weekends, Applecross and Tomintoul that he arranged last year. This time he has
booked the rooms at the outdoor centre near Callandar in the Trossachs, with
perhaps bike runs to Loch Katrine. Dates :- October 12th 13th
14th
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Club Runs
On a few occasions this year, there have been two runs on a Sunday. The 2nd
run, mainly organised by the Ladies, is popular with both men and women who
prefer an easier pace while still covering a decent mileage with outings of 50
-60 miles quite common. The normal club runs are reasonably well attended also
and new or returning members are welcome to join either run as well as the
popular pub runs which run every Wednesday evening in summer and winter.
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Tyre Comparison which Ron gleaned from a recent publication.
Puncture! continued
A total of 32 types of TYRE were used during the year, but many of these only appeared on a very few occasions (temporary spares, stand-in bikes etc) and were obscure makes, or even unbranded, so I have not included them in this analysis. In fact they generally seemed on the limited information available to perform rather poorly, so I don't think this is any great loss. I went through all the attendances and the details of tyres used by each rider and worked out the number of rides completed by each tyre type to give a fair comparison of puncture numbers per make. So for instance if rider X took part in 43 rides with tyre Y on all rides, then tyre Y accumulated 2 x 43 = 86 rides to allow for both wheels. If a rider had different tyres front and rear or changed during the year this method allows for that. I set a cut off point for excluding the low usage tyres' from this review at 100 rides minimum, this being roughly the equivalent of one rider using the same make of tyres all year and doing one ride per week.
Having explained that, here’s the result.
Tyre Rides Punctures Rides per puncture
Conti Top Touring 260 I 260
Hutchinson Kevlar 130 1 130
Schwalbe Marathon 349 5 70
Conti Contact 112 2 56
Schwalbe Blizzard 151 3 50
Panaracer Pasela 526 15 35
Conti Gatorskin 420 17 25
Conti Sport 119 6 20
You've no doubt worked out that more rides per puncture is a good thing and that in this analysis Conti Top Touring is the clear winner - ten times better than a Gatorskin! I'm a little surprised that the Marathon didn't do better, and interested to see how well the Hutchinson did, although based on a relatively small sample. The Contact, again on a small sample, didn't do too well considering it's supposed to be Conti's improved version of the Top Touring. Quite a few riders gave up with Gatorskins and went to Paselas in 2006 and that does seem to be a move in the right direction, but there's not much in it. For those who want a light tyre the Blizzard may be a better bet. Overall there aren't any free lunches - you either use a light tyre and get more punctures or have a heavier tyre for more peace of mind. I have to admit at this point that I have Top Tourings on my regular Mercian and haven't punctured on a club run in over two years, although I have punctured on tour. My spare 1960 Dawes is on Marathons [they do 27s] and my cosseted Ephgrave has Paselas [also 27s], so I do spread it around a bit. The moral of this research is: If you want to minimise your chances of puncturing, ride with the North East
Essex Section on a dry day in December using a unicyc1e fitted with a Conti Top
Touring tyre!
Wishing you all happy and puncture free cycling in 2007.
Chris Mills