Cyclists Touring Club
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NEWARK NOTES from the Secretary

August (just) 2003

Is the silly season still upon us?

Out in the unfashionable north-eastern fringes of the galaxy, sorry, county, work has at last begun on the next stage of the hyperspace expressway, er, cycle route, along the disused railway track (Newark to Cotham ed). And once again, the local paper is trotting out the same hyperbole about scars in the countryside and environmental devastation. It matters not that to the north of the town there has been a quarter-mile wide swathe of devastation for the past two years whilst the A46 to Lincoln has been dualled, or that acres of green-field land are currently being turned into industrial parks that still have few takers. Someone is daring to counter the car culture and that must be dealt with.

Conspiracy theory? Perhaps, but the same organ has emphasised the 'anti' arguments right from the start of the project, trotting out the same old faces and arguments time after time, whilst never highlighting the good side of the project. For a town with a higher than average proportion of cyclists in the population you might have expected it to be proud of our 'green' credentials, but not a bit of it. Only the week before, cyclists were labelled a "menace" in a headline that took a not-too-helpful comment from a local councillor out of context, and you can be sure that the onset of the dark nights will again demonstrate that cyclists are actually more visible without lights as the usual tirades from the motoring fraternity are aired once more. (Sounds like an Editor's Rant to me ed)

OK, enough of this soap-box stuff. Despite the trials and tribulations of life on two wheels, some of us are actually getting out and about on our bikes. The second week in July brought Newark Bike Week, and the fine weather that usually seems to accompany the event. Despite the local paper refusing to publicise it (sorry, let me put my soap-box away again) turnouts were generally good and everybody appeared to enjoy themselves, with a mixture of long and short rides to suit all abilities. Once again, we'll have to wait and see if we see any of the new faces again later!

To demonstrate that we're not car-hating luddites, August began with a trip to the Donington Collection of racing cars, which those attending found most fascinating. I believe the Notts guys use their café as a pit-stop from time to time (we did too) and I'm sure those who have ventured into the museum itself can vouch for its interest. From burning rubber to melting tarmac, and the next weekend's hot weather caused this phenomenom, so we shortened our ride in the interests of not getting fried, only to get rained on, on the way home!

After our trip to Kings Lynn earlier in the year several of us had wanted a hostel weekend and everything finally fell into place the following week, when six of us rode to Woody's Top hostel.

(Ed took the photo, our secretary second from left. Fame at Last!)

The ride back from the pub in the evening (and those who know Woody's will know that it isn't exactly next door!) was given extra interest by the opportunity to check out Brian's new Cateye LED front lamps. He had an array of these devices on his handlebars and from ahead looked like a 747 coming in to land; no "Sorry, mate, I didn' t see you" for him! We have yet to see what the battery consumption of these is (certainly the Knightlight white LED lamps I've used as backups for the past two years haven't been as exceptional as the red rear variety in this respect), but the general impression was that this has got to be the way to go.

Mike Graham

Page updated 30 Aug 2003