2010 Annual Cleland ride is Sunday 5th December 2010

The date of the 2010 Annual Cleland ride is Sunday 5th December 2010. Retrobikers welcome!

We meet at the ‘Le Petit Cafe’ Wendover, Buckinghamshire, between 10am and 10:30am (Used to be called The Landon Tearooms and is situated at the top of Wendover high St.)

There is plenty of parking nearby or at the Wendover Library car park.
Alternatively there is the train to Wendover station, with trains from London, Aylesbury and beyond.

History
Each year, Geoff Apps travels down from Scotland to revisit the Chiltern Hills, the locality where Cleland designs were first conceived, tested and produced. From 1982 onwards, a regular ride used to begin in Wendover on the first Sunday every month from, usually led by Geoff on his latest concept machine. When Geoff moved away from the area the rides continued led by Graham Wallace. In the mid 1990's it switched to being an annual ride and has continued ever since so this years ride will be the 28th. Making it probably, the oldest All-terrain, fat-tyre bicycle event in Britain.

This is a completely informal event, with no need to register, or anything like that. Just turn up with your mountain bike, or Cleland, or home-brewed lash-up, an open mind and not too competitive a spirit.


Sunday 5th December 2010

Meet 10am for a 11am start. Food and drink stops en-route. Finish about 5pm. Then off to the pub.

The pace is generally quite slow, with frequent stops for the younger riders to catch up with the pensioners! Although slow, the going can sometimes be quite challenging, involving lots of mud and as many bumps as we can find. One or more of the stops may involve messing around on an impromptu ‘trials section’, another will be for lunch at one of the hilltop pubs.

We should reach the Cafe in the Forest, at the top of Wendover Woods in time for tea, about 4pm. After this we turn our lights on (or not, sometimes) and take the descent back down to Wendover in darkness.

After a change of clothes, if necessary, an hour or so is spent under the outdoor heaters round the back of the Red Lion, in the High Street, from about 6pm.

So, even if you’re not riding, you may be able to catch up with us at one of the venues mentioned.

http://clelandcycles.wordpress.com/weekend-rides/

...or P.M. me for more details.

Despite the recent cold snap, the local conditions are surprisingly normal for December with lots of sloppy mud. This may freeze overnight, but temperatures for Sunday are forecast to be just above freezing and with little wind.

Should be a good one?

GrahamJohnWallace":3c139q7j said:

Should be a good one?

Click to expand...

Was it?

Hi Charlie,

On the whole it was an excellent ride. Unfortunately Geoff didn't make the ride as his village in Scotland was snowed in. Perhaps the next development will be Clelands fitted with snow plows?

Attendance was well down due to the cold snowy weather and the fact that the people usually come from many distant parts of England to take part in this ride.

Traditionally the ride is run at the pace of the slowest rider and when a member who suffers with diabetes decided to call it a day about 1pm the pace picked up dramatically. In all we covered about 25 miles of rough and slippy permafrost coated singletrack and still found time to visit two teashops and two pubs. And despite the ice we managed speeds up to 16 mph on the downhills and thankfully all survived the occasional "unplanned dismount" caused by the frozen ice and hoof print rutted trails. To finish off we did the traditional night ride decent to Wendover through the icy forests and freezing fog. But this year we didn't get lost as usual, due to the guidance of my on bike SatNav.

I will post a link to some head-cam video when I have edited it.

Graham.

P.S.

Due to the low turnout an additional ride is planned for early 2011. This time with Geoff leading the way

JUST LIKE THE OLD DAYS

This clip is my head-cam Video of an 86 Overbury's Pioneer XC mountain bike being followed and overtaken by a 1988 Highpath' Cleland cross-country-cycle. The terrain is permafrosted bridlepath with patches of icy snow at Pavis Wood near Wendover. Because the Cleland uses very low pressure tyres it can travel quicker over the bridlepaths' frozen hoof prints. On the uphill sections the Overbury will be fastest because it is lighter.

http://www.vimeo.com/17659045

Annual Cleland ride

Each year, Geoff Apps travels down from Scotland to revisit the Chiltern Hills, the locality where Cleland designs were first conceived, tested and produced. During the 1980s, a regular ride used to begin in Wendover on the first Sunday every month, usually led by Geoff on his latest concept machine.

After he moved to Scotland in 1990, it was thought that a single ride each year would be more practical, and since there was a cluster of regular participant birth dates around the beginning of December (including Geoff’s), the first Sunday in December would become the date for each ‘Birthday’ ride.

This is a completely informal event, with no need to register, or anything like that. Just turn up with your mountain bike, or Cleland, or home-brewed lash-up, with an open mind and not too competitive a spirit.

This year’s ride will take place on:
Sunday 4th December 2011

We meet at the Wendover Library car park at around 10am, and then go round the corner to Crumb’s Cafe and Sandwich Bar, at the Clock Tower end of the High Sreet, for about 10:30. .

The pace is generally quite slow, with frequent stops for the younger riders to catch up with the pensioners! Although slow, the going can sometimes be quite challenging, involving lots of mud and as many bumps as we can find. One or more of the stops may involve messing around on an impromptu ‘trials section’, another will be for lunch at one of the hilltop pubs.

We should reach the Cafe in the Forest, at the top of Wendover Woods in time for tea, about 4pm. After this we turn our lights on (or not, sometimes) and take the descent back down to Wendover in darkness.

After a change of clothes, if necessary, an hour or so is spent under the outdoor heaters round the back of the Red Lion, in the High Street, from about 6pm.

So, even if you’re not riding, you may be able to catch up with us at one of the venues mentioned.