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NEWS
AUTUMN
2007 - WINTER 2008
Updated 1st April 2008
| MAR 2008 |
2008
Brittany trip success.
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| MAR 2008 |
Entries are now rolling in for the poular Devon Dirt off-road event on 20th April. Last year 75 ridesr enjoyed a very dry and dusty course. Entry forms and route sheets for the event can be downloaded from the website Click on the "blob" below.
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| MAR 2008 |
On Saturday 1 March Devon County Council organised a 'Be Naturally Active Fun Day' to celebrate the official opening of the Exmouth to Lympstone section of the Exe Estuary Trail. In Exmouth, on the King George V Playing Fields, a marque was erected housing stalls where you could sign up to a range of energetic activities. Youngsters could get personalised badges and a card - which if stamped at both ends of the trial - entitled them to a free goodie bag. The Lympstone Primary School are working with a local artist, Andrew Stacey, and the Exe Estuary Officer, Jenny Lockett, to design artwork which will be used to decorate the concrete panels at the Lympstone end of the path. The Sustrans stallAndrei Burton gave a demonstration of his amazing bike handling skills - fortunately this level of skill is not required to use the Estuary Trail. Full report and lot's of pictures from Kirby James. <<CLICK HERE>> |
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| MAR 2008 |
Forty seven CTC members were due to be enjoying the sunshine on the first weekend in March, but the winter ferry, - MV Pont L'Abbe - is not back in service so the sailing was cancelled. Forty three riders have been re-booked onto the sailing on 14th March from Plymouth, by which time the boat should be back in service. This is the 11th consecutive year of the trip, and the first time the sailing has been cancelled. For up to date information nearer the time check this website for any changes. |
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| FEB 2008 |
Round the world record breaker is home. A British man has
smashed the record for cycling round the world. |
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| FEB 2008 |
Devon County Council and Travelwise have produced some new cycle leaflets with maps of available cycle routes for some towns in Devon. The leaflets also give links and information about cycle hire, cycle shops and other general information about cycling. Some controversey surrounds the Newton Abbot map which has cycle routes marrked along roads where local groups were informed that they could not cycle because of safety concerns! It's hoped the issue of these leaflets will encourage people to get out and find ways across town on their bikes. http://www.devon.gov.uk/cycling.htm |
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| FEB 2008 |
West of England Partnership, composed of local councillors, propose to install the first of four bus rapid transit routes along the Emersons Green to Bristol city centre section of the famous and hugely popular Sustrans Railway Path. This bus route will take most of the width of the already narrow path ;leaving only a 3 metre strip for cycles, walkers, dogs, children and disabled buggies to share. This green corridor is likely to become an ugly, concrete, fenced in busway devoid of vegetation and wildlife. In addition to cycling, this greenway is used for walking to school, shops and shortcuts: many crossing paths will be lost and communities severed. Evidence that this £49 million scheme will reduce congestion is lacking. <<CLICK HERE>> to sign the petition against this scheme. # Devon CTC are not responsible for other external sites that we may link to. |
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| FEB 2008 |
Sheldon
Brown has passed away. http://www.sheldonbrown.com/harris/index.html#
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| FEB 2008 |
Devon's disintegrating
roads. It's not just the
lanes falling apart but some huge holes and trenches are appearing on
some fairly major routes.
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| JAN 2008 |
Dartmoor Classic Sportif - approaching 1000 entries. There are well over 800 entries for this event as at the beginning of January. Riders who want a place would be wise to enter soon to avoid disappointment.
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Parris outrrages. There
was outrage from cyclists in the new year after "The Times"
columnist Matthew Parris suggested fostering the idea of decaptating cyclists
by putting pieces of wire across country lanes. |
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| DEC 2007 |
Last chance to book up for Brittany Trip There
are still some places left on the Torbay CTC "Brittany Trip"
on Feb 29th. £47.00
is the cost which includes a cabin both ways. You'll need to carry some
food for a picnic on the Saturday, Brittany can be very quiet and shopping
sparse in February! |
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| DEC 2007 |
Dartmoor Classic Sportif - entries rolling in. Cyclists who want
to ride in the South West's premier Cyclosportif are urged to get there
entries in quickly.
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| DEC 2007 |
Bill Barnes hurt in accident. Bill Barnes from the
South Hams CTC was injured when a car pulled out in front of him in Primrose
Lane near Wrangaton on Sunday 9th December. |
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| DEC 2007 |
New
Exmouth to Lympstone Cycleway opens. |
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| DEC 2007 |
Newton Abbot's slippery tactile paving has been removed, and the sections along "The Avenue" which had the incorrect hazard paving fitted have had it replaced with the correct paving. Local CTC and user groups are pleased with the progess made, and the response by the Highways authrorities to the problem. |
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| DEC 2007 | Sustrans
Connect2 schemes win the vote. Sustrans Connect2 has won the vote in the peoples millions lottery. It means within the next 5 years with the help of local authorities match funding the Sustrans money, the schemes in 79 locations throughout the UK will happen. There are schemes in devon in Newton Abbot, linking Kingsteignton, and a proposal to cross the busy A380 at Aller with a foot/cycle bridge, and also a scheme at Ottery St. Mary.
Thanks are due to all of those of you who have voted and worked to promote this project. |
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| DEC 2007 |
LOCAL CYCLING CLUB RECIEVES NATIONAL ACCREDITATION Mid-Devon Cycling Club/Colin Lewis Cycles# (MDCC) will see the culmination of years of hard work this December as they are presented with a Clubmark Certificate, a national accreditation provided by Sport England. The Clubmark is awarded to sports clubs who work with young people and demonstrate exceptional good practice across a range of criteria. MDCC has achieved the necessary standards across all areas, including their riding programme; duty of care and child protection; sports equality and ethics; and club management. Club Chairman Andrew Parker will receive the certificate from Teignbridge Councillor for Haytor, Cllr Jeremy Christophers who is also the council's Champion for Sport, during a day of young people's Cyclo-Cross racing at South Dartmoor School in Ashburton on Sunday 16th December # Devon CTC are not responsible for other external sites that we may link to. |
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| DEC 2007 |
Is 90mph Top-cop
in cyclist denial? |
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| DEC 2007 |
New CTC group for Cornwall. CTC
are looking for support for a proposed new group in East Cornwall. There
are several riders active in the area, but no proper group. Jason Hinton
from Launceston regularly travels to Devon to ride with the Torbay group
but is hoping to raise enough interest to start a group in Cornwall. |
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| DEC 2007 |
9th
December
VOTE
NOW: 0870
24 24 602
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| DEC 2007 |
VOTE
TODAY: 0870
24 24 602
Lines open 9am on 7th Dec until 12 Midday 0n Monday 12th December 
# Devon CTC are not responsible for other external sites that we may link to. |
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| DEC 2007 |
A good evening at Buckfast. Members
and friendsof CTC Devon enjoyed a busy evening at Buckfast Abbey. After
a festive meal, Edward Genochio gave his second talk about his retun trip
from China, via the Tibetan plateau, Russia and Khazakstan. |
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| NOV 2007 |
If Connect2 wins, millions of you will be able to travel in a healthy and environmentally-friendly way to the shops, school, work, and the park or to see family and friends. With 79 Connect2 schemes around the UK there's likely to be one near you. If you want Connect2 to win - please register today so we can send you a reminder to vote for Connect2. There are local Connect2 schemes in Devon. In Newton Abbot there is a vitally needed link to join the community of Kingsteignton to Newton Abbot town centre and other areas, plus a proposed Aller Cycle link across the busy and often grid-locked A380. Kingsteignton, a community of 10,000 people, is linked to nearby Newton Abbot only by the main heavily trafficked Newton Road. There are no separate footpaths or cycle routes despite the two communities being scarcely more than a mile apart. This proposal would utterly change the existing map of the area by building a new route along the edge of the Racecourse and then crossing the River Teign on a bridge adjacent to the railway line. Another vital link across a main road, railway and stream would connect the residential areas of Aller and Milber to Decoy and the south side of Newton Abbot. A number of other links and connections would allow many everyday journeys to be done on foot and by cycle, whilst the nearby proposed restoration of the Stover Canal towpath and link under the A38 trunk road would open up the way to reach Bovey Tracey and Dartmoor CONNECT2 MUST HAVE YOUR VOTE - TELL ALL YOUR FRIENDS ABOUT IT.
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| NOV 2007 |
CTC
Dinner - Ed Genochio joins us again in 2007. |
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| NOV 2007 |
The UK has some diabolical cycle routes whose concept and design beggars belief. Warrington Cycling Campaign have regularly featured the worst on thier website with the " facility of the month" pages. Now this has all been put into a new book, - a great stocking filler and maybe ideal to send to a friend! There are the fifty worst ones featured in the book, on sale now at £4.99 at many outlets with proceeds going to the "Cyclists defence fund" You can also view the facility of the month at the Warrington Cycling Campaign. # Devon CTC are not responsible for other external sites that we may link to. |
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| NOV 2007 |
Camden and City Cyclists are asking all cyclists to join us on Wed 14th November for the Demo at St Pancras International. We will assemble at 8 am outside the Pancras Road entrance to St Pancras International station for an 8.30 start. We plan to ride on a circuit round the station (Goodsway, Midland Road Euston Road and back up Pancras Road), checking on the problems on the way. We then plan to ride round the other way to illustrate the need for contraflow cycling in Midland Road where we will walk. There will be a photo call at 9.30-10 am outside the Pancras Road entrance to St Pancras International station and then we'll wait to greet passengers departing on the first train at about 10.30 and those arriving on the first train in at about 11 am. CLICK HERE for more about the St.Pancras station debacle. # Devon CTC are not responsible for other external sites that we may link to. |
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| NOV 2007 |
CTC Devon's Coffee Pot section continues to be popular with it's regular Thursday meet ups at various cafes and venues around Mid and East Devon. On a recent Thursday ride some sixty six riders arrived for morning coffee, - 58 of them cycling to the venue. For people with mid-week time to spare the "Coffee Pots" provide an ideal opportunity to ride at your own pace, on your own or with others to a social meet. <<CLICK HERE>> for a list of coffee pot rides. |
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NOV 2007 |
Chris
Bennetts broken bike - a salutory tale: "The bicycle pictured is one put together using a simple off-the-peg steel MTB handle-bar it has had use on the roads, principally on CTC day rides for about 4 years totalling about 5,000 miles. On Wed 23rd October, I was returning to Kingsteignton free-wheeling down Humber Lane at about 9.15pm and was just applying the brakes for the junction with Longford Lane when I realised that the left handle-bar had snapped off at the stem and I fell to the road immediately after in a serious crash resulting in extensive surgery to the shoulder, damage to the bike and a broken helmet. I had never previously given much thought to handle-bars on the basis that they only became problems if one bought expensive light weight ones. I had never previously been aware of handle-bars breaking and though I have managed to break most other bike parts over time, never the handle-bars. I have now had brought to my attention an article in "Cycling Plus" April 2007, showing an almost identical fracture. I have now also learnt of other anecdotal accounts of handle-bars failing and realise it is more common-place than I thought. In this particular bar, the reinforcing sleeve was inside the bar tube and was not the full width of the stem bracket, this could only be observed after the fracture but would not have helped the strength of the bar. I for one will be paying much more attention in the future to the handle-bars I put on my bicycle and will follow the advice of the "Cycling Plus" experts that ordinary bars should be replaced every 3 years or so and even good quality heavy-weight touring bars should be replaced every 5 years or so. This accident is not something I would wish on anyone. I feel lucky to have come out as I have and felt it might be useful to share my experience.  |
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| OCT 2007 |
Dartmoor
Devil 2007 - Success and spills in Devons slippery lanes.
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| OCT 2007 |
Forecast
is for soggy Devils. |
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| OCT 2007 |
Chris
Bennett hurt in crash.
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| OCT 2007 |
Torbay CTC have just visted Brittany for the second time in 2007, staying at the Youth Hostel in Lannions. The riders enjoyed some superb Autumn weather, and some fine views particularly along the river valley into Morlaix. |
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| OCT 2007 |
South Dartmoor College at Ashburton ran a " Cycling Bus" to school last week, (8th - 12th October) with children riding in escorted groups from Bovey Tracey and Buckfastleigh. Seventy Six children took part in the scheme, which has been hailed as a great success, and the College should be justly proud of it's achievement. |
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| OCT 2007 |
Connect2
- we need your vote - urgently! Connect2 is an exciting UK-wide project that aims to improve local travel in 79 communities by creating new walking and cycling routes for the local journeys we all make every day. By building bridges and new crossings over barriers such as busy roads, rivers and railway lines, Connect2 will connect people to the places they want to go. Each crossing will link to a network of walking and cycling routes, taking you to your schools, shops, work and green spaces. To make this happen we need you to get behind Connect2 because it is one of six projects competing for a single grant of £50 million from the Big Lottery Fund’s Living Landmarks: The People’s Millions. The winning project will finally be decided by a public vote on television in December 2007. Would you like to see Connect2 succeed in your area? Register your support by completing the form so we can update you about our progress towards the TV vote in December. Alternatively, just Text Connect2 to 80010. # Devon CTC are not responsible for other external sites that we may link to. |
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| OCT 2007 |
Well almost - Mark now has his bike back, and is recovered well enough to start cycling again. He hopes to make a start any day now, and has returned to work part time. He will soon be moving to a flat near Cadewell in Torquay, and hopes to start riding regularly and restore his previous fitness. |
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| OCT 2007 |
Full
entry for the 2007 Dartmoor Devil. Check out: www.dartmoordevil.co.uk |
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| OCT 2007 |
Grahams
50th Birthday. Pictures here soon. |
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| OCT 2007 |
Cyclists are experiencing problem on the cycleway aloing The Avenue in Newton Abbot. For some time there have been reports of people skidding on the tactile paving near the junction with Wharf Road. The "grooves" on the paving run parallel to the cycle track, and are constructed with a profile that caused a bicycle trye to skid, particularly when it's wet. The problem is not isolated to Devon, - there are reports of accidents and incidents all over the country on this type of paving. More on this story on our Campaigning section: << CLICK HERE >> |
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| SEP 2007 |
WEB SITE CHANGES
IMMINENT. Our website currently
has around 400 pages and 1000's of images. Sections like the "DARTMOOR
DEVIL" pages and the "DEVON DIRT" have effectively become
subgroups of the website with their own web addresses. |
UPDATED 16th March 2008
NEWS ARCHIVES BELOW
Riders
on the 2006 Dartmoor Devil
