Shivvering in Brittany.

Fourty Four freeze in France!

Fourty four hardy souls sailed across the channel on the Brittay Ferry from Plymoutrh to Roscoff at the weekend.
At Roscoff three groups split into seperate rides.
The area visited was mainly to the West and South of Roscoff, with stops at Plousecat, Lannillis and Landivisiau.
Several people joined the trip for the first time.
The next French trip will be via Cherbourg, visiting Utah beach in October.

Alan Underdown leading the group.

Bridge is a boost to club rides.

Torbay CTC riders used the new bridge at Newton Abbot on Sunday 17th Feb, as part of the club ride to Teignmouth and Exeter.
It's the first time they have been able to ride traffic free all the way to Kingsteignton avoiding the heavily trafficked road past the supermarkets.
Twenty six riders enjoyed the ride in glorious spring sunshine, with a coffee stop at Pickwicks in Teigmouth and two ride destinations, - Exeter basin, and Ideford.
<<More Details>>

Tom Guppy, David Horsler, Tom Dunn, Jack Fannon

Local lads prepare for JOGLE

Four youngsters from South Devon have been riding regularly with the CTC and MDCC as part of their preparation for cycling from John O'Groats to Lans End.
Tom Dunn from Teignmouth, Jack Fannon from Torquay, and David Horsler and Tom Guppy from Newton Abbot, will set out on their journey in July.
They are riding on behalf of their school - Newton Abbot College.
Last year they completed the Dartmoor Classic Cyclosportive, and Tom Dunn and David Horsler rode the dartmoor Devil at the end of 2012.

Town Quay Bridge.

Town Quay Bridge open to the public.

The new£1.1 million pedestrian and cycle bridge over the River Teign has opened to the public.
Town Quay Bridge, which links Newton Abbot and Kingsteignton, has been developed and funded by Devon County Council with a £500,000 contribution from charity Sustrans, as part of the charity’s work in developing new everyday walking and cycling links in communities across the UK, with funding from the Big Lottery.
The brige is a 90 metre-long steel cable-stay structure, and will be well used by local walkers and cyclists.
Eventually the bridge will form part of a route down the estuary to the sea and up the Teign and Bovey rivers to Dartmoor, as part of the National Cycle Network.
There will bge an official opening event later in 2013.
<<More Details>>

Tim Bridgman with Dolly.

Round the World cyclists back on the road again!

After having one of their bikes stolen from Khartoum a few weeks ago,Tim and Sharon Bridgman from Okehampton are back on the road and heading into Ethiopia.
Friends and family in the South West rallied together, and donated a "Surly" bike which was posted out to Sudan.
It arrived minus one crank, so after a bit of a game the bike is now assembled and the couple are looking forward to some serious mountains ahead!

The story of their journey so far: <<CLICK HERE>>

Torbay's £1.6m velodrome bid.

Local cyclists are urging councillors to give the go ahead for a new velodrome circuit in Paignton, which they would have to fund 50% of.

In addition to a 400m velodrome track, a 1.5Km off road circuit would also be constructed.
There is a great buzz in the area following on from the win of Jon Tiernan-Locke in the Tour of Britain in 2012. Torbay is keen to support cycling, and this year hosts the Tour Series races again on 28th May. The day will see many events for the public and local clubs to take part in.

The authority has recently been making big budget cuts, but it's hoped that the popularity of cycling in the Bay area will make the velodrome scheme a good business model.

At an International School in Khartoum shortly befor the bike theft.

Tim and Sharon Bridgman.

Round the World cyclists have bike stolen in Khartoum

Tim and Sharon Bridgman from Okehampton set off from Norway last July on a round-the-world tour. Recently they passed through Egypt, and were crossing Sudan, but whilst staying with friends in Khartoum, Tim had his Thorn bicycle stolen.
Local police were attempting to locate the thief and bicycle, - in the meantime St.John's Stret Cycles in Bridgwater are preparing a new bike to send out tothem in Sudan.

Tim and Sharon's blog has tells the story of their journey so far: <<CLICK HERE>>

CTC and BC condemn £35 fine for causing cyclists death.

The CTC and British Cycling have condemned a legal system which allowes a court who fined a woman £150 for damaging car, to only fine a motorist £35 for killing a cyclist.
Last weeks decision by Solihull Magistrates court fined a taxi driver £35 for a collision in which 20-year-old student Tim Ridgway was killed.
A matter of days later the same court fined Donna Lloyd, 27. £110, with £80 costs and £15 victim surcharge when she hit a parked car in a multi-storey car park and drove off
More from road.cc

Lance Armstrong

Armstrong confesses to doping.

It's hard to read or watch any news without mention of the latest twists and turns in the saga of Lance Armstrong.
The man who became a legend after winning 7 Tour De France's , is now widely held in disgrace by much of the cycling community.
Having protested his innocence for months, he finally confessed to doping during two staged appearances on the Oprah Winfrey show. He has been accused of using the show as a platform, in order to get himself back into professional sport as soon as possible.
Many other athletes and organisations are implicated in the drugs scandal.
Whilst many would like the whole episode consigned to history to allow cycling to move forward, it seems the the Armstrong story will run for some time to come.

Bikeability reaches over 5000

5,200 children in Devon have received Bikeability training since April 2012.
There are high hopes to train a record breaking 6,500 children this financial year.
Confirmation on future funding from the Department for Transport is awaited but, if successful, 7,000 children could be trained in the 2013/14 financial year.

Mud and Sweat burns off the Turkey.

The first Mud and Sweat event of the season took place on Sunday 1st December, based at the Heatree Centre near Hound Tor.
Riders had to collect points at about 20 different controls, worth various points. The area used was around North Bovey, Manaton,
Houndtor Woods and Lustleigh, with the option of a 2 hour or 4 hour "score" event.
The event was a great success and the weather stayed favourabvle although was considerable flooding on some parts of the course.
The next Mud and Sweat event is at South Brent on 14th February.

Mud and Sweat series - TURKEY BURNER!

Mud 'n' Sweat next event, The Turkey Burner, will be taking place this Sunday 2nd December 2012. The
event will be based on the Eastern fringes of Dartmoor, incorporating the rugged open moorland,
and fast bridlepaths through nearby wooded and farmland areas.

The event centre for the weekend event, will be at Heatree Activity Centre near Manaton.
Registration will be open from 9.30am, with the first starts from 10am. www.heatree.com

Newton Cycle Bridge nears completion.

The spans are now in place on the new cycle bridge at Town Quay in Newton Abbot.
The bridge is expected to be opened in January 2013, and will eventually provide a link to Kingsteignton, and on to the Teign Estuary to Teignmouth.

The work is being undertaken by Devon County Council, and Sustrans, and the funding was won for this section during 2009 when there wer bids for lottery funding.
There are many improvements planned for the South Devon area, including improved crossing of the A38 near Drumbridges, and a propsed Velodrome for Tprbay.

Anna Presland sets off the riders.

Dartmoor Devil - Twentieth succesful event!

178 riders entered this years ride, and after 159 started out, 115 made it to the finish in time.
This years route was one of the hardest courses, and many were close to time limits all the way around.
The weather was very favourable for the morning, but after the soup control at Whiddon Down, the mist and rain arrived, with a moderate head wind across the moor to Princetown.
Well done to all who finished or rode, and a big thankyou to the team of helpers.
Photos and video and a report on the Dartmoor Devil web pages www.dartmoordevil.co.uk

Dartmoor Devil - Twentieth event!
The twentieth Dartmoor Devil takes place this weekend - 28th OCTOBER.
200 riders are expected to tackle the ardous route. Some 7000ft of climbing across Dartmoors highest points.
This year route features Pepperdon Hill, climbing up tothe Reservoirs, with a control at Heltor Rock.

The soup control as at The Post Inn at Whiddon Down. FoxTor Cafe provides the control at Princetown, after which the riders will trace the usual route back through the three major climbs of Dartmeet, Poundsgate and Widecombe Hill.

Group near Morlaix

Forty enjoy a soggy weekend in Brittany.
Forty riders enjoyed a failrly soggy weekend to Treguier in Brittany.
On arrival at Roscoff at 7am on 7th October it was raining steadily. The rain turned to drizzle,
but stayed with the riders for most of the day as they headed through Lannion to Perros Guirec, and on the the hotel destination at Port Blanc.
On the Sunday it was a shorter more direct route back to the ferry.

Totnes Taster

Totnes Taster - new CTC 100Km event - Sunday 14th October.

The Totnes Taster is a NEW EVENT this year leading you on a gloriously scenic ride around the back roads of South Devon. Starting in Totnes and heading south through lanes and villages down the west side of the river Dart before entering Dartmouth and crossing the river by ferry.
The route then proceeds up the east of the Dart past Berry Pomeroy Castle then through the famous ‘Denbury Triangle’ - deviate from the route sheet at your peril: you might be cycling in circles for weeks!
Then up onto Dartmoor for a circuit of Haytor and Hound Tor before heading south again and back, via the lanes, to Totnes.

<<CLICK HERE>> for route sheet .pdf.

New Bridge pylon at Town Quay.

Route 2 - new bridge at Newton Abbot takes shape.

Work is going ahead in Newton Abbot to complete the route linkng Kingsteignton to Newton Abbot.
The new bridge being constructed at Town Quay has just had the mast erected.
The rest of the work on the bridge is due to be completed at the end od 2012 with the opening likley tgo be early in 2013.
Further schemes in the area include a proposed inclusion of new traffic lights at Drumbridges roundabout on the A38 to
help cyclists and pedestrians to cross.