Royal Dean Forest Cycling Club

Spin Classes start Wednesdays from 17th September, Heywood School at 7:45pm

Winter Spin Classes on Trixter Bikes Turn up at the venue, Heywood Leisure Centre, Cinderford, 15 minutes before the start time of 7:45pm with your towel/drinks/shower gear/stopwatch or HR monitor and £3 to cover room hire. Every Wednesday for one hour commencing on Wednesday 17th September and running every week through to and including 17th December. We start again on 4th January 2009 and finish on 15th April 2009. Note there are only 12 bikes one of which is usually occupied by the instructor, so if there is great demand we will have to bwe sensible and do it on a rota basis. The session is one hour from 7:45pm until 8:45pm. There will NOT be a session on Wednesday 1st October as it is the Club's AGM at the Fountain Inn, Parkend. The session will be taken by 2 qualified Instructors on a rota basis - David Evans (of circuits fame) and Katie Griffiths. Please register your "serious" interest by calling Martin Green on 01594 836408

SEPTEMBER / OCTOBER RIDES 2008
Sunday 7th September	Road - gentle ride	9:30am	The Fountain Inn, Parkend	Trevor Hyde / Graham Carter
Sunday 14th September	MTB	9:30am	The Fountain Inn, Parkend	Rob Neuth
Sunday 21st September	Road	9:30am	The Fountain Inn, Parkend	Andy Lock
Sunday 28th September	MTB Enduro - No club ride	10:30am	PedalaBikeAway
Sunday 5th October	Vintage Tankard	tbc	Much Marcle, Herefs
Sunday 12th October	MTB	9:30am	The Fountain Inn, Parkend	Matthew Heaman
Sunday 19th October	Road	9:30am	The Fountain Inn, Parkend	Bob Parry
Sunday 26th October	MTB	9:30am	The Fountain Inn, Parkend	Henry McGill

WIGGLE - buy online and earn our Club some money Wiggle will pay RDFCC 10% (or 1% if its a bike or 2% if its a frame), if you click on the link below and create a new customer account, on the value of what you spend in the first three months. They will only pay commission on new orders. If existing customers click through and order without creating a new account, no commission will be paid. The UK's Number 1 Online bike and cycle shop. Superb range of mountain bikes, road bikes, cycle clothing, bike parts and accessories. Unrivalled service, free p&p and finance available!

Vintage Tankard Sunday 14th October 2007 The traditional annual Vintage Tankard Time Trial took place on Sunday, October 14th between the Newport Phoenix, Forest of Dean and Ross on Wye clubs. The event was hosted this year by Newport Phoenix & took place on the club's 25 mile Llangibby to Glascoed TT course, unfortunately shortened to 20.4 miles (due to roadworks between Llanfrechfa and Ponthir on the return leg), by cutting through the lanes from the crematorium back to the Caerleon - Usk road near the Cwrt Bleddyn hotel. Despite a dampish looking start to the day the conditions were to prove ideal for Time Trialling, with hardly a breath of wind to trouble the 21 riders taking part. Both visiting clubs fielded strong teams as usual in this keenly fought but good humoured contest, with Forest of Dean to be eventually declared the winning team with a clean sweep of the five fastest times. In first place was Colin Parry with an excellent time of 47.50 minutes, followed by Andrew Jones in second place with 50.54 minutes and Bob Parry in third spot with 51.19 minutes. Just two seconds were to separate the next two placings with Alistair Willis in fourth and David Evans in fifth place. The Ross on Wye club's best finisher was Jerry Roberts in sixth place with a time of 51.59 minutes, with Newport Phoenix's 2007 TT points champion Richard Lawton posting the fastest time of 55.40 minutes for the home club. The other Phoenix riders were Paul Anderton with a time of 57.35 minutes, Paul Monger with 58.28 minutes and the Club's 2007 Ladies Points Champion, Susan Burnett with a time of 1.06.27. For full results click here

Vintage Tankard Sunday 8th October 2006 RDFCC won the Vintage Tankard by 4:11 minutes from Ross and Distric CC. The Vintage Tankard is an annual inter-club event involving RDFCC, Ross & District CC and Newport Phoenix. On a bright morning, seventeen riders faced the timekeeper for the 52nd running of this event. This year the event was held over the testing Cannop circuit with the riders facing 3 laps of the 6 mile circuit. The start is at Boys Grave and runs up to Speech House before dropping down to Pigmy Pinetum and then on to Parkend past Cannop Ponds before the lung bursting 1 mile ascent up to the Barracks and back to the start. Sadly Newport were not able to field a team this year. The Forest and Ross Clubs took up the challenge and with riders starting at 1 minute intervals there were some close battles and excellent times throughout the field. The first three were Colin Parry (RDFCC) in a new course record time of 47:37, Andrew Jones (RDFCC) 49:00 and Hefin Jones (Ross) in 50:15. The Vintage Tankard is awarded to the Club with the lowest aggregate time for their first six riders and on this occasion RDFCC regained the trophy with a winning margin of 4:11. Following the race the riders and officials retired to the Fountain Inn, Parkend for some well deserved refreshments. RDFCC top six riders time was 5:12:07 Ross & District CC time was 5:16:18 For full results click here

RDFCC Audax Rides 2006 There were even more riders this year for the ever popular Royal Dean Forest Cycling Clubs Audax rides with riders coming to the Forest from all over the country with an especially strong contingent from East Anglia. The premier event the 100km (60mile) Lumpy Scrumpy, which had over 2500 metres of climbing, was held over a new route which this year took in more hills including climbs over the Malvern Hills to a new Control at Chase End where riders had a very brief respite to take on food and drink before the return leg to the Forest via Kempley, Linton and Mitcheldean. Though not a race the hard men were out to prove their mettle by being first back and this year the first group back contained 5 Forest Club riders, Lindsay Venner, Alistair Willis, Steve Price, Dave Evans and John Linden along with Terry Nuttall from Bristol South CC. All these riders completed the arduous event in five hours and five minutes with Lindsay Venner claiming to be first to cross the finish line at the Fountain Inn Parkend. The Dean Doddle Audax was intended to attract newcomers to the Audax discipline and was held on the same day over a 60km (40 mile) route on the more scenic roads and lanes around the Forest taking in St Briavels, Symonds Yat, Bishopswood, Mitcheldean and back to Parkend. Again the route was tough with many riders failing to complete the ride in the alloted time. The best times of 3 hours dead were returned by Phil Peplow of Stafford and Dave Griffin from Cheltenham. The organiser, Trevor Hyde, of Newent was very pleased with a total turnout of 87 riders and was thankful to those Club Members who helped stage the event.

Royal Dean Forest Cycling Club We are a Friendly Club, who's main aim is to enjoy cycling. The Club has many members covering the entire age spectrum and most cycling disciplines: off road, audax, time trial, racing, track and leisure rides. The Club was founded over 50 years ago in the very same pub that meetings are still held at today - The Fountain Inn, Parkend - for like minded souls to get together and talk about all things 'bikey' and a few more things besides.  The Club still enjoys the active participation of a few of those founder members today. If you are a visitor to the area and wish to discover the magic of the ancient Forest of Dean, or even if you live in the Forest and would like to join in on a Sunday morning Club ride then please do not hesitate to contact anyone on our Contacts Page for more information. We also hold a monthly committee meeting on the first Wednesday of every month at 8pm at the Fountain Inn, Parkend, Gloucestershire. Everybody is welcome to attend.

RDFCC Audax Rides 2005 100k 'Lumpy Scrumpy' ride / 50k 'Dean Bluebell Doddle'- Saturday 7th May 2005 Over 80 cyclists enjoyed sunshine and showers when they took part in the annual Forest Club Audax rides. The two rides, one of 58k (36 miles) and a longer ride of 105k (66 miles) attracted riders from all over the Midlands and South West. The more competitive riders on the 100k ride barely had time to notice the glorious display of bluebells as they toiled up some of the more testing hills in the Forest en route to Eastnor Castle, sure in the knowledge they would have to repeat the process on different hills on the return leg. First riders back this year on the 100k were Gloucester rider Guy Preece and Michael Brooke in a time of 4 hours 32 minutes The shorter ride was enjoyed by a smaller and less serious field but the hilly sections were just as severe a test on a circular route skirting the northern parts of the Forest. First rider back on the shorter route was Andrew Corp-Kellett in a time just under 4 hours.

Vintage Tankard Interclub Time Trial - 3rd October 2004 This trophy event is an interclub time trial between Newport Phoenix CC, Ross-on-Wye CC and Royal Dean Forest CC. The trophy which has eluded the RDFCC for several years is now back in our possession, thanks to the six rider team.  First home for the Forest (and event winner) was Jon Batts (53:41), followed by Kerry Trigg (54:33), John Moth (54:33), Andrew Jones (54:50), Matthew Heaman (56:54) and Ian Spencer (57:05).  Well done to all who rode on a tough, windy day. Overall Results: (aggregate times) 1st   Royal Dean Forest   5hrs 31mins 36secs 2nd  Ross on Wye            5hrs 48mins 47secs 3rd   Newport Phoenix     6hrs 18mins 14secs