News
19-May-13Bowland Forest Audax - 09-Jun-2013
Entries now open
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16-May-13Hadwin Cup 25 - 15-May-2013
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15-May-13Tour de Furness - 8-Sep-2013
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13-May-13For Sale
PLANET X Pro Carbon 82/101 Wheelset
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09-May-13Haverthwaite 10 - 8-May-2013
Results here
09-May-132013 Gallery updated
(Added Haverthwaite 10 pics)
View here
08-May-13For Sale
SPECIALIZED JETT EXPERT 29er
Ladies Mountain Bike
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05-May-13Results Finder updated
SpoCo times added for Wigan Wheelers 30, Rossendale RC 25 & Shap HC.
Details here
01-May-13Circuit of Coniston - 01-May-2013
Results here
24-Apr-13Haverthwaite 10 - 24-Apr-2013
Results here
24-Apr-13Results Finder updated
Latest Club 10 results added.
Details here
24-Apr-13National Championship 100 TT
Volunteer marshals required
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21-Apr-13Coast Road 21 - new date/time
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10-Apr-13Club Course Records Updated
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10-Apr-13Coast Road 10 - 10-Apr-2013
Results here
03-Apr-13Coast Road 10 - 03-Apr-2013
Results here
29-Mar-13Information on club clothing for Road Races and 2-up Open Time Trials.
Details here
21-Mar-13BC Accredited Marshal Scheme
British Cycling looking for volunteers
Details here
17-Mar-132013 Event List updated
More marshals needed for  many events.
Details here
07-Mar-13For Sale
HED AEROLAB 03 TT bike
KUOTA Carbon Road bike
Details here
26-Nov-12Trophy information updated
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10-Nov-122012 Prize winners
View all prize winners here
21-Sep-12Hospice Hill Climb Series
Grand Total Raised: £261.31
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17-Sep-12Dawes Galaxy Tandem for Sale
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Lakes & Lancs SpoCo - Border City Wheelers 22 (L221) results

Col McKenna boosted his SpoCo points with an excellent 3rd place (4th overall) in the latest event held on Wednesday 15th May on the 22 mile rolling Circuit of Cumdivock course with a time of 55:27.
The overall winner was Ian Stott of Blackburn & District CTC in 53:19.

Unfortunately I can't report what the SpoCo points position is yet as they haven't put the results up on the Lakes & Lancs SpoCo site.


Sportive Success

Several club riders were in action on Sunday 12th May at two of the countries major sportive events.

Etape Caledonia
The Etape Caledonia is one of the few sportives held on closed roads, in this case in Perthshire.
Glenn Rhodes, Steve Wilson, Gary Todd and Paul Lang headed up there to ride the 81 mile event, and finished with an excellent time of 3hrs 46 minutes, only 18 mins down on 1st place. Luckily the rain held off for the event.

The Fred Whitton Challenge
Unlike the above, the rain most certainly did not hold off for the 112 mile Fred Whitton Challenge (nor did the wind), making a very tough event even tougher.
Scott Smith, Chris Burrow, Andy Stubbs and Paul McKenny all completed the course (a feat in itself given the weather conditions).

Congratulations to all riders.


Lakes & Lancs SpoCo - Kent Valley HC (Shap) results

Another great set of rides from club members to round off the Bank Holiday weekend. This time it was the 9.1 mile Shap Hill Climb
First club rider home was Scott Smith, taking 5th place overall. Next was Col McKenna in 9th place, and Adam Pickthall rounded the day off with an excellent 12th place.
Overall winner on the day was James Gullen (Team Hope Racing) in 25:14, just 12 seconds short of the course record set in 2008.

The weekends racing has seen Colin McKenna shoot to 2nd place in the individual SpoCo tables (with a counting ride to spare over the rider in first place).
The club is now in 3rd place in the club rankings.

Congratulations again to all who rode.

Overall placings for local riders (SpoCo placing in brackets) were...

Position Rider Time Club
5 (2) Scott Smith 0:27:09 Barrow Central Wheelers
9 (4) Colin McKenna 0:28:03 Barrow Central Wheelers
12 (6) Adam Pickthall 0:29:40 Barrow Central Wheelers

 Results are available here


Lakes & Lancs SpoCo - Rossendale RC 25 results

Fantastic rides by Oliver McKenna (4th overall), closely followed by Colin McKenna (5th overall) and backed up by Graham Pitcher saw BCW take the team prize at the Bank Holiday weekend Rossendale RC 25 event held on the Cockermouth L2511 course.
Amazingly, this was Oliver's first 25 mile TT and he clocked a superb 55:05.
Col's result moves him up to 9th in the individual SpoCo table, and keeps BCW at 5th in the club table.

Overall winner on the day was Alan Thomson (Sandy Wallace Cycles) in 0:53:25

Congratulations to all who rode.

Overall placings for local riders (SpoCo placing in brackets) were...

Position Rider Time Club
4 (2) Oliver McKenna 0:55:05 Barrow Central Wheelers
5 (3) Colin McKenna 0:56:16 Barrow Central Wheelers
33 (22) Eamonn Quinn 1:02:03 Lakes Road Club
40 (28) Graham Pitcher 1:03:20 Barrow Central Wheelers
49 (36) Paul McKenny 1:09:11 Barrow Central Wheelers

 Results are available here


Lakes & Lancs SpoCo - Torver 20 results

On a glorious spring day, 32 riders tackled the tough Torver SpoCo course on Saturday 20th April.  Ian Stott (Blackburn CTC) was the overall winner in a time of 51:40 but there were some great performances from local riders.  Congratulations to Scott Smith taking 3rd in 52:31 and Col McKenna 4th in 54:08.

Fastest up the timed climb of Grizebeck was Craig Battersby (Team Leapfrog) in 7:37, closely followed by our own Scott Smith in 7:51.  Peter Greenwood (V60 - Clayton Velo) was third fastest with 8:14.

The good showing of club riders has hauled us back up to 5th in the SpoCo Club table, with Col McKenna best placed in the individual at 11th overall.

Overall placing's for local riders (SpoCo placing in brackets) were...

 
Position Rider Time Club
3 (2) Scott Smith 0:52:31 Barrow Central Wheelers
4 (3) Colin McKenna 0:54:08 Barrow Central Wheelers
7 (5) Chris Anderson 0:55:16 Biketreks Racing Academy
9 (7) John O'Callaghan 0:56:20 Barrow Central Wheelers
10 (8) Adam Pickthall 0:56:38 Barrow Central Wheelers
14 (12) Glenn Rhodes 0:57:49 Barrow Central Wheelers
17 (15) Eamonn Quinn 0:59:15 Lakes Road Club
18 (16) James Stott 1:00:15 Barrow Central Wheelers
20 (18) Graham Carrick 1:00:23 Lakes Road Club
21 (19) Adam McBirnie 1:00:24 Barrow Central Wheelers

 Results are available here


Lakes & Lancs SpoCo - Kent Valley RC 30 results

The Lakes & Lancs SpoCo series continued on Sunday 14th April with the Kent Valley RC 30 mile event at Sedbergh.
Two club riders, Col McKenna and Graham Pitcher, rode the event, in what can only described as atrocious conditions. In the words of Col McKenna, 'these are the worst conditions I have ever raced in', 30mph winds and driving rain.
Still, that didn't seem to slow him too much as he finished a fantastic 4th in a time of 1:17:39, with Graham Pitcher 18th in a time of 1:32:40.  Congratulations both!

After this event, Barrow Central Wheelers are in 8th place in the SpoCo club table, with Col McKenna 14th in the individual rider table off only 3 counting events.

 Results are available here


Coast Road Club record broken!

On a near perfect night, Oliver McKenna broke the club Coast Road record by 13 seconds, finishing in a time of 23:07.
Previous record holder and clubmate Scott Smith was second with 23:33 and Chris Anderson (Biketreks Racing Academy) took third with 24:14.
Howard Lindow (Lakes Road Club) broke the course 'fixed' record with a fine time of 25:08

Congratulations to all riders on some seriously good times for this early in the season.

Full results here


Evening Mail - Cycling articlesnull

If you missed the Evening Mail article on Wednesday 3rd April's time-trial on the Coast Road, plus the Border City Wheelers 25 SpoCo event, you can read it on-line here...

Coast Road 10 - 3rd April 2012 / Border City 25 SpoCo

Previous articles available on-line...

Circuit of Ingleborough / Caton SpoCo article

The Evening Mail are keen to have regular articles from us so if you do an event of any kind (tt, sportive, charity ride, anything!) it'd be great if you could drop me a line with a few words about it and I'll collate them and pass them on, with a picture or two if we have any suitable.
It's a great way for us to promote the club and the local events and hopefully encourage some new members.


Marshals needed

The 2013 events list is now up and marshal info included where known. As you'll see there are a lot of gaps, so if you can help marshal one or more events, please let us know so that we can include you on the list.
We MUST have the number of marshals specified for each event otherwise it can not go ahead.


Lakes & Lancs SpoCo - Lancaster CC  Caton 21 results

The Lakes & Lancs SpoCo series continued on Sunday 17th March with the Lancaster CC 21 mile event at Caton.  Once again, the weather played it's part with overnight snow making it touch and go whether the event would go ahead.
A storming ride by Jon Evans saw him take an excellent 4th place overall, while Glenn Rhodes finally got his season underway after the disappointment of the previous weeks race being cancelled. Also showing good early season form is Biketreks Racing Academy rider Chris Anderson.

After this weekends events, Barrow Central Wheelers are holding a very creditable 7th place out of the 28 clubs affiliated to the series.

Overall placings for local riders (SpoCo placing in brackets) were...

4 (3)Jon Evans0:55:36BCW
8 (6)Chris Anderson0:56:05 Biketreks Racing Academy
20 (17)Glenn Rhodes1:00:05BCW

 Results are available here


 Lakes & Lancs SpoCo - Circuit of Ingleborough  results

Four local time trialists took part in the 2013 Circuit of Ingleborough on Saturday 16th March.  A 27 mile loop of the undulating roads around the base of Ingleborough, this is a classic northern time trial on the Lakes & Lancs SpoCo series.

The weather was not cooperating and the race was run in low cloud and constant drizzle.  At least the wind was not much of a factor. The damp surfaces made the 45mph descents to tight corners interesting.

The overall winner was Peter Williams who rides for professional team IG Sigma.  He was last years winner of the points jersey in the Tour of Britain.  Peter clocked a low 1hr-2min.  Just short of the course record held by Gethin Butler.

Well done to all who rode.

Overall placings for local riders (SpoCo placing in brackets) were...

7 (4)Colin McKenna1:09:52BCW
12 (7)Scott Smith1:11:41 BCW
24 (15)Eamonn Quinn1:17:12Lakes RC
27 (18)Adam Pickthall1:18:12BCW

 Results are available here


Photo courtesy of Carl Denney

Lakes & Lancs SpoCo - Rossendale results

Great results for club riders Scott Smith, Colin McKenna and Oliver McKenna in the Rossendale SPOCO event on Saturday 2nd March.  Out of the field of 81 riders, the club had 2 riders finishing in the top 10. Scott Smith took the honours pipping Colin McKenna by just 2 seconds.
Colin's son Oliver kicked off his first full season of time trialling with an excellent 17th place.Colin McKenna

Overall placings for local riders (SpoCo placing in brackets) were...

8 (4)Scott Smith26:09BCW
9 (5)Colin McKenna26:11BCW
17 (12)Oliver McKenna27:24BCW
57 (43)Dave Nicholl30:38Lakes RC
67 (48)Paul Maxwell32:20Lakes RC

So, with 1 event down, Barrow Central Wheelers are leading the Lakes and Lancs SPOCO Club standings by 3 points.

Full results are available here Lakes & Lancs SPOCO website


Results Finder

I've created a page which allows you to search/filter/sort club results.
Currently I've got all results from 2009 onwards in the system and will add as many of the others as I can as time permits.

I'd be grateful for any feedback on how you find it, any changes you might like to suggest etc etc (just so I feel like I've not been flogging a dead horse ;-)

At the very least it'll be useful for collating who's won what at the end of the season.

You can access it from the Events/Results menu above - just click on Results Finder.


Club Kit orders

Impsport, the club clothing suppliers, have now completed the Club Shop and you can now place orders on-line. 

Full details available here.


Trophy Information

We've just started trying to pull all the trophy information together.

I've put up a trophies page which you can get to here or via the Events/Results option on the menu bar above.

Bear with us as it's a pretty time consuming task! Over the years trophies have been 're-allocated' as courses changed or were scrapped altogether (Barrow-Newby Bridge-Barrow anyone?). We'll try and reflect this in the lists where possible if we can find date/course information.

If you spot any errors or can fill in any gaps then don't hesitate to let me know.


So how much faster are we going now?

Looking at an old diary from 1991, I thought it'd be interesting to see how times 21 years ago compared to those of today. I must admit I got a bit of a surprise. The link below shows a couple of events (Circuit of Coniston and Haverthwaite) to compare.

Comparison events 1991 / 2012


Paul McKenny's Epic Lakeland Triathlon

As some of you will be aware, club member Paul McKenny recently completed a gruelling long weekend (11-13th May) in which he...

  • Swam the length of Coniston (5.25 miles)
  • Ran the Keswick to Barrow (40 miles)
  • Rode the Fred Whitton Challenge (112 miles)

Why? I hear you ask.  Is it some sort of mid-life crisis?  Not a bit of it.  In doing this he raised well in excess of £2,000 for Ulverston Sandside Lodge School, Macmillan Nurses and Furness General Hospital Oncology Department.  A magnificent effort.

He's very kindly written a brief roundup of the events (and if this doesn't put you off swimming Coniston, nothing will!)

Read all about it here.

Paul McKenny


Something to read while the rain lashes the windows...

Rules is rules...
A bit of light relief after all those heroics. The UCI might have their rules, but really these are the ones that matter.  I particularly like Rule 5 and its accompanying video.
The Rules

Writing the Book...
You've probably read "In Search Of Robert Millar", "Flying Scotsman" and loads of other cycling books.  Well, there's a new one due out next year, and reading this chaps blog on its progress, it should be a cracker.
This stuff is funny, yet embarrassingly accurate and I can guarantee you will recognise yourself in there somewhere.  Everything from 'Mechanical Ineptitude' to 'A sink full of cycling crap'.
It's long so something you can dip into over the winter to follow his progress in...
Writing the Book

Bad Weather Riding...
So, with the snow, rain and wind we've had lately you think you've been a bit of a hero venturing out on the bike do you? Or perhaps you think that Andy Hampsten's ride over the Gavia in the 1988 Giro was the pinnacle of suffering?
Naaah - This is heroic - Milan - San Remo 1910 edition

Getting the miles in...
A few people have heard of Tommy Godwin the track cyclist, and very good he was too. Unfortunately, not many seem to have heard of another Tommy Godwin.
If you think you're going to get some serious miles in over the winter, then read this and weep.  As if breaking the year record with a phenomenal 75,065 miles wasn't enough, he carried oon to break the  100,000 mile record in exactly 500 days - at least it makes it easy to work out!
I can't help feeling you'd have to be a bit bonkers to do this, but as the write up says, this record will never be beaten, and you can't say that about many cycling records.  The 1939 Stats link is interesting - you can compare your days mileage with what Tommy did on that day ;-)
Dave Barter who's "Writing the Book" (see above) is also writing a book on Tommy 'Mile-Eater' Godwin and the distance record in general, using Tommy's original diaries etc to chart the mileage.
Tommy 'mile-eater' Godwin


About the Club

The Barrow Central Wheelers was formed in 1933 when two of the clubs of that era combined. The club gets its name from the Barrow Central railway station where the first club runs started from.

Over the years, the club has taken part in all forms of cycling and cycle racing with some of it's members representing Great Britain at the highest level.
At the present time the club is predominantly a time trialling club promoting 3 open events and 21 club events each year with an annual prize giving held at the end of October.

The club still has a small active road racing section and a touring group that have very close ties to the Cumbria Cycling Club which is active most weekends and organises weekend runs and at least one major continental tour each year.