London Dynamo Newsletter #20, 13.08.04
FLAMING BRILLIANT!
We’ve reached that point of the sporting calendar where the finest athletes are given the honour of carrying the torch to a partially-built sports facility – and a select group rose to the occasion magnificently on Tuesday when they donned their devilishly handsome uniforms to brandish the blue flame of Dynamo at Hillingdon. The roll-call of proud members who responded to this fine organ’s campaign to get 12 ‘Mos a-marshalling at the west London circuit was staggering, and the Newsletter would like to pay tribute to all those riders who turned up to help out, race, or do a bit of both. So step forward ALEX ‘BUSTED’ BASTIN, CHRIS ‘CALAMITY’ CAMPBELL, HUGO ‘TURBO’ CANO, CHRIS ‘CHADDERS’ CHAPMAN, ‘MEDICAL’ MIKE DEBNEY, TOM DAVIES, BILL GILBERT, TOM ‘HUMBLE’ HEMMANT, SAM ‘SLAM DUNK’ HUMPHESON, PAUL ‘ALL-BLUE’ HARKNETT, ‘GENTLEMAN’ JOHN OLDRIDGE, RORY ‘GLORY, GLORY’ PARK, GUY ‘THE ENGINE’ POWDRILL, PHIL ‘NEW BOY’ SHEEHAN, RUSSELL ‘RUSTY’ SHORT, WARRICK ‘SPEEDY’ SPENCE and MARTIN ‘HUNK’ WILLIAMSON. Gentlemen, we salute your Olympian efforts! Hardy taskmaster GUY ‘CAPTAIN MAINWARING’ ANDREWS was going to assume the role of troop commander until he turned up half an hour late, leaving Mike, Chris Campbell and Tom Davies to man the signing-on desk in the clubhouse while John prepared to take down the winners’ numbers when they crossed the line. Good work, fellas! Dynamo’s contribution to the evening has thus ensured that the club won’t be turned away by race organisers at future events. So now, with the sound of celebratory fireworks still ringing in our ears, it’s time to move from the opening ceremony on to the first event. Here comes the bang from the starting gun…
REAPING A HARVEST
Handy mechanic SAM ‘SLAM DUNK’ HUMPHESON was delighted to get his grease-ridden mitts on a £15 Harvester voucher, which is redeemable at hundreds of the reputable restaurants nationwide. He’ll be joined at the buffet bar by CHRIS ‘CHADDERS’ CHAPMAN, who was also rewarded with a free meal for getting a result at the sweltering Surrey League championships at Ninfield on Sunday. The bespectacled boy wonder entered the category 3 world of bottom-kicking after holding the wheel of none other than wonderkid Lewis Atkins and staying with him in a seven-man break to clinch 7th place. Excellent work, sir! And please accept the London Dynamo Newsletter Result Of The Week salad bowl for finishing 3 minutes ahead of the pack in the gruelling 50-mile 3/4/W/J race. Sam sprinted from the bunch to nab 10th while ROB ‘MANE MAN’ JEFFROY came 13th, giving Dynamo more placings in the top 15 than any other club. That’s how we like it! Plucky TOM DAVIES finished with the bunch in 19th place while CHRIS ‘BIG FISH’ HADDOCK got fried in the heat and quit an hour into the race. He was soon followed by CHRIS ‘CALAMITY’ CAMPBELL, ADAM ‘YO-YO’ DOBBS and GUY ‘THE ENGINE’ POWDRILL, who blamed his seat post sliding down into his Trek’s seat tube. The twin-piston powerhouse wants this publication to point out that Jan Ullrich also pulled out of the Clasica San Sebastian this week for exactly the same reason. It happens to the best of us, mate! Meanwhile, Chadders’ flatmate TOM ‘HUMBLE’ HEMMANT made a rare lapse of judgement in the 67-mile E/1/2/3 race later that day when he missed the move and ended up in a break between the leader and the bunch. Dynamo’s quiet man still finished 7th, which is just as well in the Newsletter’s opinion, because if he was further up the finishing sheet then he might have become embroiled in the brou-ha-ha over eventual winner Ashley Freeman allegedly breaking a gentleman’s agreement not to contest the finish. Stay out of it, Tom – he’s not worth it!
SHEET SNEAKS
Unstoppable CHRIS CHAPMAN was back for more punishment at Hillingdon on Tuesday – and the sneaky lad managed to sign on the starting sheet for the E/1/2/3 race with a little bit of inside help from ‘MEDICAL’ MIKE DEBNEY. Chadders’ 3rd cat licence is still in the post, which means that under an obscure BCF bylaw passed in 1842 he has to stay in 4th cat races for the time being. But Mike, who was manning the signing-on desk, let the eager lad race with the big boys anyway. You better pray Surrey League bruiser Keith ‘Two Pumps’ Butler doesn’t get to hear about this, fellas! Chris managed a perfectly respectable 16th place in the race which also saw Cyclefit sensation WARRICK ‘SPEEDY’ SPENCE take 7th after staying in a seven-man break with Lewis Atkins – an oddly similar situation to Chris’s at Ninfield. Chadders’ pal TOM HEMMANT revealed the race was “very fast with lots of attacks” while Dynamo newcomer PHIL SHEEHAN, who managed to grab 14th despite recovering from a damaged Achilles and knee, said he had “a very pleasant evening racing with my new club mates”. You’re going to make lots of new friends, chum!
SICK AS A PARROT
The same can’t be said of CHRIS ‘CALAMITY’ CAMPBELL, who almost made an enemy of a fellow Dynamate in the 4/W/J race. Brave TOM DAVIES managed to stay in a break until Chris, thinking his team-mate had got clean away, hauled the bunch from the front and accidentally caught the lead group in the final lap. Whoops! And after his huge yet pointless effort, the exhausted former fatman could only muster 9th place. Concerned RORY ‘GLORY GLORY’ PARK commented to Chris after the race that he “looked a bit peaky” and the Parkride regular, who had succumbed to a tummy bug earlier in the day, confessed to feeling very dizzy on the final lap. He wasn’t the only one under the weather – BILL GILBERT, who was mixing things up nicely at the front of the bunch on his Hillingdon debut, witnessed an unidentified rider chucking his guts up at the closing stages of the race. He won’t try drinking the water from the taps in the clubhouse portaloo again!
THAT’S OLDRIDGE NEWS!
Mild-mannered Dynamate ‘GENTLEMAN’ JOHN OLDRIDGE has been busy racking up the points recently and now it’s the Newsletter’s proud duty to bring everyone bang up to date with all the impressive results he has achieved during the past month. He was 3rd at Crystal Palace on July 13, 5th on July 27 and 7th in the Surrey League “World Championships” handicap race on July 18. He also took 7th, 8th and 6th at Eelmore on July 21, August 4 and August 8 respectively. John reveals: “The bad news is I have now ended up as a 2nd cat. It looks like I will have to race against the hard men from now on.” You’re already a hard man, pal! And as we’re playing catch-up, we’d better mention DAVID NORRIS fine effort at the London Triathlon a couple of weeks ago. The big fella did the bike section as part of a team and covered the 40km course in 1.09.06 – the 13th fastest time. His team came 21st out of 271 and they raised £500 for Macmillan Cancer Relief. Good work, sir!
WET’S HE ON ABOUT?
Your favourite chronicle of all matters Dynamesque is never afraid to admit to its occasional mistakes, yet it is with a heavy heart that the Newsletter is running the following correction, because it wasn’t totally inaccurate in the first place. In our issue dated July 30, we stated that GUY POWDRILL was “in the top 50 by the time he was out of the water” at Ironman Switzerland. In fact he was in the top 20. Guy has since stated repeatedly and insistently that he was the first non-professional to finish the swim. The Newsletter hopes and prays this will be the end of the matter.
ALL BURNT OUT
The national anthem has been played, the crowds are filing out of the stadium and an IOC official in an asbestos suit has extinguished the Olympic flame. We’ll be back next Friday – and until then, please remember that we are the British cycling team but we would be nothing without you, our World Class Performance Programme. So please send us your news, gossip, and further sightings of the elusive KEN BUIST to news@londondynamo.co.uk. The deadline, as ever, is Wednesday afternoon for Friday’s edition. And now, as Chris Hoy gets clipped into his pedals, it only remains for us to remind you about…
THIS WEEK’S RIDES
SATURDAY
The Parkride. Richmond Park, 9am. There’s going to be another change. Last week’s experiment succeeded in blocking the car park, so this Saturday’s meeting point is the roundabout by Sheen Gate. Don’t worry if you don’t know the way – come to Roehampton Gate and the Dyna-management will point the way. As ever, there will be four laps split into fast, intermediate and steady groups. Anyone who wants to lead a group should leave a message at http://www.londondynamo.co.uk/forum/viewforum.php?f=21.
SUNDAY
Hampton Court bridge, 9am for Surrey Hills ride. 50ish miles at a steady pace. Bring a pump, inner tubes, drink, and CHRIS HADDOCK’s delicious Dorset Knob.
WEDNESDAY
Richmond Gate, Richmond Park, 7:30pm. Three fast laps.
So until next week, Dynamates, goodbye and happy riding.
London Dynamo Newsletter.
THE SMALL PRINT
SUNDAY, JULY 18, SOUTH EAST DIVISION “WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP” HANDICAP ROAD RACE, HENFOLD HILL, E/1/2/3/4/W/J, 100km: 1. Bryan Taylor (VC De Londres); 2 Andrers Christensen (unatt); 3 Adrian Goatley (Freerider Cycles); 4 Graham Wood (Luciano-Fondriest); 5 Frank Sanz (Pearson Cycles); 6. Alex Atkins (Evans Cycles); 7 JOHN OLDRIDGE (LONDON DYNAMO); 8 Andy Seltzer (East Grinstead); 9 William Pearson (Pearson Cycles); 10. Andrew Harvey (Kingston Wheelers); 15. Richard Varian (Epsom).
SUNDAY, AUGUST 8, SURREY LEAGUE ROAD RACE CHAMPIONSHIPS, NINFIELD, E/1/2/3, 67 miles: 1 Ashley Freeman (Kingsnorth International) 2:48:49; 2 Tony Gibb (Ploughman Craven) +0:10; 3 John Ibbotson (Pacific Racing); +0:21; 4 John Veness (Evans Cycles); 5 Gary Dodd (Sigma Sport) +2:10; 6 Christopher McNamara (Team Synergy) +3:20; 7 TOM HEMMANT LONDON DYNAMO; 8 Simon McNamara (Team Synergy); 9 Andrew Meilak (Poshbikes.com); 10 Simon Lawn (Sigma Sport).
3/4/W/J, 50 MILES: 1 Peter Tadros (In Gear) 2:09:01; 2 Lewis Atkins (Ciclos Uno) +1:28; 3 William Thompson (Pacific Racing); 4 Jim McManus (Interbike); 5 Rober Smith (VC Etoile) 6 Richard Heathcote (I-team.com) 7 CHRIS CHAPMAN (LONDON DYNAMO); 8 Mark Perryman (VC Etoile); 9 Mark Hutt (Hounslow and District Wheelers); 10 SAM HUMPHESON (LONDON DYNAMO); 11 Alan Hainsworth (Beyond MTB); 12 Nick Whitney (Tunbridge Wells); 13 ROBERT JEFFROY (LONDON DYNAMO); 14 Max Ramirez (Addiscombe); 15 Marek Siwicki (Addiscombe); 16 Rod Freeman (Twickenham); 17 Craig Beech (Interbike); 18 Andrew Wills (VC Deal); 19 TOM DAVIES (LONDON DYNAMO); 20 Andrew Seltzer (East Grinstead).
TUESDAY, AUGUST 10, BC WEST THAMES CIRCUIT RACE, HILLINGDON, E/1/2/3, 51KM: 1 James Flanagan (Milton Keynes) 1:6:31; 2 Lewis Atkins (Ciclos Uno); 3 Chris Doel (Team Quest); 4 J. Stewart (London Irish); 5 A. Young (Python RT); 6 R. Morgan (Parrot Print RT); 7 WARRICK SPENCE (LONDON DYNAMO); 8 M. Wilmot (Team Quest) + 0.35; 9 P. Crook (Angliasport/Condor) +1:02; 10 V. Halpern (Twickenham) st; 11 S. Hammer (unatt) st; 12 GUY ANDREWS (LONDON DYNAMO) st; 13 J. Foster (Willesden) st; 14 PHIL SHEEHAN (LONDON DYNAMO) st; 15 T. Underhill (Finsbury Park) st; 16 CHRIS CHAPMAN (LONDON DYNAMO) st; 17 S. Oglesbury (Hemel Hempstead) st; 18 Des Gayler (Kenton RC) st; 19 K. Falvey (Willesden) st; 20 E. Graefe (Economic Energy).
4/W/J, 45KM: 1 James Leach (Didcot Phoenix); 2 C. Stocker (unatt); 3 T.Goodchild (unatt); 4 A. Araujo (unatt); 4= S. Miambo (Economic Energy); 5 Jessica Stoddart (Interbike RT); 6 G. Pettit (Hillingdon); 7 B. Ward (Finsbury Park); 8 J. Dibden (IT.Co.UK); 9 CHRIS CAMPBELL (LONDON DYNAMO).
The DYNAMITE! Files 
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