Drumlanrig Root Rats News - March 2010

Coaching begins on Thursday 15th April (1715 Sprogs (U12) / 1830 Yoofs (U16)).  More details will be published nearer the time. 2010 membership is now due.  Please contact Rik's Bike Shed at Drumlanrig to join the club.  Membership fees are held the same as last year (£10 child, £20 adult and £40 family).  Benefits include access to Drumlanrig Castle Grounds (you will need this from Easter when the season starts), 10% discount from Rik's Bike Shed (conditions apply), eligibility to attend coaching sessions and free bronze membership of Brittish Cycling.   SXC MTB series starts this Sunday with races for all ages and abilities.  See SXC website for more details. We plan to run two races as a part of a D&G MTB series.  These will be a Mini Downhill event on the 6th May and a Dirt Crit on the 5th August.  There will races for all ages and abilities from Sprogs to Mums and Dads, so please put the dates in your diary now. We are still looking for a chairman - if you think that you could be the right person for the job or know that you are, please get in touch with us.  As ever, you can call Rik on 01848 330 080. Furthermore, we are keen to recruit new club volunteers and helpers.  Please get in touch if you would like to help out.

Sunday Muddy Sunday Photo and a review of 2009

The Drumlanrig Rik's Bike shed cycle club and its junior wing, the Drumlanrig Root Rats met up for a ride today. Before heading out on the trails we took the opportunity to reflect on the success that we had as a club over the last twelve months.

The highlight of the last twelve months was our accreditation with the British Cycling Go-Ride club mark in June proving that our coaches, leaders and volunteers make the grade. With our mix of coaching and practical rides on Drumlanrig trails, the club has become popular with members of all ages. Drumlanrig Root Rats organised two races during the course of the year. In the summer, we held a Dirt Crit Race on the Drumlanrig Skills Loop and we followed this up with a highly successful cyclocross race in November, which attracted a strong entry from far afield despite the harsh conditions.

The Drumlanrig Rik's Bike Shed race team has had an outstanding 2009. The team’s main focus for the year was the SXC mountain bike series. In the SXC schools series, Ariana Willoughby finished third overall in the P1-3 girls category, her brother Jamie was second P4-5 boy whilst, along with some outstanding performances in the Juvenile category, Cameron Scott was fourth in the P6-7 age group. After an agonising chain snap on home ground in the final round, Jack Taylor finished seventh in a competitive Youth series. Following some memorable battles throughout the year, Ewan Clark took second place in the Junior series. Finally, Graeme Scott was our best performing senior rider, finishing well up in the Veteran series. In the Scottish Champs, Ariana came second, Jamie third, Cameron second and Ewan second in their respective categories.

The team also dabbled with a little road racing with good results for Jack, Jamie and Ariana in town centre criterium races at Dumfries, Castle Douglas and Hawick.

Later on in the year Jack, Ariana, Jamie and Cameron together with veterans Guy Willoughby and Andrew Taylor competed in cyclocross events up and down the country. Cameron Scott took two victories in the South of Scotland Youth Series. Ariana, Jack, Jamie, Andrew and Guy entered the Scottish Cyclocross series. Jack and Jamie made it a double for Drumlanrig both winning their overall series. Andrew was really pleased to score a few points and make it onto the table for the veterans series.

The Thursday night coaching sessions and monthly trail maintenance meets have been popular with many more riders and parents who want to get involved and ride without taking to the competition circuit.

The club AGM takes place from 7pm on Tuesday 23^rd February in the Auldgirth Inn and anyone involved or interested in the club is welcome to attend. For further details contact Rik or Ginny at Riks Bike Shed on 01848 330 080, or check out the club blog on www.rootrats.blogspot.com.

Sunday Muddy Sunday - 14th February 10:00

The planned format for this Sundays event will be as follows

• 10:00 - 11:00 coaching by Rik primarily aimed at the under 12's age group.
• 10:00 - 12:00 Blue route ride with Richard Lord from Scottish Cycling
• 10:00 - 12:00 red route ride with Grame Scott

as usual, please turn up in plenty time so that you are ready to go for 10. By the way fashion victims, we will be assembling everyone together for a group photo to send in to the local press.

Club AGM 23rd February 7pm in the Auldgirth Inn

The club AGM will be held in the Auldgirth Inn from 7pm on Tuesday 23rd February. Everyone involved with the club is welcome to attend. The agenda for the AGM will be as follows

• Highlights / review of 2009
• Agree amy changes proposed to the club constitution
• Review the club development plan
• Agree fees (membership and session)
• Review club accounts
• Election of committee
• Any other business

One important piece of news is that our chairman for the last two years, Peter Charlesworth has indicated that he would like to step down. As a result, we would be grateful if everyone could give some thought as to whether they would like to take on this role. We would very much welcome new committee members whether or not you have a specific role in mind.

Club AGM and St Valentines Day Mass-cycle

The first of these, on Sunday the 14th February is the return of the ever popular Sunday Muddy Sunday format. We are hoping for as many club members as possible to turn up at the Castle a week on Sunday to go for a ride, so please mark the date in your diary. The time will be 10am and we are planning to take a group photograph at some point in the proceedings with a view to getting an article about the club into the local press.

The second event is the our AGM and this will take place from 7pm on Tuesday the 23rd February. We are hoping that everyone both young and old who has been involved with the club over the last year will come along and take part. We will announce the venue in the near future - last year we held the meeting in the Auldgirth Inn and we are looking for a similar venue this year. As before, please let me know if you cannot make the meeting, but would like to give an input.