Author Topic: Cycling clubs in Kent  (Read 6070 times)

Offline Colin walsh

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Re: Cycling clubs in Kent
« Reply #10 on: May 31, 2020, 05:56:05 PM »
Hi Smiffy,yes soon as I read your post it came to me ,Chambers was the name,the club members?used a tea rooms at the bridge end of corporation St as a rest area/may have been the bridge tea rooms/Rochester  cafe,not certain I think ,ultimately chambers had a shop on the other side of corporation st,sold motorized push bikes as well,

Offline Dave Smith

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Re: Cycling clubs in Kent
« Reply #9 on: May 25, 2020, 07:51:09 PM »
Yes, very interesting although a bit after my time for I got married in 1953 & that was that! I should have clarified, the club run was not an out & back but a circular ( or oval) tour, mostly along country lanes- impossible now! Time Trialling was out & back along allocated courses, fairly flat, measured & numbered by the RTTC. A local one was just outside Headcorn, 25 or 30 miles. The annual Hill Climb on Boxing day was up Boxley Hill. You had to be pretty fit to compete in T.T's,but if you took it really seriously, then out for a 10 mile training run before work every day & 100+ miles on Saturday & Sunday. Chambers rings a bell, the biggest cycle shop in Medway who made their own frames to order, as did Elliott Bros. in Canterbury Street, Gillingham. Happy days.

Offline Smiffy

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Re: Cycling clubs in Kent
« Reply #8 on: May 25, 2020, 02:16:26 PM »
Haha - and here's me thinking you were talking about a nice little ramble around the local area :) 
 
Must have been pretty fit to do all of that riding, and I would imagine you were caught in some pretty foul weather at times.
 
Not in Kent, but I think this old British Transport film may be of some interest:



Offline Dave Smith

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Re: Cycling clubs in Kent
« Reply #7 on: May 25, 2020, 10:46:47 AM »
Smiffy. All over East Kent mainly. Tonbridge & T.Wells, Ashford, Folkestone, Canterbury, Herne Bay, Rye & occasionally across the ferry at Gravesend & up to Billericay. At Whit. week-ends, a Friday night ride down to Portsmouth, across on the first ferry & have a sleep on the sands at Sandown. Tour the IoW & night at Sandown YHA. Then on Sunday pm cross back & up to Soberton YHA & Monday back home via the Devils Punch Bowl. Whenever we went S.E. we always returned via Boxley Hill where we stopped for a cooler at The Woodman & on the way out a favourite stop for "tea & a wad" (RAF expression) was the Singing Kettle on the A20, quite often meeting London, etc. clubs there. The " hard riders" of the club would go their own way, much further- & faster- than us tourers. Sometimes the Sunday run would be a "100 in 8" ( miles in hours). The usual number of participants was around 20.

Offline castle261

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Re: Cycling clubs in Kent
« Reply #6 on: May 25, 2020, 03:27:39 AM »
I used to see the cycling clubs pass me as I did my solo cycling, after my mate was called up.in 1944.
I used to cycle to Tonbridge from Chatham.  (nice scenery)  Longest to Margate & back on a Sunday.
There was a cycle shop until recently, owned by a well known cyclist, in Rainham.

Offline Smiffy

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Re: Cycling clubs in Kent
« Reply #5 on: May 25, 2020, 12:11:30 AM »
What routes did you take for these tours and trials Dave?
 
Colin, would the cycle shop in Rochester be Chambers?

Offline Dave Smith

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Re: Cycling clubs in Kent
« Reply #4 on: May 24, 2020, 11:11:44 PM »
No, I don't think advertising was the reason, just a follow on from the early days but with a more modern, reasonable outlook. However, the Veio did wear gaudy clothes in line with the Continentals but again, not advertising in those days for who would pay them. Later of course, sponsered teams appeared & advertising took off.e.g. Ken Joy road for & was paid by Hercules Cycles.

Offline Smiffy

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Re: Cycling clubs in Kent
« Reply #3 on: May 24, 2020, 10:12:46 PM »
Perhaps the "non gaudy" clothes were a way to discourage attempts at advertising?

Offline Colin walsh

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Re: Cycling clubs in Kent
« Reply #2 on: May 24, 2020, 10:10:42 PM »
Got a feeling I remember the Velo club ,most Sunday mornings in and around the cycle shop under the arches in corporations stree rochester,can't recall the shop name but understood it was very well known I the cycling world,even made there own frames,and built racing bicycle parts,drop handlebars were the thing to have,very racy,trouser bottoms tucked into our socks,us kids thought we were the bees knees.

Offline Dave Smith

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Cycling clubs in Kent
« Reply #1 on: May 24, 2020, 07:29:09 PM »
In the original KHF, there was a section devoted to clubs, etc. & I put " my pennyworth" on it, along with a few others. For posterity, I will reiterate. When I went home to Gillingham in 1948-1950 - on leave from the RAF-, in the Medway towns, there was an active branch of the Cyclist Touring Club- probably 30 members- who went on club runs every Sunday.( Safe as very little traffic then). After a couple of years with them, I joined the Medway Road Club. Along with the Medway Wheelers, they were the only club devoted to racing "time trials"- individuals against the clock, as well as touring in Medway. Then in 1950 the Medway Velo, was formed, cyclists who were keen on "mass start" racing as done on the Continent. Time Trialing was a very sombre affair- before WW2 you had to wear all black so that you didn't upset the motorists! - & you were required to wear " non gaudy" clothes as dictated by the governing body, the RTTC. The other body that we were affiliated to was the N.C.U. The Velo was affiliated to the B.L.R.C. & was started by a few friends, including my cousin Eric Smith. The Wheelers rose to fame as they had the winner,( Pete Beardsmore), runner up ( Ken Joy) & Team of the RTTC Championship ( 25, 50 & 100 miles) for 3 years running.