25th May Newsletter
Wow, what a weekend!! It was great to see so many people at The Hub on Saturday, there must have been at least forty of us which was fantastic. This was followed up with what looked like great rides Sunday and Monday. Let’s hope this weather lasts for a while.
Apologies for the bumper issue but I didn’t get a chance to send one last week.
The Hub
Many of you will have seen that the cafe at The Hub has opened again. They are trying hard to build up the usage of the centre and we have been very politely asked that, if we are planning to go for a long ride, if possible we use one of the other Oxted car parks, leaving The Hub car park free for its users. Don’t forget that Oxted car parks are free at weekends. Thanks.
K20 Sportive
This fantastic event is now full. Stuart is unable to make it so has a spare entry. If you would like to do it but missed out please let him know.
Race Report - Josh
Last weekend was a busy one on the local racing scene, with Surrey League races on the Lingfield course on Sunday and at Cyclopark on Saturday. Not fancying the National B on Sunday (E123 categories), I entered the 3/4 category event at Cyclopark.
There were only 16 entries in total which is not a great showing, and it was hot and windy so developed into a cagey but attritional race. In the last few laps the lead group was whittled down to 7 riders; I had a dig off the front but nothing was sticking, so it came down to a gallop to the line. We just caught someone a lap down with 100m to go which made for a messy sprint, but probably didn’t change the result. 3rd place is a good showing for me for this time of year anyway, so pleased with the outcome!
Well done Josh!!
TT Reports
Last week
Windy conditions for the Tuesday night 10 at Horne this week, with the general consensus being that times were slower than last week. That didn't put off 19 riders signing on, 4 from OCC. As ever, full results for Oxted riders are listed below. A few things to highlight:
It was great to see Malcolm back at Horne for his first TT of the season. He was a minute and a half off his fastest time from 2025. but still a solid time for his 2026 opener and I am sure he will get fast as the year moves on.
Club Chairman Richard Bushell was also making his first appearance of the 2026 season. Big smile as usual, and he has already signed up on Spond for next week - there's commitment!
Russell Hicks posted the fastest OCC adjusted time of 24:21. Chris was the fastest rider on scratch with a 25:27, but was still 3 minutes and 4 seconds slower than Marek who was the fastest on the night.
Big thanks to Josh Guest for taking his turn marshalling. Thanks Josh! I'll be stepping up next week.
A couple of other TT matter to flag:
Next week Horne moves back to a 7pm start. It is showing on spond so please let me know if you plan to attend.
Quick shout out to Myles he ventured up to Cambridgeshire to enter a 30 mile time trial (what an odd distance!) Myles came in an impressive 6th, with a time of 1:11:12. That's over a 25mph hour - Rapid!
This Week
The weather was grotty this week with a strong and gusty wind from the south/south west and an ever-present threat of rain. Despite this, OCC still stumped up 5 out of the 13 entries. Great work team!
The highlights:
Great to see both Jeremy and Martin returning, after missing week 2 last week. Martin clearly had shook off the ailment he had in week 1 as he managed to shave around 50 seconds off his time, in truly cruddy conditions!
Malcolm was also the model of consistency, going 3 seconds faster than last week. Warmer conditions should see those times come down further.
Russell topped the OCC time sheet, both in terms of actual and adjusted time. Well done Russell.
Hope to see improved weather and more of you out next week!
Ride Reports
Saturday 9th May - Louise’s T2
There were 12 of us for the T2, training ride for K20. Gavin and Jo kindly led one group and I led the other with Kim volunteering as back marker. We took a lovely but hilly route out via Forest Row, Wych Cross and Nutley with a short stop on the Ashdown Forest for the cows to cross the road, which reminded us of our New Forest ride last weekend. Coffee, cake, bacon butties were very much appreciated at the Babylon Garden Centre. Our route back took us back across the Ashdown Forest with a lovely long downhill into Hartfield. Then back via Furnace Lane, Dormans, Lingfield and Dwelly Lane, finishing with the 11th climb being Hall Hill into Old Oxted.
49miles and 1093m of climbing at just over 12mph, phew!!
Gavin and Jo’ group included Andy, Tony, Caroline and Colin. My group was Kim, Martyn, Janette, Chris and Malcolm.
Matt’s T3
I was joined by Mark C, Paul, Mark D, Justin, Dale, Michelle and new rider Stuart for a ride to Tanhouse Farm. Perfect weather for cycling, we kept a steady pace throughout to keep the group together and a mostly flat route meant we averaged 15.1 mph over 48 miles with 480m of climbing. Great riding by all and a very enjoyable ride.
Martin’s T4
I lead a run to the outskirts of Staplehurst on Saturday. We ran a very tight group, holding tight to wheels and maintaining the upper end of T4 pace. Despite repeated checks to see if anyone wanted to slow down, there were no takers.
We made rapid progress down through Kent with a tailwind and quite a bit of descent. After a stop at Marden Post office we returned detouring via Tonbridge on the way back.
17.2 mph average is not bad given the conditions, but the flatter course and Pats power bombs were in our favour.
Norman’s Midweeker
The RTR ride this morning took us out via Four Elms on our way to Chiddingstone Castle but due to eager legs we found ourselves too early for my arranged 10.45 tea/coffee stop at the Castle Cafe. So Chris guided us out to circle Bough Beech Reservoir that gave us extra miles so that we arrived at the cafe as planned. Thanks to Jo, Jeremy, Andy, Chris, Suzanne, Mark, Cathy and of course our Chairman (surprise visitor at the cafe) for the ride and we were back via Hever and Edenbridge to Neros in good time after 31 miles.
Saturday’s Rides
Matt’s T3
11 of us today, big thanks to Jason for leading a second group, in my group was Kim, Martyn, Michelle and Bren, in Jasons group was Louise, Alan, Stuart, Sarah and Paul LS. Roost cafe near Lindfield was the cafe stop, new to me and worth going to again, everyone did well considering the heat but a very enjoyable ride. 42 miles at 13.9mph with 830m of climbing.
Martin’s T4
Martin ran a slightly different route to the milk churn. The jury is out on what people thought about it. We perhaps did some extra hills at the start as far as Smallfield. After that the two route matched.
Great day, fastish, hot I would say. 72 miles, 3,468 ft ascent 17.4 mph ave.
Dénia Cycling
Some of you will have seen that a group of us recently had a fabulous cycling holiday in Denia. We were hosted by Maddy and Richard in their lovely villa. I have received this message from Maddy.
As you may be aware we rent our villa in Spain for the summer months. It is currently fully rented for the July/August holiday season but it is free for the rest of this month until 4th July. June is a cracking time to be there cycling before the full summer heat kicks in with the benefit of a pool warm enough to cool down in. Do you think anyone in the Oxted club (or immediate friends) might be interested in renting it? Better for us it is used than empty so we’d be happy to rent it at a significantly reduced cost compared to the agency advertised cost. This covers all the utility/linen/cleaning costs with a small profit for us.
To keep things simple the fixed price will be £850 for up to 1 week Saturday to Saturday (though folks can obviously choose to arrive/depart anytime in their chosen week’s window.
The villa sleeps 6, 1 en-suite bedroom upstairs and 2 twin bedrooms downstairs sharing a bathroom.
This is the agency link to the villa but obviously ignore the prices.
https://www.carlosferien.info/en/rentals/villa-denia-belem-md-517162.html
If you are interested let me know and I’ll give you Maddy’s details.
Keep cool!
Richard