Author: admin

We may be a cycling club, but we know how to have fun off the bike, as last night proved! Rounding off a year of great socials was an epic 10 hour party, expertly organised by social secretary Dave Dyer who led us from Cafe Baba, to a great curry at Aziz – topped by the presentation of this year’s Christmas awards – before heading on to Joe Perks for more drinking and dancing. And when Joe Perks closed at 1am, a strong contingent headed down the road to keep on dancing.

Of course, as the club constitution officially records, no social may be deemed a proper social if it doesn’t end in HiLo. And at exactly 3.56 am the end of the party was officially pronounced by Dave, and the final few headed for home. 

To celebrate a great year there were awards in four categories.

Individual sporting achievements

First we honoured some of this year’s great individual achievements. Cathy Naylor and Matt Thomas took Queen and King of the Mountain respectively, having triumphed in the September hill climb competition. They’ll now be proudly wearing their exclusive Condors polka dot jerseys.

We also celebrated the racing achievements of Mike Devaney and Laura Cubiss – Mike who won the Oxfordshire Road Race League, and climbed two cats this season, and Laura who was runner up in the ORRL, and won her age category in the South East Women’s Time Trial Series.

Aimee Fenwick and Dan Bradley both got a mention for great individual achievements, reaching Cat 3 this year, and Thomas Peutz, Adrian Sell and Dave Dyer who qualified for the Grand Masters World Championships in Denmark – Dave going on to ride in Team GB colours! 

This year’s award for Most Improved Rider went to Liz King, who went from zero to completing the 100 mile Ride London in August, and learnt how to use cleats and gears!

Just for fun…

Of course, we don’t like to take ourselves too seriously. This year’s Best Crash award went to Thomas Peutz. Happily he’s back riding again, but two broken ribs and a punctured lung earnt him the prize. The award for Most Euro Rider went to Matt Thomas, the owner of some pretty luminous lycra. Worst Kept Bike was won by Peter Smith for handle bar tape flapping in the wind and some pretty haunting noises from his drivetrain. Mike Devaney was back to the podium again as Social Media Hound, Tracy Best earned the title of Biggest Chopper, and the effortlessly beau Brett Kamino was clearly touched to win Most Photogenic.

Honourable mentions

Many people make this club great, so we also paid tribute to Andy Haines for encouraging several Condors to take the muddy plunge into cyclo-cross, and Arran Curran for leading the new converts with great enthusiasm, and for ride leading all year. James Neuhaus stepped up in the latter half of the season to lead many excellent rides, Hari Lehal made sure we were all superbly kitted out in the best jerseys in the land, Richard Quayle put many hours into making the ORRL and time trials happen, and Jon Harle was noted for keeping the friendly and supportive ethos of the club going. A final chapeau went to Joby Mullens and David Whitaker for keeping riding through the dark. 

Contributions to the Club

Matt Thomas and Dan Bradley have done much to support men’s racing this year, and Aimee Fenwick and Tyra Rivkin have encouraged so many women to spin their wheels into competitive cycling. 

Mike Devaney has run fantastic spinning sessions, which continue into the new year.

If you’re reading this you’ll also be enjoying our amazing website, for which huge credit goes to Tom Woodforde.

Time trials and the hill climb have been a highlight this year, with dozens of members having their first go against the clock, and we have Brett Kamino and Cathy Naylor to thank for that.

Stephen Tearne organised the Condors round of the ORRL in Kirtlington, and generally helped keep the league running. And Jonny Revis not only put together a brilliantly successful series of races as ORRL President, but also took the club to new heights with our second Bike Oxford, and carried on club duties as Race Secretary and kept on leading rides all year.

The evening’s final awards were to three riders who have made incredible contributions to the club this year. Jo Lankester was named Best Newcomer – buying a bike just a few months ago, and going on to co-lead the women’s summer sessions, running introductory rides for new members, and delivering some fantastic design work on posters that have profiled the club around Oxford.

One award is very deliberately a people’s choice – the Golden Condor, awarded this year to Chery Reid for so much effort and enthusiasm this year, helping us grow our women’s membership at an incredible rate, conceiving and leading the women’s summer sessions, encouraging so many new riders, and getting involved in racing, time trialing and cyclo-crossing. 

And last but certainly not least, a huge shout for Ollie Jaques who as President this year has done so much to grow the club, welcome new members, and enable so many of us to get so much out of cycling.