Portsmouth CTC
Part of Cycling UK
Paul Whitehead - a past President of Portsmouth CTC - passed the 300,000 mile mark on Sunday, 31st March, while on tour in France.
He is now eligible to join the exclusive 300,000 Mile Club; something that only a handful of Portsmouth CTC members have achieved.
To put his achievement into context, that's over 12 times around the world - at the equator! Or a lot further than the distance to the moon!
Congratulations, Paul!
Josie Dew asked us if she could change the date of her club night presentation so we have swapped it with the Competition Night.
Josie's presentation will now take place on Thursday 14th March and the Competition Night on Thursday 28th March.
For those who don't know, Josie is a near-local and Vice President of Cycling UK. We know many of you are looking forward to hearing her speak so please make sure you mark the new date.
Andy Henderson
Secretary, Portsmouth CTC
The competition was to a very high standard.
After voting by the members who attended, we awarded prizes to:
You can see the winning entries below. Click any image to see a larger version.
Adding an entry to the forums is easy. All you need to do is:
You must have logged-in to read this note so you know at least one way. There is a 'Login' link at the bottom left of all of our web pages. If you are already logged-in, you will see the message "You are logged in as..." instead.
The forums page lists all the forums available to you together with a brief description of each one.
When you are logged in to the site, you can see the same list in the menus under 'Member services' / Forums.
Click a forum title to enter that forum.
When you enter a forum you will see a list of topics that are already in the system. See below for how you can contribute to an existing topic.
At the bottom of the list, you will see this form that allows you to start a new one:
The simplest way to add a new entry is to:
That's it.
Members that have opted to follow the forum will automatically get an email notifying them of your new topic.
You might want to re-use text from an article you've already written, or you might just be more comfortable using a different editor to write your article. That's fine.
If you use a Word Processor like Microsoft's Word, our site will try to maintain the same formatting when you paste text from it. That sounds like a good thing, but:
It's much better to remove the formatting and re-implement it in your new document. There are two main ways to do that:
Having pasted some text you can get back to the plain text version, by highlighting it and clicking the 'Remove formatting' button in the toolbar.
To do that:
As a shortcut, you can highlight the text you want to link from and paste a web address. The site will spot what you are doing and convert the highlighted text into a link.
You will first need to obtain or create your image. If you are using a digital picture, your image will probably be too large to be useful on the web site. Consider using image manipulation software or web site to create a more manageable, smaller version for use in your article.
There are three main image formats that are universally implemented by web browsers:
If you get the choice, use PNG.
To add your image to your article, place your cursor where the image should appear - normally at the beginning of a paragraph. You get the option to place your image so that text folds around it. If you want your image to appear on the right, place your cursor at the beginning of the relevant paragraph.
Click the 'Add media' button to see this dialogue...
You can click the 'Media Library' tab to select an image that has already been uploaded to the site. Alternatively, drag your image into the dialogue box and the site will upload it automatically.
The site can create multiple versions of your image from 150 x 150 pixels to full size. The idea is that you can include a smaller version in your article that people can click if they want to see it full size.
When you file has uploaded, you'll see something like this at the right hand side of the dialogue:
Starting from the top:
Use the Alignment selector to decide how your image will be shown:
Use the 'Link To' selector to determine what happens if someone clicks your image:
Use the 'Size' selector to determine which version of your image to display in your post. Use the one closest to 600px - the maximum width of your post. See below what to do if you are posting a larger image.
Click 'Insert into post' to insert your image. The editor does a reasonable job of showing you how your image will appear.
If you want to change how your image appears, click it in the editor to see icons to change the image's alignment plus 'Edit' and 'Delete'.
If your image is a large one, use the 'Edit' button to show the 'Image details' box. At the bottom left, enter "fancybox" - all lower case - in the 'Link CSS Class'. That will allow people to see a larger version of your image if they click it.
If you want, you can add some formatting to your entry to make it more useful and/or easier to read.
Use the toolbar buttons or menu items to format your text. For example, you can make text bold or italics (much better than using ALL CAPITALS); use bullet points; and change text colour. The buttons work the same way as Word or similar word processors.
If you are quoting text provided by someone else, highlight the paragraph(s) containing the quote and click the 'Block quote' button: 
.
Note that the appearance of text (including font, links and layout of quoted text) in the editor does not necessarily match the appearance in the published entry.
The above explains some of the basics of editing. There are plenty of other options we haven't described. If you see a feature that you would like to use, or if you want to do something, but can't see how; contact Andy and he'll try to help. You could also try searching the internet for help with 'TinyMCE' - that's the software we use to create the text box.
Click any of the above for more information. You can click any image to see a larger version.
Replying to a forum entry is even easier:
When you display a topic you will see this form at the bottom of the page:
It is the same form as the one for adding an entry (see above). The only differences are that:
To add a simple reply, just:
If you want, you can add some formatting to your entry (see above for more details).
Replies to topics appear in a list shown chronologically. You can also reply to an existing reply, in which case your entry will appear immediately below that reply and indented to make it clear it is a reply to a reply.
To enter a reply to a reply, click the 'Reply' link at the top right of the entry you are replying to. The system will automatically move the reply box below the entry you are replying to, with an indent.
You will see the same 'Reply' link in replies to a reply, so you can enter a reply to a reply to a reply (and so on).
Forum entries are visible only to members who log in to the site but, if you take the time to add an entry, we will include a reference to it in our weekly update email that gets sent to all members (unless they have opted out from receiving them).
You can post anything you like but please:
Click here to download the ride entry form for printing.
There are two versions of the incident report form:
NB. The incident report forms have been superseded by the online reporting system.
Another year of excellent entries.
After voting by the members who attended, we awarded prizes to:
You can see the winning entries below. Click any image to see a larger version.
Anthony was the clear winner. Roger and Wilf tied on the same number of points so second and third positions were decided by Andy's casting vote - see if you agree with his decision...
Following an unplanned meeting with a gravel path, one of the hoods on my bike got ripped, so I looked for a replacement. It was more difficult than I expected, but I finally succeeded.
I first thought I'd found just the thing on Amazon for a reasonable price (but, all the options I found were for a left and right hood, so I had to buy two when I wanted only one). When it arrived, however, it was obviously too small to be the right part. I'd ordered a SRAM Force 1 hood not realising there were two versions: one for hydraulic disk brakes and one for cable pull brakes (the hydraulic fluid reservoir sits above the levers making the unit taller). Oh well, it was easy to return. I downloaded a parts list from SRAM and found the exact part number I needed and Googled that. I found a matching hood on eBay, sourced from China. It said it was a genuine part and I was encouraged by the correct part number, so I ordered it. A few days later I got an email to say that there had been a manufacturing problem and did I want to wait a few weeks. I couldn't see how that could have happened for a genuine part, so I assumed it was a fake copy and immediately cancelled. I finally managed to order the correct part on eBay but it took a bit of detective work. The advert didn't include the part number, but:
The hoods I received matched exactly and came in a SRAM box - but I've no idea whether they are genuine or not.
Then came the difficult bit.
The hood fits over the shifter through the base and there's a cut out for the brake lever. So all you have to do is pull the old hood off and pull the new one on. In my research I'd seen several reports of people being able to do that without disassembling the shifter. The trouble was that the openings looked far too small to fit over the shifter. No way could I pull them on and off! Then I found this video:
They do pull on and off but you have to really stretch them. Mine were more difficult than the ones shown in the video because I had to pull them over the oil reservoir. Thankfully, I could practice using the old hood. It still took a bit of courage to pull the new one on, but after a few minutes struggling it went on!
Anyone want a right hand SRAM hydraulic hood?
We have encountered random issues with emails sent to TalkTalk and Tiscali (part of TalkTalk).
Some of our emails were rejected out-of -hand so you never received them. We don't get rejections from any other service provider and we don't get rejections from all TalkTalk accounts.
It's nothing you have done, and you are not alone. An internet search for 'Talk Talk IP Blacklisted' will reveal loads of people with this issue. You'll even see occurrences when TalkTalk has blacklisted itself!
To try to get around this issue I am experimenting with a different method for sending to your address. I'll use the new method for all emails coming from the Portsmouth CTC web site for the time being.
Please let me know if:
Thanks,
Andy
Malcolm - the "necessary" cyclist from the age of about 11. Lived in what was then a remote Sussex village (West Hoathly - East Sussex ) and a bike was his only means of transport. Then later in his 30's as a new Dad, as a way to catch the train to work in Brighton, he used an old rusty bone shaker of a bike picked up second hand for about a fiver. A mad dash in all weathers along the path next to the railway line from Ferring to Goring (West Sussex) quite literally racing the train because he was always late leaving home.
Debbie - the cyclist "that never really was". As a child my parents deemed cycling to be an extremely dangerous occupation and so bicycles were regarded much as sharp implements were to Sleeping Beauty. Needless to say forbidden things attract and by the age of 11 I was caught by my parents riding my best friend's brother's bike (he was 16 and a lot taller than me) in (I realise now) an extremely unsafe and wobbly manner on the main road through our village. Needless to say I received a double/triplicate/quadruplet/1000 times ban on riding bicycles along with a hefty curfew on going out. And so bicycles were placed on the back burner for a number of years.
And then came children. I was determined our children would cycle from an early age despite my apparent inability to stay upright on a bike. On family camping holidays we would manfully strap 5 bikes on the back of the car and the trailer tent to cycle "family railway line routes." As a result our 3 children all became competent cyclists who looked on with some amusement tinged with concern when their Mum fell off "the thing that refused to stay upright" for no apparent reason.
As the children got older Malcolm and I cycled less and less frequently but still retained a mild interest. But then came retirement. What could we do together that was outdoors based, would keep us fit, wouldn't strain the old knees too much and wouldn't be too costly . After much thought - cycling! So we both got new bikes, both hybrids, thinking we would continue to ride cycle trails probably mostly flat ones. Indeed the route from our house in Eastoke along the seafront and up the Hayling Billy Trail to the Ship and back was regarded as a good workout.
Then we saw an advert in the Hayling Islander from the Portsmouth CTC for the Cathedral Challenge - April 2016. The sentence that drew my attention was "If you cant keep up someone will wait for you"! Must be calling to us we thought. So despite the eventual target of a ride to Winchester cathedral from Havant we decided to give it our best shot.
We duly registered and took our bikes on the car to the start of our first ride from Havant. (didnt want to risk not being able to get home when the first ride was about 12 miles!) There were about 30 riders including several CTC members who were very encouraging and welcoming. We were each allocated into groups of about 5 or 6 with a leader and a back marker for each group. Marvellous! as a ride on the road was not the easiest prospect for me.
Half way into the ride Malcolm's bike chain broke. Immediately CTC support leapt into action. The remaining riders in our group were asked to ride on with a leader and 3 other CTC members stopped to help. Malcolm's bike was upended before we knew it and it was fixed 10 minutes later! Amazing!! And all with such cheeriness. Only 10 minutes more to the pub where we consumed tea and cake whilst chatting to several "would be" and experienced cyclists all of whom it seemed regarded tea and cake and a good chat as a necessary highlight of any cycle ride. Hmm - this cycling lark was looking promising! On our return back to base Malcolm and I were invited back to "Bill's" house who offered to properly repair Malcolm's bike as the unofficial CTC "bike mender." Needless to say we took him up on his kind offer. (Thank you again Bill.) And by the way I never thought I would be able to cycle 12 miles.
The cathedral cycle challenge gradually increased the length and hilliness of rides. My stamina and confidence grew. Malcolm's stamina grew. I graduated from the "Cyclist that never really was" to the "Never thought I could do it" cyclist. I progressed from having my saddle really low to a "just right" saddle height. I developed the ability to get through staggered cyclepath entrances without always having to get off. I could stay upright more often than not and my stopping and starting got better. I had never been able to use gears but gradually with CTC members' support and encouragement gear changes are now pretty much OK. I always had to get off a bike to go even slightly uphill. One of my greatest achievements was cycling up Portsdown Hill from Bedhampton albeit at a snail's pace but I did it without getting off! We cycled the Silver Cathedral Challenge ride (25 miles) and our longest ride was 35 miles including some hills. We "never thought we could do it". We will never be the fastest in the group but that's OK by us.
We have recently bought a motorhome with an impressive bike rack. An added bonus to our new found ability to cycle longer distances that are not entirely flat. We look forward to cycling in France, Spain, Italy, Scotland, Wales... and of course more rides in the company of members of Portsmouth CTC through the beautiful Hampshire and West Sussex countryside.