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WELCOME TO THE GREAT BRITISH SUMMERTIME.

Hello all and welcome to the renewed SDW member newsletter, a monthly digest collating member news, race results and other goings on within the club. It’s a work in progress, so please do submit any feedback to Miles.

Moving forward, I’ll work to highlight key dates and moments as well as make this a useful place for all member news. Give it time!

FRESH FROM THE CLUB RIDE

BY SAEED MALIK

SDW Ride Lydd (8th Ed) took place on Sunday 20th August. We had >30 riders take part in the club’s annual charity ride, covering 108 miles for Air Ambulance Kent, Surrey & Sussex. The club are proud to announce the event raised £595 for AAKSS who have sent their sincere thanks and acknowledged everyone’s efforts with this certificate. Well done all.

Xtra Long Ride our final XL Ride (circa 100 miles) takes place on Sunday 10th September - the route will be posted on Facebook and Discord in the week of the ride.

Wednesday Evening Social Rides - these will continue for the next few weeks - see facebook posts.

WHAT’S ON?

BY RUSS COOK

SDW La Vuelta Screenings - dates for your diaries - 02/09 and 09/09 - 1:30pm to 5:30pm - The Tap Room, Mount Ephraim Tunbridge Wells

SDW Wahoo Crank It Up Night at TWFC Youth Football Club on Thursday 12th October!

SDW Online Club Championships (catering for all categories) - confirmed for Tuesday 7th November at 19:45. Further details to follow but please save the date. 

The SDW End of Season Event will take place on Friday 10th November - where members achievements (and disasters!) will be recognised in the usual way. Please hold this date in the diary, more information will follow from the Social Committee.

We need to start collecting the prestigious SDW trophies back for 2023 engraving. Please can you contact Julian Fussell to organise return of your 2022 trophy.

JUST IN, FROM THE RACE OF TRUTH

BY JULIAN FUSSELL

The SDW Club TT series closes this week with our final event on Thurs 31st August. There are numerous trophies and competitions up for grabs throughout the season. Take a look at all the latest standings here: SDW Racing – Time Trials, Road & Crit Racing, Cyclocross & Online Racing

We would like to acknowledge and thank our SDW TT sponsors:

ONLINE RACING ROUNDUP

BY SIMON MILLER

Our Autumn season of SDW Online Racing is underway. See our calendar of activities and how to get involved HERE with key highlights below.

SDW Wahoo Crank It Up Night at TWFC Youth Football Club on Thursday 12th October!

Wahoo will be bringing KickR bikes, a DJ and Race Compare to host a fun evening of virtual racing for all where you get the chance to compete alongside and against each other on a Wahoo Canary Wharf RGT segment. For non-racers, it’s a great spectator event with a well stocked bar so very much a SDW social event for all. Look out for further info in your inbox.

New SDW Racing Online Kits

Our swanky new kit is now available on ZWIFT and IndieVelo. For Zwift, check your garage and if not there already, please send Simon your Zwift ID. For IndieVelo, let Simon know to add you to the SDW Team and then you will find this in your avatar options.

A huge thanks to Lee Oliver who bravely took on the role as our Zwift Racing League DS this season and has done an amazing job to enter over 60 Wheelers into eight teams as part of the marquee global team competition. If you want to get involved in this season (starting next week) or the next, please email lee.oliver@me.com

THE BEST FROM THE BUNCH

ROAD RACING, BY RORY BARRETT

    SDW currently 6th in the South East Regional club rankings.

A win for Neil Harris in race 2 at the Lewes Crits Series in June with Chris Parsons-Green securing the overall with very consistent placings (3rd, 3rd and 4th) over the series.

SDW have been very successful at Preston Park this year with 7 wins from Rory Barrett, Keith Henderson, Omar Malik and Julia Barte. Emma Haswell also raced for the first time a couple of weeks ago and loved it – it’s been great to have both her and Julia racing this year!

With the Tour of Sussex 2023 cancelled this year, Rory, Keith, Chris and Torin went to Belgium for a 1.12B road race. Absolutely brutal race won by a chap from Soudal Quick-Step!

SDW Crit Championship 2023: 1st Rory Barrett, 2nd Keith Henderson, 3rd Tom Moss

SDW Road Race Championship 2023: 1st Rory Barrett, 2nd Keith Henderson

Simon Miller, Chris Duffy and Alasdair Fraser all competed in the Tour of Cambridgeshire qualification event for the UCI Granfondo Worlds in Scotland – Alasdair was 45th and qualified for the 45-49 event at Worlds, finishing 135th out of 195. Big achievement and one he had been targeting from the very start of the year.  

As for upcoming events, Keith and I will be doing the National Masters Circuit Champs on Saturday at Darley Moor. We’ve been trying to get the win up there and bring the jersey back for the last few years (I was 3rd and Keith was 4th last year in our respective events) so the nerves are beginning to build!

THE YOUTH

YOUTH DEVELOPMENT, BY ALY FRASER

The youth section recommences after a summer break on Saturday 2 September. The weekly sessions will be running at their usual location of Meadows School, 21 London Rd, Southborough, Tunbridge Wells TN4 0RJ from 9.30 to 10.30.

There have been some stand out performances over the summer with Woody Clayton and Oscar Northover representing SDW in various multi stage races in their respective age categories. Well done.

The London & South East Cyclocross league is continually running events with Sunday 22nd Oct being the event that is promoted and organised at Somerhill school by SDW. This event has been a massive success previously and we look forward to seeing another huge turnout from the Youth section.

As a club we rely solely on volunteers and are always looking for people who might be interested in coaching or other roles within the club. Emma Haswell acted as our welfare officer for the youth section but with her son no longer being involved, we are looking to fill the role that she did so well for us.

This role would involve speaking to kids and parents at Meadows perhaps once a month. All training would be paid for by the club. Please do get in touch if you think you can help. This role is vital to the club to demonstrate we are safeguarding the children. 

JOIN US ON DISCORD

Don’t forget to join our growing community on Discord. We talk about bikes, trips, rides and club events and races, plenty for all.

We’re also now starting to use Link My Ride to host rides and will continue testing it and you can also join us on Strava

OTHER CLUB GROUPS

- Youth -  

Offroad and CX WhatsApp group - contact Glen to join

- Wednesday Wobblers Social Ride - contact Ian to join email list

- Sunday Club Rides - go to Facebook events OR find on Discord

- Pre and post work rides - contact Miles to join

CLUB SUPPORTERS

Aside from our club volunteers, a huge shoutout to all other organisations who support the club.

This month, it’s CAMS, who support the SDW Racing squad.

Cycling Accident Management Services (CAMS) are one of the UK’s leading cycle accident management companies.Non-fault accident claims for damaged bikes. No sign up, there is no monthly fee to use CAMS. Simply there to represent cyclists when they need them. Our racing squad, and the rest of the club for that matter can benefit from support post accident, simply find out more here

Thanks again to CAMS.