Next Club Night
21st June 7.30pm
St Mungos Acad.

NEWS

Welcome to the Glasgow Wheelers News section. If you have a news item you wish added to the site please email details on to the HERE, fill in your story and add photos if you have them.


News: Dougie Off to Belgium
Date:26/6/10
He's been shooting up the climbs in Scotland but Dougie is currently battering the pave in Belgium. Together with some other young promising riders, Dougie has taken the plunge, crossing the North Sea and settling into digs with Callum Gough in Oudenaarde. With a regular diet of kermesses, BBBs (Allan Pieper used to refer to Big Belgium B@st@rds!), cobbles and 30mph this is quite a change for the Wheeler who has regularly featured at the sharp end of the Scottish peleton this season. Last season Dougie spent just over a week racing in Belgium but plans a 9 week stint which should bring his racing onto another level. Follow the progress of both Dougie and other young Scots on the following Braveheart link

News: Dougie Wins Track Champs - Just!


Despite cool, breezy conditions there were some scorching performances from the 13 Wheelers that competed in our Club confined trophy. Engraved with legendary names of Scottish track cycling, including our own Tommy Banks, this was more than just a silver, end of season drinking vessel. Until the velodrome is complete the Club are running this event at Bellahouston's track on a time trial format. Three rounds of events, ranging from 600m to 3200m provide an omnium type event which is designed to produce a winner able to produce a good sprinting effort but also manage a longer pursuit event too. Points were allocated after each round to the top six. Winning the Under 6 category in the 600m was young Donald MacLean, surely a star in the making, especially if he removes his bell and reflectors from his BMX for a more aero position. Showing great power output and natural fast twitching was Peter Smith who led the 600m times until Kristoff and then Dougie bested his earlier time. The longer events changed the rankings slightly, Jamie salvaging some pride in the longer 3200m event after clearly lacking a fast start in the previous two rounds. Many thanks to Eric Cruickshank and Tommy Banks for organising and officiating a good night of racing

News: Obree in great form - let's mouth do the talking!
Date: 24/5/10

After years expressing himself with his legs on the bike, Graeme Obree delivered another candid talk to a hundred strong crowd. After giving an account of his background in cycling featuring a number of amusing anecdotes, Graeme invited questions from the audience. His answers once again revealed a great feature of the man - an ability to look at things differently without accepting the dogma most cyclists and another athletes blindly accept. Not for him scientifically formulated drinks or energy bars but water and marzipan! It's rare for a sportsman to invest so much time thinking about their sport as well as training and competing but Obree is as much a legend for breaking the mould as he is for churning the 60x13. Many in the audience left clutching signed memorablia from the Flying Scotsman himself.

Before proceedings started Graeme presented John and Johan Thayne with their Scottish Cycling Gold Medal of Honour. Earned after decades of generous involvement in the sport, Graeme said a few warm words thanking the Thaynes as a great example of the supporters on which our sport depends.

News: Wheelers Host An Audience With Graeme Obree (24th May)
Venue: Hillhead Secondary, Oakfield Avenue, West End 7-9pm


We are delighted to host a talk with Scottish time trial and track legend Graeme Obree, a former Wheeler himself in the early 90s. Graeme will be talking about a number of areas, his past competitive experiences, future plans and will be happy to answer any questions from the audience. Any of you who attended his talk last year at the Tramway Theatre in Pollokshields will recognise that he is an outstanding speaker able to hold a crowd in the palm of his hand without any sign of speech notes. He was aided last time by the prop of his latest bike, replete with a 60 tooth chainring (it may have been bigger actually).

Proceedings will kick off shortly after 7pm. Refreshments will be on offer afterwards. The Club would like to offer a warm welcome to the general public to attend in addition to Club members. Tickets available at the door for £5 - outstanding value to hear first hand the stories of an amazing man and amazing athlete - just don't let him near your washing machine!!!

News: Science In Sport (SiS) Team up with GWCC
Date: 28/04/10

Our lads haven't been lacking power this season and they'll certainly have no excuses now! SiS have agreed to provide discounted products to the Club at below trade cost. With a huge range of gels, energy and recovery drinks, Science In Sport cater for all an athletes needs. Though just announced today by Wheelers HQ we are taking an initial order from Club members. All Club members are entitled to 50% discount from the retail prices listed on the SiS website. Examples of the product range are below with the full range on show at SiS's website.

Email your order to the Club before May 4th and follow up with cash/cheques (payable to Science In Sport) to enjoy this great offer.

Gels	Caffeine Gels	Energy Drinks	Energy Bars	Recovery Drinks

News: Wheelers Track Championships - 26th May
Date: 21/04/10

With the Chris Hoy Velodrome still under construction and Wheelers finding it difficult to head through to the track in the East, the Club has decided to use the Bellahouston track for this year's Club Champs.

These will be held on the evening of Wednesday 26th May with 3 time trial type efforts over 600m,1200m and 3200m - note that you can ride either a road or track bike for this. A minimum of four riders will be required to participate for the Paul Richfield Trophy. Points will be awarded as follows. Six points for first placed rider in each event, down to 1 point for the sixth place rider.

The total points will then be added for all riders over the three events with the highest scoring rider winning the cup. Unfortunately due to the minimal track banking it is not possible to have bunch racing on the concrete track.


News: Just what the Doctor Ordered - Mud, Climbs and Cobbles, by Craig Dick
Date: 03/04/10

The logistics of getting to this event have been fine tuned over the last 3 years and I thought I had them all sorted out, down to sending someone for the bags at the airport while I go and get the car hire sorted out. Unfortunately Ryanair (get the spittoons at the ready) threw a financial spanner in the works when they decided to weigh the bike boxes this year and wanted to charge £20 per kg above 20kg – I shall not reveal the inner turmoil that occurred when the scales touched the 35kg mark. Suffice to say we made it there, and back, avoiding the cost of a new set of wheels for additional carriage charges.

There were 4 of us heading over for this event from Glasgow; Brian Digby, Andy Christie, Torquil MacLeod and myself (I am in the process of recruiting the former 3 for the Wheelers), and I always meet up with Brian Kilbride (St Tiernan’s – Dublin) and an entourage which includes Seamus McDonnell of the Limerick Wheelers.

The time schedule is tight; arrive Friday 1400hrs Charleroi, get car 1500hrs, drive to Brugge 1700hrs , build bike 1800hrs, start sweating as you can’t find the bag with the pedals in it 1805hrs – was it in the jettisoned items that were thrown overboard at the airport, enlist help of smug friend who has his bike already built to find them 1806hrs, consider phoning wife/mother to ask where one would find such items in bike box, consider greetin’ for mother. Breath a sigh of relief as the steed is assembled and you head out the door for the Italian with Ballan’s signed jersey on the wall. With one eye on the weather and the other on the forecast I headed off to bed around 11pm with the prospect of a 6am rise and a can or two of rice pudding for breakfast. Grey skies, but no rain greeted us as the alarm went off and we began the continual process of eating that was to last the rest of the day. I said my farewells to the rest (as they were heading off to Ninove for the 150km route) and headed outside to meet Brian. The scene at the start of the Ronde is fantastic on both the sportive and pro-race day. Crowds meet in the emerging light, there is the familiar cackle of cleats going into pedals, vans are parked around the square as support vehicles for the numerous clubs that ride this event. As usual we headed over to take in a bit of the atmosphere, borrow a track pump, and survey the hardware on display. Even at 7am, 6C with darkening skies, wet roads and 260km to go there were riders with shorts on, clearly feeling the part.
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News: Worlds RePlay: Bilsland Recalls 1971, by Edmond Hood
Date: 28/9/09

The 1971 world professional road race championships, Mendrisio, Italy, Eddy Merckx of Belgium wins from Felice Gimondi of Italy; as British magazine, Cycling Weekly said at the time - 'Surely there could not have been many championships as great as this one.' Scotland's Billy Bilsland was there and gives us the story...

For full report and photos download the news document HERE,



News: Billy Bilsland Article, by Edmond Hood
Date: 22/8/09

Edmond Hood once again takes us back nearly 30 years to a rougher time where men were men, recovery drinks were nonexistent, and there was no doubt that you'd race more than 100 days a year. Mr. Hood looks this time to the Scotsman, Billy Bilsland. Haven't heard of him? Read on...

For full report and photos download the news document HERE,