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devised by VTTA founder E.H. Strevens , is to the success of the VTTA. So if we make any major
changes to the concept of age related competition such changes must be made with great caution.
Moving on to more sombre matters, as usual this edition includes several obituaries. Sadly one
of the subjects this time is Pete Read, a personal friend and neighbour and well known to many
time triallists as the coach who pioneered structured turbo training using heart rate monitoring.
Pete offered personalised training and was highly respected for helping riders of all abilities to
reach their full potential.

Many of Pete’s riders travelled from far and wide to attend his funeral and there were many well
known faces both as riders and CTT officials. A goodly collection of officials and riders could have
gone on to ride a full field event on the much lamented nearby V718. As he often did, Pete
would have enjoyed pushing off all the riders and then analysing their rides after.
In closing I will just offer slightly belated 90th birthday greetings to Peter Horsnell (still
competing, winning and breaking records), Eric Marsh (only recently retired after 45 years of age
records on both 2 and 3 wheels) and Jim Ogden (former National President and group
correspondent for M&NW for 44 years).
Mike Penrice

THOUGHTS OF THE PRESIDENT

Most conversations nowadays start with a comment about the weather and that is not
surprising taking into account what has been happening over the past few months. Climate
change is now seen as something the human race has got to tackle in order to ensure that our
planet is somewhere everyone can enjoy. We need to spare a thought for all those unfortunate
enough to endure the large amounts of rain and high winds, which have resulted in homes being
flooded and much damage being done to property and the countryside. It probably has not
diminished the amount of potholes and rough surfaces competitors have to race on whilst
waiting for local authorities to tackle the ever growing bad road surfaces that we especially as
cyclists have to endure.
I remember my mum saying that if it snowed before Christmas then we were in for a long haul.
If it happened in the New Year then there was nothing to worry about because spring was just
around the corner. Even skiers are now realising that if it were not for snow cannons on the
slopes then the depth and quality of snow for their pastime would be in short supply; many low
resorts are certainly seeing adverse conditions this season.

Weather has and always will play an important part in the sport of cycling. This has very much
been the case over my cycling career with memories of riding a 10 mile time trial in June in a
snow storm. We used our garage to set up the rollers; this ensured we spun the pedals at an
amazing speed as we wrestled to keep the bike on the rollers to try and maintain our fitness. To
get the miles in we went out whatever the weather threw at us. Nowadays this is not
necessarily the case with the modern equipment that is available and the rise of gym facilities
nationwide, which enable everyone to start their season from the very first event at optimum
fitness and speed. Early season training camps in warmer surroundings are common and one no
longer has to use the early events for fine tuning the season which for us become more
important as the year progresses.

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