Auchencrow Thistle Cycling Club

09/06/2024

Evening, Auchencrow Thistle have round 2 of their King of the mountains this Tuesday, 11th June, meeting in Duns square at 7pm for anyone who likes a hill and a chat. ( featuring Drakemyre, Brockholes and Blakerstone.)
Thanks,
Duncan.

26/05/2024

This Tuesday (28 May) is your chance to try a 10 mile time trial on quiet roads. The time trial is the cyclist against the clock, all abilities and speeds are therefore able to participate without fear of leaving anyone behind or holding others up.
If you would like to try it out we meet at Preston village hall at 7pm.

09/05/2024

Morning. It’s been a long winter.
Our club nights have begun, we have had 1 time trial and the downhill challenge ( results to follow).
We have reduced our Tuesday club nights to every 2nd and 4th of the month. The 2nd Tuesday will be a King of the Mountains and the 4th a TT.
Our opening KotM is this Tuesday 14 May, meeting in Duns square at 1900.We will be competing on 3 hills: Hardens, Rigfoot and
and the Staney Mare: approximately 16 miles. We ride as a social group between the hills and then race up them and regroup at the top. If this appeals to any fellow cyclists then you will be most welcome.
A full calendar will follow.

Thanks,
Duncan.

10/04/2023

What do Nisbet house, Kames house, Gainslaw house, Paxton house, Gunsgreen house, Cowdenknowes and Hassington Mains all have in common?

They are properties connected to the profits of the slave trade in the 18th and early 19th centuries.

New route coming soon to get the club historian back in the saddle, “Berwickshire and the Slave trade”.

If you want to look it up, check out University College London’s fascinating website, “Legacies of British Slavery”

The Centre for the Study of the Legacies of British Slavery has been established at UCL with the generous support of the Hutchins Center at Harvard. The Centre builds on two earlier projects based at UCL tracing the impact of slave-ownership on the formation of modern Britain: the ESRC-funded Legaci...

27/03/2023

Auchencrow Thistle Season Calendar, 2023

Tuesdays are club nights, this year from late March to early September. Riders gather at either Duns Square (D) or Preston Village Hall carpark (P), with the sole exception of the Downhill Challenge (10 May) when we meet at the Crossgate Hall crossroads on the B6438, after Marygold but before Auchencrow.

Please note meeting times for events in March/April and August will be 18:30 sharp, otherwise riders will meet at 19:00 sharp.

Details and maps of the three hills selected for each of the King of the Mountains (KOTM) will be posted on the club page in the days before the event. Details of the Time Trial (TT) courses are available by PM through the page. The Australian Pursuit Races (APR) are handicap races run over two or three laps of the Mount Pleasant/Swinton Mill/Swinton circuit (17 or 25 miles in total). ‘Catch Me if You Can’ and Sprints (aka ‘Thirties’, racing for the 30s sign) have become firm favourites and appear on the 2023 calendar again. This year we are resting the One-Mile TT, but the Downhill challenge remains on the menu.

Please note that non-members are welcome to participate in up to three club events without joining, although of course we hope you will join the club at that point. Club fees of £20 are payable to:

Auchencrow Thistle
RBS Eyemouth, Market Place, TD 14 5HE
sort code 83 15 28
account 00134544

Once you have paid, please advise treasurer Jane Holmes via the page.
Please note for all club events: no helmet, no ride.

In addition to our club nights, every Thursday night from 7 April, Auchencrow Thistle riders meet for an event lasting 1-1.5 hours which we call “the 11-toe club (East Berwickshire section)”. In contrast to club nights, you don’t have to join the club to take part in this less formal ride. We assemble at the Mount Pleasant crossroads at 6:30 on road bikes (no TT bikes please) to enjoy two to three brisk laps of the Swintonmill-Swinton-Mt Pleasant course. We ride ‘through and off’, in two lines: the pace line, with the lead rider taking his or her ‘spell’ or ‘turn’ at the front, and the recovery line, which the lead rider peels off to after taking a ‘spell’. If you decide to sprint for the 30 signs approaching Swinton from the West, be aware we reassemble as a group heading north back out of Swinton, without stopping (so empty the tanks at your peril!). If you don’t want to sprint, just take your turn. And if you are struggling, let the next rider through and ‘sit in’ for as many ‘turns’ as you need. If you get dropped, head the opposite way, keeping a look out for the approaching group. And keep at it! If you do, you wil find this is a great way to build fitness and develop bunch-riding skills. The average speed will tend to be in the region of 18-23mph, so a certain level of fitness is required. If you can manage 16-17mph on your own on the flat, you will get a benefit from this sort of training, thanks to the drag effect of being in a group. Any latecomers should head clockwise round the course and be ready to jump on the back of the group as it approaches.
Last but not least, the club run continues to leave from Duns Square at 08:00 every Sunday. Route is decided on the day, usually heading into the wind and coming home with the tail wind. Distances will vary between 40 and 70 miles, 2.5-4.5 hours, with cut-offs possible.

CLUB NIGHT PROGRAMME 2023, EVERY TUESDAY NIGHT
28 March, 18:30: TT1 Preston 5 miles (a flat, out-and-back course) (P)
4 April, 18:30: TT2 Preston 5 miles (P)
11 April, 18:30: Thirties (Sprints Night) 1 (D)
18 April, 18:30: TT3 Lintlaw 7.5 miles (a sporting circuit) (P)
25 April, 18:30: KOTM 1 (D)
2 May, *19:00: TT4 Cranshaws 10 miles (a hilly, out-and-back course) (P)
9 May, 19:00: TT5 Lintlaw 7.5 miles + *Downhill Challenge * Crossgate Hall start
16 May, 19:00: Catch me if you can 1 (D)
23 May, 19:00: KOTM 2 (D)
30 May, 19:00: Thirties (Sprints Night) 2 (D)
6 June, 19:00: TT6 Swinton 7.5/15 miles (a sporting circuit) (D)
13 June, 19:00: APR 1 (D)
20 June, 19:00: KOTM 3 (D)
27 June, 19:00: APR 2 (D) *Championship Round
4 July, 19:00: TT7 Up the Cleugh Hilly, 17 miles (a hilly, out-and-back course) (P)
11 July, 19:00: Catch me if you can 2 (D)
18 July, 19:00: KOTM 4 (D)
25 July, 19:00: TT8, Westruther Long One, 19 miles (a sporting, out-and-back course)(D)
1 August. *18:30: TT9, Cranshaws 10 miles (P), *Championship Round
8 August, 18:30: KOTM 5 (D)
15 August, 18:30: *Club Hill Climb Championship, Bothwell course (D)* LEAVE 6:30 SHARP
22 August, 18:30: TT10 Preston 5 miles (P)
29 August, 18:30 reserve night for any missed events.

SCORING
TT series: 25 points for first place, 24 for second, 23 for third etc. Best seven rides count, highest score wins.
KOTM: Five nights with three hills = 15 hills in total. 1 point for win, 2 points for second, 3 points for third etc. Best nine hills count, lowest score wins.

Auchencrow Thistle will also be at the Tour of Lauder, Ken Laidlaw sportif, Borders Audaxes, Border Trophy rounds and other local events if you want to come along with us, so look out for details in our Facebook posts

13/11/2022

5 Craws met in a cold and foggy Duns Square this morning. Cyclists have a certain ‘dress code’ but this morning flashing lights and garish Lycra were essential safety precautions.
The happy band set off NE 😊 hills) heading for Dunbar-ish Two distinct groups , Mike and Robbie (Z1) and Anna, Andy and the farmer ( Z more) developed. After an hour the fog lifted , the sun appeared at Elmscleugh and heat returned to chilled fingers and toes. Andy could at last be smug about his summer attire, shorts had seemed a bold choice not long before. The Z1 pair waited at the Lantern Rouge in Gifford and the spannerman treated us to coffee and apple scones ( lovely). The fuel was needed for the pull up the rig.Robbie set off for mtb hills, the group surveyed the panorama of the East Lothian coastline. (We are blessed to cycle in the Borders). Then a jaunt home via Longforvegas.
A Grand day out.
Thanks all.

06/11/2022

Sunday club 6 November
A trip to Bamburgh.
Cracking day for a long cycle. Robbie got his 4 hours of Z1, Anna and I had considerable more Zs than that. No coffee stop ( trust no one), home by 12 ?( ditto). Milk and crisps seemed a good choice in Belford, time disproved this notion. On warmer days it may have churned to butter, but we live and learn.
All home happy.
A cracking day out.
Where are the Clarion?
More fun and games next Sunday, meet at 8am in Duns Square, all welcome.
Shorter routes are available.
On the 20th November we have a joint Sunday run with Berwick wheelers, more details to follow.....

20/10/2022

Rachel Crowe is selling her boardman air 9.0 Time Trial bike small frame. Great starter bike .. £400 Ono. She stays in St. Abbs so close by for collecting/delivery.

16/10/2022

The morning when you look out at rain and wind and think of 10 reasons not to go out. Luckily I turned up at Duns square at 8am and thoroughly enjoyed today’s 60ish miles. Thanks to Mike and Darren for hauling me to Westruther into that wind and home again.
If you keeked through the curtains and decided to have a lie in, another coffee or maybe a swim you missed out.
But luckily every Sunday has an 8am and a social cycle leaving Duns square, shorter routes are available.

17/08/2022

Club Hill Climb Championship.Tuesday 16 August.
It’s a long way to Crichness, five Craws set out, one broke a gear cable, another punctured, one swapped bikes , the other went home.
Four Craws arrived to battle a testy hill into a strong NE wind.
Tim is a worthy champion and gets the second ugliest trophy to adorn his cabinet.
Darren showed that he has learned something from being towed up hills by Chloe all summer by taking second. Anna chose to leave the Fuji and her lights at home. As Yogi Berra said ‘it gets late early out there’. The farmer drove most of the way there and back and should have been fresher.
Results: 1. Tim 6.40, 2. Darren 7.55, 3. Dunc 7.59, 4. Anna 9.58.
Two chances at Tuesday night fun in 2022. Next week Preston 5 mile TT.

10/08/2022

A fine summers night to finish off the Kotm competition for the year with Mike bringing his freshest legs out, having a strong night. Closely followed by Tim on all the hills,with Darren looking like he was learning the art of following and letting others do the graft he then took his foot off the gas to quickly allowing the Professor to get him by a tyres width on the line of hill 2. Another story we will be treated to for years to come🤣 it was great to have the Professor back and even better to see the fleece hasn't been retired just yet. The fight was just as fierce for the rest of the points and Andy and Anna dug deep however it became apparent Anna had kept more in the tank for the last climb and finished strongly, as we then all enjoyed the stunning views around the Watch water before a very social spin back home.
Well done everyone

Hill 1
Mike, Tim,Darren, Andy,Graeme and Anna

Hill 2
Mike, Tim,Graeme,Darren,Andy and Anna

Hill 3
Mike,Tim,Darren, Anna,Andy Graeme

08/08/2022

Well here it is the final kotm route for 2022

As promised a new hill to end the season with and hopefully a nice view to refill your lungs with oxygen, dish out the excuses and make the promises of what you will do differently this winter in training🤔

Hill number 1 is the first warmup of the night

Burnhouses at only .7 mile and 160 ft it should surely be a sprint for the line

Starting at the entrance to the farm opposite the Abbey junction and finishes at Windshiel Farm junction

Hill 2 is everyone's favourite Rigfoot but as its the end of the season it's the full version, all the way until you can see Longformacus 1.15 mile and 340ft

Starting at the phone box at Ellemford and finishes at the far end of the straight beyond Whichester house

Then it's time for your second warmup of the evening riding up through Rawburn farm where no doubt the story of the farmers long one will be told🤔 then down to the dam at the watch reservoir, where the final Hill will start.

Starting at the 90 right at the end of the dam and racing back up to the cattle grid on the crest you crossed minutes beforehand, only .5 mile 140ft but the first half is level so a proper little kicker to empty the tank on.

Meeting at 6.30 in the square and the forecast looks great although it will be safer to have lights if it's a sociable pedal between the hills