Wyn

I'm still cycling away, though you probably haven't seen me for quite a while. I got ill and needed surgery and once I got fit enough to start cycling again I've been cycling into work and back. After cycling 155 miles during the week I end up taking the weekend off I'll join the club next year and start taking part in events once again as my speed is up to decent levels. I did have problems catching up to a runner last week and was feeling a bit slow until I realised she was running uphill at 13.5mph Anyway, back to my query. Someone at my work was asking me about what bike I used to race on. I built it out of anything I could buy at ultra-low prices and so had some odd bits and pieces (such as Campag Record gear levers that were older than I was - bought for £1). The only bit I can't remember is the saddle and it is bugging me. It was the most comfortable saddle I ever owned and ridiculously light, with the rails made out of Reynolds 531. I recall I used to get comments about how flat it was and people saying that couldn't be comfortable. I read that Lepper saddles are very flat so I went to their website. The picture of a Lepper Voyager jumped out at me. It looks exactly like I remember. It also has 531 tubing for the rails. But there's a big problem. Lepper don't make saddles with gel inserts and my saddle definately had gel inserts. The saddle got badly damaged in a crash and the gel started leaking out. So now I have a mystery. A saddle shaped like a Lepper Voyager, made on or before 1990, with 531 rails and with gel inserts. I can't find anything matching up to that description. Anyone have any ideas?

Replying to Kenny Christie. I did have a club jersey from back then. I have since moved and I now have no idea where half my stuff is so I can't say if I still have it. I do have 2 pairs of old club shorts, but not such demand for them I suspect. I have the black ones with the white side panel and also a pair of those bright blue ones. For about 2 years the club outfit was almost identical to the Brazilian football strip.

It is indeed myself. I remember that race. Someone - I can't remember who - asked me to go to the front for the climb and set a high pace to stop attacks. I remember protesting that I wasn't exactly built for climbing but whoever it was (it might have been Stevie Finnigan, but I really can't recall) were insistent. So off up the hill I went in the big ring. It was the first of only 2 occasions where I led the bunch up a climb in a race. It took its toll when we hit the Top of the World. I blew just before the top and faded so badly that I lost 30 minutes on the bunch in the last 10 miles. I remember you reviving me at the finish with a bacon sandwich and you had to push me back to the changing rooms, even though you'd ridden the same event. And then we rode a 3rd cat event at Sorn the next day! You were struggling at the start and I managed to get dropped in the neutralised section and then somehow we were in the leading group after the climb up to Sornhill. We must have been mad.

Hello all. Once, long ago in the distant past I was a member of this club. I quit cycling for a variety of reasons and one day last year I suddenly realised what a terrible state I'd gotten myself into. I couldn't see my feet over my belly, I got out of breath walking up a flight of stairs, and my breathing wasn't even too great when I was sitting down. So I got a bike! And I got on it. And I fell off immediately because I'd forgotten how to balance! Hooray! I've been cycling - very slowly - for about a year now so I think it's time to be brave and join a cycle club. By the way, I was in the club when Paul MacD first joined and I see he's still here. I remember the first bunch run he turned up at with his unique thermal top (a parka) and thermal leggings (basketball socks pulled all the way up his legs). We had a laugh. And then we cried when he took a spell at the front. There were sore legs that day. So, I shall try to meet the 30 milers at the clubrooms tomorrow (although I am terrible for sleeping in, so no promises) and we shall see what happens after that. Wyn

I shall try to join this little excursion tomorrow. I'm not exactly in shape (I recently burst the zipper on my leggings because my belly is too big!) so if I'm slowing you all up I'll head off on my super-slow way somewhere else.