Northern Rock Cyclone 2009

Peter Harrison

The Cyclone Challenge will be held next year on saturday 13th June. Once again it will be part of the Northern Rock Cyclone festival of cycling. The event includes the Newcastle Leazes Criteriums on friday 12th June and the Beaumont Trophy Premier Calendar Road Race on sunday 14th June.
The event website is currently being updated and will go live for entries on 1st November 2008. The event will once again be a UCI event and maximum numbers have been set at 3000. There are a few minor 'tweaks' to all three routes but distances will remain approximately the same. The main change in the 100ml ride is the inclusion of the ascent of Redesmouth in place of the Birtley Climb. This new climb is 2 mls and will add a new dimension to the event

campagchris

"The main change in the 100ml ride is the inclusion of the ascent of Redesmouth in place of the Birtley Climb"

Affectionally known as vomit pass :shock: ,your not going over cack alley as well Peter :roll: or on some of the roads Dennis used to take us on
look forward to it.

Peter Harrison

campagchris wrote:

"The main change in the 100ml ride is the inclusion of the ascent of Redesmouth in place of the Birtley Climb"

Affectionally known as vomit pass :shock: ,your not going over cack alley as well Peter :roll: or on some of the roads Dennis used to take us on
look forward to it.

Davy Howecroft used to called it the Flower beds - not sure why but possiby because all he could see was the daffodils on the side of the road as he looked at his front wheel asd he followed Joe Waugh up the climb ( the man who lost the TOB by the smallest margin ever - 2 secs - to Bill Nickson).
not using 'cack alley' - a Geordie expression for a minor road with a lot of cow excrement on it! You will turn onto a gated road ( Dennis and I explored i the 1960's) which joins onto the top of the Birtley Climb

campagchris

Can you remember when dennis took us over the firing range I still laugh at that yet.Thank god it was overcast and the planes weren't flying.
Was that the same day a caravan hit you on the arm?on the ottercaps.You were very lucky that day,the idiot didn't even know he hit you.
Back to the northern rock cyclone,its a tremendous day out and well run.Peter is the best I know at organising an event,even club do's were great
Hope to see you out and about over winter Peter.

el_presidente

Glad to know my taxes are sponsoring your ride, lads

Barrie_G

el_presidente wrote:

Glad to know my taxes are sponsoring your ride, lads

IIRC there's a bit of an event down your way in 2012 that our taxes seem to be helping out a bit :roll:

el_presidente

only kidding! But you'd think the £40 "olympic surcharge" on my Council tax would at least get me a ticket

Peter Harrison

on a serious note NR may be the headline sponsor but they are not the only sponsors of the weekend. Without NewcastleGateshead Initiative, Jennings motors etc (all listed on the website) the event could not be run in it's current format. It is a huge event that had over 2000 participants this year and there will be over 3000 next year making it one of the biggest events in the UK. police estimate I had 3000 spectators for the criteriums and over 1000 for the Beaumont Trophy. I have over 150 officials and volunteers involved as we have the Criteriums and the Premier Calendar event 'book ending' the sportive rides.
My untimate aim is to give everyone an enjoyable weekend and introduce new people to cycling and Northumberland - if I can do that then I will feel proud and satisfied

el_presidente

I'm sure it will be a top weekend, apologies for my little dig, I think I spend too much time on Commuting . Best wishes for the event.

Peter Harrison

el_presidente wrote:

I'm sure it will be a top weekend, apologies for my little dig, I think I spend too much time on Commuting . Best wishes for the event.

no offence taken - as those who know me will tell you I've got a pretty thick skin - you have to be as an organiser it's a bit sad when all I can do on a sunday night after a hard day on the bike is sit at my pc and work!

campagchris

You mean you can sit after a hard day on the bike.Im usually flat out. :roll:

Its a great weekend out,well worth the trip.Shame some of the cycling mags don't take an interest though.

Peter Harrison

campagchris wrote:

You mean you can sit after a hard day on the bike.Im usually flat out. :roll:

Its a great weekend out,well worth the trip.Shame some of the cycling mags don't take an interest though.

The Northern Rock Cyclone festival of cycling is already on schedule to be the biggest and best event since its inception. Plans are now well advanced to make it one of the County’s biggest cycling weekends in 2009.

The event will once again be part of the 2009 NewcastleGateshead Culture 10 Festival and Events programme. This programme is designed to attract 100,000 visitors to the North East and the Cyclone weekend will be one of 20 sporting and artistic events which will be promoted both nationally and internationally.

Northern Rock are again the main sponsors with technical sponsorship coming from Ultimate Pursuits/Shimano. There are also several subsidiary sponsors and partners all of whom will add to the profile of the whole weekend.

The event dates are 12-14th June 2009 with the Newcastle Leazes criteriums once again being the first event. The evening will consist of a series of Criterium events with the highlight being the Elite event. Several overseas Teams have already been invited to ride. The prize fund for the evening will be £6K with first prize in the Elite Criterium being £1K.

Friday may also see the first ever unofficial UK single speed Criterium championship.
The Cyclone Sportive rides will be held on the Saturday. These are UCI listed events and there will be a maximum of 3000 competitors over the 3 distances of 31, 62 and 100mls. The routes for the three rides have been very slightly changed for 2009 and these will appear in due course on the event website www.northernrockcyclone.co.uk. The 100ml ride will feature the Redesmouth climb of 2mls with a 20% gradient in places. Several major charities will again be involved in the event including Marie Curie, McMillan Cancer Care, Cancer Research UK, Barnardo’s and Great North Air Ambulance. There will be prizes for those raising the most amount of money for the charity of their choice. Over £100,000 was raised in 2008.

The Beaumont Trophy will be held on the Sunday over the same course as used in the 2008 event. However there will be a subtle change in that the riders will complete the smaller lap for the first two laps. They will then go onto the larger circuit for the next three laps. These laps include the ascent of the Ryals. The final lap of the race will go back onto the smaller circuit. This change will mean that the final ascent of the Ryals will be made at 88mls and could well decide the race winning move. Prize fund will again be £6000.

One innovation for the weekend’s racing will be a prize list of at least £1000 for the riders with the best combined results for the Leazes Criteriums and Beaumont Trophy. 2nd category riders competing in both the Senior 2, 3, 4 race on the Friday night and the Beaumont trophy will also be eligible for the prizes along with the elite and 1st Category riders.

All event details are on the event website which will go live for entries for all events on the 1st November 2008, Anyone subscribing to the event newsletter on the website will also receive regular updates leading up to the event

636sean

I did the Northern Rock cyclone for the first time this year and it was one of the best days out i've ever had on the bike.
congratulations on such a well organised event, cant wait to take part again next year

kuddly

I'm hoping to do the 100 mile Cyclone Challenge next year as my very first sportive but silly question is there a time limit on it. I've ridden 80miles in a day but only average 10miles per hour .Also looking to do it with a few lads from work did it take long for the event to fill?

Peter Harrison

kuddly wrote:

I'm hoping to do the 100 mile Cyclone Challenge next year as my very first sportive but silly question is there a time limit on it. I've ridden 80miles in a day but only average 10miles per hour .Also looking to do it with a few lads from work did it take long for the event to fill?

kuddly - there is no time limit on the 100ml ride However it is a hard ride. If you have not done a sportive before I would suggest you ride the 62ml ride first unless you can step up your training for next year. If you do the 62ml ride and only average 10mph you will still take about 7hrs with stops for refreshments.
There will be plenty of spaces available but it advisory not to leave your entry too late. Over 300 people missed out last year because they left their entry too late
The day is meant to be a fun day out and unless you are used to long rides stick to the 62ml ride and then target the 100ml ride in 2010. There are a couple of changes to the 100ml ride which will make it a little tougher and possibly add about another 5mls to the route.

kuddly

Cheers for advise Peter probably do the 62miles unless I can pull my finger out and step up training in winter :roll: then decide for definite in new year.

Peter Harrison

entries now open on www.northernrockcyclone.co.uk