News: May Pedal Club Lunch

News – May Pedal Club Lunch report by Chris Lovibond

NEWS: MAY PEDAL CLUB LUNCH REPORT by Chris Lovibond — Vintage bikes are an unusual subject for a Pedal Club speaker, but Bob Johnson held the members’ attention by presenting what must be one of the all time most collectable bikes – Fausto Coppi’s track machine, as used at the 1958 Herne Hill meeting.

Bob is the owner (and restorer) of this gem, and although all cyclists ‘of a certain age’ are familiar with the Coppi legend, there was much unfamiliar material in his talk. Apart from the bike, members were able to see intriguing documents relating to the day itself, including Tom Simpson’s contract to ride (photo). Much of this is covered by Bob’s excellent You tube video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dZSjZZ_r7LE&ab_channel=CathGothard

A significant event at the meeting was the presentation of a cheque for £1000 to Eloise Ward. A similar cheque will also be give to Zoe Roche who could not attend the lunch since she was racing abroad.

As is well known, the Club had wished to carry on the excellent work of its late member John Barclay by taking promising young riders to compete in Belgium but, sadly, the weight of red tape around safeguarding, combined with difficulties arising from Brexit have caused the failure of any plans for the 2025 season.

However, the publicity for the proposed scheme did bring forward a number of applicants and two of these were really outstanding: Zoe Roche and Eloise Ward. Since there will be no expenditure this year on the John Barclay project, the Club decided to make an exceptional grant to the two riders. It is pure coincidence that they are both young women, but the very brief career details below will make it obvious why they were chosen:

Eloise Ward
– Current U16 National Points Champion.
– Age group winner 2024 GHS National TT
– Racing on the road in Belgium last year, from five starts, she achieved four podium placings. One of these was third place in the U17 Ronde van Vlaanderen in her first year in the age group.

Zoe Roche
– British National Cyclo Cross Junior Women’s Champion 2025.
– Lloyds Bank National Cyclo Cross Trophy Junior Women’s Champion 2025
– World Cyclo Cross Championship – Mixed Relay Team World Champions

It’s worth mentioning the Eloise gave a short but very competent acceptance speech; one comment she made on the day was – ‘I love racing in Belgium, on real roads and in much bigger fields than in the UK’.