Club founded April 2005. We discovered soon afterwards that there had been a previous Horsham club, called Horsham Unity, which ran for about 60 years and disbanded about 40 years ago. When the local press publicised our club, surviving members of Unity contacted us and donated their trophies for our use.
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What?s the story behind the club?s name
The founders, Stewart Forbes and Keith Russell, wanted it to cater for a wide range of abilities and not be exclusively for traditional ?club? riders, hence the exclusion of the word ?club? from its title. It is this inclusive approach that we think makes Horsham Cycling special. There were 23 riders on the inaugural ride and we now number 127, many of whom began as social riders.
How often does the club meet?
Every Sunday for a choice of four rides of different distances and speeds.
Socially three or four times a year with presentations on topics of interest. Recent events have included demonstrations of CPR and a talk by one of our members ? see famous riders ? on her ride around the world. We have a weekend riding on the Isle of Wight each September. The club also holds regular informal pub nights.
What events does the club take part in?
Reliability trials, time trials, track racing and sportives.
Describe a typical club run, and where and when does the club meet
With a large band of dedicated ride leaders, we pride ourselves on finding new, interesting routes through the country lanes. We are fortunate to be situated between the North and South Downs, giving a choice of hilly and not so hilly routes away from major roads.
All rides leave from The Carfax in Horsham on Sunday mornings and we have a choice of four groups.
The social group will ride for 25-30 miles at around 11 mph through the country lanes with a short ?banana? stop about halfway.
The intermediate group do a 30? 45 mile ride at an average of 14-16mph
There is a choice of two sporting rides, 16-18mph ave ? different distances, either around 40-50miles with no stop, or up to 60 miles with a tea stop. A typical dporting ride might take us to Hindhead in the west of our region, or Penshurst in the east.
Many riders, from all the groups, finish in Horsham Park for a coffee in the park café, allowing all groups of the club to mix and chew over the morning?s run.
What?s the story behind the club?s jersey design?
The blue and white colours were chosen to be a bit different from many other clubs in our area, which are predominantly yellow.
We wanted a jersey that would be classic enough to make sure it didn't need redesigning every few years. So the original idea was for a retro looking shirt ? an updated classic you might say. Inspiration came from many places ? Merckx's Molteni jersey from the 1970s and Anquetil's St Raphael jersey from the 1950s/60ss were big contributors. Another big contributor was Team Ireland's shirt at the time, which had good lines down the side that would suit any shape.
Famous riders who are in, or have been in, the club?
Among our social riders is Pam Goodall, author of Riding it Out, an account of her solo ride around the world ? 10,000 miles in all.
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