I spectated at the Hillingdon races and AGM. The races were 40 mins plus 1 and seemed to go very well. I am quite pleased with the pictures. In addition to the long lens I used at Battle Mountain, I used my new monopod, which let me get good clarity despite poor light.
http://s1127.photobucket.com/albums/l638/Protobikes/2012%20Hillingdon%202/
I walked out of the AGM after a few mins. Richard Ballantine started on a long waffle about how our races are not record events. It seemed like a repeat of what he wrote in the last newsletter. Journalists, like programmers, are lazy. He’s very behind the times. I have been going to international races since ’89, including 4 in the US. They have all been competitive events rather than record events. There may have been the odd 24 hour or handcycle record.
My aim when I have been involved in running events, from the Leicester events to Bentwaters, has alway been to provide plenty of good and varied racing. I have avoided tours around the town and meeting the mayor. They do not benefit the riders. I also avoided practical vehicle competitions as it is impossible to frame sensible and consistent rules. They lead to bad feeling and prove nothing.
I was appalled to find the cycling press used the same ‘Mad Mad Worlds’ title for Foulmead they did for Brighton 2001. It shows how interested they are in us. I think they are further away than ever. They make money from selling flashy conventional bikes and kit. We are of no economic interest to them.
Talking of Brighton, I am very critical of my own works, but I still see it as a high point. Good entry, good race venues and the highest membership the club has ever had. OK, it was hard work and expensive. I’m still glad we did it. Do we have to rule out grand works?
At venues such as Bentwaters there are a great variety of courses, so it is logical to use the runway for sprints and standing kilos. Mike Burrows may not like them but plenty of others want to answer the question ‘How fast does it go Mr?’.
I hope the changes in the club committee will bring it back into the present day.
Protobikes 
Sorry – I find the above post offensive.
Richard is an excellent Chairman and has done (and still does) more for the club than most.
At the AGM he was talking in general terms about how things have developed.
He was a significant contributor to organising WC2012.
If he was “behind the times” he may have chosen to spend his time “waffling” about Brighton 2001 instead of working on Fowlmead 2012…
Mike Burrows pushed for the BHPC to host WC2012 against opposition from a small minority of members including yourself and he was proved right.
There is far more to racing than going fast in a straight line…
WC2012 was a great success and cost the BHPC virtually nothing unlike Brighton which was a financial disaster.
WC2012 proved that there are a lot of capable people within BHPC who are able to work together to put on an excellent and enjoyable international event.
I’m sure you would have enjoyed Fowlmead if you had come along.
Alan Goodman
Secretary – BHPC
Dear Alan
Were you at Brighton? It was not a financial disaster. We had enough money. What else is it for? It raised our membership to it’s highest ever. I didn’t say anything about Foulmead, but I think I am quite entitled to describe as waffle something which is over 20 years out of date.
Richard is a personal friend, as is Mike. I have known them for a very long time. They don’t need defending by you. Perhaps you can try reading what I do and don’t say rather than automatically attacking me. It is getting to be a pain.
Do not tell me what I can and cannot write on my own blog.
Jonathan
Hi Jonathan
You can obviously write what you like on here…
It was placing a link on the BHPC forum to the insults aimed at a BHPC member which was likely to cause offence and that was why I removed the forum post.
Hope to see you back on the track next year.
Regards
Alan
On 8 Nov 2012, at 20:08, protobikes@aol.com wrote:
Hi Richard
I have been trying to work out how to write to you for a couple of weeks. Firstly, no personal animosity was intended. I’m sure we are both old enough to have robust differences of opinion without falling out.
The comment about journalists and programmers was a gentle joke at myself as my major career has been as a programmer.
I was upset by what you wrote in the magazine and repeated at the AGM. I don’t think it should not be necessary to be negative about what has gone before to justify what has been done recently. I’m beginning to understand the sub contexts and I think a lot of the material did not come from you. When I’ve thought about it a bit more I will write again.
I don’t think this is about my ego, though we all have one. Everything I have done, from the British Champs at Leicester ’95, through Europeans there the year after (which I played a big part in and which made a profit) to Bentwaters, which was an excellent event and my swansong, has been from passion for providing a good rider event and done entirely in consultation with the committees of the time.
Bests – Jonathan
If you find this acceptable, I will put most of it on my blog
Richard replied
Hi Jon –
Love you now, always have . . . was sorry balloon went up, my fault really, I should have figured out a way of putting the brakes on. We can always have a difference of opinion, though from the sound of it, we not that far apart on the sort of things that might be fun for HPVers.
Richard
What insult? See above.