Paddington Cycling Club?

Dont forget me!! David Vaughan rode on the track 1974 to 1977 left and joined Redmon cc as my parents split up. I went to live with my dad in Sutton.Nick Faint was a year below me at school and at times we rode together to events.I remember the YHA holidays in Wales.I also remember John taking Nick and I and one other on a camping/training holiday.I was good on the hills/mountains and this use to piss them off which ended up with a fisty cups back at camp! I got into road racing and rode the Kent League. I got a medal for BAR from paddington one year.Remember those time trials and sprinting at the end as if on the track.My training at the time was cycling up Highgate hill every morning to do a paper round ( got use to the pain!!).Enjoying this thread.Is John still a live he was a fantastic coach to us all.

Last I heard, he was living near Bangor in North Wales. He must be in his 70s or 80s by now.

Remembered Calshot track went ther twice,remember riding on the track and looking down from high up ,John had his eyes covered with his hands looking away as my back touched the safety netting ( I didnt fall off!)More to follow.

Rogues Gallery

1. Stephen Aslin - Track sprinter - Twickenham CC - still riding
   
2. Steve Wharton - club sec
   
3. Spencer Kirkham
   
4. Nick Faint
   
5. Paul Shuttleworth
   
6. Tim Dolphin
   
7. Paul Savage - ex London Fire Brigade...........
   
8. Yoav Tzabar
   
9. Chino Isern
   
10. Paul Shipway
    
11. Amos Feild Reid
    
12. Ed Wilding
    
13. Simon Layfield
    
14. Andy Ross
    
15. Mikey Foley
    
16. Tony Gibb (as a school boy)
    
17. Charlie Birch
    
18. Bradley Wiggins (Sport And Publicity)
    
19. Paul Dawson
    
20. Neil Carlson
    
21. Neil Salter
    
22. Tony Davis
    
23. Aiden Mc Donald
    
24. Jack Couch
    
25. Dave O'Kelly
    
26. Michael Titre
    
27. Jim Walsh
    
28. Bob Davis
    
29. Nenon Loritz
    
30. Alan Efgrave
    
31. Martin Weedon
    
32. Phil Mel
    
33. Chris Beedie
    
34. Malcolm Millais
    
35. Robert Kenny
    
36. Guy Eliahou
    
37. Ronnie LeBlanche
    
38. Ivan Coleman
    
39. Graham Brazier
    
40. Carl Shavitz (the american) Now an artisan baker in the Fens:-)
    
41. David Vaughan
    
    

Nice one David, glad to have you 'on boards'
I still think 41 ex members is still a bit low? there must be more out there?

Also what are members doing now?
Cycling or not, cycling club?
Copy and amend the list

@Ivanskavinsky - how was you first time back on the track at Herne Hill since the Paddington days?

1. Stephen Aslin - Track sprinter - Twickenham CC - still riding
   
2. Steve Wharton - club sec
   
3. Spencer Kirkham
   
4. Nick Faint
   
5. Paul Shuttleworth
   
6. Tim Dolphin
   
7. Paul Savage - ex London Fire Brigade...........
   
8. Yoav Tzabar
   
9. Chino Isern
   
10. Paul Shipway-still riding with London Phoenix
    
11. Amos Feild Reid
    
12. Ed Wilding
    
13. Simon Layfield
    
14. Andy Ross
    
15. Mikey Foley
    
16. Tony Gibb (as a school boy)
    
17. Charlie Birch
    
18. Bradley Wiggins (Sport And Publicity)
    
19. Paul Dawson
    
20. Neil Carlson
    
21. Neil Salter
    
22. Tony Davis
    
23. Aiden Mc Donald
    
24. Jack Couch
    
25. Dave O'Kelly
    
26. Michael Titre
    
27. Jim Walsh
    
28. Bob Davis
    
29. Nenon Loritz
    
30. Alan Efgrave
    
31. Martin Weedon
    
32. Phil Mel
    
33. Chris Beedie
    
34. Malcolm Millais
    
35. Robert Kenny
    
36. Guy Eliahou
    
37. Ronnie LeBlanche
    
38. Ivan Coleman
    
39. Graham Brazier
    
40. Carl Shavitz (the american) Now an artisan baker in the Fens:-)
    
41. David Vaughan
    

Hi bigsteve,
It was great fun ta:)
Done a couple of basic race training sessions now and really enjoying it.
The coaches are great, jovial piss takers;) with lots of helpful track craft advice and very welcoming.
It's a MUCH nicer track than Paddington! Smooth as silk and feels much quicker. Amazed at how much I've retained from those days (not so amazed at what I've lost...) lots of concertina action in basic with a few small spills, just enough to 'educate' riders about riding fixed;) very good natured and friendly (I used to find Paddington a bit intimidating at times, though I'm obviously older, uglier and bigger now:)

It's a very diverse selection of people, very cool and encouraging for it too:)
Nothing like when we used to be the only kids at school that had heard of the Tour!

Going to be getting down every Saturday I can manage this summer:)

@Ivanskavinsky - how was you first time back on the track at Herne Hill since the Paddington days?

Hi

I was never in the Paddington but my parents were very good friends with John Austin and still are, John brought a house in Spain near to my parents and lived there for half of the year for a while still going out on his bike. He is still as other people have said living in North Wales and still has a keen interest in trains and is also a qualified pilot. Although a little bit smaller he still looks very fit.

My sister and I went to Bangor one year with the Paddington, we were in bed every night by 7! It wasn't quite what we expected......

Max Reeve, Ben Graham, Chris Hariades, Richard Girdlestone, Andre Wagner, Stefan (someone) and Jan (someone) and Oliver (someone!) were all members of the club.

I was in the North Road Cycling Club which John was also a member of and we used to go on joint club events, one youth hostel weekend I remember was to Castle Hedingham when Max Reeve rode through a village pond thinking it was a ford!

I only raced on Paddington once, but stayed at John Austins one night after he gave Charlotte and I a lift home from a Leicester track meet, Char and I had to cycle home the next day to Hertford on fixed wheels with spare wheels on wheel carriers, and kit bags on our backs, being from Hertford we had absolutely no idea where we were going! John didn't give us any clues either!

Loads of happy memories of good times with the Paddington and John!

John once came on a hostelling holiday with my Family to Scotland, he and another cyclist shared the driving in his Volkswagon Camper Van and whilst going up a very steep hill he was in his sleeping bag catching some sleep and rolled on top of me, and was unable to move as his arms were in his sleeping bag! On the way home the other chap doing the driving fell asleep at the wheel and we drove across the central reservation until he woke up with the alarmed shouts from the back.......John was very good at swearing and the air was bright blue!!

Oooh and Nick Faint is still cycling, always looks like he is suffering but still fit he as previously mentioned is in the Finchley. Paul Shuttleworth although he moaned a lot was a really classy rider and had some great results, he was a master at tapping off the front of the bunch and gaining a lap, married and living near Welwyn Garden City but not cycling anymore.

Good to hear John is still alive and well.

Great to hear John is still around, in a not very small way he is responsible for my continuing love affair with bikes:)
I will always remember Paul Shutleworth as a moaner, but with great respect and fondness and yeah, he was a talented bike rider.

thanks Emma

Bob Davis, another former member, asked me to post this here:

"Hi, nice to get the memories back - I am doing some work on when young Bradley came to our club meeting, I think in Autumn 1998, and came across the thread :

I am Bob Davis and joined in Autumn 1979

Basically, here are some points about Paddington CC which I think have been missed out:

• Adrian Mitchell was a key member from the beginning - a legendary hard man who just ate, slept, trained, raced, worked and slept. And his work was as a brick layer. He would often ride up to 600 miles a week as well as working. One day he told me he had cycled down to a job in Brighton on his hack bike with his tools, but then after a full days work he "cheated" by only riding some of the way back! I remember one Easter weekend when he raced six times, his speciality being an early morning time trial before a road race. We were cycling back from a gym (weights and circuit training session) which were held under John Austin's tutelage (I helped out when I had got my weight trainers certificate) past the mosque and he said "I built that, that curved bit up there". I remember him going out with us after work out on the A4 (not on the cycle tracks) out towards Stoke Poges,and Hedgerley - less traffic then.

• Max Reeve was the most successful: he got silver medal as a schoolboy in the National Track Champs, left the club some time afterwards and had a couple of seasons in Italy as a sponsored amateur. I said hello to him about a year ago after passing him with his kid on the back of his bike when he was going to work (near Ladbroke Grove I think).

*** Neil Carlson** held the club 10 mile record once tri-bars etc. had come in, he was the ultimate techno-weeny with lots of very light bikes. He lives in Hackney, does a bit of riding to get about I think.

*Richard Girdler won a big road race - the Apex trophy. he moved up to somewhere like Northampton, became a frame builder (built me a bike I got stolen) and then ran a bike shop which went bust. he dropped out of sight after that. he had a wife and young daughter when I last saw him about 20 years ago.

• Andre Wagner went abroad and came back to the Kilburn area, he helps Mick Clarke out with Sport and Publicity stuff from time to time

• Chris Hariades got the club hill climb record, raced as a second category rider and now lives close to Dartmoor with a wife and two grown up daughetrs. He still rides a lot down there. His sister, Athene, was killed by a left turning lorry when she was cycling across Euston Road in 1992.

*** Alyn Ross** was a musician. Now a grandfather, he said hello to me about a year ago in Look Mum No Hands. Not riding not, except a motorcycle.

*** Barry Ford** was one of the original schoolboys who formed the club when it was set up by John Austin. He left for Harp RC and is now in Team Quest, or was a year or so ago. Carlo Bordi was also one of the originals who made it to first category.

• the Ron you refer to was Ronnie Blench, an American.
  
  

*** Ken Robinson** rode time trials, Michael Diggins was a junior. I will have a list of members in my archive.

That ought to bring it above 41

I have copies of the old Paddington CC newsletter, which i edited.

I also held an unofficial thirty years anniversary of my first bike race - a Paddington CC Hill Climb which was held on Toms Hill at Aldbury near Tring, with some people in my current club, the Central London CTC.

And finally, I have photos of us in Paddington CC - Sport and Publicity kit - which we were before it became Team Sport and Publicity. We had a club meeting at a pub opposite the roundhouse in Autumn, I think 1998, when Bradley Wiggins, who had just won the Worlds Junior Pursuit Champs came along. Any records of that would be welcome.

I am on rdavis4499@aol.com

That's very interesting to read. I left the club in September 79 (to go to uni), so I wouldn't have met Bob. However I do remember Adrian and my memory of him agrees with bob's.

I would love to hear more of the history of the club, especially its founding and eventual demise.

PS have just seen our ex-member in his yellow jersey as I am currently on holiday in the Pyrenees. Sadly, he didn't have time to stop for a chat!

More from Bob:

"The other members I didn't mention before were:

• [I]Geoff Meredith: A first category rider who mad it on to the National Cycling Centre of Excellence. last heard of living near Leighton Buzzard.*

• [I]John Freitas. legendary ladies man. Once banned for pushing another rider into the small pond at the bottom of Oxo Hill at Eastwat. Worked in Simpson's in Kentish Town, ran his own bike shop in Bell St., then was last ehard of working in a care home.*

• [I]Neal Hambridge: Ran a parcels delivery company and had nice Italian frames.*

• [I]Chris Revill. Worked casting statues. Worked for the BCF/BC about 15 years ago, lives in the west country.*

• [I]**Dayo *Brown. A classy track man, always wore blue apart from when wearing club colours. Emigrated to Canada where he had a family.

• [I]Derek Hardman. Optician.Went to live Bristol/West Country way.*

• [I]I have membership lists plus old newsletters from 1979 to the mid -1990s."*[/I][/I][/I][/I][/I][/I][/I]

Bob says he's happy for members to contact him on the e-mail address given above.

Some photos from Bob:

Here is Team Sport and Publicity circa 1997. I am the fat (I had stopped racing) guy with the moustache on the far right, secretary Steve Wharton is in the middle with the bike, with team sponsor Richard Allchin behind him to the right.

Other photos are: Brad winning the roadman's pursuit at Herne Hill in 2001 in Sport and Publicity colours, also another photo of him from that time (copyright Sport and Publicity)

3 Attachments

So what exactly is/was the relationship between Paddington CC and Team Sport and Publicity?

Bob also writes:

The club founder, coach and secretary, John Austin, retired to Wales, the track was due to be demolished, and the club was beginning to decline.

This led to the search for a sponsor, and in 1997 the secretary, Steve Wharton, organised sponsorship so that we became Paddington CC - Sport and Publicity/Bromley Video - Air Tool Services. Our main sponsor was Richard Allchin, who runs a company – Sport and Publicity – which publishes and sells books, calendars etc. about cycle sport with another west London former racing cyclist, Mick Clarke.

Thanks for that. Although I don't race any more, it is thanks to starting out with John Austin and Paddington CC that I am [still] a MAMIL today :-)

For those of you who were around when I was here's a "Who is known for saying..." quiz.

1 "Any more Beans lads?"
2 "My egg's coming up!"
3 "I could ride up the side of a house!"
4 "I'm going to do Baker!"
5 "The old one speed"
6 "Flip sake!"
7 "Do you wash?"
8 "Don't wait for me!"
9 "Sausage legs"
10 "I've had enough!"

Answers on a postcard please.....

Bob trust you to have all the info.
Question
Who was the girl who went out with Michael Diggins who was in the club and she worked for the BCF when they were based in Euston.
Im thinking Tina someone but may be wrong.

@ spenk
'any more beans lads" tim Dolphin
The old one speed - jack Couch
Ive had enough - nick faint
i could ride up the side of a house - steve Wharton

Who designed the original classic paddington CC racing jersey?

Think of Wales bigsteve!

Who designed the original classic paddington CC racing jersey?

we need to get more of that classic kit...

For those of you who were around when I was here's a "Who is known for saying..." quiz.

1 "Any more Beans lads?"
2 "My egg's coming up!"
3 "I could ride up the side of a house!"
4 "I'm going to do Baker!"
5 "The old one speed"
6 "Flip sake!"
7 "Do you wash?"
8 "Don't wait for me!"
9 "Sausage legs"
10 "I've had enough!"

Answers on a postcard please.....

What about "Blubberhouses"

I've been checking in on this thread now and again, reminiscing of days gone by. Add one more Tim Woods, schoolboy 1984-1986 if I remember. Kept my old medals from paddington, divisionals and southern counties. Mr Austin? I think I owe my obsession for cycling to that man and Mr Freitas. Bought a bike after 20 yrs out of t and smoking. Joined a local club, and still could do a 70km club run straight out no effort. You can't beat learning the ropes on the track. I hope after the Olympics more notice is given to this sport.