GORILLA REVIEW 2024
I've probably missed loads of stuff out that this wonderful club and it's members have done this year, but hopefully i've remembered most. Here's my recollections from an eventful year..
January
After teething issues in the draw for World Cup of Bikes ( where i dropped and broke the glass containing all the 48 entrants) we finally whittled it down to 2 , through a series of Instagram votes - and the man who isn't on Instagram - Phil Hood - won, with his 1984 Vitus.
FEBRUARY
Joanne Ness picked up 2 West Midlands Cyclocross league trophies for 2nd in her age group.
Kings Heath Foodbank was chosen as our charity for the year , and we ended up donating loads of tins, pasta and various sauces to them, plus we raised £2236 for this worthy cause. Please do keep donating.
Our 4th season of Gorilla Zwift finished with 28 different riders taking part. Season 5 is well under way with the next Zwift ride on Wednesday 8th January at 6.30pm.
MARCH
We held the Gorilla Quiz with rounds on badly drawn celebs, tasting crisps, making bikes out of vegetables and of course the classic - Dog or Donkey. The winners on the night were Rob Anderson, Oliver Agar and Kat , the loser being Eugene Vichare who donated £70 to the foodbank for one of my crap paintings! Our next quiz is on Friday 31st January.
Kelly Murphy won the Australian Team pursuit title - despite being Irish!
James Brown Everested a dam in Wales for charity - climbing 9175 vertical metres in 15 1/2 hours!
John Pears, Rob Garratt and Neil Cocklin rode 450km from Birmingham to York, via a circuitous route in 24 hours.
and Jared Boxhall left the fold for Bristol, via Hereford.
APRIL
Carl Pearson, Graeme Garrett, and Neil Ashton rode the 260km Leige - Bastogne-Leige sportive.
Kelly Murphy won the Beacon Little Mountain time trial.
MAY
James Barber, Iain Davie, Rob AndersonLee Tandy, Oliver Agar, Bruce Chapman, Alex Cull , Ed Carver Adam Maclean , John Pears, James Gregory and Bruno went out to Brittany to ride the Tro Bro Leon Sportive, and watch the pros race the course the next day.
And a week after a different 10 Gorillas rode the Ronde van Brum ( from memory Damien Kimber, Kris Rogers, Pete Edwards Paul Astin, Paul Griffiths, Blake Timmins Andrew ILES Stafford John Roberts , Nate and Mr Spritts) - a 250km circuit around Birmingham .
Our Crazy colours and Garish kit rides saw an amazing array of non matching kit - we will be doing that again!
James Brown rode All Points North - 1100km over 81 hours, and came first in the rookie class!
Sarah Sprittles, Helen Pike, Rachel Brown, Rob Garratt and Neil Cocklin all became ride leaders.
JUNE
June started with the Grand Day out where 47 participants rode over 200km - some rode a lot further! Paul Astin did it twice ! ( once on the Saturday, and then again in the Sunday), and Carl Pearson and Tom Wieckowski both added 80km to the route by doing Sette Dodici first. Grand day out is on June 21st in 2025.
Sarah Sprittles big challenge this year - the 540km Ride to Paris was completed in 4 days.
And then in mid June we had the Inter Club Day where 65 riders from 7 different clubs raised money for the Kings Heath Foodbank with our cycling bric-a-brac, Neil Cocklin posters (framed by Lee Tandy )and Andrew ILES out bidding me on the Kona Cruiser ( donated by Adam Maclean ). All the left over bric-a-brac was donated to The Bike Project. Inter Club day in 2025 is on Sunday 13th July.
The month finished with the Solihull charity 2 up TT where we had entries in tandem, womens, mixed and all age categories.
JULY
This was another busy month with Tom Wieckowski riding 310km from Bern to Zermatt trying not to be caught by Cancellara .
Kelly Baker, Sarah Damm and Rachel Brown took silver in the Rugby CC 3 up TT at Mallory Park.
Stuart John Bulloch, Chris Hurst and Andrew ILES rode the Maratona des Dolomites, whilst Adam Hackney, Iain Davie, Rob Anderson, Lee Tandy Oliver Agar and Bruno rode the 350km off-road King Alfred's Way over 3 days ( with lots of falls and punctures)
July saw a great loss as original GM Malcolm Cowie left for the Kent coast - he has since been visited/kidnapped by the Fitterati for a weekends riding.
Iain Davie won our Fantasy League Tour de France .
And Blake Timmins, Joanne Ness, Craig Munro, Iain Davie, Rachel Brown and Bruno all went upto Galloway to ride the Glourious Gravel sportive, where Blake came 4th!
AUGUST
Started with Neil Cocklin riding from Lands End to John O'Groats in 4 1/2 days!
The winners of our TdF Femme and Vuelta TT's were Paul Astin and Rachel Brown.
Kelly Murphy raced for Irish Olympic team pursuit squad, knocking 3 seconds of their National record but just missing out on qualification.
SEPTEMBER
Rob Garratt rode 480km from Edinburgh to Sheffield, but Neil Cocklin did the whole 600m to Birmingham .
Phil Hood, Blake Timmins and Paul Astin rode from London to Bristol sleeping in a hedge overnight.
Kevin Satterthwaite won the Welsh Road Bike TT .
Our Gorilla Flight Night turned out to be the last charity social in the old Cafe.
OCTOBER
On Thursday 3rd - the End of an Era - Gorilla Cafe closed.
But by the end of the month official rides were back up and running, and our mad Spaniard Hector Mauer returned to Barcelona.
17 of the Troop went to Calpe in Spain for 4 amazing days of cycling and socialising on the club trip.
at the National Hill Climb Championships Jack Morrie Evans came 76th, and Scott Hamblett came 125th.
NOVEMBER
The new Gorilla committee was voted in Lindsey Trivett, David Morton, Eugene Vichare, Stuart John Bulloch and Bruno .
At the Charity "Ride for James" TT Paul Astin was the 2nd road bike.
Sam Maybee got kidnapped by John Pears, Oliver Agar and Neil Cocklin into riding the Moonrakers and Sunseekers 300km overnight audax.
Chris Mapp took silver in his age group at the regional cyclocross champs.
DECEMBER
After the West Midlands cyclocross league finished Lee Holton came 4th V45-49, and won the one bike competition. Chris Mapp came 2nd, and Steven Nelson came 18th in their respective age categories. With the Club coming 21/89 !
in Mid December we had the Christmas social at Schooners where we drank 50L of Seshy in 5 hours, which impressed the owners.
And on the last Thursday before Christmas we had our Christmas jumper and tinsel rides. We're back again on Thursday 2nd, and Sunday 5th for club rides.
So until then, thank you for all your support, laughter, and adventures, ride safe and we'll see you in 2025.
Bruno and the committee.