Club members have received the sad news of the loss of Club Treasurer and Life Member, Dave Roberts. Dave will be greatly missed by members for his support to both experienced and inexperienced cyclist and for just being a lovely gentleman. Dave has been a member of Acme Wheelers since his teenage years and has filled many roles within the Club over those years. There will be a full tribute to Dave in the coming weeks.
Welcome back to the Acme Wheelers website after a short absence. You may have noticed that we have been off-line for a few weeks, this was because the gremlins had got into the system and caused a few problems which have now been resolved and a safety net put in so that we should not be off-line again in the future. I would like to thank Kerry Lewis for his, not inconsiderable, efforts to put the photographs and articles back into the system to ensure that the record of Club events is back for everyone to view. Club Champions Section still needs some work which will be done over the coming weeks.
I hope you will enjoy searching through the web site and if you have any items you would like included please get in touch.
There was a three month period when Gerald was not a member of Acme Wheelers, but he has never been a member of any other cycling club.
Gerald became a member of Acme Wheelers in October 1941, three months after he was born and that is the only period of time when he was not a member of the Acme. His membership was set up by his father Joe, himself a founder member of the Club.
Obviously from that family background Gerald soon took to cycling and one of his early long rides would have been a family outing to Highbridge in Somerset where they had relations. At the age of 8 Gerald cycled to Cardiff to take the White Funnel Steamer to Weston and then cycled on to Highbridge, near Burnham on Sea. Just to add to that picture, Gerald’s mother and father made the journey on a tandem with younger brother Chris sitting on the back.
Eventually entering races Gerald became well known on the South Wales racing scene and beyond. He entered the full range of events on offer, road racing, time trials, cyclo-cross, cinder track and hill climbs.
He competed at all the available distances in Time Trial events though, perhaps wisely, he never rode a 24hr.
He was the Welsh Hill Climb Champion in 1965, and was a member of the Acme winning team on many occasions. In 1967 he was the South Wales Grass Track Champion. Strangely his only Club Championship came in 1962 when he won the Club 100ml Championship, however, it must be remembered that there was a great deal of serious competition in the Club during the time that Gerald was racing.
Gerald encouraged his family to cycle, as his parents had done, and Anthony became a very accomplished rider winning Club Championships from 10 – 100ml and a 12hr Championship.
Gerald’s wife, Audrey, did ride a tandem with Gerald but after the second ride found that her legs were not compatible with his.
When racing competitively came to an end, in the late 70’s, Gerald took up Time Keeping and became a very accomplished and respected Time Keeper. For many years he was the Senior Time Keeper at the National Schoolboy 10ml Championship and his reputation was eventually rewarded when he became a Time Keeper at the Senior British National Championships.
Gerald served on the South Wales District Council for many years, representing Acme and one of his favourite tasks was finding and working out new courses.
Within the Club Gerald was Chairman on two occasions and has been our President for more years than most members have been in the Club. In that time he has organised and timed many Club and Open events.
Over the decades that span his dedication to racing and Time Keeping, Gerald has been and continues to be both a highly respected and highly regarded member of the cycling fraternity. As everyone will be aware, ill health in recent years has meant that he has not been able to be involved in the way that he would have wanted to be, however, his significant contribution to cycling will not be forgotten.
Picture Memories of Gerald:-https://acme-wheelers.co.uk/gallery-2/gallery-2019/nggallery/2019/gerald-clements
Gwyn joined the club as a teenager and over the next decades his talent shone through
He represented Wales in the Pursuit & 10mile events at the 1958 Empire Games held in Cardiff as well as being part of the Acme team which held numerous Welsh records and one of an elite band of riders who beat the hour for riding 25miles, a great achievement in the 1950s.
But there was far more to Gwyn than clocking up records and being the perfect rider, he had a zest for life which was typified by the way he arrived at races——the best equipped bike strapped to the back of his immaculate blue and white MG sports car and the beautiful Judith sitting by his side.
Indeed before Judith arrived in the passenger seat Gwyn was considered by other club members as something of a babe magnetic, young ladies flocked to join the club so they could be associated with him. He modestly explained the existence of his fan club by saying, “someone has got to do it”.
Even in later life he never lost that competitive edge winning the Acme 12 hour club championship at the age of 58 riding an impressive 203miles.
In later years he will be remembered for instigating and organising for 25 years the club Tuesday night 10 mile time trial, being a South Wales District time keeper and also winning the prestigious Rhondda Sports Personality award.
Although he was no longer able to ride long distances he still went on the Acme training weekends sitting in the accompanying van wearing his Acme kit and shouting encouragement to the riders through the open window.
Not only was he a loyal member and servant to the Acme he was a much valued friend to so many.
Gwyn Remembered:-https://acme-wheelers.co.uk/gallery-2/gallery-2017/nggallery/2017/gwyn-humphries-18
The first of the ACME club Championships took place recently, a tough test over Thirty miles to compete for the D.J.JONES Trophy. This championship first competed for in 1950 and won by E.JONES with a very respectable time of 1.19.38 many years ago, a result which as been beaten numerous times since then.
For the 2017 championship only one member took up the challenge and after an impressive 2016 season where Gary Flower received awards for various Championship Events.
ACME’s 30 Championship is incorporated into the Bynea CC event based around the undulating road of Llandovery where riders negotiate a testing route. Gary like many members admitted to be behind on his training schedule for this time of the year started the trial at a steady pace and just hoping he could improve on last years’ time of 1:13:39.
Gary coped well once the miles started to roll by through narrow villages and avoiding slow moving farm traffic along the way. Approaching the finishing timekeeper he could see that he was going to beat last years’ time which was always going to be a personal challenge.
Back at the HQ his time was revealed, a 1.11.44 almost 2mins quicker than his 2016 time and 5th Overhaul in the event, a pleasing performance and will receive the 30m Champs Trophy for the first time.
Unknown to Gary at the time, this is a “New ACME Championship Record” beating Kevin Bartlemore impressive time of 1.12.04 set in 2000.
Club 30 mile Championship History:- https://acme-wheelers.co.uk/club-champions/30-mile-trophy/
