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
