Cambridge University Cycling Club

We cater for all University members, providing access to all cycling disciplines from beginners to elite athletes.

As well as competing in BUCS races, we regularly organise social and touring rides which allow beginners to improve their fitness and to discover the countryside around Cambridge and beyond.

News about training, races, and results will be posted here. Check out our calendar of upcoming events on 'Training & Events'.

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BUCS TTT

By Maddie Angwin

BUCS TTT. 5 teams. 1 sketchy course.

Maddie Angwin, Zoe Burrell, Miranda Clements on the start line

I’ll spare the typical details of the inevitably early drive over to Castle Combe and the rubbish weather as they seem to be a staple of CUCC’s racing experience. The course, however, is worthy of some explanation. Tales of its sketchiness proceeded it. We had already heard of Rob Walkers encounter with a bush a few years back and Jack Kellam’s team getting lost twice in the same race, therefore hopes of all our teams surviving to the finish line were low.

Off first for CUCC were the road bike team of Matt Davison, Tim Bodey and Lucas Beighein, wearing an eclectic mix of skinsuits which really showed that style is CUCC’s … forte. Whist Tim Bodey’s pride in his white ‘skinner’ is unparalleled, the team’s time of 56:28 was extremely impressive given their one training session and putting them comfortably near the top of the road bike category.

Up next the ‘low riders’ team of Luke Andrews, Jacob Lewis and Matt Rizzo-Naudi sped round the course in 53:37 and without disassembling Luke’s headset, fixing Jacob’s bike or stopping at the café mid-ride, an impressive feat indeed.

The ‘tall bois’ team of Joe Adlam-Cook, Tom Wade and Harry Weedon put down the watts to get round the course in 50:29. However, Joe decided to take his time on a short magical mystery tour at one of the junctions just to ensure that they got the most from their TTT experience. A great race from the team but unfortunately, they narrowly missed out on the podium, coming 4th by one second.

On the women’s side the runner (Phoebe Barker) and the rowers (Jo Matthews and Imogen Grant) united to make a team of big hitters. Playing to their strengths they decided to have Phoebe on the front for all the hills, Jo for the downhills and Imogen for the flat sections. Whilst not typical for a TTT this method worked extremely well for them (except for Jo’s brief encounter with the verge) as they came away with a 56:48 and 1st on the podium!

Setting off three minutes after Oxford’s first team, Miranda “went on a rampage” Clements, Zoe “please Miranda slow” Burrell and Maddie “Ease Miranda, EASE” Angwin put in a strong effort to claim 2nd with a time of 58:01, making the podium (majority) Cambridge Blue (with an unfortunate but unavoidable tint of Loughborough purple).

Success!

The strong performance by Phoebe, Jo and Imogen paired with Joe, Tom and Harry’s wattage gave Cambridge a combined time of 1h47, resulting in Cambridge winning the fastest overall team medal.

It was a great day out. Zero crashes. Three podiums. Twelve medals. Back for Matt and Joes birthday bash.

BUCS 25 RACE REPORT

By Maddie Angwin

BUCS 25, which happens to also be our Varsity match, saw CUCC put out 26 riders. On a variety of begged and borrowed (no stolen) equipment our riders were ready to face the infamous botty triangle. In typical Cambridge style, the morning of the race was wet and windy which led to a few of our rowers getting confused into thinking that botty was a river and therefore turning up in wellies. 

After Miranda Clements had realized that she was in fact racing a bike not a boat, she rolled over to the start line as the first woman off. I feel bad for her minute man as she put in a staggering time of 01:00:40. Up next for Cambridge women was Imogen Grant. After storming round the course in 01:01:41 she dashed off to commentate the Boat Race, leaving all of us wondering whether rowing at the Olympics or smashing it around botty for an hour is more enjoyable. Maddie Angwin was up next, putting in a strong performance for 01:04:54, knocking 5 minutes off her time from last year’s race. President Zoe Burrell, sped round in style for 01:04:08, with Women’s Captain Phoebe Barker following on with a 01:02:37, taking 2 minutes off her time from last year. Last but not least, Jo Matthews smashed round the course in 01:00:37 to claim 3rd overall. An incredibly strong performance from the women’s side led to Miranda Clements and Jo Matthews coming 2nd in BUCS 25. Imogen Grant’s impressive performance meant that the women’s side (Jo, Miranda and Imogen) won the women’s Varsity match for the first time in 9 years. Maybe rowers do make good cyclists after all. 

Jo Matthews on the Botty Triangle

The men’s side saw equal success, but unsurprisingly more CUCCups as well. Tom Hale was the first rider off for Cambridge putting in an impressive time of 56:31. In fact 56 appeared to be a popular number for CUCC with Tim Welsh (56:16), Tom Wade (56:20) and Matt Rizzo-Naudi (56:36) creating a CUCC cluster high in the results table. Joe Adlam-Cook decided he didn’t want to be part of the 56 gang, digging deep to achieve a 54:07, taking nearly 2 minutes out of his time from last year, and gaining the coveted award of fastest CUCC. 

The road (bike) men put in a strong showing – so aero Dan Bigham would eat his heart out – with Colin Krawchuk putting in a 01:01:27 to become the fastest CUCC roadman.  Special mention must go to our speedy freshers Harry Weedon (59:49), Louis Stuart (01:06:14) and Lucas Beghein (01:08:14) for their first whack round the triangle. The biggest CUCCup must go to Lucas for arriving 45 minutes late to the start after a delayed train and a puncture, but what’s a CUCC race without a bit of stress? 

Luke Andrews getting areo

Congratulations to the men’s team of Joe Adlam-(over)Cook(ed it), Dr Quadzilla (Tim Welsh) and Thomas (the Tank Engine) Wade for their third-place team medal. It was a great day to be part of CUCC.  The full results can be found here.

Taking home silverware (Tom Wade, Tim Welsh, Miranda Clements, Jo Matthews, Joe Adlam-Cook)

BUCS Track Race Report 2023

By Race Captain Luke Andrews

Last weekend (4/5th March) held the first BUCS event of 2023 (although notably the second most prestigious event of the weekend sharing the date with CUCC’s own cuppers, which I’m told is soon to join the World Tour). The University Track Cycling Championships were held at the Geraint Thomas National Velodrome of Wales.

Mere days after first stepping foot in a velodrome, 7 starry-eyed roadies-turned-trackies made the arduous journey across the country to take part in the event (with some minor detours to acquire some last minute free-speed along the way in the form of shiny track wheels). Late Friday night the crew arrived in Cardiff, just in time to boil a month’s supply of pasta, watch some GCN to remind the squad what a ‘velodrome‘ and ‘lock-ring’ were, and double check none of the wheels had punctured after Tim’s adventurous​ van driving.

The Team at BUCS Track (Tim Welsh, Tom Wade, Jo Matthews, Miranda Clements, Joe Adlam-Cook, Luke Andrews, Matt Rizzo-Naudi)


Saturday saw a blizzard early of races with the Men’s Kilo TT and Team Pursuit, and the Womens Individual Pursuit all before lunchtime. The scene could have easily been confused for the University Sprocket and Wheel Changing Championships with the speed at which CUCC’s seemingly only 14 tooth cog was shuffled around the squad. Tom Wade started the day by putting in a blistering Kilo time, so fast in-fact, that he overtook his opponent without even noticing, and the commissaires could only manage to give him an estimated time due to the time-dilation they experienced. Tim Welsh and Joe Adlam-Cook followed this effort up with equally impressive four lappers, coming in 23rd and 13th respectively.

Next inline was Jo Matthews in the Women’s Individual Pursuit. Taking to the track with absolute focus, she smashed out an astounding 4:08 with more left in the tank, putting a comfortable 7 seconds into her Oxfordshire opponent. This netted a 7th place finish out of 15 competitors, an impressive result and even more so with just 2 previous sessions on a velodrome. Finally, the Men’s Team Pursuit, a complex, technical and strategic race where teamwork and free speed are key. With a collection of begged and borrowed wheels and helmets to maximise both speed and style points, Joe Adlam-Cook, Matt Rizzo-Naudi, Tom Wade and Tim Welsh took to the track for qualifying. Smooth changes and big numbers followed, bringing the team home with a time of 4:37.5, just 2 seconds outside the bronze-medal match. No doubt these roadies-turned-trackies will be back with a vengeance and a hunger for the taste of BUCS silverware.

Big Watts (Matt Rizzo-Naudi, Tom Wade, Tim Welsh, Joe Adlam-Cook, Luke Andrews)

After a spicy morning of riding, the bikes were packed and the team headed back to refuel and reset before Sunday’s racing, winding down and disconnecting from cycling by watching the extended highlights of both the Men’s and Women’s Strada Bianca in full, and binging cycle-speedway videos from the 1990’s.
Sunday saw a delayed arrival after navigating through the Newport Half-Marathon, mostly spent looking on at the attendees and wondering why they weren’t using bikes instead. Racing kicked off with the Women’s 500 TT, which saw Miranda Clements lay down the watts with a stylish 40.5, netting 18th place in the event.

Cycling Machine (Miranda Clements)

Men’s Individual Pursuit followed soon after, the final test for Matt Rizzo-Naudi and Luke Andrews after hundreds of seconds of aero and position testing. This came to a tee with equally impressive times and pain faces, with Luke coming in 14th and Matt blowing the track to pieces with a 4:41, good enough for an outrageous 7th place. Soon after came the Women’s Team Sprint, where Miranda and Jo teamed up for a flying 500, blitzing round in time of 40.8, less than a second off of the bronze medal race. The final even of CUCC’s weekend was the Men’s points race, with Joe Adlam-Cook taking the bullet and racing 100 laps at maximum effort. He stayed with the bunch and collected sprint points to come home a cool 8th position in a hotly contested race, and most impressively stayed upright throughout!

Joe Adlam-Cook laying down the watts

Unfortunately, BUCS were unable to take any photos of this day’s racing, as they were too distracted by the sight of Tim Welsh on a Sunday rollers session and a blurry CUCCet Hat.

A special thanks goes to alumus Jack Kellam for providing shelter for the weekend and speedy lids, Rob Walker and Gabe Fowden for generously lending the club their wheels, and Southampton University for kindly lending their wheels as well.