# Cycling Weekly Letter of the Week: Priceless



## alp1950 (2 Nov 2011)

Hilarious letter of the week in _CW_ this week *"Rank Amateurs"* supposedly complaining about the amateurism the author experienced on his first Sunday ride.

The entire letter has to be read for its full effect but includes the priceless lines _"....the club run feed stop which disappointingly was merely a cafe also used by the general public. Seriously, I was expected to queue to refuel from fare that lacked any energy gels or sports bars"_. 

Great piece of satire taking the p*ss out of the sportif-focussed rider & worthy of inclusion in _Private Eye_. 




..... at least I hope it was satirical because if it wasn't I shudder to think........


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## cyberknight (2 Nov 2011)

I saw it and it made me laugh 

The funniest bit for me was that they expected the club run to be signposted and have marshals and that the rider kept riding off the front of the group and had to wait .............Like to see them try that off the front of most chain gangs .

How did it get ot be the letter of the week? how can some one be so misinformed .

What was the last bit? no wonder pros do not join in the club scene because we are soooo sloooow..........( well i am anyway  )


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## funnymummy (2 Nov 2011)

I'll grab a copy on my way to work!


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## dodgy (2 Nov 2011)

Can someone put up a scan of just the letter?


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## Hip Priest (2 Nov 2011)

I thought it was hilarious. It's obviously a piss-take.


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## Tyres23 (2 Nov 2011)

Just read it and was making sure it wasnt a miss print from first week in April !!!
May be he should be in TdF next year if soo good


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## screenman (3 Nov 2011)

It is a wind up. Good one though, if the aim of a good letter is to get people talking about it this one certainly won.


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## Garz (4 Nov 2011)

Anyone able to scan the page?


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## Brahan (4 Nov 2011)

It was good. Touche.


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## alp1950 (11 Nov 2011)

Follow-up this week to the original letter by "Les Trebor" from Cockermouth (_sic)_ in this weeks _CW (Taking clubs to task_)_._ Not quite as brilliant as the original but good to see the joke continuing. 

The author (who rides an electronic shift geared Pinarello) complains that the club ride took him along unmarshalled country roads with precarious bumps, holes and loose stones. Shocking.


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## rockyraccoon (11 Nov 2011)

What is the edition date, please?


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## ColinJ (11 Nov 2011)

User14044raccoon said:


> What is the edition date, please?


The original post was made on 2nd November which was a Wednesday and refers to "this week's" edition but Cycling Weekly comes out on Thursdays, so it was the 27th October edition. The follow-up is in this week's edition, which was yesterday, 10th November.


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## rockyraccoon (11 Nov 2011)

Thanks ColinJ


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## cyberknight (11 Nov 2011)

ColinJ said:


> The original post was made on 2nd November which was a Wednesday and refers to "this week's" edition but Cycling Weekly comes out on Thursdays, so it was the 27th October edition. The follow-up is in this week's edition, which was yesterday, 10th November.



Whats the follow up?


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## Paulus (11 Nov 2011)

When I read the letter, my first impression was, what a co*k. I think he was expecting a sort of sportive with dedicated feed stations and waymarked route signage. Then I thought that it was just a windup. Now I don't know what to think about the author.


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## ColinJ (11 Nov 2011)

cyberknight said:


> Whats the follow up?


On the basis that I think that letters to a magazine are intended by their authors to be in the public domain, I assume that CW does not have the copyright to them, so here they are ...

(Shaun, if you are worried about it - just delete the pictures!)












(Sorry for the blurred images - they are photos taken with a wobbly handheld camera, not scans)

Rob Hayles has just retired and CW have done a special feature on his career so it is worth getting a copy of this week's mag for that alone. There is also a big review of winter cycling kit.


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## alp1950 (11 Nov 2011)

ColinJ said:


> On the basis that I think that letters to a magazine are intended by their authors to be in the public domain, I assume that CW does not have the copyright to them, so here they are ...
> 
> (Shaun, if you are worried about it - just delete the pictures!)
> 
> ...



Beat me to it.

Received email permission from editor


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## alp1950 (11 Nov 2011)

alp1950 said:


> Beat me to the scan.
> 
> I was waiting until I received email permission from the editor to reproduce the original letter. The editorial assistant granted permission today.


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## slowmotion (12 Nov 2011)

Great letters!


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## alp1950 (17 Nov 2011)

It gets better.

This week CW publishes several outraged letters from readers who clearly have taken the bait, hook, line and sinker!


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## ColinJ (17 Nov 2011)

alp1950 said:


> It gets better.
> 
> This week CW publishes several outraged letters from readers who clearly have taken the bait, hook, line and sinker!


Amazing, isn't it - the three correspondents in question are really, really cross!  

(And before anybody asks for copies of those letters too - I reckon you should do the decent thing and start buying your own copies of CW! )


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## Nearly there (17 Nov 2011)

Im from Cockermouth i wonder if ive ever passed Les ha ha good sense of humour marra (I hope)


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## Garz (17 Nov 2011)

ColinJ said:


> (And before anybody asks for copies of those letters too - I reckon you should do the decent thing and start buying your own copies of CW! )



I was buying CW regularly until I realised I was spending loads on these and the C+ instalments. After a while most of the content gets regurgitated but the major irk was with the 'become a climbing colossus' only to find a page on what you already knew!





Your quite right though Colin, I will no doubt cave in and go through another fad of regular purchases.


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## ColinJ (17 Nov 2011)

Anyway, if you can imagine someone taking those two spoof letters seriously and getting irate about them, that's what the replies are like. Total sense of humour failure ...


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## Bayerd (18 Nov 2011)

ColinJ said:


> Anyway, if you can imagine someone taking those two spoof letters seriously and getting irate about them, that's what the replies are like. Total sense of humour failure ...




Sales are flagging, let's spoof and see if the cycling forums pick up on it to help boost circulation for a bit.......


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## martint235 (18 Nov 2011)

I particularly like the little dig at the London Dynamos!!


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