WHAT'S BEEN HAPPENING IN THE MONKEY HOUSE?
2026 GORILLA CYCLING CLUB CHARITY OF THE YEAR
The charity of the year, as voted by our members, is the suicide prevention charity CALM .
The numbers:
1 in 4 people have suicidal thoughts in their lives. There are 200000 suicide attempts each year.125 people die by suicide every week (that's 1 person every 90 minutes - the duration of one of our Thursday night rides.
Suicide is the biggest killer in men under 50, and the rate for suicide of women under 24 is at an all time high, which is why we chose to support CALM. They take 28000 callls per month on their helpline number 0800 585858.
Over the course of 2026 we will be holding fundraising events to collect money for this worthwhile charity - the first one is the quiz night on 27th February. When £12.20 funds a potentially life saving chat, lets hope we can help lots of people.
2026 SUBSCRIPTIONS and WEBSITE UPDATE
We hope to run new subscriptions for 2026 from Monday 2nd February . Everyone will need to re-register, and whilst the initial form maybe longer we have listened to your concerns and are looking to make the ride sign up form shorter ( though there still will be some necessary information like contact number and allergies that will need to be completed every time). The cost will b e £25 for the full year - like 2025. But if you only sign up for the final 3 months of the year the cost will be reduced to £6.50. More details to follow in due course.
EVENTS
We've finalised dates for some events, and tweaked details of others - so dates for your diaries:
QUIZ - Friday 27th February at Hare & Hounds Venue 2.
The Karaoke has been dropped through lack of interest, though we are looking at getting a well known cyclist to do a talk for us - watch this space.
SPRING CLASSIC - 28/29th March
TREASURE HUNT - SATURDAY 11th April
TIME TRIAL - from Thursday 21st til Sunday 24th May. This will be a handicapped team time trial with 4 members per team - lower handicap with teams including female members.
INTERCLUB DAY - SUNDAY 7th June
GRAND DAY OUT - SATURDAY 18th July.
CLUB KIT
We will re-open the Gear Club shop for people to purchase club kit on 2nd February , for 5 weeks. There will be no new designs in there, but if you missed out on buying any of the existing products now would be your chance - prices are frozen as last year. Items to purchase are;
SS club jersey
LS club jersey
Gilet
Buff
Arm warmers
Cap
GORILLA RACING
Chris Mapp came 2nd overall in the West Midlands Cyclocross league Open 40-45 championship this year. He also competed in the Nationals last weekend, coming a creditable mid table. Excellent stuff Chris.
GORILLA ZWIFT
There is still time to get on Eugene Vichare Gorilla Zwift this evening - it starts at 6.30pm, and this week it is the 28.2km Bon Voyage circuit. As always the band is on to keep the group together. Just head over to the Zwift companion app , and look up events in the Gorilla Cycling club.
THURSDAY RIDES
There is still space on:
Damien Kimber 17-18mph lumpy route going up and over Fiery lane, and then coming back up the long drag of Old Birmingham road.
Gareth Ebbon flat 25 mile Winter loop at 14-16mph.
Book on via the website and use the code FREERIDE25 if its your first time.
See you tomorrow.
Ride safe
Bruno