Things are wheeling along at the cycle club

CYCLING: Twice a week, Rachael Cottom puts the kids in the car ? including 16-year-old neighbour Simon Squire ? and drives from New Plymouth to Wanganui to let them square off on the velodrome or road with the locals.
On Saturday they were there before 9am, for the start of the Wanganui Road Cycling Club's championships ? so it was an early start for her, baby Cade, nine-year-old Maxyna and 14-year-old Denay.
Maxyna, a shortie in anyone's terms, is about half the size of the bike she rides but she made it on Saturday, all of two laps around the Francis Rd circuit, twice up the Montgomery Rd hillclimb, then the state highway climb after it.
Club junior tutor Lyall Hastie, on his trusty motorbike, accompanied her over the last bit to the finish ? and what a sprint she turned on!
Hastie: "She gets a ribbon for just finishing ? now I'd better go out and find the others!"
Hastie again yesterday: "She rides on the track as well. No problems at all for her."
Mrs Cottam explains the travelling: "We haven't got a track at home. This is what you have to do when you've got children who are interested in having a crack."
It's the younger groups that represent the future of this club, their numbers showing a massive increase since Hastie started fulltime three years ago.
The club was probably guilty of not seeking the younger riders a few years ago ? and now the gaps in the senior ranks are all too obvious. It's something Hastie and the club committee have been very keen to make right.
Thus reasonably full fields of juniors on Saturday bought a smile to Hastie's face, although he's still short of under-15 girls.
The rides of the day came from seniors Brendan Sharratt and Brei Gudsell, but Jamie Richards, Jono Anderson and Suzanne Guilford showed there was plenty of young talent around. Guilford has, in fact, just been selected for the national under-17 team going to the Tour of Canberra ? a feather in the club's cap and a credit to the junior programme.
Hastie probably would have avoided the circumstances that saw him become the training officer:
"I helped people when my son (Ryan) and I were riding, but when I had my accident I took it up fulltime, really."
Three or four years ago, Hastie broke his neck when he came off his bike into a deep ditch near his house returning in the dark from a training ride.
"I was in Burwood for a long time. I couldn't walk for a while. I was in Wanganui Hospital for nine weeks flat on my back as well."
When Hastie took up the teaching cudgels "there weren't many juniors. The club had let it slip a little bit, but we're slowly getting there now.
"We started off with schools' programmes (parts of the City College and Hunterville schools' curriculum), quite a lot of open days, and just really being pro-active in working with kids."
For example, Hastie and other club members took part in the Mayoral Bike Challenge the day after the Mayoral Mile, chatting with youngsters who were taking part. The result? "I got five kids from there ? two sisters, their mother and three other kids. That's all I had to do, talk to them. We took them to the track, and the next thing you know, we've got this little under-12 grade going now."
And the Hunterville interest comes to 28 children.
He runs five-day-a-week spin (rollers) riding classes at the clubrooms, and a Sunday riding group. Interest in both has been remarkable.
"The spin group started at Christmas, it's taken off and the club has been really good at supporting me. We've now got 14 indoor trainers, and we do two classes every day Monday to Friday, and Sunday as well."
These are female-dominated classes which arose from Hastie challenging mothers who were bringing children to similar classes.
"I put four trainers out, reckoned I would be lucky to get four ? and eight turned up. Since then another 30-40-50 have come along."
Many have now joined the club.
"We're also getting their kids involved. And we had our AGM on Saturday and two of the spin class girls ? Robyn Sicily and Judy Burgess ? are on the club's committee."
That's it, it's clearly a club still running on high octane.
Certainly Saturday had a bit of dash about it ? championships at 9am, club stars Catherine Sell and Dayle Cheatley's wedding at 2.30pm, and the annual meeting later in the afternoon.
It's all go, at the Wanganui Cycling Club.