What is this website about?

This website documents a sadly now defunct cycling club, the Northwood Wheelers.  My father, David Saunders, was a member of the Northwood Wheelers from the late 1940s through to 1955, when adult life "distracted" him from cycling.  A large part of this site consists of his cycling diaries (Open Roads) written at that time, and which he has annotated with photographs and editorial comments.  You can reach this material via the menu to the left.

Since the original incarnation of these web pages a couple of years ago, I have had emails and phone calls from former members of the Northwood Wheelers.  I hope that this new version will encourage others to do the same.  There is a 'Northwood Wheelers' place on Friends Reunited.

The tales of cycling presented here are the reason I took up cycling myself, albeit rather late in life (I too got diverted by student life).  Not for me the motivation of the exploits of professional cyclists - rather, I was fired by the exploits of my father and his cycling pals, particularly his cycle tour to Scotland with Brian at the tender age of 16, the infamous Cheddar Gorge expedition, and possibly the best example of why you need to pay attention to the chain tension on a fixed gear bike.

The Future

Ideally, I'd like to expand this site with more material and links to other veteran cycling websites and resources.  But most of all, it would be fun to recruit more Northwood Wheelers veterans to contrbute.  I can be reached via the "Contact Us" link in the Main Menu.

Robert Saunders 

December 2008