by Chris James | Jun 10, 2023 | News
John was my friend, coffee drinking companion, walking companion, occasional cycling companion, but most of all he was just a good person.
We met through cycling at the Manawatu Masters and then Bike Manawatu Sunday rides. We lived close by each other so we would often pass each other on the way to the rides. He seemed to be a competent rider and willing to help others. He didn’t hide at the back of the bunch. Then I became aware of his ability – trying to complete 70 100km rides in the year before he turned 70 (and succeeding), 2 laps around Taupo. Most of you will know John and his cycling ability so I don’t intend to cover that part of his life. He enjoyed cycling but it wasn’t the main aspect of his life.
John had a medical incident whilst riding on the cycleway out to Linton which resulted in him getting a Pacemaker fitted. This was about a year after I had an ICD fitted following a Cardiac Arrest. We seemed to form a bond discussing our experiences with our devices and how they affected us. John complained about a degree of uncomfortableness with his device but was interested in its workings and was very proud when he found out that it was only being required to work for a small percentage of the time.
John was an early bird. When he got his dog Merlot they would be out walking before dawn and would often walk past the Bees Knees Café where I was enjoying a post ride coffee. Before long I convinced him to stop and have a coffee which then turned into a routine. We would meet, enjoy a coffee, compare photos of the sunrise and solve some of the world’s problems. As Merlot was with John we would sit outside the café; we were perfectly positioned to score the parking of anyone daring to park in front of us. He was a hard marker, and it is fair to say that not many were able to get full marks. Quite a few didn’t even make it into the positive side of the ledger. Merlot eventually got his own chair at the café where he could sit and look inside to ensure that he was going to get a treat. John was aware enough to bring a towel so that Merlot wouldn’t be sitting directly on the chair.
I had started walking regularly after my CA and would often meet him and Merlot wandering the streets or the Bridle Track on the way to coffee. John was quite a conversationalist and many times I would be late getting home in time to go to work. My wife said she knew when I was about to get home as she could hear John talking as we neared my house.
John seemed to know lots of people. I first thought it was because he had lived in Palmy for so long, but then I saw how friendly he was, and the interest he took in other people. When we were out walking, we would be regularly stopping and talking to other people, other dog walkers, little old ladies pushing walkers, other early morning exercisers. John could tell you many things about each of these people. It became obvious that John just liked people and took genuine interest in them. After my ICD activated and I didn’t appear on Strava for a few days John noticed and came around to our house wanting to know if I was ok. He would comment on my activities and would interact with his Strava followers around the world.
John was a family man and was extremely proud of each of his children and would regularly keep me up to date with what each was doing. Like them I am going to miss him.
RIP John
by Garry Buys | Jun 10, 2023 | News
It is very hard to write a Dear John letter, especially for someone you have known for so long
and have nothing but admiration for.
John was certainly a family man, myself and I am sure all club members would like to go out to Liz, Daniel, Kate, and Andrew with our heartfelt condolences. John was extremely proud of all his children and their journeys in life, the apple of his eye was certainly his granddaughter, Indie, as he could not talk about her enough.
My personal first experience with John was about 35 years ago when John and his son Daniel presented at Pedal Pushers asking about our then Sunday rides which predates the present Masters club. Daniel was in his very early teens and I welcomed him into our Sunday rides. At the time they were living out at Opiki and John would drive him into town, so as he had nothing to do we got him to drive our support vehicle for the ride.
Daniel grew quickly in the local cycling community, the Palmerston North Cycling Club, John’s commitment spread to him being on the club committee for many years and a period I recall as club president, but he certainly assisted in running many of the local cycling events.
While living at Opiki, John worked as a farm hand growing potatoes and prior to this he had been for a long period a green keeper at a golf course. Over the years whenever I had a problem with my lawn John was only too willing to give advice. During his time in potato farming to earn extra money to fund his son’s growing obsession with cycling we sold 20kg bags of potatoes in the doorway of the shop for $5 per bag, it went gangbusters and was always plenty of money for Daniels hardware.
Having many family dinners together one night John said it was time to get off the tractor. I said how about becoming a Postie. A week later John approached me if that was a possibility. With my then contact at NZ Post I put John’s name forward and within the month he was Postman-Pat. By now he had shifted into Palmerston North and taken up road cycling. With the evolving masters cycling fraternity became a very committed and well liked member. It is at about this stage that most of you would have met and come to know John. In recent times John has worked with me at Central Storage assisting with upkeep and maintenance being my right hand man. I
personally have so many fond memories of time with John and his family which are too large to share. But over the last days personally all of those memories have flooded back, which I am sure you are all experiencing.
For you riders who were fortunate enough to meet with John and his dog last Sunday, who he absolutely adored and religiously walked every morning and will be missing him dearly, as we all well, will you treasure that moment.
Farewell my good friend, Rest in Peace
Garry Buys
P.S. as a tribute to John and his Dog, I would ask you to watch a movie, which I believe is
available on Netflix “ Hachi” A Dogs Tale by Richard Gere – based on a true story
by Colin Anderson | Jun 10, 2023 | News
John Lithgow 21.10.1947 6.6.2023
Such a tragic end to his life & a shock to everyone involved in the Palmy Cycling clubs/groups. No matter how/why this accident occurred it is a grim reminder that we all (road users, cycle, car, truck whatever must somehow :Share the road with care:.
His personality & quick witty answers shone through on many occasions & his friendship & assistance on rides was always available when required by many having a tuff day out for whatever reason.
John held his hand up & legs ready to assist on many fundraising rides for youth charity.
Memories of the 3 person bunch of 65 year old posties riding from P.nth return via Napier/Taupo/Taihape in totally undesirable weather springs quickly back to my memories. The lads were not fully prepared for the weather changes & my *spare* kit certainly did the rounds during the weather promptings !!.
Although , because of health issues John was not a regular recent Sunday rider, those present just this last Sunday were all chuffed to have had a small chat with him as he changed his dog walking route & stopped for a quick chat, on reflection now, so very poignant & a memory to treasure.
Farewell John, Thanks for the memories & the sharing of your ”LIFE CYCLE” with so many.
Photo 1. Finished 650km.. John Lithgow, Colin Anderson, John Burmeister
2.Legends of Manawatu Cycling. Colin Anderson, John Burmeister, Brian Hughes, John Lithgow, Mike Keenan (life Member Manawatu Masters)
Photo 3. Final Training ride– Professionals (not quite). John Burmeister, Colin Anderson, John Lithgow.
Photo 4. BP. Feilding, Coffee stop — Brian Hughes, Cliff Hughes, John Lithgow, Colin Anderson, Wayne Butcher
by Tim Lloyd | Jun 10, 2023 | News
Before anything else, the Bike Manawatu community acknowledge the passing of John Lithgow earlier this week. Colin Anderson, Garry Buys and Chris James were kind enough to jot down a few words about John with his family’s blessing which Vaughan has published. He will be greatly missed.
So we’ve had a bit of a break with racing. A lot was due to a cluttered calendar and not being able to get dates settled. We also had a changing of the guard in our own admin, schools cycling to get underway, and the very successful BM, Hospice 6 hour.
The board has been working on Sub committees to spread the workload across all admin areas. There’s areas of Finance, Events, Track, Cycling NZ liaising, Community, Schools, Sunday recreational rides, Future focus groups that all have their own needs and target points. A bit of a rethink with our courses for racing, what is relevant racing for our members, and also rides that the club can put on that are not racing. More of that to come.
We are joining in with Schools cycling on June 25 for a Team Time Trial. Schools always have a push at TTT’s at this time of the year and it feeds us into a trend of what racing is coming up later in the year both locally and other series close to us. North Island series is team based this year with the time based on the 4th rider across the line. We will reach out to our neighbouring clubs, WCNI and others, to reignite a club series. All this needs buy in from riders and volunteers to work.
We’ll have more information for you next Friday. In the meantime get your Teams together, in whatever grade you feel, stand by for details on the TTT and other racing coming up.
by Tim Lloyd | Apr 22, 2023 | News
Last weekend Bike Manawatu was well represented at the Age Group Road Nationals with 7 riders making the journey to Timaru. 3 of those riders stood on the podium during the weekend with Colin Anderson, Glenn Kirk and Filip Martin taking 3rd, 3rd and 2nd respectively in the ITT and then Colin backing it up with a 2nd in the Road race later in the weekend.
AGRN’s are always tough, it’s the next level up from Club and Centre races. Chris Hansen finished 5th in Masters 2 Road race with the same time as P2, just short of the line in a photo finish. Same went for Filip Martin who again finished 5th in the Road race, 2 seconds of podium.
Great efforts by Ben Murphy who had a tough weekend but would have learnt a lot as he continues to climb the ladder in under 17’s. Glenn kirk, Mike Thompson and Toshi featured well in their grades.
Special thanks to Toshi for being Team Manager for the weekend and for Toshi and Colin to stay back and volunteer on Sunday shows total dedication to the sport.
As previously mentioned before, and more so after the event, there’s plenty of comment about Cycling South Canterbury holding the event for the second time in 5 years with little support from Cycling New Zealand. It appears all clubs are having their battles with Road availability, Traffic management, Volunteer bases etc.
At BM we too have challenges ahead. With Keryn leaving to continue her career path we have vacancies with areas of our admin that will need to be spread amongst ourselves. There is a rolling over in Board responsibilities, a nurturing alliance with Manawatu Schools cycling and a need/requirement for fresh ideas to have other clubs join us in our racing on newer courses.
With that in mind it leads me to next Friday’s AGM. Please come along and sit in on our AGM. After that has been completed we’ll open the floor up for feedback and ideas on a Sub Committee model that Jonathon Hannon and the board has been working on.
Groups identified are (Briefly),… Events, Club Racing, Track and WCNI, Schools, Development and Hub, Finance and funding.
Come along to Marist clubrooms and join us in making BM a long term option for racing of all ages in our community and region..
Tim
by Bike Manawatu | Jan 27, 2023 | News, Notices
SUMMER RACING – POINTS SERIES
Hopefully you have seen our summer racing calendar;
To add some spice and healthy competition we will be running a grade points series from the 2 ITT and 2 Graded Road Races with a grade leaders jersey up for grabs. Eligible grades are A, B, C & D
All races have now been posted on our FB page and registrations are open via webscorer (click the links above). You will see on the ITT registration a grade selection field which is not normally required for ITTs. Please chose your grade for the series when registering for the first event which is NEXT TUESDAY. We will be using times from this event to re/confirm dubious grade selections
Riders will not be able to change grades without very good reason. If permitted, any accumulated points will be removed
Standard road bike configuration only is allowed at TT’s. Riders who do compete with TT bikes, discs, clip on bars etc will not be allocated series points
We know its hard to make it to every event so there will be 1 discard – 3 rounds to count
Points will be awarded to the top 10 in each grade on a high scoring basis – 10, 9, 8, 7 etc
First jerseys will be presented at the race 2 briefing 16 Feb. Jerseys are to be retuned at completion of each race to be represented to the grade leads at the following rounds
We hope that with high bragging rights on the line you will enjoy this format and we look forward to seeing how the classification GC battles shape up. Spread to word and lets get some good numbers and make this a great summer of competitive racing.
** Please note due to a rained off event (16.02.23 Akers Road) we have decided to amend our Colyton Hiwinui Loop course which was scheduled as a Handicapped event, but will now be run as a Graded Road Race to complete our Summer Series. Our Essex Cup race will be run at a later date during 2023. Thank you
