Club Notes - 3rd March 2003

Into March and Mark Poyser was the first club member to flex his muscles in competition when he rode the Manchester and District 10, run over the Goostrey - Chelford course, I can vouch for Marks comments that it was grim, Although not raining in Leek till late in the afternoon over there it was wet, windy and a bit on the chilly side, I know venturing out sans mudguards, so it was probably my fault! Despite the conditions Mark returned a very respectable time of 24 minutes and 10 seconds, good enough to place him well inside the top ten, in fact only just outside a top 5! Just reward for the amount of effort he’s been putting in, not to mention a worryingly rapid benchmark for the rest of us. The event was won in 23-19.

Staying with the serious stuff Dave Cooper, Andrew Gilman and Don Grindley successfully completed a 200K Audax, the first of their qualifying rides before they can take part in the Paris-Brest event, which is the biggest, and possibly the longest event in the Audax calendar. If I can get more details from the modest trio I will you keep you up to date with their progress.

Before all this hectic stuff starts making me feel dizzy we will calm things down with last weeks social ride. This year’s first Muffin ride took place under blue skies a major surprise considering the storms that hit us on the Saturday night, more testament to the organization skill of Graham Halden who always manages to come through with good weather. However don’t think it was just down to the metrological conditions that promoted such a strong turnout, although the attendance of Mr Butterworth would have been questionable if there was any chance of wet stuff! No the promise of Brenda’s Infamous muffins accompanied by a warming glass or two of mulled wine had a lot to do with it. Club president Mr Kevin Pickford turned up on a Mercian that made both Mr Haldens and my machines look positively youthful, cutting edge even! Still Kev managed to lead out the pack on several occasions only getting thwarted on some of the serious hills by a lack of gearing. Other notable riders who turned up were Phil Jones from Macc’ wheelers, George from next door to Graham, who swelled the usual numbers of rabble to fourteen.

Last week I was miffed about missing out on the Ironbridge run, however I have subsequently heard some scary reports from those that took part, not the distance, most are used to reliability distances growing a bit and 116 miles instead of 100 is not to bad , no the scary bit was the average speed with an outleg of 18 miles per hour, strong tailwind possibly?. However this does not explain a return leg at 16 ¾ mph, although it may explain why the official fast group never made contact. Who are the members in worryingly good form, considering we are approaching the season proper! Well the usual suspects of Graham Jones, Paul Whiston, and Marc Briand , were joined by one of our newer members, Dave Gallimore, the only club member I hasten to add to have taken part and completed the Llangollen, its alright Dave I won’t mention that after negotiating the trip into Wales you managed to get lost just outside Newcastle. For now a well deserved congratulations to all who completed the reliabilteis and I hope to join in next year!

After such antics I’m tempted to go out and try some catch up training, but a feeling of to little too late is not helped by a further tale intrepid rides from two of the notable absences from Sunday’s excursion Mark Poyser and Phil Gayes whom it transpired nipped out on Saturday to swap a faulty cycle computer of Marks, innocent enough you may think but when the shop is situated in the deepest depths of Shropshire and the distance is up near the old triple figure mark, this is in the serious echelons of training as far as I am concerned! Particularly when average speeds around evens are concerned.

By the time you read this Mark Poyser will have completeded his first 10 of the season, in fact he will be the first member to have raced this year so the rest of us are really on catch-up, full result next week, plus a few words on the Mulled wine and Muffin ride that took place earlier today, possibly that’s why things are blurred! Next weeks feature includes mentions of club president Mr. Kevin Pickford and Mr Butterworth venturing out for the first time this year. Signing off by reminding members that this week’s club run is to sunny Armitage see you there.