Club Notes - 3rd August 2003

I am starting to realise why the number of club members racing may be tailing off it’s possible that we have reached that point in the season that folk are starting to run out of steam, after all the mid week 10’s are just about over with only Macclesfield’s hill climbs and one remaining lap of the Bermuda triangle for Congleton. If that’s the case I may just be a bit behind the others by one or two events, but I’ve always been a bit slow on the uptake and have been trying to snatch some rest to catch up, but probably not in time for the club hill climb on Monday the 4^th!

All that blather is really just a precursor to explain why we once again we only had 4 members racing last weekend, I will start with the Manchester & District T.T.A. championship 50 despite the others starting earlier on the Saturday, Marc Briand and yours truly took part in the 50 with Marc starting before me and managing to get caught in a proper downpour that lasted a good 10 minutes before settling to a steady fall luckily I was off 15 minutes after Marc, however by the end of the duration everyone was wet anyway. Marc dropped a little from his previous performance to record a time of 2-13-21, this was however good enough to secure Marc 6^th place in the M & D T.T.A. Middle Distance Championship with an average speed of 22.384mph ,so well done Marc. Meanwhile I struggled round to my slowest time of the year just scraping under 1-59-32, and nearly dropping out of the top ten at 9^th. After a hurried dash from the race as I was due to relive John Chapman at the other event of the weekend a little matter of the National 24 hour Time Trial Championship. After much club house talk to the extent that it looked at one time we would have half a dozen members taking part, only two were brave enough to start the challenge, Club 100 champion Andy Bain and Graham Halden who was back again having successfully completing the event last year, this year Graham was hoping to break the 300 mile bracket. Things however were conspiring against all the entrants first up a late course change that switched a rolling section from Tern Hill to Battlefield to a Mountainous Battlefield – Prees section, and believe I Know having covered it once in a 25 and vowing to avoid it at all cost’s in future, never mind tackling it several times having already been riding for over 6 hours. If the course change wasn’t bad enough the weather was worse, Pat and I arrived at Brenda’s tent at 10.30 in a steady downpour that had been falling since the start at 2 in the afternoon, in fact what we witnessed was nothing compared with what it had been like for the first 2 hours! The wet and climbs dragged both riders down with Andy being the first to admit defeat to mother nature although not till after riding for 11 hours, 8 hours or a working day more than YT can manage. Graham continued on through the night making it into Sunday morning, when the weather dried up and it looked like it things might pick up. To late for our intrepid hero however and having completed 17 ½ hours, Graham reluctantly abandoned, having spent the latter part of the last leg pedaling and coasting at near walking pace. I for one who along with Pat and Brenda having just stayed up through the night with the riders, and feeling the affect well into the following week consider both riders’ attempts amazing. But we must take our hats off to the event winner who covered an incredible 477 miles although even this was way down on previous years, showing how hard the event was.

Moving into the week and threatening skies, ok Dave it was actually raining in Leek, but it wasn’t at Chelford where YT and just 4 other brave souls tackled a 25 mile circuit round Cheshire for the Congleton CC evening time trial, the event confirming my lack of steam with my slowest time at 59-19. Although still managing to come out on top ahead of second place man Tony Elliot with 1-2-56. This was not to be the case on Wednesday for the penultimate Macclesfield wheelers 10 on the Gawsworth course where I was pushed back down the ranks to third from Graham Trevana 21-43, and Roger Wrenn 22-10, my time being a lack luster 22-27, I wasn’t the only Leekite slipping a little as Dave Butterworth braved the dull skies to ride and recorded a 26-22. But I am sure he will back next week stronger and faster and not just for the free food!