Club Notes - 13th April 2003

You could have been forgiven for thinking that we were in the middle of summer with Messrs Sharrock, Mycock and Halden sitting outside the headquarters basking in the sun having ridden out to watch the Lancashire road club 10, they called it supporting the 5 who were riding but it looked more like drinking tea to me. Once again we had a good turn out with 5 riders, Dave Bridden being the latest to open his season, however YT was the first away and after a week off following the lurgy I was more than happy with a time of 23-47, although it a bit of a shame when you get a god day but can’t take maximum advantage a sentiment shared by next rider off Dave Bridden who covered the course in 28-02, but its early days yet Dave, Phil Gayes was next rider recording a time of 26-12 which although only a second quicker than the previous week was actually a larger gain as there was some confusion over last weeks finishing time, it is also worth mentioning that Phil who had felt lethargic in the morning decided to ride out to blow the cobwebs a way, and ride back after the event, remember though that the event took place in Goostrey so no mean feat. Also no mean feat was the 23-44 returned by the man on form Marc Poyser bringing the tally between us to 2-1 in Marcs favor, told you it’s going to be an interesting season. Final Leek man was Stuart Cope who dropped a few seconds at 26-55 and decided he had better ride home for a bit of extra training, I am glad I don’t get that upset it seems like hard work. Winner Charles McCulloch of the ‘Science in sport.com’ team on the other made it look so easy as he stormed round the course in 21-52 almost a minute quicker than the second placed rider Steve Hulme at 22-52.

Moving onto a chillier Sunday and two members upped the anti by being the first to move up to 25 miles for the Withington Wheelers event, a brave move especially for Andy Bain who was using it as his first event of the season. Andy was joined by Marc Briand who had moved to 17 miles the previous week in a hilly, a fortunate stepping stone for Marc as the course around Byley and Northwich is about the lumpiest one in Cheshire, especially the lane that runs between Byley and Middlewich which the riders had to negotiate 3 times. From Andy’s point of view the last minute decision to ride his road bike instead of his testing bike after a battle trying to fit tyres onto the narrow rims probably did not lose him that much time indeed his time of 1-7-25 is a respectable opener on any course and although Marc was initially disappointed with his 1-4-53 it soon became apparent that it was a good ride as only 3 riders managed to scrape under the hour, and ex pat Rob Sharrock who came in at an excellent 1-1-33 to finish 5^th. R Nelson recorded best ride of the day in 58-07.

Elsewhere on Sunday the club run visited Strawberry fields with Graham Jones, Paul ‘Whizz’ Whiston, Adam Kenway, Kevin Sharrock, Phil Gayes and yours truly, with Marc Poyser joining us for the initial out leg up to the top of Ipstones edge with the entire group discovering that it was a lot colder once we left the sunny climes of Leek especially the daft twonk who ventured out in shorts oops! With Marc leaving us at Windy Arbor the remainder dropped down through Wooton & Ellastone before heading through the lanes to Doveridge and down the cycle path into Uttoxetter and a welcome stop at the café to warm up and inspect the chairman’s bike which had developed a rather nasty rumble teething troubles on its maiden voyage. The route back towards Tean and Freehay involved a considerable amount of climbing or that’s what Mr. S kept informing us, the climbs did keep us all warm though! Although by the time we passed through Kingsley yours truly’s bike sounded like something off last of the summer wine. And Mr. S was regretting Whizz’s decision to go for the baked bean option, commenting that it must be what Saddams got in his arsenal or should that be arsenel. Once back into Leek some of us retired to the clubhouse i.e. ‘Den Engel’s’ for refreshments, something of a worrying if pleasant tradition that seems to be forming.

Finally its that time of the year again and the Tuesday Congleton and Wednesday Macclesfield wheelers are starting the Macc ones should by now be on the notice board and I will post the Congleton list as soon as I receive it, at that time we will also be able to confirm the final date for the club events, in the interim the first Congelton 10 on the 22^nd will be on the Somerford circuit or the Bermuda triangle as its better known! So I will probably see you there for know its time to do a bit more carbo-loading and check out me noisy wheels!