Club Notes - 18th May 2003

Either people are beginning to twig that events yours truly has entered are not going to be blessed with the best weather conditions in the world, or it could just be a coincidence but take last Saturday in the morning there were three members from the club riding the latest TLI sporting course event run over the Monks Heath to Congleton road which took place in dry and relatively fine conditions, even Mr. Sharrock on his usual Saturday Jaunt out to watch the racing went out in the morning. Whereas the Glossop Velo 25 mile open afternoon event held a mixture of showers and cool winds there were just the two of us, and one, our latest recruit Richard Brooks in his first open 25 can be forgiven for not being in the know. Ex Leek member Pat Kinch probably should know better as he was also riding, although knowing Pat he would not intend on being out all that long in any condition. However we will start with the early risers Mark Poyser, Stuart Cope and rising junior Adam Kenway the trio electing to ride out to the event as a way of warming up a bit to keen for my tastes but it does appear to pay off with Stuart recording a time of 37-06, whilst Adams 34-57 was good enough for 5th place, a very good result as it was his first time on the course, which goes to show that the technical approaching such as ramp tests, and training schedules do work.

Mark Poyser meanwhile made the most of his experience and his winter long training program to claim 2nd place with a rather rapid time of 30-27, not to far off event winner Wrexham Fibrax’s Paul Holt who completed the course in 30-27. The trio then rode back arriving back in Leek just as YT was heading out, I was soon reflecting on my decision to ride instead of attending an alternative event, namely the Macclesfield beer festival especially passing through some heavy rain storms however nearing the headquarters the roads were dry but it wasn’t to last and buy the time we passed the Leek CC road crew (Pat & Dave) stationed outside a convenient hostelry it was getting decidedly dull, then damp all of which is an excuse for my time being down on previous visits! Richard Brooks needs no such excuses opening his account with a strong first ride of 1-1-53, and it will be interesting to see how he fairs in this weeks 50, which is 3 laps of the same course, mind you it as it is his first he probably won’t be quite so daunted as YT for whom just riding 50 miles is my current maximum range a thought that crossed my mind as I crossed the line on Saturday with 58-12 which although good enough for 6^th was still down on the winner, nearer was Pat Kinch ‘s 57-58 4^th place in fact and despite a numbers panic that left Pat with only a few minutes to travel the 2 miles from the HQ to the start, the final winner was John Morgan of Preston Wheelers who seemed impervious to the wet recording 55-54 that would have been a good time in the dry. We had only one rider on Sunday in the South Pennine R.C but Dave Bridden made the most of the fine conditions to record his fastest time of the season at 1-8-19.

Moving onto Wednesday and although it was actually dry for the latest in the Congleton 10 series the cold and very windy conditions kept numbers down to a minimum barely breaking into double figures with only the hardy or foolhardy willing to battle down the course and with the wind pushing you sideways on exposed sections it did seem more like the latter was the case two club members rode with Dave Butterworth accompanying me, proof that it was actually dry! A third Leek based rider Karen Lovatt was also in attendance as last minute practice for the ladies national 10 that actually took place last Saturday as your reading this, I hope to let you know how she went on in a future issue, but with a time of 25-52 in those conditions Karen’s confidence should be pretty high. Back to our guys and Dave unsurprisingly slipped a little but glad to get round in one piece, I once again managed to edge out Congletons Karl Austin for a win with a time of 22-28 to Karl’s 23-40. A run that can’t be maintained and I feel sure that Karl will have his revenge.

Wednesday I was bowling and the sun was out for the Macc’ Wheelers 10 but folk failed to monopolize on it with no Leek riders taking part, missed opportunity or what!

A bit of club news and notes the list for club events is now out the hill climb is currently scheduled to take place on a Monday evening but its not set in concrete quite yet so if anyone as strong ideas for moving it please let us know at the next club meeting which will be on the 25^th of May as the 2nd of June is the club 5 and we need to finalise arrangements. We also need volunteers for marshals on the BDCA 100 and the National 100 championship that are taking place on the 15^th of June and 13 July respectively let me know if you are free for either or both as soon as possible so I know we are covered. And finally with the co-operation and to mark the opening of our sponsorship with Den Engel’s Belgian Bar, which as already prompted the odd query from promoters, but it does make change from Brake cables, wheels and energy drinks! I digress we are to print a run of T-shirts off, so we need some Ideas for captions and or designs, to get your thinking juices flowing the T-shirt will be co-sponsored by ‘Duvel’ you have a week to get slogans together, It looks like I will have to partake of one or two just to get in the right frame of mind you understand so till next week happy peddling.