Club Notes - 30th May 2003

After a rather hectic week we are still on catch up so this report starts with the weekend of the24th of June and it was one of mixed fortunes and proof if it were needed that form can be as fleeting as a warm dry spell. Starting of with the latest round of the TLI Saturday morning SPOCO time trial series, SPOCO is an abbreviation of Sporting course this generally refers to hilly, oddball distance, typically these favor the lighter, road racer style of rider, but as YT was passing through a purple patch and not riding later in the day I thought I would join the regulars Mark Poyser, Stuart Cope and Adam Kenway also making a visit was Marc Briand so we had a good presence and as the Yanks would say confidence was high. On the morning however the regulars were the only ones to be successful, YT puncturing after only 4 miles, not far but a long way to walk! Marc Briand found himself tangled up with another rider using competitors for training annoying to say the least and possibly even dangerous. Marc even ending up sitting up at one stage to dissuade the other from pratting about, all of which resulted in a 34-43 time.

Meanwhile the regulars had a better morning Stuart recording a personal best of 35-55, whilst Adam And mark Poyser battled it out for 2^nd place overall with Adam digging deep enough for a PB to just edge the more experienced rider out with times of 31-58 to 32-04. With such a close margin it’s bound to mean future events between the two are going to be hard fought.

Moving onto Sunday and first thing when it was still cool, in fact when Rich Brooks left Ipstone's it was still hammering it down with rain. It was also damp when yours truly set of for the same venue i.e. Rugley for the V.T.T.A. all ages open 25, run on the reverse route of the stone course this meant we could both sample the joys of Great Haywood bypass and Sandon bank these formed the main obstacles, although a stiff headwind meant I for one felt like the first leg was a slow slog, and with no chance of re-claiming enough on the return ended up just inside the hour at 59- 48 for 7^th place, Rich actually faired better although he too claimed he found it hard on the way out, however his time of 1-2-28 meant that he dropped just over half a minute from his previous weeks outing whilst most of the field were dropping entire minutes, this was underlined by a winning time of only 57-35 recorded by Team Broadgate rider Stefan Rick. Most of the club on Sunday however were taking part in an organized ride by local Vet nary and rapid pedal cyclist Pat Kinch. Pats ride around hills such as Lask edge, Roach grange, crowdecote and Butterton was very well attended and Pat showed that its not just Graham Halden who can tweak the weather, although Graham and Brenda did have an hand in it running support vehicle, I tagged on after a quick change but will try to get one of the riders or the man himself to put a full report on the event at a later date including names etc, for now I will just say that despite the hills it was an enjoyable romp, a view reflected by everybody I talked to so congrats Pat!

Tuesday and a back to racing, yet again threatening skies meant numbers for the Congleton 10 on Gawsworth did not quite make it into double figures. Indeed it was left to the old guard of Kevin Sharrock, Kevin Pickford and YT, this either shows that the bright young things are wussie’s or that there’s no fool like an old fool. However the heavy rain held off for the event and although the roads were wet and greasy it was a surprisingly quick night With Kev P beating Kev S with times of 27-33 to 28-18, whilst I recorded my quickest of the season at 22-06 with my challenge coming from Crewe Clarion rider John Waddilove who finished in 23-16.

Things had warmed up considerably for Wednesday and as the temperatures rose so did the number of entrants once again YT and Kevin Pickford were trying our hand, we were also joined by Dave Butterworth, Phil Gayes and Rising star Adam Kenway, fresh from claiming the scalp of Mark Poyser (just) and on the hunt for his next victim, guess who? Also in attendance was another Leek’ie Karen Lovatt with Mark taking a well earned break after his excellent second place in the RASS 3 day tour in Ireland to watch. You would have though that someone with Kev's experience would not wander round before the event tempting fate with talk of old tubs and no punctures, yep you guessed it Kev retired with a puncture!

Next Leek man away was Dave and considering his total lack of training clocked a respectable 27-12, he was passed however by a low flying Adam on his way to a 4^th place with a time of 23-20, starting 3 minutes behind Adam spurred me on after crossing turn neck and neck I managed to drag enough to gain a minute with 22-20, which also edged me into first ahead of Macc’s own Roger Wrenn but at 22-22 it was tight, Last Leek rider back was Phil Gayes and it was Phil’s turn to be struck by fate popping a spoke causing him to have to stop and make it safe before completing the course in 24-15. Karen meanwhile had a good ride covering the course in 24-50.

Next weeks report will include results of the Club 5, Richs first under the hour, Whizz’s first race, and what happened in the first interclub 25 oh dear!