Club Notes - 18th April 2004

The wind swept plains of Cheshire certainly lived up to their reputation during Macclesfield wheelers open 25 mile time trial held on the 17^th even with my short lived attempt as I punctured after about 10 miles can vouch for that although according to the other two Leek Cyclists’ club riders, Mark Poyser and Rich Brooks it got worse further in and I can certainly believe it, especially as the top of the leader board were clustered with 57 minute rides with only Darren Willets of Luk Racing Net defying the conditions to record an incredible 54-43. What of out two heroes fortunes they both acquitted themselves admirably with possibly the experience of Mark just edging him ahead of Rich on this occasion with times of 59-58 to 1-00-22. I did say this seasons going to be close perhaps I should have retired gracefully last year and let them battle it out. Proof of how even matched the pair were was evident in the results Mark and Rich coming in 3^rd and 4^th in class and 15^th and 18^th overall.

Moving on to Tuesday and the first of Congleton CC’s evening 10’s was run on the challenging Somerford Holmes Chapel course, with the situation made even more interesting by the cool gusting wind that was still in evidence and may account for there being only 8 riders. YT making up for Saturdays well I did complete 10 miles you know! With the exception of Churnet Valley velos Stuart Cope the remainder all came from Congletons ranks finishing thus G. Whalley 33-31, L. Skellern 31-45, J Andejelkovic 29-34. S,Cope 28-18, T.Elliot 25-52. K Austin 25-46. K.Milward 24-02. S.Collins Punctured.

Buoyed up by Tuesdays win I went along to Macclesfield Wheelers evening 10. Although the wind had dropped it proved to be a soggy affair with numbers down

From 41 to 22, most who did brave the elements did improve though my time dropping to 22-49, good enough for another 3^rd place although the margin to 2^nd place Roger Wrenns 21-42 was bigger. Most impressive performance and improvement however was winner Mark Lovatt who recorded an incredible 20-38 and that’s after a 90 odd mile training ride during the day. Perhaps I was right earlier and should just get me self a triple and panniers and leave the racing to the swift and young, if not I will be back next week. Oh and finally there will be a meeting on Bank holiday Monday for those who aren’t jetting off somewhere tropical, 8'ish in the club house, for those uninitiated that’s our sponsors Den Engel’s Belgian Bar hope to see you there.