Club Notes 5th June 2005

Went to the dentists for my six monthly check up last week and was somewhat stunned when they booked me in for my next one and said it would be in December! Yes, half way through the year and some of us haven’t quite got up to speed yet in fact some can only just get up the hills. I blame it on only having a 42 tooth inner ring. Well others do so why shouldn’t I. Plus I’m still trying to get on top of things since my enforced lay off, its true it takes longer the older you get. This however doesn’t give the rest a reason not to be trying so I hope to see a respectable turn out for the Club '10' championship next Tuesday (14^th) at Gawsworth. With the cancellation of the Club '5' this is the first club championship of the year and we are once again running it during the Congleton Evening '10', first rider off at 7.00pm, signing on in the Millers Kitchen car park (formally the Rising Sun). Enough of the waffle and to the cut to the chase..

We have managed to field at least a couple of riders in most of the Congleton evening series so far.

Back on the 24^th of May our two representatives were Yours Truly and John Middleton. John is still testing the water with these events but he is doing plenty of miles and advice (plus the occasional go faster parts) from ex member Adam Kenway. He is developing well, however riding out to the event via Lask Edge did take a little off his speed and I managed to put a bit more time into him than the previous week, I also managed to catch Congleton rider Tony Elliot whom I have only just pipped by seconds previously. Any thoughts of a surprise return to form were short lived when a second Congleton rider Karl Austin caught me from the same minute gap on his way to yet another victory. Mine and Johns times being 24-19 and 27-18 respectively with Karl taking the victory in 23-09, most peoples times being almost a minute slower than the previous weeks due to strong winds that did not appear to assist anywhere despite the out and back nature of the course.

Also having to combat strong winds was our only open competition rider Richard Brooks, in fact the winds were much stronger as myself, Graham, John Frank & George who were traversing Cheshire during the second of Grahams “plains drifting” series drifting felt more like tacking to me! Good job it was only the 60 mile one I know George & Yours Truly are praying for lighter winds for the 100 mile one in a few weeks time!

But I digress (not for the first time); anyway we can vouch for the conditions as we swung round to offer encouragement to those taking part in the Dukinfied C.C. Open "25". And by the look of those heading down the Mangoletsi straight on their way towards Holmes Chapel it was grim. However Rich was tackling the course with aplomb. Actually due to a puncture our group were a little late arriving on the circuit and missed his first pass, although we did see a few riders who had started ahead of Rich whom he had already caught and passed so we knew he was going well. We proceeded around the circuit in the opposite direction to the racers, meeting Rich just before he turned back onto the A50. We estimated Rich would need to cover the last leg in 12 minutes to break the hour. Normally this wouldn’t be a problem but the conditions were far from normal (even by Cheshire standards), in fact on the slight rise past the Drovers just prior to the finish Richard found himself out of the saddle and even down on the inner ring just to maintain headway, finally sneaking under the hour with a time of 59-26, one of only a select few to do so. Only one rider managed to improve on Rich’s time and that was Macclesfield wheeler Roger Wrenn who just edged our man into second place but it was oh so close a mere 8 seconds deciding the final outcome. With seasoned campaigner Roger opting for full “aero kit” whilst newcomer Richard settled for a standard safety helmet (worth according to the boffins 15 seconds over 25 miles) it could well have been the difference for a second victory!

Richard had no such worries on Tuesday when he made a rare mid week appearance in what was an otherwise disappointing turnout of only seven riders. Rich being able to attend some of the regulars evidently on holiday and getting the miles in elsewhere. This did mean that we had a higher percentage of riders, but still only two of those included an under form Yours Truly who did just manage to knock a couple of seconds off last weeks time with 24-05 for second place. But it was back to fractions of seconds between me and Tony Elliot (24-12) instead of minutes. This means that either Tony had an off night the previous week or I had one on this week. Next weeks 25(my first of the season) should interesting. Meanwhile Mr Brooks stamped his authority with a very impressive 21-51 and this after a day that included much decorating, and one and a half hour swimming in preparation for a triathlon later in the month. Me, I can just about complete the 10 at anything like full tilt if I’ve had a day building myself up for it, perhaps I should intensify my training, then again its just started to rain!