Club Notes 19th June 2005

The old cycling as been a bit hit and miss since my last report, but I think its ending on a positive note. This years Man on form Richard Brooks as been laying off competitions whilst building up for a triathlon at the end of the month, leaving us somewhat light on the racing front. Whilst the club meeting that took place in leu of the 5 mile event decided that we will run the race, which is thought to be one of the oldest cycle races in the country later in the year. Hopefully the long standing ‘temporary’ traffic lights / roadwork’s on the course proper will have been completed. Allowing for a better-suited event that will be headquartered and then buffeted to their normal excellent standard by our club sponsors Den Engels Belgium bar, all of this later possibly August!

One of the misses I was referring to in my earlier statement was the first of the Mid week interclub 25’s held jointly by Congleton C.C and Macclesfield Wheelers and run over the Monks Heath variant of the Chelford course. Sad to report that yours truly was the fastest (only) Leek representative finishing a lowly 5^th in 1-2-20. With Macclesfield wheelers dominating the event claiming 1^st and 2^nd places Graham Trevana just pipping Steve Burke with 57-27 to 57-29. Karl Austin was fastest Congleton rider finishing 3^rd in 1-1-06.

Moving swiftly onto Saturday and the third instalment of Graham Haldens' Cheshire plains drifting series was a hit. I started doing these after my off period and found the steady pace suited my capability and covering a distance gave me the confidence to go out and do a few more miles on my own. One of the problems with cycling is trying to balance offering people something they can manage with something they feel like they have achieved. I have been around for to long and often hear comments from members or ex-members that they no longer attend club runs, or events because either they feel the pace is to quick and or distance to long. Or that the pace is to slow and distance to short, sometimes both expressed by the same people. This is what’s probably happened to the Monday night rides, that started promising but just YT and George attended the last one. Still I digress back to Grahams and we were up to our 70 mile target which is certainly enough for a sense of achievement, and although one of our regulars Frank was detained in Brighton for a family do! His shoes, or should that be cycle tracks were more than adequately followed by Mark (sorry forgot to get a surname) but its the one introduced to the club by Andy Bain. On a not so promising day we set off with Gray using is navigational skill (sheer luck) to miss the rain we completed the 87 miles without getting wet! Yes you read that correct 87 miles a slight miscalculation whilst circumnavigating the outer reaches of Northwich, possibly aided and abetted by YT but I’m not taking any blame! Biggest problem of the day though was arriving home too late to call at the club-house for refreshments, so I am putting in a formal complaint to Graham before we lose our hard earned reputation it had better not happen on the next one. Which confusingly will be a step up to a shorter distance of 80 miles, perhaps I should lay off the refreshments after all.

Finishing with a hit and it was great to see a good turnout for the 10 championship even if it meant that the odds of my retaining the title would be slim to less than slim! After a wet Monday the sun shone, ok and the wind blew but that’s probably what kept the rain off! And we fielded 5 riders, which was encouraging, considering our depleted ranks after last year’s upheavals when we only had 3 riders. Specials mentions for Dave Butterworth who always supports the events despite this being only his third or forth time on the bike this year. Hopefully I will be able to cajole him out next week for the 25! Also our newest member Gary Whiston who along with his brother Whiz as marshalled for the club despite when they weren’t actually members, so its good to see him taking advantage and racing while others marshal. Third man was also one of the newer members John Middleton who rode out from Leek with Gary. Fourth was Mark Poyser who like YT as had a bit of an up and down season so far but appears to be bouncing back rather quicker than me our fifth counter in a field of 18.

The Championship results were 1^st Mark Poyser 22-58, 2^nd Kelvin Milward 24-30, 3^rd Gary Whiston 25-18, 4^th John Middleton 25-42, 5^th Dave Butterworth 28-10. Gary and John both recording PB’s, obvious for Gaz as it was his very first event! Mark also came second overall being knocked out of the top slot by another ex Leek rider Adam Kenway now riding for Brian Rourke who covered the distance in 22-39. Fastest Congleton rider was Karl Austin who nearly matched Mark with a time of 22-59. All in all a good turnout and a worth new club champ!

And Finally as mentioned earlier next week is the club 25 its over on the Chelford /Monksheath hope to see as many or more even, fingers crossed.