Club Notes 15th July 2007

Ooh me bad back, must be an age thing, all that riding in the monsoon conditions that appears to have substituted for the British summertime this year. But after hobbling about on Saturday morning whilst trying to prepare the bike for the Warrington 25 in the afternoon I ended up attempting to get on the thing as I was not sure I could. Eventually after a bit of to-ing and fro-ing I managed it and staggered up the road where it dawned on me that if mounting the bike was a problem racing may be worse, never claimed to be the brightest in the box! Up shot of that was that Leek fielded no riders for any events last weekend.

Leaving Tuesdays Congleton 10 before Team Leek CC Den Engels had any showing, and although the day did not look to promising with the usual mix of very heavy showers then dry and windy, the riders appeared to drop on a lull in the wind whilst staying dry. Proof of which was the presence of ex pat Dave Butterworth who famously “does not do rain” . I say appeared as YT was watching or marshalling which at least spared me the distinct possibility of being beaten by our rising star Richard Whalley who improved by almost a minute recording a personel best time of 23-16 (4 seconds quicker than my previous time). Although Rich was our quickest rider Kieran Merharg back off his hol’s and making a rare appearance also recorded a personal best at 25-19. 19 seconds quicker than his time in the club Championships and considerably quicker than his last attempt at this course where he made a few navigational errors and ended up in Congleton Town Centre.

Proving that despite being unable to do all the training they would like due to work and family commitments

Duncan Poole and Dave Butterworth continue their battle at the lower end of the table, with only a few seconds between them the pair refuse to give an inch. This week the pendulum swung back to Congleton rider Dave who edged six seconds ahead with times of 26-21 to 26-27.

Fastest on the night was once again Macclesfield wheeler rider Steve Burke whose 21-43 was much quicker than anyone else on the night even a two up pairing from Wills Wheels as can be seen by the results below:-

Steve Burke Macc Wh 21:43
Will Wright + Chris Scofield Wills Wheels 22:25
Karl Austin Congleton CC 22:53
Andy Bowers Macc Wh 22:53(PB)
Keith Dutton Wills Wheels 23:12
Rich Whalley Leek CC 23:16(PB)
Kevin Walford Patterson Training 23:18
Andy Malbon Congleton CC 24:58
Kieran Meharg Leek CC 25:19 (PB)
Tony Elliott Congleton CC 25:23
Phil Jones Macc Wh 25:57
Dave Butterworth Congleton CC 26:21
Duncan Poole Leek CC 26:27
Steve Sladin Congleton CC 27:30
Peter Nelson Congleton CC 27:38
Denise Hurst Congleton CC 27:39
Carl Summers Wills Wheels 27:46

Finally after a week off the bike and the sun making a brief experience last Thursday I trundled down to the South Pennine R.C. evening 10 on the A50 course, to see if resting had helped my back prior to the weekend activities. Dropping on a float night I could only reflect on the possibility of actually still garnering a personal best even after all this time, my time of 22-02 being just 5 seconds outside. However the good conditions were underlined by three riders going sub 21 minutes including winner, South Pennines Charley Taylor in 20-54.