Club Notes 24th June 2007

If you remember the weekend of the 23^rd & 24^th, yep that very wet one, you’d be forgiven for thinking that the rain was the reason that non-of the leek CC / Den Engels riders were taking part in any events. But as you enter weeks before hand it has to be pure luck as does missing the report from the previous week, which means I still have some results to pass along.

In reality the nice man who updates the Congleton website as been away so the results for the last two tens have only just been posted so I will start with them. On the 12^th of June 4 members took part on a balmy night with not too much wind. Perhaps most notable performance was Richard Whalley who is definitely getting the hang of time trialling recording a 23-39 personal best for 3rd place overall. and uncomfortably close to yours truly who dropped back to a 23-07 for 2^nd place, John Green was another member who achieved a personal Best with a time of 25-58, Whilst dependable Kevin Pickford who started off the year with ambitions to just do the odd one but as only missed the odd one instead, Kev covering the course in 28-51. Winner and man on form though was Congleton's own Karl Austin who was the only rider to dip under 23 minutes with 22-53.

I did manage to get some credibility back the night after though when we both took part in the V.T.T.A. 30 mile time trial around Cheshire Karl recording 1-12-47 to my 1-10-27 maybe I just need a bit of a run up to get my bulk up to speed. My time on the night was good enough for 3^rd overall behind event winner Paul Grindley of Liverpool Century in 1-7-35 , although picking up 6 quid did not offset the cost of damaging a wheel on one of the courses infamous pot holed sections!

Jumping forward a week to the latest of the Congleton 10’s and despite a very blustery night Leek added another two riders to the field as Phil Gayes and Duncan Poole joined in the fray.

Once again Kevin Pickford did a sterling effort although hampered by the conditions slowing a little to 29-03. Duncan on the other hand a more satisfying ride although again dropping the odd second at 26-37 to his previous outings 26-32 this time he managed to edge ahead of ex pat Dave Butterworth who beat him in their last encounter but could only mange a 27-01 this week. Moving up the table and Phil improved six seconds on his previous with a 24-24 . Whilst Richard Whalley grabbed another handful and a PB with a time of 23-24 and 3^rd overall, edging even closer as I only managed to eke out a single second at 23-06,and feeling the squeeze especially as Karl is pulling away with a winning 22-41. Last bit of Time trial news is the Committee have taken pity on us and the club 50 is now to be on a different weekend than the club 5 and sportive to allow all the sportive mile munching members to get in on the act, date to follow.

Elsewhere in the club a number of riders took part in the Polka Dot Challenge sportive, although strictly speaking not a race (although you wouldn’t guess it to see how some of the entrants tackle them) I think their efforts deserve a mention. Andy Bain, Ivan Sharrock, Gavin Pringle, Keiren Meharg, Marc Briand, Adrian Myatt took part in the 100 plus mile event that took in many of the famous or should that be infamous climbs in the Area.

I will let one of the six, Kieran, relay his account of the days events, although more are on our website

And leave you with congratulations to all the finishers, Keiren, Marc, Ivan and Andy and commiseration’s to Gav and Ade. Take it away Keiren.

“Well what can I say – what an adventure!!!!!!

The day started well with high expectations but knowing that the “The Polka Dot Challenge would live up to its name. 4 miles in and Andy got a flat, Gavin didn’t notice and carried on with a group of riders, I thought that was the last we’ll see of him. Shortly we came to the Cat & Fiddle the first of many climbs covering Cheshire, Derbyshire & Staffordshire, with fresh legs Ivan and I started to play cat and mouse chasing one another down. A number of hills later we came to Snake Pass by now it was approximately 50 mile in, I thought respect this climb and take it easy knowing that following the Snake was monster Winnats Pass.

However Ivan took off as normal attacking everything that moved (some cyclists’ can’t help but be competitive you know), I managed to hold back until Ivan had 300 yards on me and I couldn’t resist anymore, so I went after him. We both climbed and passed many cyclists who were struggling; the gap was closing but not fast enough. At the top with our heads literally in the clouds we decided to chase Gavin down and leave Ade, Marc and Andy. We worked well together along the flats switching the front making up good time and passing many more cyclists.

Then came Winnats Pass, we crossed the cattle grid and started to climb thinking it’s not a bad as everyone was saying until we turned the corner, first thoughts were that’s gonna hurt. We’ve all heard the saying “don’t look down” but this was a case of don’t look up, no sky line just a wall of tarmac.

Shortly after this hill came the final feed station where we met up with Gavin, who had been reduced to walking Winnats after a nasty bout of cramp.

We dropped down into Buxton climbed Axe Edge down into Blackshaw Moor this is where Gavin who was still struggling with cramp decided to cut his ride short although we reckon he could smell his mum’s Sunday lunch cooking so he decided to cut the ride short.

Ivan and I then took on the final major climb Gunn Hill, normally not a problem but with 80 miles in your legs it hurt like hell. The final 20 miles were reasonably flat so it was a steady pace to the finish line. With out a doubt it was one of, if not the hardest challenges I’ve ever taken part in.”

And finally a special mention from Ade, who was also struck down by cramps and like Gavin whose Polka Dot also ended at the bottom of Gunn; “a massive well done to all the Leek riders that did finish, especially Marc and Andy who tried their very best to coax, kick and drag my sorry carcass around that ride”