October Club Report

Final round up of this year although there is the small matter of Club Hill climb to be decided once we have a date for it. Unfortunately yours truly won’t be defending his title, although in reality there are that many excellent climbers who are younger and better suited, i.e. not overweight! That it would have been akin to flogging the proverbial deceased steed, as can be seen by the final contribution on the Weaver Valley at the end of this report.

But first we have some results to settle up, first we delve back to the first weekend in September and an unusual early start for a Saturday event, with the organisers for the ABC Centreville 25 electing for a morning event. Undeterred if a little cooler than normal we fielded three riders in what turned out to be a clam settled morning Although the cool conditions did take the edge off some of us, who are not use to such early morning exertions. Apparently more use to Saturday morning activities Richard Brooks was warming up on his turbo before yours truly arrived at the HQ, despite starting almost an hour later. However Rich’s lack of recent racing activity probably lost him a bit of time although a top 10 finish in 57-21 is certainly something the rest of us can only aspire to. My downward spiral appeared to have bottomed out at the hour mark, this morning just sneaking under with a 59-57 in 18^th. Our 3^rd counter Phil Gayes did not find the early start to his liking with a slower than expected 1-3-37 for 33^rd place, The event winner came from the on form team of Wills Wheels taking the 1^st spot in 55-15, and helping them secure the team prize.

However if Phil had under performed in the last event the following week it was me who took the honours for abysmal performance of the year. The event was the Stone wheelers last year when I was flying (relatively speaking of course) and conditions on the day were near perfect the event had to cancelled when the highways department coned off a couple of miles of the return leg. This year favourable conditions i.e. not a monster headwind on the return leg as in the event earlier in the season and generally the norm, and yep the highway department had coned off another stretch, as Harry Hill would say what are the odds. Not to be outdone the organisers shuffled the course a little moving the turn to Sudbury Island, and bringing the finish just before the start of the cones.

Phil Gayes was the fastest Leek rider in the field with a time of 57-56 a massive time gain of almost 6 minutes over his previous outing. Another Den Engel rider putting in a good ride was Duncan Poole who lowered his personal best by a large margin recording 1-03-27, Another Local rider Cheddleton Veterinary Pat Kinch also recorded a PB with 53-39. But even Pats ride paled a little by comparison with the winner Charles McCulloch who returned an incredible 48-24!

Oh my time well with most riders leaping forward by 4 or 5 minutes my moderate 58-27 was the equivalent of going back by 3 minutes! Unfortunately for Dunc, Pat and a host of others the emergency revised course contravened a technicality due to the start being further away from the finish than the rules state, thus voiding the times for anything other than awarding prizes of the day.

Trying to get to the root of my current health issues the docs advised rest for 4-6 weeks, however with 3 races entered One being Dave Briands Memorial ride, and one being a two up with Congleton’s Karl Austin and not liking to let folk down I am resting in between whilst still at least attempting to ride them. However even after the first week I discovered that such actions does not A/ Contribute to performance or B/ Actually make me feel any better. With that excuse out of the way back to the results.

And before Dave’s Memorial ride. Was the small matter of the Withington Wheelers 10 although with the HQ being on the course an inevitable diversion to keep folk riding out and back off the course itself was in my situation not entirely welcome. To try and make the most of what’s left in the tank

I have lowered the front end of the Bike to eke out the last bit of aerodynamics (that said with my increasing bulk the thoughts of Lada’s bedecked with spoilers spring to mind) it must have had some effect though as a 23-23 was better than I deserved. The event was won by that Charles Mc Culloch chappie again , whose 20-23 was almost a minute quicker than second placed Mark Lovatt’s 21-21 making him the quickest of the local residents, although Pat Kinch did put in a strong 22-09.

Moving onto the Weaver Valley Hill Climb and we certainly did Dave proud with the highest number of Leek entrants. Plus a good number of members who rode out with those racers who did it proper, YT electing to drive out and just go up the hill (which was enough at the moment), this did mean that I did not get the chance to discuss everyone’s experiences so will have to limit my comments to the actual results, but respect to all those who took part, and I for one was just glad that we dropped on probably the best conditions we have had for this event, I mean it was dry for a start!

In finishing order :-

Winner:

Daniel Soltys Wrekinsport CC 21:19.7

11^th Richard Brooks Leek CC - Den Engel Belgium Bar 23:47.7

24^th Philip Gayes Leek CC - Den Engel Belgium Bar 25:33.6

57^th Barry Riley Leek CC - Den Engel Belgium Bar 28:07.3 28

60^th Kelvin Milward Leek CC - Den Engel Belgium Bar 28:39.6 45

61^st Jon White Leek CC - Den Engel Belgium Bar 28:40.4

67^th John Green Leek CC - Den Engel Belgium Bar 29:34.4

68^th Ruth Goreham Leek CC - Den Engel Belgium Bar 31:41.7

86^th Marc Briand Leek CC - Den Engel Belgium Bar 34:23.8

94^th Graham Halden Leek CC - Den Engel Belgium Bar 41:28.4

Richard Whalley DNF

Duncan Poole DNS

Finally thanks in no small part (an understatement akin to calling Hurricane Trina a bit breezy) to the efforts of Karl my last outing of the three the Warrington road club 25 mile two up time trial did just creep under the hour at 59-43, although well out of the hunt for any prizes and once again behind many that we would normally expect to be ahead of apologies to Karl. Hopefully will do better next time.

Hopefully will see you in November, you won’t be able to miss me, as by that time I will be the one in the jacket with wide load embroidered on it!