What a weekend! The sun shone, the wind abated, it wasn’t like April at all.
Track
On Saturday the club hired Welwyn Velodrome for a couple of hours and invited members to try out the track. I guess there were 20-25 members there (seven of them complete track novices). Coaches Tony Woodford and Steve May put us through our paces with a variety of drills and competitions. The final 10 lap scratch race was dominated by multiple champion Jayne Paine after she pulled back an early break containing Brian Moon.
It was a great day – thanks to those who organised and supported it.
Time Trials
With Peter Dixon away competing in a demolition derby, it was time for some of the youngsters in the team to see if they could step up. It’s rumoured that Russel O’Malley has been TRAINING and Peter Cookson was caught by one of our spies taking delivery of a new Quest Quazar Helium Filled Nanotech TT Rig from The Bike Shop on Friday. These guys are taking it seriously.
On Saturday Russell and Peter rode the Farnborough and Camberley ’25’ on the Bentley course (H25/8) and returned times of 1:02:35 and 1:03:16 respectively. Chris James was a DNS as he had to see a doctor about a self-administered nose job (tho’ he did get to Welwyn for the track session later). The event was won by Steve Walkling (VC St Raphael) in 51:19.
Gill Reynolds rode the Oxford City RC ’10’ on the H10/17R in 26:30. The event was won by Stu Dodd (Drag2Zero.com) in 20:39.
On Sunday I rode up to a chilly Tempsford for the Bedfordshire RCC ’25’ on the notoriously hilly* F1B/25. On a wind-scoured day** I was pleased to return a season’s best of 1:02:04. The event (for the slowest 90 riders) was won by Tim Davies (Icknield RC) with a 55:54. I’ll post a report on my blog later.
Looking at the weekend of 8/9 May I will be entering the classic Charlotteville CC ’50’ (H50/8) on the Sunday. There’s a Farnham RC ’10’ on the Saturday (H10/8) and a Didcot Phoenix ’25’ (H25/17) as well.
Lance Woodman (TT Sec.)
* lie
** lie
