PLOMESGATE CYCLING CLUB 

August 2002

July club run

Seven of us met at Somerfields in Saxmundham on Sunday 21st for another little jaunt through the Suffolk countryside.  A quick glance at the map and a "we'll go sort-of that way" decision and we were off, heading out on the route of the winter training rides through Leiston towards Westleton.  As we headed out of Leiston, we were surprised to find that the junctions were being marshalled!  Was the club entering a new hyper-organised era?  Of course not, we just happened to be going the same way as the "Heart of Suffolk" organised ride.  As Steve and Rob C set a steady pace on the front, we were passed by a couple of faster moving groups from the HoS ride.  Eventually, the temptation was too much, and, as the next group went by, Rob C upped the pace, latched on to the back of the group and then led us all past again!

At Westleton, the HoS marshall tried to get us to turn right, but we ignored him and carried straight on to Blythburgh where we turned left.  At the A12, Steve's map was shown to be about 20 years out of date, So Julie's local knowledge came into play as she guided us through Wenhaston, to Walpole, to pick up the winter route again for the long run into Peasenhall. Along this road the fun and games began, with Gary, Jim and Rob C attacking the first drag, soon to be chased by Steve and Rob R.  It soon turned into a fairly quick training session as someone would go past, prompting a chase and overtake, then the chasers would relax and someone else (normally Gary or Rob R!) would go hurtling past again ­ repeat until tired!  At Peasenhall, Jim and Rob C continued on their way home, while the other five of us stopped at "Weavers" for coffee, fruit juice and cake, to refuel before heading over the hills back to Saxmundham.  Back in Sax, Steve, Gary and Julie loaded bikes into/onto cars, while Rob R and Richard stayed in the saddle and headed home.

Thursday Night TTs

3rd July ­ 5 mile training event

An experiment that seemed to get a positive response, well from everyone except Harry that is.  He was not happy after puncturing near the turn and having to struggle with his front wheel all the way back.

Steve and Becky both seemed more at home with the shorter distance beating Chalky and Viv respectively.  The course might not be exactly 5 miles but it seemed to confirm that it covers the quickest part of the normal "10" course.

11th July

A fairly tough night by all accounts, with most riders finding it hard, apart from Viv who stormed round to extend her lead in the Ladies competition, with 28.21 and only 12 seconds away from her best for this course. Other riders to post their fastest rides of this season were Robert and Julie, obviously been up to some secret training. Fastest Plomesgater was John Chalker who without the challenges of Trevor and Richard more or less assured himself the David Bott Trophy. It was also nice to see Jon Smith appearing on the competitive side of the watch for a change, and with his generous handicap could be a contender for the handicap trophy.

25th July

A fairly tough night with a strong head wind all the way out to the turn, the warm conditions just about compensated.  Midlands visitor, and member of the same Talent Team as Becky, Tim Wallis, showed us all a clean pair of wheels, putting over a minute into his nearest contender Pete Whelan.  The competition was tight for the best Plomesgater with Richard just getting it over Jim and Rob, but only three seconds separated all three. Trevor and Becky won the battle of the 2-ups.  Best improver on the night was Jon Smith who has an eye on the handicap trophy, watch out Becky.

August / September Club Run

Reserve the 1st September in your diaries for another mountain bike route in Thetford Forest, followed by a barbecue at Forest Lodge (to be confirmed).  We’ll meet at the Brandon car park at 10:30am ­ ring Mark or Viv on 452143 for details.

Remember your helmets!!

BCF/RTTC British Champs 14th Sept

The course for the BTT Champs on 14th September has been changed, but will still be based around Stradbroke. There were concerns mainly with the proximity of the road works but also the narrowness of the back of the course for riders with following cars.

If you are available to help on the 14th, and haven’t yet volunteered, please contact Trevor at

trevor.Figgitt@btinternet.com or by phone.

More Information can be found on the website at:-

http://www.2002ttchamps.org.uk/

New juniors?

Congratulations to Gary Holden and his wife, Rhonda, on the birth of Harry on Saturday 6th July.

Harry was a bonny 8 1/2 lbs and both he and his mum are doing fine.

Results

Redgrave Road Race, 13th July

Mark and Steve contested the Plomesgate Road Race championship on a breezy July day.  Mark nearly crashed on the big corner at the bottom of the hill, and failed to get back into the bunch.  Steve hung on for a couple more laps, then time trialled to the finish.  Well done, Steve, and it’s a shame that the marshals at the finish were too eager for their cups of tea

Polaris Challenge, 20th-21st July

Mark and Viv entered this two day mountain bike event, where the aim is to score points by visiting as many controls as possible within 7 hours on day 1, and 5 hours on day 2. 

It was based near Bakewell in the Peak District, and the torrential rain on Friday night meant lots of mud off road.  We rode well on Saturday over the hilly terrain, and were just on target to finish within the 7 hours when Mark’s chain broke with 16km to go.  This took about 20 minutes to fix, so we were 22 minutes late and lost 40 points (penalties for being late).  This put us into 3rd place overnight in the mixed vets class (31 teams competed), on the same number of points as the second team.

We cycled hard on day 2, over more big hills and came in late again, this time with no mechanicals to blame it on.  We ended up 3rd, with 636 points compared to the 645 in 2nd place.

Plomesgate 1,2,3 at Eastway

July 28th was the date for the feat which may be unrepeated for some time ­ a Plomesgate clean sweep at Eastway. Matt, Gary and Steve were "our boys" and the event was a round of the Ciclos Unos summer series.  Or at least it was meant to be.  The web site had said it would be, but it wasn't - we'd picked the one weekend in a month that there wasn't an event! But, as we were there anyway, we kitted up and did some laps, had a couple of turns at leading each out for an end of lap sprint, and generally had a bit of fun.  Next time, maybe some other people will turn up as well! 

The Ciclos Unos Sunday series is open to novices and you don't need a race licence. The next events are on Aug 11th, 18th (according to the web site, haha!) - speak to Steve for more details if you fancy having a go at one of these.

Eastway 4th August

Matt and Steve returned to Eastway to try their luck again - hopefully with some other riders there this time!  Their race, scheduled for 1 hour + 5 laps, had about 30 4th cats and another dozen or so novices. Steve set off with the 4ths 1/4 lap ahead of Matt and the novices, effectively the 4ths gave the novices a 3/4 lap head start.  From the early pace, it was obvious that some people wanted to cancel out that head start very quickly, and after half a dozen laps or so, the 4ths started catching the novice riders.

Matt stayed with the novice bunch until the early prime (while the novice bunch was still ahead of the 4ths) when he was unable to match the change of pace. Steve stayed in the 4th bunch for about 20 mins before drifting out the back. However, the Ciclos Unos races are novice-friendly. If/when you get dropped, you are free to try and latch onto the bunch next time they come round. If you can find a couple of riders to keep you company while you circulate, all the better. Matt and Steve met up in the middle of the race and got back into the bunch for a bit, and then met up again with three or four laps to go, together with another rider from Dartford. After seeing "1" (lap to go) board the previous time round, Steve got on the Dartford rider's wheel and out-sprinted him for the line, only to hear the bell! The three regrouped for another last lap, and this time Matt led out the sprint after waving Steve onto his wheel, allowing Steve to finish it off for a 1-2 over the Dartford man.  Shame we were at least 2 laps down by then!

The Sunday races are much more light-hearted than the "real" races, but are still an excellent intro to road-racing and can give you whatever level of workout you want.

Grass track 4th August

Plomesgate pair Becky and Trevor Figgitt had a pretty good day at the West Suffolk Wheelers Grass Track meeting in Bury St Edmunds on Sunday Aug 4th.  Despite thunder and occasional showers the meeting went ahead with minimal interruption and no accidents.   Due to the depleted juvenile entry Becky was given permission to ride with the Women, which also entailed riding with the senior men in some races. She did not disappoint with her best event being the 60m sprint where after getting to the final she was up against the best men and only missed winning by the width of tyre in a photo finish. 

Results:-

Event 1 400m for Women/4th Cats. (6 riders in total)
1st Trevor Figgitt - Plomesgate CC
2nd Sarra Whelan - Eastern Region Velo
3rd Becky Figgitt  - Plomesgate CC
Event 3 1500m Women (4 riders)
1st Sarra Whelan
2nd Becky Figgitt
3rd Sophie Bruton - Welwyn Wheelers
4th Mandy Cook - Mildenhall CC
Event 3 1500m 3/4/J (approx 9 riders)
5th Trevor Figgitt
Event 7 Devil W/3/4/J (approx 12 riders)
6th Trevor Figgitt
8th Becky Figgitt
Event 9 Olympic (Team) Sprint 7 Teams Club/Composite
4th Team Whelan (Pete, Sarra and Andrew) 1.38.3
5th Team Suffolk Coastal (Trevor, Becky, Patrick Harbord VC Baracchi) 1.38.6
Event 11 800m Handicap Sprint All Categories
Heat three
3rd Trevor
4th Becky.
Event 12 1200 metres Individual Pursuit
Heat 2 Trevor beat Becky by about 10m.
Event 13 60 metres scratch sprint
Heat 1 1st Becky Figgitt who qualified for the winners final.
Heat 2 2nd Trevor Figgitt who qualified for the 2nd place final.
Winners Final 5 riders (consisting of Elite/1st Cat/2nd Cat and Becky)
3rd Becky Figgitt

Talent Team Update

Becky has a busy couple of weeks ahead. She is in Manchester Velodrome for a 2 day training camp on August 10th/11th. Then on Wednesday 14th she is at Wolverhampton Track for a training day followed by the option to ride in the evening Track League competition.

On the 19th August Becky joins her Talent Team mates again for a four-day camp at Calshot, near Portsmouth which will cover track, cyclo cross and grass track.  Then it’s a days rest and straight into action at the Mildenhall Rally Grass Track.

Dates For The Calendar

A great event in France the Duo Normand (2-up 53k TTT) is being held on Sunday 29 September.  Steve Peck and John Gabriel did it in 2000 and recommend it as a great season closer.  They now have an English website (& French if you prefer it) at www.duonormand.com/english/index2.htm

17th August, closing date for entries to BC/RTTC champs (send to Trevor).

24th August, Marin Dawn til Dusk at Thetford, see www.kwracing.co.uk for details or contact Ken Ward.

25th August, ERMA Summer Series, Thetford Forest, see above web site.

Bank Holiday Weekend ­Mildenhall Cycling Rally

1st September, Thetford Forest, club run from Brandon.

Derny Road Crits at RAF Wittering

Dernys are those funny looking motorbikes with the tank by the handlebars and the rider pedals as well, usually with his/her feet sticking out. The format of the events seems to be that part of the event is derny paced and then the derny pulls out leaving the riders to contest the remainder of the race, like a long keirin race... I think.

Location: "RAF Wittering" Peterborough off the A1 Date: 15/09/2002 | Start Time: 10:00:00 - End Time: 17:00:00 Posted by Derny Sport UK <mailto:events@dernysportuk.com> on 13 July 2002 at 16:11 Derny Sport UK Presents: 1st Wittering Derny Road Criteriums on closed circuit (Time 10:00AM) Entry Fee: £10.00 (NO E-O-L)

"Events" Mixed 10:00AM (2/3/4th/Vets) Crit 50km Derny 20km Total Distance 70km

12:00PM Letchworth Signs Womens Crit 40km Derny 10km Total Distance 50km

2:00PM (Elite/1) Crit 50km Derny 30km Total Distance 80km

Go anywhere mount for two

For sale:  Dawes Two-way Street Tandem

21"/19" 501 main tubing, metallic green. Shimano altusC10 21 speed rapid fire transmission

Alesa alloy 700c wheels with hybrid tyres.

All lugs for panniers/mudguards/etc. Roof carrier available. As new condition. £500 ono

t: 01206 272419
e: anthony.c.smith@btinternet.com

Newsletter contributions

Send us any news of events, results etc so that they can be included in the newsletter.

Our e-mail address is broughton.m@btopenworld.com