PLOMESGATE CYCLING CLUB
June 2002
PLOMESGATE CYCLING CLUB
June 2002
May club run
Eight of us set out for an off-road ride from Rob’s house in Aldeburgh. Highlights of the day included: Rob’s puncture after two minutes, a good ride in decent weather, meeting Hilary plus dog on the beach near Minsmere, Mark’s early ploy for the Adbu award, missing a pedestrian by a whisker, and lunch at Julie’s after the ride.
Thursday Night TTs
2nd May
The weather was a little more like early May although dry, riders had to negotiate the aftermath of earlier showers.
Fastest on the night was John Chalker 1 second slower than last week in 25:19, putting an easy 2 minutes between himself and his rivals. Steve went slower than the previous week and Jim was on his training bike in 27:37. Not far behind was first lady Viv in a very good 28:58 throwing down the gauntlet for the new Ladies Trophy. Paul Davis improved by 42 seconds to close within 6 seconds of Becky for the Handicap Trophy.
16th May
Back to summer! A beautiful warm sultry evening with lots of flies !!
The "Battle of the Tandems" was won by Pete and Bev even though Trevor and Becky improved by 1min 19s it wasn't enough.
Fastest solo again was John Chalker improving to 25:00, not far behind was Richard in 25:20 and not far behind again was Jim in 25:50. Steve did his fastest on this course for a while to come in with 26:20 and breathing down his neck was Mark in 26:39. All getting very close and exciting.
Julie improved on her fastest this year but fastest lady was Viv in 29:51. Biggest improver was probably Paul Davis who improved by nearly 40s to 30:28, which gives him the lead in Handicap competition.
30th May
A cool and blustery evening saw a good turn out but mostly from other clubs. Only five Plomesgate riders rode tonight. Trevor just beat John who was probably still suffering from too much sun and cheap French wine. Trevor's time just gives him the lead in the Vets competition with a plus of 11s.
Best improvement on the night was Paul Davis (29:55) who stretched his lead in the Handicap competition.
Becky at the Velodrome
Becky's latest training camp was the one she had really been looking forward to - a day at Manchester Velodrome. The morning was spent in the classroom going over training plans and learning the theory of track competition. The afternoon was spent on the track. Most of Becky's team mates have already ridden banked tracks and one or two had already been on Manchester but this was a completely new experience for Becky. Under expert guidance they were soon riding the very tops of the 42 degree bankings. The afternoon included group riding and solo riding. In the latter they gave them the opportunity to practice starts in the automatic starting gate, and they had to blast out of that and do a flying half lap. They were also individually timed over the flying 200m, they wound their speed up to the top of the banking then flew down across the timing line and flat out around the bottom of the track. Becky covered the 200m in 15.4s . The national record for under 14 girls is 14.011 so not a bad effort at all.
After tea it was riders and bikes back on the coach and back to Loughborough where parents were waiting to pick up. A long and tiring day. Becky brought her Talent Team issue track bike home with her after the camp so looks like more traveling to include some track events is on the cards.
The BC talent team met up again on June 5th for a four day camp staying in residential accommodation at Beaumanor Hall near Loughborough. The weather was pretty dire for the whole time but it didn't affect the cycle speedway, mountain biking and road but caused the cancellation of the Wednesday night track league and cut short the Friday night track school at Nottingham track.
The camp was a good opportunity for the team to get to know each other a little better. With the balance of 3 girls to 9 boys you'll have to ask Becky just how well they all got on !!
At the end of the week though when asked what was the best activity the unanimous response was the canoeing.....!! Not bad for a cycling team. Next training day is on 22nd June when they are planned to be back on Nottingham track, weather permitting.
Plomesgate CC Open 25, 16th May
The weather forecast was not favourable for record times but sporting courses are not about setting a new “pesonal best” whilst sitting in a convoy of 38 tonne trucks. Indeed the weather lived up to expectations and 2 circuits of the flat East Suffolk roads resulted in much suffering by all.
Number 1 was treasurer Steve Jones. He was also first to complete the first lap in time of 34-59. Meanwhile a wedding reception resulted in some frightening traffic congestion in the start lane, fortunately there were no casualties arising from the apparent chaos.
The first lap times continued to roll in with only three riders averaging more than 25 mph. Jim Ingram recorded the fastest Plomesgate CC first lap of 34-20. Could he hang on to a slender 39 second lead over Steve? No! Despite a typical gutsy ride Jim faded to 12 seconds (about 120 metres) outside Steve’s 1-09-56. The other Plomesgate riders, Viv and Mark Broughton decided to rest their injuries for more demanding terrain north of our beloved flat East Anglia.
And so the final Result left Rick Van Looy (Interbike RT) head and shoulders above the others, including last year’s winner and course record holder. The satisfaction of winning must be worth it because I can think of a lot of easier ways to make thirty quid on a Saturday afternoon. Ride of the day must go to Pete Whelan in seventh place, for which he receives not a single penny but the glory of his name in cycling weekly, just one place behind the legend of Martin Pyne.
My thanks for all the help I received as event secretary must include Steve Aldous, Suffolk County Council Highways. Without his help (once again) the event could not have gone ahead due to road works. Suffolk Police, as ever helpful responded to a last minute plea for consent for an alternative course, just in case the hairy arsed contractors ignored their instructions (unfortunately approval was granted 6 days after the event….). Kay and Pauline, for producing the famous and never equalled Plomesgate refreshments. Pete, Dr H, Richard, Rob, Jon and Keith for time keeping and marshalling on such an unpleasant afternoon. It must seem so thankless when you point the way and a dopey rider goes straight past, heading for Orford…..
Full results will be available here...
John Chalker
Results
Earsham Godric ‘10’, 23rd April
Good to see Hilary back in action again.
Rob 26:07
Trevor 25:01
Hilary 27:28
Jim 24:50
VC Baracchi Open 10, 6th May
Drizzle, cold and a really tough easterly breeze all the way back from the turn, which is the longest leg. Most riders were at least 2 minutes off their best.
Jim Ingram DNS
Trevor Figgitt 25:31
Becky Figgitt 30:53
Wolsey ’10, 11th May.
Cancelled because of spray on the road.
CC Breckland 50, 19th May
A good first ‘50’ from Richard Tateson, finishing in 2:10:10.
Well it was a blustery old afternoon on the Earsham course. The strong SW wind kept the rain away but made it very difficult for the riders on the shorter leg to the island. Many riders were at least a minute down on there best times.
Plomesgate riders:-
Main event: 1st Juvenile and 3rd Lady - Becky Figgitt 29:39, Becky was so chuffed to "get under" with a new pb by over a minute.!!
Tandem event: Trevor and Harry Figgitt - 25:23. OK we didn't win any prizes but Harry rode his little legs off and even got out of the saddle for the final sprint when we hit 39mph !!
Norwich ABC ‘25’, 25th May
A decent sized start sheet of 70+ riders was decimated by the weather, with about 2/3rds of the people deciding not to start. The wind was blowing at 90degrees to the course, making it hard work all the way round, and the heavy overnight rain, "topped up" from time to time with fresh showers, made it a very wet race. Steve was our only representative, as Matt decided to stay in bed instead!, and got round in 1:09:59. Robert Matthews (NABC) won in 56.33 from Martin Pyne in 57.00. Julia Shaw, who had been favourite for the women's prize, punctured at the start of the second lap and DNF.
The Escape Artist: Life from the Saddle
Price: £14.99
No one who has read or heard Ruth Picardie’s Before I Say Goodbye (Penguin 1999), could forget the words of this young mother of twins as she approached her death. What the reader might not have known, was that her husband, Matt Seaton was a 1st Cat Road Racer with Velo Club de Londres.
In his book The Escape Artist he describes the obsessions and addictions of a committed bikie so that one squirms with recognition – like lying still as a mouse after waking to see if one’s pulse had fallen from 52 to 48!Training rides are painfully recalled as well as the joys and despairs of Road Racing.
The book plots his progress from the child who dispensed with his stabilizer wheels to show his courage to the French student, Dominique, who was teaching him to cycle, to the hard bikie who managed to finish in the National Crit Champs on his beloved Donohue.
But this is also a book about his trajectory through life from carefree biking days to marriage, fertility treatment (successful – with twins), fatherhood and finally bereavement.
His famous and talented wife, Ruth, died tragically young from cancer. Matt Seaton honestly recalls the pulls in the relationship between his cycling obsession and the imperatives of his family life. One is moved, and a little shocked, as he gives up his biking. The bikes are scattered, sold or gathering dust in an attic.
Yet he has learned and understood something about himself which will not be forgotten.
Friday at Foxhall
Friday
night cycling at Foxhall stadium is back!
Starting Friday 24th May, at 7.30pm and then every Friday after that, except
for a couple of nights when the stadium is preparing for a big weekend event
(Hot-rod world champs, "Spede weekend", etc).
£2 per rider per night, spectators free. Crash hats must be worn at all times when on the track - no aero helmets. The sessions will run to a latest of 9.30pm, but will end earlier if people have had enough for the night, or if the light isn't good enough to continue.
Spread
the word - all are welcome. (Under-18's must be accompanied by a responsible
adult) Track bikes, road bikes, tourers, mountain bikes, all are welcome.
Time-trial specific bikes are allowed but you won't be able to take part in
"bunch" events, for safety reasons.
Getting there: turn into Foxhall stadium at the main entrance on Foxhall road.
Round the roundabout and up the road to the stadium. At the dirt car-park
area, keep left and look for the tin gates to the pits - there should be a
door open into the pit area, where we will be gathered. For those who have
ridden there before, the format will be very similar – a mixture of events
from one lap sprints to longer (10 minute) rides. For newcomers, it's intended
as a fun, social way to ride on a Friday evening, free from worries of traffic,
road conditions, etc. Officially, the events are "training" events
rather than races, otherwise we are subject to all manner of rules, regulations
and increased costs. It's up to you how seriously you take it, depending on
your experience, what you've got planned for the weekend and how you feel
on the night! In between events, there is plenty of scope for people just
to do laps, if that is what they want to do. We will be riding the hot-rod
track, which is about 1/4 mile round (if memory serves), and has no more banking
on it than the road outside your house. The stadium improvements last year
have made the track about 4ft wider on the straight and 6-8ft wider on the
corners. In the event of bad weather, the track is unrideable, so there will
be roller racing as long as enough people turn up.
For more details, please contact me, Steve Jones, on 0771 809 5826 or by email
at steve@morningtonconsulting.com
News from Evert
Evert is racing as a senior 3 in Germany, and has made a good start to the season. He writes:
“The last two races went well. In the District Championship I came out of the sprint 7th, which was a 4th for the District of Cologne. Last Saturday I did a Senior 3 race and made it 4th; a sprint again although the first 7 riders took position before that. Not too bad, if you realize that from two of the riders in front of me, one was Wilfried Trott, former top rider/professional and another one is reigning German Champion with the Seniors.”
The Eastway Experience
Eastway, or Lee Valley Cycle Circuit, or whatever you want to call it, is an important venue for British road racing, much like Manchester is for track. And while not quite on our doorstep, it’s fairly easy to get to for us.
I’d not been there before the start of this season, but I’ve now made two visits, and the season’s still young. My first trip was definitely a learning experience. I’ve done a couple of road races before – I know they start fast and get faster, I know it’s hard to get into any sort of rhythm, as the pace is very much stop/go, that people sprint out of the corners. I even understand some of the basic survival tactics – don’t get caught in the gutter (try and stay in the middle of the lane), keep near the front, so you’re not left behind on the corners, and if you do drop out of pack, go flat out to regain it or your race is over.
All of that holds true at Eastway, but more so. For those of you who don’t know of it, it is a purpose-built cycle centre in East London, with a closed tarmac circuit (no traffic) for road-racing. The tarmac is quite wide (about 1 ½ road lanes) and is surrounded by grass, to provide a “soft” escape if you mess up a corner.
The course is only one mile round, no problem I thought. My race was only 40km (25 miles) – again that distance wasn’t going to be a hassle. WRONG! There isn’t more than a couple of feet of flat tarmac on the entire course. I did a couple of laps with Adrian to find my way round before the race – my, there’s a lot of corners! From the start line, a gentle straight descent leads into the hairpin. Accelerate out of this into a dip (right at the bottom) then try to zoom up the other side. Then it flattens, but its still going up as it bends round left (I thought it was flat first time round, but after 10 laps, it was definitely uphill!), then the fast downhill section starts – a straight, left turn, straight, sweep right at over 30mph onto the bottom straight. It’s strange, but here, on the fastest section of the course, the bunch often seems to slow. They are gathering themselves, because as you turn left, the course kicks upwards – the sharpest rise on the course. It probably goes up 10-12ft here, not much, but again, you feel it after a few laps. Over the top and the course is still climbing, as you go left then right back onto the finishing straight – the start/finish line is the top of the rise.
There were about 70 of us on the start line, gulp, and then we were off. I was cautious away from the line and was already towards the back of the bunch going round the hairpin. Not accelerating hard enough out of the corner meant that by the lefthander at the top of the hill, I was at the back of the bunch. And there I stayed for a couple of laps. Not kicking hard enough (again!) on some of corners meant that I got dropped off the bunch, but hard work (ok, so the bunch might have slowed down a bit) got me back. Fortunately I wasn’t the only one yo-yoing off the back – there were three or four others around me doing the same. But at the end of lap 5 there was a “prime” – a cash spot prize for first over the line – and this was the end of my acquaintance with the bunch. Everyone else accelerated, I couldn’t. I kept going as hard as I could, hoping they would slow after the prime, but this time there was no way back - sections I had done the previous lap (in the bunch) at 30+ mph, alone, I was struggling to reach 25 mph. I passed a couple of people who’d also fallen out of the bunch, and had a good race with two others, but then we were lapped. That was scary – no-one gave a warning yell, so we had no idea they were there, then suddenly 50-60 riders whizzed past us, on both sides, on the grass, whatever, then just as quickly, they were gone again. With 5 laps to go, the commissaires (referees) pulled us out of the race (so we wouldn’t get in the way of the sprint finish) and my first Eastway race was over. I’d been lapped a second time by then, but had a very good 20 mile workout, and my legs hurt!
My second time down there was Jubilee weekend. I had a much better start this time, and was third into the hairpin for the first time (about 13th coming out) and, although still yo-yoing slightly, was managing to keep in the back third of the bunch. In the middle of the race, the pace seemed to slow a bit and I found myself moving up the outside coming up out of the dip. Then all of a sudden the road was clear in front of me (a couple of guys on my left), so I put my head down, went for it and got a few lengths clear. Oops, I’d better keep going now – this is going to hurt, hopefully it’ll hurt them as well. I was churning away now, using most of the road on the corners, then a quick look back, straight into the eyes of the guy right on my wheel. Up the sharp climb (oww) and the drag and I’m still leading going over the line. Time to give in now, so I sat up and watched as everyone went past and I returned to my proper place at the back of the bunch. For a couple of laps it was really hard to stay there, as I recovered from my efforts, but I survived to the end of the race, just losing contact with the bunch on the last lap to finish about 20 seconds behind them. A double achievement for me - not lapped and not last. Changing afterwards, a couple of guys were saying how slow the race had been – they must have been in a different race – my computer showed a maximum of 36mph and an average of 23 mph.
The facilities : There are proper changing rooms with toilets and showers, a first aid room and an clubroom in the building between the car park and the start/finish straight. Signing on for races beforehand is usually in the clubroom, as are refreshments afterwards. For people used to time trials, you’ll need to take some money though – you don’t get a free cuppa for returning your number!
Getting there : Although the course is just off the A12 in London, there’s a little trick. Follow the A12 to the M25, then take M25 (North) to the M11. Follow the M11(South), and then get back onto the A12. (Junction). The reason for this detour is to avoid the worst of the speed cameras in the 30 and 40mph zones on the A12 once it has past the M25. Back on the A12, watch your speed (more cameras) until turning off at the A108 (Spitalfields Market) junction. You want to basically do a U-turn under the A12 here, so right, right again at the lights and you want the middle lane (of 3) at the next lights, otherwise you’ll be back on the A12 heading home! 100yards further and more lights, right here, with a brown “cycle circuit” sign pointing the way. Go through the gates and follow the road over the A12 and into the car park.
Steve.
Dates For The Calendar
16th June Elmys Cycles will be celebrating 75 years of trading with a Cycle Show at Foxhall Stadium. This will include a facility for tables to be available - free of charge - for anyone to sell their cycle goods. Details from Steve Grimwood at Elmys.
23rd June Godric CC ‘Cyclathon’ 25, 50, 75 or 100 miles. Bungay Sports Centre from 8.00am. Geoff Mayne 01986 893653
22nd-23rd June Slick & Knobbly.
23rd June, 3 Reserves bike ride, Minsmere RSPB reserve.
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