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Plomesgate Cycling Club
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May Club Run
Mark, Valerio and Steve were joined by Blair and Neil, from Foxhall, for a jaunt out through Hadleigh and Semer to the tea shop at Corncraft, Monks Eleigh – highly recommended, by the way – before returning on a more direct route, but still with a few hills on the way, to Steve’s for refreshments and to watch the first stage of the Giro. Blair certainly gave his all, as the trip was about twice as far as he’d ever cycled in one day before, and the last hill, past the Belstead Brook Hotel, proved one too many. He got up it, but “stalled” and performed what Mark described afterwards as “a comedy dismount” at the top. No injuries and no damage that drinks and cakes shortly afterwards didn’t put right!
Steve
June Club Run
We will be supporting the RSPB Suffolk Coast bike ride for the club run on 19th June. The ride starts at 10am from RSPB Minsmere Nature Reserve, and we will do the 40 mile ride, which goes via North Warren reserve at Aldeburgh to Orford. The ride costs £9, and for this you support the RSPB, get a t-shirt, entry to Minsmere, and a drink and cake at the finish.
July Club Run
July’s ride will be on Sunday 17th. The venue and format have yet to be decided. If you have any suggestions or would like to lead a ride please contact one of the committee.
Plomesgate ‘25’
It was a very windy day, so no course records were broken this year. Thanks to everyone who helped to make this a successful event. Glenn Taylor was fastest on the day in 57:35, and Julie Baker was fastest of the women in 1:07:35. Bev won a spot prize, and Tony was the winner of the marshal’s prize draw. At the end of the afternoon Trevor presented Pauline and Kay with garden vouchers to thank them for their many years of providing refreshments at the open time trials.
Viv
Eddie Soens Track
At the Eddie Soens Memorial Track Meeting in Manchester on May 8th Becky
improved her 500m time to 38.849s, going inside 39s for the first time. Using
tri-bars for the first time at Manchester Becky looked comfortable as she
settled on to the rests after a powerful first lap. She admitted
after that she could have used a bigger gear, so expect faster times to
come! She later also did a pb for the 2km pursuit with a time of
2.48.470. This meeting was the 2nd round of the National
Women’s Series and as we left we were not sure where Becky stood in the
overall standings.
Trev
Plomesgate Open 10
Steve is running this on Saturday 18th June, and would be grateful for any offers of assistance.
Press Coverage
Plomesgate is getting in the press quite a lot recently. After the piece on Becky a few weeks ago, it was the turn of the Foxhall sessions to feature in the “Grass Roots Sports” pullout in the Evening Star over the Bank Holiday, with Corey Holden starring as he “hurtled round the track”. A nice article, with some good photos of the younger riders. Extracts to appear on the web site at a later date.
SteveSocks for Sale
We have a limited number of short socks, in a tasteful fluorescent yellow, with the club name in black around the top. They are available in medium (size 6-8 shoe) or large (size 8-10 shoe), and a bargain at only £2/pair.
Contact Matt D for details.
Twin Peaks
Matt D has completed his "Twin Peaks" challenge, climbing Mt Ventoux in just over 1hr 30 and Alpe d'Huez in a fraction over an hour, including a wheel change after a puncture. Our correspondent reports that he rode steadily on Ventoux, but really had to dig deep on the steeper Alpe d'Huez the following day. Matt is "very pleased and very tired". More to follow later...
If you haven't yet sponsored Matt for this trip, it's not too late: www.justgiving.com/twinpeaks2002
Evening 10s
28th AprilThe 2005 series kicked off on quite a fresh and breezy evening. In spite of the unhelpful wind, Matt still managed to take the night with a time under 24 minutes. Pete (as expected) and Adrian (surprisingly) completed the podium. Adrian takes the early lead in the handicap competion, with a time that will take some beating. Just behind the leaders, 3 riders in the 26’ range and another 3 in the 27’ range promise quite an exciting competition for the rest of the series. The two new members Andy and Marshall are already in the thick of the action; they will get a handicap time for the rest of the series based on this first result. The other early leaders are Viv for the women and Pete for the vets. Still a long way to go for everybody, though.
19th May
Chippings on the road, rain and wind kept most riders at home. Most but not all. When the going gets tough, the tough get going: Richard, Steve and Tony braved the elements and made a very close competition of it. At the finish, only 25 seconds separated the first from the last.
They'll get a well deserved boost in the points competition.
2nd June
Another breezy night saw the best turnout of the season so far. Visitor Angus Jardine was the fastest, a few seconds ahead of Big Matt and almost a minute in front of Pete.
Andy got another personal best time for the course, and this makes his 3rd “about a minute” improvement in so many attempts. Adrian, trailing by a mere second, does not look likely to give up the top spot in the handicap competition lightly, though. He replied with his own personal best for the course, setting the handicap time to beat at 19:55. Will that be enough to assure him the trophy?
Full results sheets are available on the results page.
Results
CC Breckland SPOCO 10
Postponed from early March, Bev and Pete rode this in horrendous weather but still managed to improve on previous times. Pete in 24:49 and Bev in 32:24.
ICA Round 5 - Combs, 12th May
Valerio was our sole rider again, and recorded 28:16 to finish just outside the top 20.
ICA 6 - Combs, 19th May
With 43 riders facing the starter, it seems that the ICA's new rule has already been over-ruled by the lighter evenings! Valerio recorded his fastest time of the series, 27:47, and was joined by Adrian, who also improved on his course best, with 26.29.
ICA 7 - Crowfield, 26th May
Matt was 3rd in 24.25, while Valerio's 27.53 and 20th place scored him some more valuable points in the ICA league, where he is currently in 14th place (out of 63).
Eastway - Ciclos Uno series, 22nd May.
Matt kept it upright, so didn't add any more scratches to the collection on his bike. But he was still unlucky, managing to get a puncture on the last lap. He ended up 15th, sprinting on the rim. Valerio found the pace a bit too hot, getting dropped after about 20 mins, and then suffering when he got back in the bunch (one lap down).
Eastway - Ciclos Uno series, 29th May.
Mark H’s new wheels and tyres didn't bring him much luck - he punctured during the warm-up laps and had to join the race after the pack had already done a couple of laps. With just over 4 laps to go, several riders tried to use the same bit of road and the inevitable sound of bodies and metal hitting the ground followed. Steve and Valerio got through, but Mark was caught behind it, and had to chase hard with a small group to get back on, just in time to see the race officially neutralised. The lap counter was then put back to 5 to go, and the race restarted. With 4 to go again, Mark was in good position near the front, so Steve moved up to give him a hand, to keep the pace reasonably high and deter any last-minute breaks. Unfortunately, he did this a bit too well and rode off the front of the bunch, although his lead was limited to about ten lengths, before he was reeled in with a lap and a half to go. Come the final sprint, Mark had some more bad luck as the rider he was following got "flicked" about 200m from the line and had to brake hard, forcing Mark to slam on the brakes as well. At this point, he found that new wheels can "grab" a bit under hard braking, and ended up riding just on his front wheel at about 30 mph, before managing to sort it out safely.
5 mile TT
These days it takes two to beat Big Matt. Pete and Trevor took it to the letter, and set the new tandem course record. Matt was second (ok, first of the individual riders, if you want) and Andy was third and last of the riders under the 12 minutes barrier.
The race saw a thrilling showdown in the Hardwicke clan: Jack had thrown down the gauntlet to his Mum beforehand, and Sharon chased him to the finish. At the end, Jack won their private battle, setting a new U-12 course record into the bargain – not bad for an 8 yr old!
Grass Track
National Champs, 30th May, Carlisle
Although Carlisle is over 350miles away from Suffolk, there was still quite a Plomesgate presence at the grass meeting promoted by The Border City Wheelers in grounds adjacent to Carlisle Castle. The main events were the Mens 400m and Womens 800m National Championships.
In the men's championships Trevor and Pete lined up, the distance is a little short for Pete but favours Trevor who managed to get as far as the semi finals for the first time.
The highlight though was Becky's bronze medal ride in the Women's Championship. Quite a few of the top riders had made the trip, none more impressive than current World Champion Victoria Pendleton, back riding for Mildenhall CC. After qualifying by way of semi finals. The bumpy track and rising wind made it a tough race with the final going to Vicky, from her GB team mate Lorna Webb, Becky took the bronze beating her junior rival Anna Blyth. Last year’s silver medallist Alison Lilley was 5th and last year champion Rusine Airstone was 6th.
Pete was more at home in the longer races and both he and Becky went on and gained a couple of top six places in the remaining events, earning some useful pocket money in the process. All in all a worthwhile trip by the Plomesgate raiding party.
Trev
North Road CC Grass Track - Hertford
To start with, the track seemed a bit heavy going, but soon got better during the warm up. The field was certainly of good quality going by the names, but performance of everybody was a bit unknown. Even though my legs felt OK from the previous days racing, there was a little bit of reluctance from them to really go fast. A gear of 48x17 seemed a little low after the first few events, especially on a few of the bumps, so I up it to 46x16, which felt better. Come the 8k and hay fever symptoms were starting to get to me even though I was fully drugged up - breathing was a little difficult. After 20 laps I was down to 9th place so called it a day. Part of the problem was a few wouldn't take a turn, and I was trying to bridge a gap that opened up. In the devil, I managed to get a bit boxed in on the inside, so when Leigh Haigh heard I was out, immediately put the pace up, knowing I wasn't a threat to him. Jack was riding the freewheeler’s events, which in previous years had good prizes of bike kit. There was a lot of riders, some very young, so Jack was handicapped behind them, but came through on the first event to just miss out on first place. The last event of the day saw him storm through off the front to easily claim first - with another bag of sweets and money as well. Jim had a few problems with not being able to get his cleats tight enough. He managed to get a place in the handicap event (novice mark), which is one more 'tick in the box' for the future to improve on the mark. A long tiring day, but good fun and no crashes.
Pete
Mildenhall in Letchworth, 4th June 2005.
Trevor, Pete and Harry rode this event, with Bev team manager at the trackside. Without Martin (Sarra's other half) around to provide welcome starting pushes, Trevor and I had to take it in turns for each other.
The track itself was a little exposed and the winds on the day a little high at times, making it difficult coming into the finishing straight, which was very slightly uphill. The gearing was therefore a little more critical, especially for the longer events as you had to be able to spin well in the back straight, but equally be able to still turn over in the harder finishing section. I found a 48x17 to my liking, and was thinking of going slightly higher but decided I didn't really have time to change it for the next event and seemed to do well by the end of the day, especially having kept the wolves at bay in the block handicap event. Trevor was probably feeling like I did at Hertford, just not able to push anything around with any real purpose, whilst Harry got stuck in with the under 14s, two of which are well coached in the Welwyn squad.
The 8km event was shortened to 16 laps instead of 20 making it 6.4km, which would not have made any difference to the first two places. I thought I was making some headway on Andy Ballentyne in the closing two laps, so there might have been a remote possibility of getting third if it had been the full distance. I was pleased to be able to jump on the opening breaks which totally broke the field apart, with some of the stronger riders falling to the wayside (from Trevor being in the group to suddenly cheering me on from the comfort of his chair).
Max put on a good days racing, I only hope I can keep it up for the next few meetings.
Block Handicap 1st Pete Whelan. Under 14’s Omnium, 4th Harry Figgitt
Pete
Foxhall News
6th May
PBs for Michael Nash and Chris Vane in the one lap time trial were followed by Aaron Culley winning the handicap. In the B division, the time trial was won by Daniel Parker who was 0.1 sec ahead of dad Julian. The evening rounded off with some close racing in the team sprints, with team 4 (Chris V, Blair and Julian (2 laps)) winning in 2:29.0.
13th May
The evening started with track sweeping which cut the time available for racing. Chris Vane won the one lap scratch race comfortably, and Corey Holden winning the handicap races. The 3 lap scratch race was a dead heat between Becky and Jim H, but Becky was unbeatable in the Chariot race with chocolate as the prize.
20th May
An event at the weekend on the track meant that we only had half the width to play with, so racing was cancelled for the evening, and we did some training drills instead – bunch riding, sprints, slalom and limbo!
27th May
A glorious evening – bright, warm and hardly any breeze – combined with a track free of dirt and tents! Good racing in the A division between Corey, Joshua and the Constable brothers, with each winning a head to head sprint. In the B division Gary H won the handicap race, and Paul W the unknown distance race. The evening finished with an 8 lap, 3-up team pursuit, with Hugo, Hannah and Steve against Blair, Neil and Paul. The teams were well-matched, with Paul’s team just getting the nod at the finish.
Steve
Ticks / Lyme Disease
There’s been a fair amount of publicity recently about the huge increase in the number of cases of Lyme’s Disease, an infection carried by ticks, which can be fatal. An article in the Times on 30th May noted Thetford forest as one of the British hotspots.
Ticks are tiny spider-like creatures that cannot fly and are common in woodland, heathland and moorland. Unfed ticks are the size of a poppy seed, but they blow up to the size of a grape pip when they have been feeding. Larvae are smaller than a pinhead.
The risk of infection from an infected tick is low if it is removed from the body within 24 hours of attachment. So check yourself, children and dogs after going out in the forest. See www.bada-uk.org for more details. I can print the information for you if you do not have internet access.
Viv
Calendar Dates
Sat 18th June –- Plomesgate Open 10. Please contact Steve if you can help, or send him an entry form if you want to ride! (Entry closes 7th June)
19th June club run –- Minsmere, 10am.
25-26 June, Mountain Mayhem, Eastnor Castle Park, near Malvern.
Tuesday evenings – MTB ride usually Tunstall or Rendlesham forests through the summer starting at 7:30 contact Mark or Viv for details.
Friday– Foxhall Stadium, from 7pm.
April Club run
Myself and Andrew (who didn't know my evil plan) led the club out of Woodbridge to cross the A12 into Hasketon (at the traffic light crossing). For about the next 15 miles we never strayed far from Hasketon centre by more than about 2 miles, using about every road possible in Hasketon and only going along one bit twice (though in the opposite direction) for about 200m. Unfortunately, the weather was good and the road surfaces in the area had been cleaned up, otherwise it could have been a dirty and puncture prone ride, just like Paris-Roubaix can be.
From Hasketon we came out around Debach and dropped to Clopton, again weaving on minor roads, to go across to Swilland and eventually, after 22 miles, to the Crockery Barn at Ashbocking for a welcome 11's. After 11's, we made our way to Witnesham, turning off partway on the nice downhill section just after the PH, where a couple who had jumped off the front (silly thing to do on a route that was going to turn off at unlikely points) had to back track up and follow the track to Tuddenham.
From Tuddenham we then started zig-zagging around between Grundisburgh, Culpho, Playford and Bealings, to eventually arrive back in Woodbridge (17 miles) for a selection of cakes (lunch) and watching TV - thanks to Bev and Mark for these. Whilst waiting for the cycling to start, we watched some good action in the final laps of the MotoGP from Estoril, but were a bit dissappointed that the German channel showing the P-R race delayed it to show ballroom dancing. It eventually came on for us to catch an hour or so on that channel, plus the short session from Eurosport. All-in-all a pleasant day and an easy ride in rolling Suffolk countryside.
Pete
Committee Meetings
The next meeting of the committee is after the club ‘10’ on Thursday 30th June at the Butley Oyster. Any club member is welcome to attend.
News 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
Grass Track 2
As Carlisle is so far away from Ipswich, we would not normally go and ride the grass track event there. This year Sarra was riding the Women's 800m championships, so I decided to enter the men's events, and we took a few days holiday and made our way north.
On the Friday we travelled up to Middlesmoor, near Pateley Bridge, Harrogate (HG3 5ST, map ref SE092741). From Pateley Bridge, the road goes for 7 miles along the river and reservoir, with a 1 mile of 10% climb towards Lofthouse, then just before Middlesmoor there is 500m of 25%. The pub where we stayed at the end of the road was very welcoming and reasonably priced. Normal transport for villagers to the pub was Quad bike ! We managed to get out on the tandem to Pateley Bridge for a meal (nice Italian restaurant there), then the trip back, with a slight headwind. After the 10% section we waited for Bev to turn a more natural colour (not green) from the exertion of pushing up the hill after a meal, but she did not want to loose her meal on the 25% section. It was well worth the visit, if only for the views down the reservoir.
The Saturday we ventured to Northumberland, where Sarra and Martin were staying with his parents. We stayed at a B&B in Lesbury (www.swallowdale.org.uk), just outside Alnmouth. It was excellent accommodation, with very caring hosts, pampering after your every need. We even got free entry and coffee at Dunstanburgh Castle where the host is one of the officials. Saturday saw Sarra, Bev and I ride out to Alnwick Castle - I even remembered the dungeon there from 40 years ago when I last visited. It was a very windy day, with the tandem getting sideswiped by the wind a few times making handling very hairy. The evening was spent 'meeting the parents/outlaws.
Sunday was to be a gentle days riding, so that I wasn't tired for racing at Carlisle the following day. Here we followed the North Sea Cycle Route 1 from the B&B up to Bamburgh Castle, via Dunstanburgh Castle on the way. The return journey was a mix of the NSCR and the coastal road to Alnmouth, then back to the B&B (56 miles - lumpy in places, generally warm and not too much wind).
Monday was a drive of 85 miles to Carlisle for the racing (Sheepmount field, behind the castle). It was a bit bumpy getting onto the field, but was hoping the track was better - not a lot, but rideable, once you knew where the bumps and holes were, plus there was a short 'ski-ramp' on the final corner. As with any meeting with a championship event, the championship is always held first. The 400m event was just a warm-up for me for later, though Trevor got through to the semi-finals. Sarra had still not recovered sufficiently from her dislocated shoulder (MTB'ing) of a few weeks ago, so was not able to perform at her best, coming 7th. Becky was flying and got the bronze medal (the same age as when Sarra got bronze). As the day progressed, the distances got longer and I got better, getting 6th in the 100m h'cap and 5th the 1500m h'cap.In the 5km event the group worked me over only doing half turns on the front, then leaving me in front. I managed 7th overall and felt a lot better than the previous week at Hertford (gearing was 45 x 16 for me). That evening we had a pleasant drive over to Brough, a wander around the castle and a good meal at the pub, followed the next day by a return to Suffolk.
Pete