PLOMESGATE CYCLING CLUB
PLOMESGATE CYCLING CLUB
Apology
Sorry if I confused any one with the wrong date for the April club run in the last newsletter.
April Club Run
Well after I tried to confuse everyone by publishing the wrong date the club run went ahead on the planned date of April 29th.
Mmmmm, what a nice day for a bike ride. Steve & Gary arrived at my house a little before the scheduled start time for a cup of tea and to put there bikes together, sheltering in the garage to keep out of the pouring with rain! We headed out a little behind schedule into wet conditions with some gentle rain. It didn't take too long to get into the 'salubrious' surroundings of the outskirts of Colchester complete with a nasty little rain shower.
Once we had nipped around the side of Colchester and got onto nicer roads down through Layer de la Haye we realised just how hideously windy it was, and we were going straight into it. Around about Salcott cum Virley we had a rather shocking exposure to the reality of the current Foot & Mouth outbreak as we first saw a landrover being disinfected and then we went past a farm with a large queue of lorries with a police 'escort.' Maybe I was naive but I hadn't guessed what they were there for until we realised that the farm was being cleared out of slaughtered livestock. It gave a very grizzly shock to the system and brought home how horrible the situation is for some farmers.
After Tollshunt D'Arcy we turned across the wind and headed 'in-land' which immediately made the weather seem better. We also noticed that the houses got grander in what looked like some rather expensive villages! We ended up on the outskirts of Wickham Bishops at a pub called the Green Man that is just over the border in, but quite some distance from the village centre of, Little Braxted. The pub was good with some nice Ridley's beer and I had a particularly big meal 'extra weight to speed descents...' was my justification. Gary was quite pleased to sit on a comfortable seat after suffering the ultra hard saddle on Steve's bike that he was borrowing. I think his voice has probably just about stopped being squeaky by now!
It was like a different day on the way back with warm sun and seemingly no wind, (actually it was a rather pleasant tail wind), and we rattled home through Tiptree, (famous for it's jam) Messing, and Copford before facing the last horrible hill back up into West Bergholt (why, oh why did I buy a house at the top of a hill!) Steve & Gary zoomed up and very graciously waited for me to grind up and met me at the top. We timed it about right to get home and to have a welcome cup of tea as it started spotting with rain on return home, then poured rest of the afternoon.
All in all it was a good day's ride, and we covered about 35 miles, but I'm certainly looking forward to when we can say goodbye to the rain and wind!
Jon
Dates For The Calendar
Here are a few forthcoming events at which there may be a Plomesgate CC presence :-
7th May VC Baracchi Open "10" Earsham.
7th May Bungay Town Centre Criteriums
12th May Plomesgate CC Open "10" see below
13th May "Ride for Life" Off and On Road Rides for charity. Stanton Downham.
19th May Wolsey RC Open "10" Wickham Market
20th May CC Breckland Open "50". Wymondham.
20th May Tour De Tendring, Charity Fun Rides.
26th May VC Norwich "10" Earsham.
26th May ECCA Criteriums Eastway.
27th May Beccles Road Race
27th May Norwich ABC "25" Earsham.
28th May Colchester Rovers Criteriums Eastway.
2nd June CC Sudbury "25" Risby.
3rd June East Anglia Division Road Championship. Risby.
3rd June ZIPVIT East Anglian Regional Final. Risby.
10th June "Pedal for Pounds" Charity Cycle Ride Easton Farm Park, see below.
May 12th Open 10 mile TT
Our next open event is on May 12th, start time 2pm.
The event is going ahead as planned. HQ is at Orford Pavilion and your support would be appreciated.
Organiser is Steve Jones who needs your help call him on 01473 603710.
"Pedal for Pounds"
There is a sponsored cycle ride in and around Easton Farm Park, near Framlingham on 10th June. Money raised will go to Sue Ryder Care, The Chantry.
Further details and copies of sponsor forms from Trevor Figgitt.
Perhaps we can organise a joint effort.?
Festival of Cycling
I think this was formerly known as National Bike Week. This year it runs from June 16th - June 24th.
Any events we run that week can be counted in.
Evening Club Events Results
April 26th
The showers held off long enough for everyone to get a dry, if not totally mud free ride. The shock of the first competitive event of the year for most riders was reflected in most being some 2 minutes of their best. Two notable exceptions were Andrew Whelan and Becky Figgitt, the latter being the only one to actually do a pb. The fastest solo was Evert Wijnberg in 25:40 finishing 27 seconds ahead of Rob Cotton
The decision to encourage people to park near the finish and then accumulate there after seemed a good one especially in view of the state of the mud and water at the forest entrance near the start.
May 3rd
The showers held off again although it was getting very murky towards the end of the race. The temperature was more like March than May and most chose to ride in full leggings, the strong cold wind didn’t help. Although it seemed harder than the previous week Steve managed to improve by nearly 2 minutes and that was with a borrowed front wheel. Fastest solo was Steve Jones in 26:28 ahead of Trevor by 17 secs. Although not riding this event Becky leads the handicap competition with 20:25.
Most unfortunate rider was probably Viv whose saddle fell off, Mark stopped to help. Both were going strongly but will have chance to bounce back on a better night hopefully.
We will carry on meeting near the finish for the foreseeable future as long as people park sensibly.
Racing Results
Slick & Nobbly 2 Day, Easter Weekend
Viv, Mark and Steve, and seventy-odd other riders, met at Culford School on Easter Saturday for this "unique 2-day event for club riders" run by West Suffolk Wheelers. For those of you who haven't heard of it, this is an event for the best all-rounder - there is a time trial Saturday morning, followed by a road race in the afternoon and a mountain bike event on Sunday.
And sore legs on Monday - but there aren't any prizes for that!
The conditions on Saturday weren't good - a persistent mist-like drizzle, a steady breeze and cold. I think its fair to say that all three were below their
best in the time trial, finishing in the wrong half of the field, with Mark bettering the other two with a time of 16:37 for the sporting six and a half mile course for 48th place.
The wind had strengthened a bit for the afternoon's road race, which was eventful, as these affairs often are. The combination of mountain bikers, time triallers, as well as experienced road racers, means that the race tends to get broken up into smaller groups, which then have their own races to the line.
Steve and Viv had already lost contact with the main group by the time they reached the end of the first lap, but then worked well together to the finish, where Viv crossed the line ahead of Steve. Mark was safely in the bunch, but was held up (but fortunately not involved in) the main incident of the race - a huge crash on the uphill section after a couple of laps that left several people nursing cuts and scrapes, broken wheels and even a broken frame! He then chased hard to get back in contention, but lost contact soon after as the group accelerated again before he had recovered.
At the overnight point, Mark and Steve were both placed around 50th, with Mark a few places ahead, and Viv was 3rd lady, by just one point!
Sunday was a better day, still windy, but dry and brighter. Foot 'n' Mouth had caused the MTB stage to be moved to Bury RFC and a course had been laid out round the pitches, across a grass viewing bank and up through some trees on neighbouring waste land. The stage consisted of two heats for riders to qualify for the A or B final, then the finals, with a complicated points system to determine overall places. Steve went in heat 1 and finished next to last, one lap down. Mark and Viv did better in heat 2, but all three were in the B final, where Steve just pipped Mark and Viv.
Overall, Mark finished 43rd, Steve 47th and Viv 50th. Viv's ride on Sunday secured her overnight position as third lady and she finished only one place on the overall behind Sarra Whelan, who was second lady.
Evert's Racing Trip to Shropshire
I was going to edit this story down to just the race details, but decided in the end to include the whole story. Brings back memories of Bridgnorth training and racing up the Hermitage – Trevor.
I find it a bit difficult by now to tell the truth about my experiences in the English racing scene, because no one will believe the stories I have to tell.
(You know the standard question in CW: 'What is the best excuse you have ever heard')
But ok, I will take the risk of no one believing what I tell and if they believe it, being looked upon as the most stupid Dutch guy around. Saturday morning Annelie and myself drove up north, looking forward to a weekend providing a cycle race and a nice time exploring a different part of England.
Near Kettering we stopped for a coffee, before driving on to a little place not far from Telford.
After entering the foot and mouth area, disinfecting etc, we ended up at a farm yard near Sheriffhales, which is headquarters of Parker International. At that location you are really able to slash down overhead costs; but who cares if he is an excellently stocked bike shop. When I got out of the car, realizing I was going to spend quite a bit of money on bike parts, looking for my coat with the necessary plastic (credit cards), I saw the disaster. I saw my coat still hanging over the chair in Kettering. I could afford to panic, because there is always Annelie around who is born to do crisis management. Keeping things the short way, I did my shopping (lovely parts) and after driving up and down to Kettering again
I am still the owner of a coat and all the plastic with it. Near Bridgnorth, late afternoon, we had the lucky part of the day and found a lovely hotel. Beautiful place, lovely countryside, good food and good service. Sunday morning, very sunny, but very cold indeed, to race headquarters.
Start and 80 riders ready for Hermitage Hill. Hermitage Hill is, I would say, a respectable climb. 800 mtrs. at 10 % and I guess the last 150 mtrs. maybe even 12%.
The first climb of the Hill was neutralized, but nevertheless everyone had to go up at maximum effort. On the top we had our start proper, going to full speed on 52/12. Next climb up Hermitage Hill, after the first lap of est. 28km, half way up the hill, I had a good look at my front tyre. Definitely not 9 Bar.
Mental reflex: End of race, slow down and make room for others.
Next I thought, as long as the tire holds out I can at least ride to the top. Arriving at the top, tyre still not flat, so no reason to stop, and I went on. Trying to get back to the first group of 35 riders.
Asking myself if I might have been hallucinating, because of the effort on the hill. Chasing I picked up 6 riders, building up a little group, but we never went back to the first group of the race. Things did not change anymore, we finished the race over 88 km, and had a good training. During the rest of the race the tyre was definitely not right, but puncture?
After the race I did not have the guts to tell Annelie this unbelievable 'best excuse ever'.
Until Monday morning when I checked the front wheel: and there it was, flat tyre.
So what is left now, is that I trust still my mental abilities and that I feel more confident that I still can tackle respectable hills.
What a gain !
Evert