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Plomesgate Cycling Club
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October Club run
The October club run will be the Suffolk CTC Rough Stuff event on 15th October, starting and finishing at Butley Village Hall. Entry fee £2. Certificate for all finishers.
The route is 25 miles, with an optional extra 5 mile section this year. Start time will be 9:30, but riders should arrive with plenty of time to register (9am).
Whilst the event is not a race, we can't stop riders going as hard as they want to beat a previous time. Remember the course rides better the wetter it is, so no namby-pamby excuses for not riding it because it was raining.
Pete W
Road Race Champs
This year’s event was held as part of the Ciclos Uno Summer Series race held at Eastway on 27 August 2006, due to holidays, illness and Mildenhall Rally only Richard Tateson, Steve Jones and Matt Donaldson entered. This was Steve’s first competitive outing this season due to work commitments in Nottingham and Matt had undergone emergency wisdom teeth removal two days before and was bleeding well from the wounds as well as feeling some what off colour and had considered not entering but felt he should make an effort to defend his title at least.
The field of 50 riders took the line and Steve using his experience and calm nature settled in to his first race by getting in the bunch and warming up slowly, well he would have done had he not had a rush of blood to the head and shot to the front and pulled the peloton round for a few laps, including a few laps in a small break that got a few hundred metres lead on the bunch. Matt and Richard sat in watching each other carefully. Steve eventually ran out of gas and was swallowed by the bunch and then spat straight out the back, eventually being lapped and pulling out a few laps before the bell. Matt was really feeling rough and the amount of blood he was swallowing didn’t help his already weak condition, Richard jumped in to a break containing a couple of Victoria CC riders and pulled quite an alarming lead on the bunch before Matt bit the bullet when no one was willing to chase and rode across the gap onto Richard’s wheel surprising himself in the process with his strength. This seemed to end Richard’s ambitions for a while as both dropped back into the bunch. As the hour approached Richard was sitting on Matt’s wheel in the bunch not realising quite how rough Matt felt now, Matt mentioned later that he even considered climbing off as he felt he was going to be sick but kept going as he didn’t want the race to be a walk over. Richard should probably have attacked then, and would have done if he’d known how bad Matt was feeling. But as the bell approached he was still glued to Matt’s wheel waiting for the bunch sprint. Matt started to wind the pace up from the top of Oxo hill and all along the back straight to make it hard for Richard to surge past before the finishing straight, this worked and as both riders kicked off the final bend Matt was not worried about what was in front but kept his eyes down to watch Richard’s front wheel, Matt surged ahead and Richard countered to get his front wheel alongside Matt’s rear, a slight contact occurred and Matt kicked again and surged clear of Richard for the win and his third title in as many years but the closest margin so far.
This was the last outing at Eastway for the Plomesgate boys before it is bulldozed and work begins on the Olympic Velodrome, plans for the relocated track at Hog Hill are still going ahead but the venue will not be ready for the beginning of next season, lets hope it is done for next summer so that the club can hold its annual championship there next year.
Matt
Club Dinner
This year’s club dinner will be held at the Lighthouse in Aldeburgh again, but this year the aim is for you to confirm numbers before the end of October so that I can ensure we get all of the upstairs, if enough people want to attend. The dinner will be on Saturday 2nd December, and members are welcome to attend and bring a guest. Please send me an e-mail if you want to attend to broughton.m@btopenworld.com or ring me on 01728 452143.
Viv
New Member
Welcome back to Martin Alabone who has recently rejoined Plomesgate CC.
Grass Track
The season long Eastern Region grass track league has now come to a close and the results announced. Pete Whelan has taken the overall win in the Senior category, with Jim Hardwicke in 14th place. Whilst no other Plomesgate riders took part, the kiddies of the Whelan family did equally well, with Sarra taking the ladies title, for a second time, and Andrew getting 8th after only coming back into racing halfway through the season.
Italian Alps
Matt decided to raise some money for Orchid Cancer Appeal by completing a cycle ride in Lombardy in North East Italy on 12 September 2006 which included climbing three of the largest mountain passes in the Dolomites that are used in the Giro d'Italia cycle race. The ride from Prato allo Stelvio over the Passo dello Stelvio 8964 feet (2758m ), Passo di Gavia 8509 feet (2618m) and the Passo del Mortirolo 6026 feet (1854m) covered about 100 miles including 45 miles of very severe climbing. Matt was accompanied by two friends this year, his coach and club mate Trevor Figgitt, who had decided to celebrate his 46th birthday by joining him on the uphill sections and for the second year running his best mate Paul Ross took time off from sailing to join him and act as ride support in a car providing food, drinks and mechanical assistance as well as complete some of the route on his bike.
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The full article is available here, but these pictures of the Stelvio are included to give you a taste of the ride.
(Click on the picture to see it larger, in a new window)
Calendar Dates
15th October, club run –off road ride from Butley Village Hall.
18th October, committee meeting
26th November, MTB Winter Series 1 at Thetford, see www.thetfordmtbracing.com for details.
2nd December, Club Dinner.
14th January 2007, MTB Winter Series 2.
11th February 2007, MTB Winter Series 3.
Tuesday evenings – MTB ride from Snape cross roads, starting at 7:30 contact Mark or Viv for details, or to check whether anyone is riding.
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