PLOMESGATE CYCLING CLUB 

September 2003

Plomesgate National Track Medals

Before the event Becky's expectations were fairly modest - gain experience, she had never ridden in competition on Manchester, and fingers crossed, was in for a top four placing.

It was an incredible week for Becky I don't think it has all sunk in yet.  On Sunday in the 500m TT she was not seeded so had to go off early in the biggest field for some time of 23 riders.  She was nervous about using the gate but as usual she was so focused.  In the early rounds they put riders off on either sides of the track, like the pursuit. Becky had her opponent in sight as she came in to finish.  She took everyone, except a select few of us, by total surprise when her time went up - 39.7s, she took the lead by some 3 seconds.  Last year’s winning time was a 40.7 so we knew she had done a "ride".  She then had to sit biting her nails waiting for the other girls to finish, one by one they fell well short.  Eventually it was the top seeds, Jo Tindley - 39.8, that left 2 to go and we knew she had a medal, but what colour. Jenny Middlehurst rattled out an amazing pb of 39.3 and then top seed Kimberley Blythe also had to do a pb of 39.5. So it was 3rd and bronze.

Monday dawned and it was Day 1 of the Sprint Competition.  Becky had previously done a flying 200m time of 14.29 at Nottingham, and after her 500 time her expectations had risen slightly so she was disappointed when she qualified only 7th fastest in 13.7.  This meant she would be up against 6th qualifier, one of her best friends, Bridie Hindle, in her first ever match sprint.  She tried to come around Bridie but just couldn't do it so lost out.  She was pretty down but as the saying goes its not over until the Fat Lady Sings.  So it was on to the repechage where she started to look herself and walked over the other girls to win easily in another sub 14s time. So thankfully Day 1 was over and she had done what she had to do and had got through to Day 2, all be it by a hard route.

Day 2 of the sprint and Becky is drawn against 2nd seed Jo Tindley in the Quarters.  We decided that Becky needed to take control of the race from the front, what we didn't know until after was that National Sprint Coach had told Jo to do the same, hence we had some pretty exciting racing.  Becky led out in Match A and held the lead jumping away from Jo from the front. Match B Becky had the outside draw so it was going to be difficult to get to the front.  She dived Jo from the banking and got in front only to relinquish it. Becky tried to come on the inside, Jo came down and leaned on her, they rode tangled together for what must have been half a lap. Becky shoved Jo back which took Jo by surprise, Becky jumped.  2-0 to Becky.

In the Semi she was up against Katie Curtis from Cardiff another rider with a reputation for full on sprinting.  Becky took Match A which was fairly straight forward. Match B Katie came down hard on Becky shoving her off the track, this rattled Becky and despite chasing her lost it on the line by a tyre. I put in a protest but was overruled, result stood. Match C I am sure Becky hooked Katie in the last 200m, Becky took it on the line, but the commissaires went in a huddle, and I feared the worst.  Perhaps it was rough justice but the result stood 2-1 to Becky and she was in the Final against Kimberley Blythe.  We could see Becky was absolutely shattered, she had had some hard rides and having been taken to three matches in the Semi it was starting to show.  In the final Becky pushed Kim hard in the first Match, earlier Kim had slipped on the banking so Becky had her up the banking and at one point nearly had her doing track stands in the back straight. (this is girls racing!! it was incredible) Becky jumped her well and opened up a gap but Kim's superior speed told as she came round Becky to take the first Match, I think she rattled out a 13.5 as a consequence. The second match was Kimberley's from as far out as 100m, Becky was beaten and sat up and applauded Kim as she crossed the line.

Thursday night it was the 10km scratch race. We had been away from the track for over a day and she was feeling confident and reasonably fresh. Although nothing particularly exciting happened in the race it was full on, and was very fast. Becky finished in the bunch, and the reason there were no attacks was obvious when we saw the final average speed...25.5mph !! Becky was shattered but was still smiling like a cheshire cat. What a week !!

Trevor

August Club run 1

This was held on one of the hottest days of the year, and turned into an ice cream and water fight (so I hear).

August Club run 2

Seven gnarly mountain bike dudes turned up and enjoyed the new black run at Thetford.  It was really sandy and there were a few tumbles, Steve’s being the most spectacular.

September Club run

Meet at Somerfield in Saxmundham on Sunday 21^st September at 10am, for a pleasant ride through the Suffolk countryside.

Hello & Goodbye

Congratulations to Matt and Sarah Simmerson and a warm greeting to the latest member of the Plomesgate family - Joseph Edward Simmerson made his way into the world on 20th August.  And at the same time, farewell and good luck to Rob Shipman, who flies off shortly to start a new job in Australia.

Open Events 2004

Barely have we completed this year’s events and we will soon be putting forward our proposals for 2004. This year we ran two Open 10 mile TTs, one including the District GHS Heat, an Open 25 mile TT, incorporating a round of the District TT series, and an open Grass Track Meeting. The committee will be meeting within the next two weeks to discuss next year’s fixture list. So if you have any comments or perhaps you are keen to volunteer yourself as an event organiser, then let either Trevor know or someone else on the committee.

Plomesgate Grass track

Held at St Mary’s School in Woodbridge.  The field gave the possibility of being a short (220m) but fast track, considering that the weather had dried the grass to a scorched brown.  A couple of the corners had a slight off-camber, requiring good concentration and cornering ability from the riders.  The finishing straight was slightly uphill, making it a hard sprint for each event, favouring the more powerful riders.  Apart from one rider overcooking a corner, resulting in 3 riders coming down during the 400m final, there where no other incidents, showing that the riders’ skill won through on a difficult track.  Special mention must go to day-licence holders Emma Hurrell and Mark Howlett at their excellent first attempt at grass track riding (and also on using fixed wheels).  Both seemed to take to the track well and could well be contenders for top positions in the future.  Rumour has it that Trevor gained enough points to get to 2^nd cat.  Thanks to everyone who helped on the day.

5 mile TTs

The 14^th August event turned into a 7.2 miles TT because of traffic lights in Tunstall.  With his five mile record safe, Rob first fulfilled his duties as pusher, before getting on his "normal" fixed bike to ride a 2-up with Jerry.  With Rob's gearing (low 60s) limiting them down the hills to under 25mph, and as neither of them had ridden a competitive 2-up before, their time of 21:07 was very respectable and ahead of "evens" (20mph).  Last of the solos to start, Steve seemed to be over his recent illness as he took the win in 18:09, just over 30 seconds ahead of  Valerio (18:40), who in turn was pleased to put over 30 seconds into Jim H (19:12). Mark H was fourth (19:24) and Jim I continued his comeback with fifth (19:30) - although less than 20 seconds covered these three.  Bev was fastest of the women, with 22:00, while the course didn't seem to suit Julie (23:32).  ITC's Paul Bones also seemed to find the course quite tough and his time of 22:35 separated the two women.

Results

Godric 10, 2^nd August

Bev 29:45, Andrew W 25:20, and Rob C 24:17.

Godric 25, 3^rd August

A warm morning saw PBs for Bev (1:19:29), Mark (1:05:40) and Viv (1:09:05).  Andrew W did 1:05:42.

Mildenhall Rally

Saturday saw Becky riding the Womens Grass Track Omnium. Less than 48 hours since she finished a very fast scratch race at the Nationals Becky was back on familiar territory and despite very tired legs seemed to be enjoying herself finally finishing 5th.

Sunday saw Becky riding the Women’s races on the grass and also Trevor was in action although the competition was pretty hot as the country’s top riders were present riding for the 8km National title and the 800m National Series title.

Also on Sunday saw Harry doing well in the Under 12s category of the Duathlon.

Monday saw Becky riding the Madison cyclo cross teamed up with friend Clare Larbey of the Mildenhall CC. They got off to a great start until Becky decided to crash into a bush, then a tree, then she punctured. Still after a wheel change and a bit of bike bending they completed the race and were not last.

Evening ‘10’s

24^th July

On a windy night Richard earned the top spot by again improving his best time on the course. An injured Pete, temporarily forced to timekeeping duties after his grass track accident, saw his best time remain unbeaten: With two events to go, the battle for this competition is definitely heating up.

Big Matt for the first time this year raced without improving his PB, but was still good enough to comfortably get the second place.

With the first 2 riders clearly ahead of the rest, the competition for the remaining positions was quite intense, with 6 riders in about a minute interval. Jim H managed to emerge in third place, just a second shy of his best time, while behind him Valerio and Rob S both set new personal best times for the course.

Frequent visitor John Vidler had an eventful night: he had first to stop to fix a loose headset, and then on the final straight the chain of his fixed wheel bicycle came off, but he managed to reach the finish line freewheeling. Enough bad luck to cover for the whole season, now it can only get better.

New member Jerry had a good first ride, starting his new career just a whisker short of the 30 minutes mark. He gets a handicap of 8:02 for the rest of the series.

7^th August

It was a hot and humid summer night, with a light wind that didn’t seem to help or to bother the riders much.

Fastest on the night was visitor Angus Jardine, relegating first Plomesgate rider Richard to second place. In spite of the hot weather, 3 PBs were recorded: both Jerry and Bev broke the 30 minutes barrier for the first time, while Julie G. took again advantage of her lucky starting number to improve by almost half a minute (just to let future starting sheet compilers know, the magic number seems to be 3).

Best time on course ever for a number of riders: Mark B, who is also closing down on Pete for the vet competition, Viv, who went under the 27 minutes mark for the first time on course, and Valerio, that just not to outdo it, recorded a measured 3 seconds improvement.

To signal the big exploit of visitor Tom Walker, that took almost 2 minutes and a half out of his previous record on course. It was course bests also for regular visitors Andrew W, Stephen Searby and Andrew Harker.

But the best news on the night was the return to competitions of Jim Ingram, back on his bike after about a year spent recovering from his back injury. We all hope to see more of him from now on.

21^st August

The last night of the series went off with a couple of bangs: Steve’s front tyre exploded just before the start, and Valerio’s one did the same just after the finish. The night did not have many high performance highlights; in fact for the first time in the 2003 series, no Plomesgate rider improved. On the visitors side Paul Watts (Ipswich) improved by just under 2 mins on his best time of last year and Ron Sutton (Godric) had a small improvement over a fortnight ago. The annoying wind that made life hard to the turn was one slowing down factor, another one was probably an unusual amount of traffic: Julie had to fight for the road with horses, Valerio got a chance to teach some basic but fundamental Italian idioms to a couple of motorists, and other riders as well got slowed down by errant cars.

These external factors did not prevent visitor Angus Jardine taking the first spot once again, more than a minute ahead of Godric CC Tim Knights, while Plomesgate’s colours were defended by Big Matt and Steve, respectively 3^rd and 4^th.

I am not sure it is an absolute first, but we had the honour of a British Champion shirt racing on the course: Sarra Whelan, fastest lady on the night and recent grass track British champ, joined the rest of the Whelan family for this last event wearing the prestigious shirt.

A good ride from John Coles in his first time-trial in <cough> years, getting comfortably inside 30 minutes on a difficult night, deserves the last mention of the night.

Foxhall Fridays

The last three events of the season were well attended, and it’s good to see that Jim Ingram was back in action and improving his times.  The

season's records were (400m Time trial):

Age 6,7: (1) Jack Hardwicke, 56.1sec (2) Lawrence Beaumont, 57.5sec

Age 8,9,10: (1) Jenny Hardwicke, 51.9sec (2) Gary Ingram, 52.0 sec

Age 11-14: (1) Helen Dunning, 41.9sec (2) Mark Evans, 42.5sec

Juv/Jnr:   (1) Paul Watts, 32.7sec (2) Kerrick Newstead, 34.7sec

Senior:  (1) Jon Evans, 31.6sec (2) Steve Jones, 33.5sec

Vet:  (1) John Coles, 38.3sec

Thanks to all the riders who showed up throughout the year.  I hope you enjoyed it and will be back next year. If you missed it this year, watch out for the announcements next year!

Steve.

Tour de France

 Mark and Viv spent a fortnight in the Pyrenees, one week on MTB, then the second on road bikes following some of the Tour de France.  Highlights of the holiday included meeting Evert and Annelie in a bike shop in Luchon (Evert was doing his own TdF with Annelie supporting), lots of ‘allez’ encouragement cycling up the Tourmalet, then watching the tour come past – very impressive.  Photos from the road week are available at http://www.velofrance.net.

Dates For The Calendar

7^th September, East Anglia Children’s Hospices Ride for Life, Rendlesham Forest. Contact Simon Hempsall on 01953 888604.

7^th September, Plomesgate Road Race champs at Eastway (part of Ciclos Uno event).  Contact Steve J for further details.

13^th September, GHS National Final, Becky will be riding this on a course in Worcestershire.

14^th September, Ipswich BC Cyclo cross Thorndon near Eye.

20^th September, John Adams is organising an additional club time trial on behalf of the Stowmarket club. It is on a new sporting course of approx 20 miles, based near Debenham and heading north towards Occold. If the event gets sufficient support (and the course works out OK), Stowmarket are intending to hold two Open events on this course next year, and also to promote an Open 10 on the Woolpit-Ixworth course - another sporting course.

21^st September, club run from Saxmundham

28^th September West Suffolk Whlrs Cyclo Cross, Nowton Park, Bury St Edmunds.

12^th October Mildenhall CC Cyclo Cross, Nowton Park, Bury St Edmunds.

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