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	Plomesgate Cycling Club
	www.plomesgate.co.uk

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August Fun Day

Thanks to Jim and Hazel for an excellent day.

Eleven riders toured the sandy tracks of Tunstall Forest in excellent weather. Tony and Steve are pictured above struggling to keep up with James Ingram!

Well-chilled drinks and a tasty barbecue were followed by chilling out in the Ingram’s garden.  The bouncy castle was a hit with the younger element.  Commiserations to Andrew Whelan, who hurt his ankle jumping onto the bouncy castle, and ended up in plaster from the knee down.  Hope it’s better soon!!

September Club run

Please note, September’s club run is this Sunday, 12^th September, from the Elms Car Park in Framlingham, with route courtesy of Becky.  The ride starts at 10am.  It’s Trevor’s birthday, so expect cakes somewhere en route.

October Club run 1

Plomesgate will be supporting the CTC off-road ride at Bromeswell on 17^th October.  Contact Pete Whelan for details.

October Club run 2

On the 31^st October there is another mountain bike ride, this time in Thetford Forest.  Meet at the Brandon Country Park car park, just south of Brandon on the B1105.  Meet at 11am, for a ride round the black run and any other interesting tracks.  We’ll probably stop at the Forest Lodge café for refreshments.  Fancy dress optional (it is Halloween).

National Track Champs

I am writing this having just returned from Newport where Becky was competing in the Youth (Under 16) national Track Championships. After sitting her GCSEs Becky started to train hard over the last few weeks and arrived at Newport with fairly high expectations having been won Silver and Bronze last year. We were not sure of her form and we just hoped that she hadn't overdone it and turned up feeling tired.

The first event was the 500m TT. This event was won last year by Jenny Middlehurst with 39.3, Becky was third last year with 39.7, the British Record stood at 39.1s,but Becky knew there was a new "kid on the block" Anna Blyth had reportedly done 38.3 in training. Out of the 20 girls Anna was drawn to go third from last, Becky next, then defending champion Jenny off last. The times were looking slower than last year at Manchester, seeming to confirm our suspicions that Newport was slower. Katie Curtis was leading with 40.194. Anna was on the line. The first lap was quick and as she powered down the back straight on her tri bars the clock stopped at an amazing 38.775s, a new British Record ! Next up was Becky, choosing not to use Tri Bars relying more on sheer power. Becky blasted off as usual and the first lap was the fastest, could she hold on, flying around the last bend, heaving on the bars...it was close.....39.187s. Just 1/100th outside the old record and 4/10ths behind Anna. It was a medal but what colour? Next up was defending champion Jenny Middlehurst, but she just couldn't match Anna or Becky and finished 3rd in 40.021. So it was silver for Becky and a new pb by 6/10ths of a second.

Second day and it was the qualifying round of the sprint competition. The competition starts with a qualifying 200m TT and based on the times the top 12 go through to the match sprint phase and are seeded according to their times, so it is important to get a good time, ideally in the top 2 so you don't meet the top seed until later in the competition.

The starting order showed Becky going off last, with Anna going one before her. We watched as the times being done looked quick and I could see Becky getting more nervous. Her best was 13.7s and already there was a 13.4, a 13.2 and a 13.1. Next was Anna she flew off the banking and launched into her last 200m, it was fast....12.891 again a new British Record beating the old record of 12.937 previously held by none other than Nicole Cooke! Last up was Becky, she had seen Anna's time and was now circling the track, she had to improve her pb by about 0.6 or 0.7 of a second to get a good draw. Flying off the banking she was really going for it...it was close...was it going to be sub 13.....13.051s. Again second to Anna but an amazing improvement on her pb of 7/10ths of a second.

In the first round Becky drew Laura Trott, a young rider from Welwyn, who shows a lot of talent for the future. Becky cruised to a win and was through to the quarter finals.

Those girls not getting through the first round get a second chance to qualify through the repechage, the fastest repechage winner then gets to race against the second seed, Becky. Last year this benefited Becky as she came through the repechage and then beat the second seed eventually getting to the final. This year one of Becky's biggest rivals Bridie Hindle, did the same. She won her repechage and then was up against Becky in the quarter Finals. Bridie rides the sprint from low on the track and winds it up from the gun, not Becky's favourite way of sprinting but effective against explosive sprinters like Becky. This was her downfall, Bridie won the first match, Becky got the better of her in Match B, then Bridie repeated her tactics and beat Becky in Match C. Becky was out while Bridie went on to the semi finals and eventually the Bronze medal. Becky eventually finished in 6th place. The sprint was won fairly easily by Anna Blyth from Katie Curtis.

As Becky was not through to the semis of the sprint she was entered for the points race. Not renown for her endurance lining up for a 60 lap race sounded a bit daunting. Points are awarded 5,3,2,1 for the first four over the line on Laps 10,20,30,40, 50 and 60. Any one who laps the field automatically gets an extra 20pts. At 8 laps gone and the speed goes up ready for the first sprint, Becky is well positioned, into Lap 10 and Becky is near the front, not blocked in, off the banking and she gets the sprint, Becky is leading. Immediately though three girls from the Cardiff Ajax launch an attack, and although the bunch tried to get them back they eventually lapped the field and the top three places were decided. Becky eventually retired after 31 laps, only seconds before a nasty crash, which I am sure she would have got caught up in had she not retired.

I am now emotionally drained having shared both the jubilation and disappointment, but Becky is pleased with how the championships went and is looking forward very much to the future.

Trevor

Plomesgate Grass Track

Our second grass track meeting was held on 14^th August at St Mary’s School playing field in Woodbridge on a gloriously hot day using a 200m track.  A packed programme for the afternoon, of 21 events for all abilities, went smoothly, with only one minor crash in the team sprint when Becky Figgitt (Plomesgate CC) and Claire Larbey (Mildenhall CC) managed to touch wheels and come down; resulting in a few minor grazes to Claire.

Visiting rider, Neil Withington (BC private member), from Cumbria took away the majority of the senior prizes, as did Matthew Cook (Mildenhall CC) in the Under 12 events.  In the ladies events, Becky Figgitt, Noel James (Mildenhall CC) and Emma Hurrell (CC Breckland) claimed most of the top three prizes, with Emma doing exceptionally well, for her age, in the distance events.

Plomesgate had a good number of novice riders, with Mark Howlett showing very good form in most events, especially the 40 lap, 8km event, where he achieved 3^rd.

Thanks to sponsorship from Elmy Cycles of Ipswich, Thomas’s Cycle Revolution of Ipswich, Condor Cycles of London, 53-12 of Colchester, Mornington Consulting Ltd of Ipswich and  BT, the prize list totaled about £250 from which the majority of riders benefited.

Pete

Club Road Race

Matt Donaldson added the club Road Race trophy to his cabinet in a closely fought race at Eastway. Matt, Richard Tateson, Steve Jones, Valerio Malenchino and Mark Howlett contested the trophy on Sunday 22nd August as part of the Ciclos Uno event: 1 hour plus 5 laps of the one mile circuit.

The weather was perfect - dry, warm, sunny with light cloud and a moderate breeze. The field of more than 70 riders was split into two groups: '4th cats' (including all five PCCers) and novices. These groups then raced independently, although interesting interactions are of course possible as the slower riders are overhauled by the quick bunch.

The pace was good right from the start. Matt and Mark slotted in towards the front of the bunch and Steve, Valerio and Richard lurked further back waiting to see how things would unfold. There was some activity at the front during the opening 40 minutes, with several half-breaks gaining a few metres and Mark and Matt were always on hand to exploit anything promising, but with the bunch speed rising (giving an eventual average of nearly 25mph), everything got reeled back in.

Around 45 minutes Richard moved up to the front to join Matt and Mark. 5 minutes later Matt and Richard were in a six man break that looked as if it might get somewhere. Mark decided to wait and see rather than get across and this proved a good decision as the six all looked at each other and were caught after a lap or so with Steve and Mark leading the chase.

Shortly after, with the bunch together but stretched, disaster hit Mark as he grounded a pedal on the hairpin and went down hard. Another rider came down too, but was able to continue thanks to having his landing thoughtfully cushioned by Mark. Mark himself was not so lucky, severely grazed and bleeding and with his bike unrideable he was also gutted to have crashed out when keenly in the hunt for the cup.

Attacks were now becoming more frequent as the hour drew to a close. Matt and Richard had a bit of fun with one or two three-man breaks but nothing could get away.

Into the last five laps the pace picked up another notch as usual. With 2.5 miles left Richard made his bid for glory, squeezing through a closing gap, and flirting briefly with the grass before setting off up the road. Luck was on his side, with Matt temporarily boxed, and it looked as if he might have made the decisive move. By the hairpin on the penultimate lap he could look back and see a useful gap. Matt meanwhile had decided that no-one else was going to pull Richard back and, on the front of the bunch again, he began to chase.

Richard was now closing fast on the novice bunch and despite using valuable lung power for shouts of 'track!' etc. he had some difficulty squeezing past, once again making use of 'un-tarmacked' parts of the course. Seconds later the novices got another ear-bashing as Matt came through their bunch at the head of the main group, also yelling for all he was worth. As he cleared the novices, Matt had Richard well in his sights and he was up on his shoulder just as they crossed the line on the bell.

Looking across and seeing Matt, Richard realised his only chance was to hold Matt's wheel for the last mile and hope that the chase had taken the sting out of Matt's sprint. As the scramble for the sprint kicked in however Matt, alert for any Plomesgate jerseys looming in his peripheral vision, had shaken Richard off. Steve was still on the pace but couldn't make up places fast enough to get back in with a shout. Valerio meanwhile had fared worst of all in the tangle with the novice bunch, ending up following a novice wheel much to his disgust.

That's how the order stayed across the line: Matt taking the cup in 7th place overall, with Richard another 7 places and 3 seconds back, Steve in 22nd place a further 2 seconds down and Valerio claiming 46th.

Reunited with Mark after the finish he was found to be bearing the disappointment and the pain stoically. He seemed to have managed to lose at least some skin from every limb and digit - his scars will be on display at the next club event he can drag his crispy body to.

The unofficial cup presentation took place in the unsalubrious surroundings of the Eastway changing rooms and everyone acknowledged a great race and a worthy winner, made to earn his prize with fast, competitive rides from his clubmates. It's a great reflection on the rapid improvement in Plomesgate road racing that we had all five club members comfortably living with a pace that proved too hot for all but Richard in the same event last year.

Richard

Evening ‘10’s

29^th July

A fatal road accident on the A12 prevented the use of the normal B10/9 course. The police were regulating the traffic at Turnstall, and were unable to let the riders though.  As an alternative, the riders used the shorter emergency course: usual start, turn left at Turnstall Common, and then at Butley left again on B1084 to finish at the normal finish line. The course is about 8 miles long, and hillier than the B10/9.

Visitor John Gabriel seemed to enjoy the hills, finishing first just 3 seconds in front of Matt and about 40 seconds in front of Pete.

The new course gave some problems to visitor John Vidler, who accustomed to the normal course from years of practice, forgot the turn at Turnstall Common and was shouted back to the right course by fast approaching Tony. Apart from this misadventure, the riders seemed to like the backup course.

12^th August

Matt was a bit slower than usual, but still fast enough to take first place in front of Pete and Mark H. Mark H, Tony, Adrian, and Ron registered a new PB, while Jim matched his best time on course to the second.

With only one event to go, the battle for the handicap competition took a new twist, with Ron ousting Matt from the lead with an impressive 19:59. The handicap battle seems to be restricted between Ron, Matt, Mark and Adrian, but Ron is now the bookies’ favourite, especially as Mark is on time-keeping duty for the last race.

With her best time on the course for this year, Viv increases her lead in the Ladies competition.

26^th August

Visitor Angus put on a good performance to take this last event.  Big Matt probably paid the price for celebrating last week's Plomesgate road title, and had to settle for second, while Steve took third place recording his best time on course for the series. Good things come to those who wait …

A good performance from Viv as well: she recorded a second consecutive best time on course for the season, despite just missing her original start time and having to start last, chasing Matt!

All the others will have to wait for next year.

Hope you enjoyed this series as I have, see you all at the start next year.

Valerio

Mildenhall Rally

It was a fairly successful weekend for Plomesgaters over the Bank Holiday at the traditional Mildenhall meeting. With over 80 riders entered the organiser decided to split the Sunday programme into two Omniums (omnium = collection of events, winner is person with least amount of points after all events), one for sprinters (Trevor) and one for endurance riders (Pete), see below. There was also a handicap system so at the end of the day prizes were awarded for scratch placings and also handicap. The sprinters omnium consisted of a 500m, 100m sprint and a Keirin. Trevor finished 12th in the 500m, 7th in the 1000m and 5th in the Keirin, after some argy bargy in the heat caused promoting club's Keith Richardson to be disqualified. This meant that after the points had been tallied Trevor finished 6th in the Omnium on scratch and won the handicap due to his generous allowance.

Meanwhile in the Ladies events Becky finished second behind Rusine Airstone (VC St Raphael) in the 500m, but got her revenge the next day in the 400m handicap. Starting 10m behind the newly crowned National Champ Becky exploded away from the start, aided a bit by an excellent push by Alan Watts. She had overhauled Rusine with about 300m to go and held the gap to win by a length.

Pete's account of his weekend at Mildenhall.

 Saturday was reasonably relaxing for me, only advising Sarra at times during the day and talking to folks, asking about us, laughing about Andrew's injury.

Sunday was going to be a gruelling day, with a set of endurance events for me. The 12 lap 3km opener was a bit short for me, as I was still picking people off, though I did reasonably well. The 31 lap 8km, last in the national series league, was probably my best ride on the day, coming in 8^th. The commentator thought I was struggling at the back on some of the early laps, so I made a jump around the bunch to jump off the front the next lap and split the field into a more manageable group. The pace stayed fairly high from there on. In the 20 lap points race, I thought my only chance of getting any points was to go straight from the gun for the first set of points at lap 5, I didn't manage it, but I did succeed in blowing the rest of the field away to leave 7 of us in the leading bunch. In the devil I was one of the first out, so not too high a position. At the end of the endurance omnium, I was 10th overall and 5th on handicap. In the World hoop championship I was a top 10 finisher (even though the commentator kept calling me Trevor). Sunday was a good start for me, managing to get into the 800m handicap final, eventually coming 7th. Sarra was defending her ladies title, and cruised through her initial heat to the final, only to be descended on by the TV cameras for little interviews. She knew she was up against some stiff competition, as Rusine Airstone was out for revenge. Sarra was only just beaten to 2nd. The rest of my day wasn't that exciting. I tried hard in the 8km event, but was still a bit tired from the previous day. I did my normal ' kill the field off' , then tried to control it , but the bunch I was in had other ideas, I was out of the points, so called it a day. In the final devil of the afternoon, I got 5th.

Pete

Committee Stuff

At the recent committee meeting there was a discussion regarding John Chalker's desire to relinquish the Chairman's post and also Trevor Figgitt has expressed a desire (again) to step down from the secretary's position.

Suggestions that have been put forward are that the Chairman's role be broadened to include some of the General Secretary's duties, the General Secretary's role could then become more of Competition/Racing Secretary role. Trevor has said that if his work load could be lightened then he would be happy to take on the new position of Chairman, carrying on with some of the general day to day club stuff as well, this just means we need a new Secretary/Competition Secretary. The next meeting is scheduled for Sept 15th, the AGM is usually held by the third week in November. We need to resolve this by the AGM, so all volunteers, form an orderly queue please !

Results

19^th August 5 mile TT

With damp roads and a gusting wind, there were no records set on the second 5 mile TT of the year.  Steve was first back, Matt did the fastest time, and Valerio failed to finish again.  Pete road the 5 for the first time, and recorded a sub 12 minute ride.

22^nd August Shrublands MTB

This was an excellent course (approx 4 miles), with a good mix of fast tracks, single track, sandy bits, and a bomb hole.  Mark B rode the advanced race (6 laps), finishing 11^th.  Viv rode the intermediate race (4 laps), finishing 26^th and 1^st lady.

2^nd September Plomesgate P&M 2 up

The first edition of the Plomesgate “Pick and Mix” 2-up saw Matt and Paul clear winners, but a very close competition for the rest of the podium, with three teams in the space of about 20 seconds. At the end, Stephen and Valerio manage to clinch the second place, just in front of Jim H. and Trevor, with Jim I. and Becky close by.

In 5^th place, Harry took advantage of Richard’s partnership to record his best time on course, just shy of breaking the 33 minutes barrier.

This first edition was a bit of an experiment: the riders were seeded in two groups (let’s say “the improving” and “the improved”) based on their best time on course this year, and then the teams were drawn just before the start. The result was good fun, making riding our well known course a new experience, each team having to adapt the team strategy to the luck of draw.

All the riders seemed to have enjoyed the experience.

5^th September Thorndon cyclo cross

This was the traditional opening event of the cyclo cross season at Thorndon near Eye, but the weather was hardly traditional. In temperatures over 25C, the riders slogged there way around a tough bumpy course.

Plomesgate CC was well represented. In the Under 12's Jack Hardwicke did well in his first cyclo cross and finished 7th. Meanwhile in the hour long Senior event, Jack's father, Jim, again in his first cross event, turned out a solid performance to finish 37th. Riding her first Senior cross Becky finished a little further back in 43rd place, despite initially being ahead of Jim at the start of the race, Jim eventually passed Becky. Becky was second lady on the day but leads in the Eastern Cross League.

Another Plomesgater present was Pete Whelan who was one of the commissaires for the events.

Dunwich Dynamo

31st July / 1St August

The Dunwich Dynamo is a night time event allegedly started by a bunch of couriers who decided one summer night after work to go to the beach.  It's approximately 120 miles from Hackney in London to the beach at Dunwich. It's traditionally run on the Saturday night nearest the full moon in July, starting around sunset at 9 P.M. with the idea being to arrive at Dunwich after 6 A.M. in time to get a fry up at the Cafe and then go for a swim.

I had been interested in doing the ride last year but couldn't find anyone to go with so had missed out, this year Tony Nelson was interested in coming so we decided to brave the train to London and take part. We arrived at London Fields Park with plenty of time to spare and so we settled down to watch the other riders arrive and to watch the locals play frisbee and start barbecues. By 8:45 the park was swarming with cyclists of all types there were mountain bikes, road bikes, recumbents, couriers on fixed wheel bikes of every shape and size imaginable. I spotted the guy handing out the route sheet so wandered over to get a couple of copies for us while Tony helped a guy with some last minute brake maintenance.

At 9 P.M people started drifting away so Tony and I drifted along with them - the route at first was a bit complicated so we just stuck with a couple of guys who looked like they knew the way, after a few minutes though the route was much more obvious as we could see lines of blinking red bike lights leading away as far as the eye could see. I have never seen so many cyclists on the road at any one time, and it made the journey out of London all the more enjoyable as we seemed to get a little more respect from the traffic than usual, probably because we outnumbered them for a change.

After a few more miles the string of lights was getting much more broken and we where making good speed as both Tony and I had a tendency to chase for any lights we saw in the distance. At Epping it was getting pretty dark and the light we had hoped to get from the full moon wasn't forthcoming as the sky was so overcast, so Tony was forced to switch over to his Lumicycle light which pretty much turned the night to day and this lasted (just about) till sunrise.

 After a couple of hours and about a quarter of the way through the route, I had a puncture so we stopped by the side of the road switched on the Petzl head torches and sorted it out, the only problem was no matter how hard we looked we couldn't find whatever it was that had caused the hole, so had to trust that it wasn't still in the tyre. From this point on until the stop, jam jars with candles in had been placed along the road every now and then, just to let you know that you were still on the right track, which was quite a relief at time when you hadn't seen any other riders for a while.

A couple more hours of riding down dark and mostly empty country lanes, during which time we saw surprisingly little wildlife and also noticed that in this part of Essex the village hall was a much more popular night out than the local pub. We eventually arrived at the halfway point and a welcome stop in Gt Waldringfield at just before 1 A.M which was on schedule. The hall had been taken over just for the event and you could purchase a large plate of spicy black beans and rice with as much salad as you could cram onto your plate for £3.50, so we did, as we sat and ate, the hall slowly filled up with more and more people, as we had been some of the first riders to arrive.

After stuffing our faces, we went and sat at the back of the hall for a bit, as there was no point in leaving too early as the cafe at Dunwich wouldn't open till 6 A.M. Tony tried to have a nap and I refilled my water bottles and did a spot of people watching, had to laugh at the bunch of earnest guys doing impressive yoga style stretching exercises, also spotted a guy on a fixie who seemed to be going along in nothing more than a white linen shirt and trousers and a pair of sandals whilst smoking a large spliff, presumably to keep himself warm. There was also a collection of roadies all wearing extremely cool 70's retro Italian racing jerseys - I want one!

At 2:30 we donned an extra layer of clothing and set off, as it was now getting pretty cold. The next few hours till dawn were quite surreal, it was very quiet, no wildlife, no people and no cars, just dark country lanes with our lights picking out a patch of road ahead and the whirr and whoosh of our bikes on the tarmac. Around 3 O'clock literally in the middle of nowhere we saw 3 guys in tuxedos wandering along the road if they were going home, they must have had quite a way to go, I'm guessing they thought we were at least as mad as we thought they were. The dawn come upon us slowly without us noticing it at first, as it was still very overcast there was no sun to see, it just slowly got gradually brighter and Tony's Lumicycle gave up at just about the same time we no longer needed our front lights.

It was fully light, though still grey and cold when we finally arrived at Dunwich at around 5:30 and I had just enough energy for a sprint finish. After waiting around in the cold for half an hour for the cafe to open, we piled in and ordered ourselves a well deserved fried breakfast. Tony had dragged his swimming costume and towel the full 112 miles but it was so cold that we decided we would skip the swim and head for home. The ride home from Dunwich to Wickham Market was probably the worst hour in the saddle I have ever had, it felt like someone had stuffed my saddle with razor blades while I was eating breakfast, but we still made good time. I arrived home at 7:50, was in the bath by 8:00 and asleep by 8:30.

If you had asked me if I was going to do it again on the Sunday, I would have said no, but by Monday I was already thinking about next years event, it was a great event and apparently of the 400 plus riders who took part only a couple failed to finish. I can't wait till next year.

Dates For The Calendar

12^th September, Club run, Framlingham.

17^th October, CTC off-road ride, Bromeswell.

31^st October, Plomesgate club run, Thetford.

Tuesday evenings – MTB ride from Snape crossroads at 7:30.  Contact Mark or Viv if you’d like to ride as we do sometimes start elsewhere.

Newsletter 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

For Sale

Trek MT60, suitable for a 7-9 year old - an aluminium mountain bike with front suspension, RRP £169.99 for the 2003 model. It was won in July 2003 but may be the previous year's model, as the colours are royal blue/black.

You can view it on the Trek web site www.trekbike.co.uk/bikes/2003/kids/20/mt_track60.php.

Brand new, totally unused (my nephew won it, but it was too small for him).

£130 – or make an offer.

If you are (even vaguely) interested in the bike please can you ring on 01728 452143 or e-mail Viv before 16^th September.  It is currently in my sister’s garage in Glasgow, and I am seeing her on 18^th September so can ask her to bring it to Suffolk.  This could be done at a later date, so don’t hesitate to ring after that date.