Firstly thanks to Jimmy Williams for drumming up help for marshalling and laying out the safety signs for the event. Also thanks to the marshalls who stood on the corners and Ann and Graham all standing in the rain for just a hand full of riders. We only had 8 riders and one of those from another club but those who did ride seemed to enjoy the ride. I encourage other riders to take part in future as 25 miles is really not that far, especially if you can ride for several hours on a club run.
Jonno Gibson is enjoying his new found passion of cycling and experiencing everything on offer and as such his 1:13:21 (20.4498 mph) was a great first 25 at above evens (20 mph) pace. Steve Marlow is also good for having a go at anything and his 1:11:20 (20.7373 mph) was also good on a windy evening.
A big jump next to Colin Carthy who is knocking out consistently good rides at 10 miles and his 25 is no slower with a 1:05:52 (22.7732 mph), nice one Colin. Ride of the night for me was our newest club member Andy Milligan from Davenham. Talking to him before the start he mentioned that last week’s club 10 was his first ever time trial and he did a 23! Tonight he showed that his experience on the bike is clearly well developed as he did an astonishing 1:01:38 (24.3374 mph) which for a second ever time trial and first ever 25 is amazing. I’m sure we will hear a lot more from Andy over the coming months / years if he can build on this fantastic start. He very nearly won a bronze in the club champs!
Fortunately yours truly salvaged the bronze from a very lack lustre season. I was more than happy with my 1:01:04 (24.5633 mph) on zero training. I felt like packing at Cranage but by lap 2 I was feeling quite good. Silver place went to the man who is coming into form just in time for the 12 hour in 2 weeks time. I got caught up in a temporary road race at Byley when he, Jim Duffy and Simon Bridge all caught me within a very short space of time. In our high speed(ish) game of leapfrog, Simon jumped all 3 of us once and was never seen again. Jim however jumped over Al and then me and Al jumped him back on King St, only be taken again further down the same road. This clearly did Al’s average speed no harm as he stopped the clock with a rapid 58:07 (25.8101 mph).
Jim Duffy continued his Annus Marvelous by taking yet another club championship with a 57:02 (26.3004 mph and slow for him!). He definitely dipped after catching me, probably because that was his main aim finished for the day so I nearly caught him back about half a mile later. He then picked up again but Al could sense blood so successfully humiliated him by catching him up the road. Now I’m not suggesting that the pair of them were riding a 2-up as that could result in disqualification and would make me club champion but you never know who to trust these days what with blood doping and hidden motors. I could hear a definite whining noise when Jim passed me but I think that was him chunnering about the rain and the fact that his average power was down by 3 watts!
Simon Bridge completed the line up and showed us all how a top rider does it with a 55:10 (27.1903 mph). Believe it or not that is slow for Simon as he is taking things easy these days. I think he need a new challenge and should try a trike …. that way we may have a bit more of a chance, either that or he would show us up even more by still stuffing us on 3 wheels.
| No | Name | Club | Time |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Simon Bridge | Manchester BC | 55:10 |
| 2 | Jim Duffy | Weaver Valley CC | 57:02 |
| 3 | Alistair Stanway | Weaver Valley CC | 58:07 |
| 4 | Dave Fearon | Weaver Valley CC | 1:01:04 |
| 5 | Andy Milligan | Weaver Valley CC | 1:01:38 |
| 6 | Colin Carthy | Weaver Valley CC | 1:05:52 |
| 7 | Steve Marlow | Weaver Valley CC | 1:11:20 |
| 8 | Jonno Gibson | Weaver Valley CC | 1:13:21 |
Alistair’s race face.
The usual car-park car-boot pre-race jabber…
Alistair’s excuse just in case he went slow tonight.
