On a weekend dominated by wind-related stories Lloyd Chapman and Mandy Bunn were the winners in Cycle Club Sudbury’s Mad March Hilly time trial on the Lavenham-Hadleigh-Monk’s Eleigh circuit, writes Fergus Muir.
Unsurprisingly in the wet and windy conditions Chapman’s time of 50.32 was well off Mark Arnold’s 48:08 course record. Sudbury club members took the next two places with John Bradbury moving up from eighth in last week’s CC Breckland ten to second at Lavenham in 51:50, with last year’s winner Leon West third in 52:03.
Suffolk coastal team Plomesgate got the team prize, however, with Steve Cave on 54:25 and Trevor Caley with 58:24.
Cave described the conditions as “Character building”. He was unlucky that the heaviest rain happened to hit him on the two fastest descents – the Boxted dip and the drop towards Hadleigh.
“I wasn’t able to maximise top speed as I was concentrating on trying to stay on the road.”
The solidly-built Cave took it steadily over the first miles as: “I knew there were lots of the larger hills in the second half, which are never fun for a cake-eating cyclist like myself.”
There seems general agreement that the wind swung in the course of the event. Early starter Simon Daw said the wind was bad for him,
“But was certainly even less kind to the late starters, who had a headwind gale on the run-in to the finish.”
Daw (52:20) was fourth overall riding in the colours of his new team Datalynx-Parenesis, sponsored by a Southend IT firm. Junior team member Isabella Johnson was second fastest woman in 1:04:46.
Gavin Lewis (53:15) was fastest rider from the Velo Schils team while Paul Rooke (53:57) was quickest West Suffolk Wheeler. Adrian Pettit headed the list of Stowmarket club members with his 54:39 and Nick Webber of Hadleigh CC was their fastest finisher in 55:37.
Riders in the Horsepower 200 kilometre Audax faced the toughest conditions on the leg between the main checkpoints at Snetterton and Newmarket – place-names that are the origin of the event title.
The event started and finished in Dunmow, heading outwards via Sudbury and returning south through Bartlow. There was also a 100 km mini-version out to Newmarket and back.
One rider described how: “Somewhere near Troston a mighty gust just cuffed me onto the verge.” Fortunately, the only damage was to his dignity.
Ian Reid of VC Baracchi reported: “It became a struggle simply to keep the bike upright let alone make forward progress.”
For Reid the event was a first qualifying ride for entry to the 1200 km Paris-Brest-Paris Audax that is his main target for 2019.
He completed the Horsepower 200 in eight hours riding time – plus another hour at the control cafes.
But it is not necessary to go this fast. CTC Cycling campaigner John Thompson took 12 hours and was well within the time limit.
With high winds forcing the last-minute cancellation of the Jock Wadley Memorial race, interest re-focused on the Ike Saul race in Cambridgeshire.
The 65 mile race for second, third and fourth category riders was based at the village of Toft and was won by Jamie Wimborne of Writtle College-based Team OnForm.
Ben Beynon took second place and teammates from Norfolk-based Strada Sport were fourth (Seb Herrod) and eighth (Tiago Fougo).
The race started in difficult conditions – “Chucking it down” said Chelmsford Junior Aaron Freeman, who is now with development team CPS and looking towards the National Junior Series.
In these conditions an early break slipped off the front and was never caught.
The rain stopped but the wind remained and several individuals made bridging moves with mixed results. Freeman eventually headed a fragmented bunch in for ninth place.
This coming Saturday West Suffolk Wheelers hold their hilly season-opener on a Risby-Lackford-Cavenham circuit while on Sunday there is mountain bike racing at Henham Park near Southwold. See www.mudsweatgears.co.uk for details.
RESULTS: CC SUDBURY MAD MARCH HILLY 22, Lavenham:
1 Lloyd Chapman (Plomesgate CC) 50:32, 2 John Bradbury (CC Sudbury) 51:50, 3 Leon West (CC Sudbury) 52:03, 4 Simon Daw (Datalynx-Parenesis ) 52:20, 5 Gavin Lewis (Velo Schils) 53:15, 6 Lee Kennedy(Army CA) 53:48, 7 Paul Rooke (West Suffolk Whs) 53:57, 8 Steve Cave (Plomesgate CC) 54:25, 9 Adrian Pettitt (Stowmarket & District CC) 54:39, 10 Stuart Fairweather (VeloVelocity) 54:51, 11, 12 Colin Lewin (Velo Schils) 56:41
IKE SAUL ROAD RACE, Toft Cambridgeshire:
1 Jamie Wimborne (CT OnForm), 2 Ben Beynon (Strada-Sport), 3 BenThompson (Team LDN), 4 Seb Herrod (Strada-Sport), 5 Roman Piotrowski, 6 Toby Miles (Finchley RT), 7 Gregg Booker (Loughborough Students), 8 Tiago Fougo (Strada-Sport), 9 Aaron Freeman (Cycling Performance Squad), 10 George Olive (Finchley RT).
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