Three GYCC riders joined 30 other riders at Godric Cycling Club’s Tuesday 10 mile time trial. Weather conditions were very windy and times were not expected to be fast, but Jonny Hawes managed to improve on his personal best over that distance by 13 seconds recording 23.29. Jan Smith also succeeded in improving on her personal best that evening, managing to take 7 seconds off and taking her time to 27.59. Jenny Anderson completed the course in 26.33. The event was won by VCB rider, Mark Richards, in a time of 21.57.
Wednesday saw a cold and wet evening at Lotus Race league. Commissionaires warned riders to be careful on the bends and chicanes. The advice lasted until the first bend and it was full gas from then on. A couple of early breaks were chased down by Mark Nickerson with help from Chris Thornton, Andrew Kettless and Clive Julian. GYCC were in the top 10 positions for the rest of the race with Mark doing plenty of work on the front until about the half distance when he pulled up due to lack of interest from any of the other competing teams in sharing the work load. Clive then took up the mantle for GYCC and rode between 1st and 2nd wheel until the last lap. Then,due to a lack of concentration, he got boxed in and again had to sprint from the last bend on the outside, but he eventually managed 10th. Chris and Andrew finally found a way through, taking excellent 4th and 8th positions respectively.
GYCC’s weekly TT on the Somerleyton circuit saw 20 riders take part. Weather conditions were warm with no wind. The lack of wind can actually be a disadvantage to riders. Louis Julian was the fastest of the GYCC riders, completing the circuit in 24.40 and taking 2nd place. 3rd place was also taken by a GYCC rider, Larry Colby, who managed 24:50. The event was won by Zak Coleman of Team Pedal Revolution who took 1st place by over 2 minutes with 22:16.
On Saturday, Stowmarket and District CC held their circuit race at RAF Woodbridge. Louis Julian rode the 3rd Cat. Louis was very active in the first half and kept trying attacks but could not get anything to stick. He did manage a 3 man break for about a lap and a half, but the windswept home straight along the runway brought them back. The sprint for the finish was fast at around 38mph and was only for the big thighs. Louis rolled in about 15-20th place.
Clive Julian rode the 4th Cat event. He was riding about 5th to 7th wheel from the start to the sprint finish, but a big pile-up by the riders alongside him in the last 500 metres resulted in hard braking to avoid being part of it. Clive avoided the crash, but the sprint for the line was lost and he rode in at the back of the bunch.
On Saturday also, sisters Jacky Manser and Helen Regan joined over 2300 woman for the Ride the Night – Women v Cancer. They set off at 22:30 on a 104KM route, starting and ending at Royal Windsor Park and following the Thames as far as Aldwych. The London Eye was lit up pink to welcome riders into the city. Helen, who is new to cycling and has only been with the club for 6 months, and Jacky raised over £800 for charity. An excellent achievement.
