Matt Willis writes…
Steve Dennis won his third time trial in a row during the fourth round of the East Grinstead Cycling Club evening series last night (Tuesday 23rd May). At the weekend he won the Ray Douglas Memorial 25 mile event, and last Tuesday won the third round of the Evening Series.
Conditions were tough and windy but that didn’t stop Dennis from putting in a very fast time of only just over 23 minutes for the ten mile distance. Mike Anton was second, cementing his position as Dennis’ main challenger this year. Andy Seltzer was third.
Angela Nainby won the women’s event and finished 10th overall, extending her lead in the women’s competition.
Paul Blackmore writes…
Having finally recovered from a personal worst in the freezing cold, I bring you the updated results from last nights ten.
SD won as usual, Mike getting 2nd in a tight battle with AndyS and MattS. On a night where conditions were hard, PaulW had an impressive ride for 5th place.
SD leads by 6pts overall from Mike, Mike leads the seniors with 17pts already 7 clear of 2nd place.
Andy leads the vets comp which looks like being close this year. SD and TedB hoover just behind. The ladies comp is also tight, Angela taking over top spot on 18, Ute on 15 and Lorraine 13.
Full results : S Dennis 0:23:13 M Anton 0:25:31 A Seltzer 0:25:50 M Siwicki 0:25:50 P Winkley 0:26:42 E Boorman 0:27:25 P Blackmore 0:27:26 R Woodward 0:27:40 B Hardisty 0:28:42 A Nainby 0:28:43 U Berkenhoff 0:32:41
Marshall: Rob “the brush” Dickson
Mike A adds… I suggested that Rob bring a brush to clear the road on the T junction. If he was going to at all, I thought he’d bring a broom in his car. But no, he duly cycled out with a hand brush.
TOP effort sir! 🙂
Rob Dickson writes…
My ‘Outlook’ reminder, set approximately 2 months earlier, was swiftly followed by an email from Mike Anton asking me to make sure I brought a broom ‘for the corner’. That evening was my first turn as club marshall on the Horne course, and I knew that for once I mustn’t be late.
On getting ready to leave the house, I realised it was going to be hard enough trying to stay upright using tri bars for the first time, without complying with Mike’s broom request. So with hand brush (and no dustpan) in back pocket, I set off for the course.
Not being the best at cornering, I was actually looking forward to my duties, and to making a mental note of the lines and technique used by the top riders. However, in preparing the corner in accordance with Mike’s instructions, two aspects quickly became apparent. Firstly there is definitely a lot more traffic around the course than one is ever aware of in riding it, and secondly an ordinary dustpan brush is not made for sweeping roads!
On close examination of the debris, in addition to the obvious pile of gravel this was found to contain pieces of glass, several screws, two nuts and a small strangely shaped piece of rusty metal that looked like it might have come off Ted’s first bike. Despite this, after ten minutes perseverance all the gravel and two of my knuckles were in the ditch and I was ready to take up my position.
Sure enough, first man through was Steve D. A smooth glide, no wrestling with his bike – and gone. Steve was quickly followed by Richard W, and a gaggle of three other riders, which from memory contained Paul W, and possibly Ted B and Ben H, all adopting slightly different methods.
Overall, I think I learnt something about cornering, and definitely about sweeping. I also left Horne without burning lungs which was a new experience.
