Andy Seltzer writes
Saturday morning dawned very wet and yet again the forecast was right. Saturday also saw the first of the East Sussex C.A. doubleheader weekends with a 10mile trial on Saturday with a 25 on the Sunday. East Grinstead was represented on the Saturday with our top Lens Man Mike Anton and Me.
Showing true dedication to his art Mike had requested to be first rider off so that as soon as he had finished he could start taking pictures. This he did in the pouring rain recording a fairly respectable time of 23mins 48sec, on the out a back course from East Hoathly to Hailsham although Mike wasn’t so pleased it was still good enough for 10th overall.
I by contrast had the luxury of a later start although I knew I would have my work cut out keeping ahead of last man off Christian Yates who was starting four minutes after me. Unfortunately the early season form that was shaping up nicely now seems to have deserted me; the wet and windy ride netted a time of 24mins 42sec, which was good for 16th out of the field of 60. I did manage to stay clear of race winner Christian Yates of In-Gear R.T. who recorded 22mins 02sec.
Once back into the race H.Q. I found Mike wrestling with a camera lens that commanded respect rumour had it that he could take pictures of riders at the turn 5 miles away without leaving the H.Q. This item of bling had generated more interest than any carbon fibre bike, and as usual the results of his work are up to his usual high standard.
As a foot note I had taken my turbo trainer with me to do a warm up but as usual I got chatting and time ran out, however I did notice that being parked next to Christian and arriving at the same time his warm up consisted of sitting in his van listening to the radio until the very last minute and then riding down to the start, as he said “no point being out in the rain any longer than he had to”.
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Mike Anton writes
Saturday morning saw the running of the 10 mile event of the ESCA weekend promotion.
The conditions couldn’t have been more different from last year, with a steady drizzle and a decent chilly easterly wind.
Only two Grinnies entered, Mr Anton off n#1 and Mr Seltzer 55 minutes later.
I was on photo duties hence the n#1 slot and set off at a reasonable pace. The A22 can get quite draggy, especially on the return but at least the wind was in the right direction.
I rolled in with 23:48, eventually good enough for 10th. A quick U turn and change and I set up to shoot the rest of the field.
Andy came 16th with 24:42 with the eventual winner, Kris Yates two minutes behind him.
Kris’s winning time of 22:02 gives you an idea of the conditions, especially when Pete Tadros clocked a 20:48 on the 07 event.
Mike’s pics