Kylie Crabb rode her first Spokes event, choosing a tough course for her introduction to cycle racing. Kylie set off on her own into the headwind and soon settled into a steady pace. Ten minutes later Paul Wilson was ready to start and after some negotiation Dean Carroll convinced the starter that this would also be a good time for him to leave. The two were heard discussing 'tactics' - that is if encouraging other to do all the work on the front counts as tactics!
At fifteen minutes Eddie Muller, Andrew Toovey and Seb Moore burst out of the blocks. Seb was on his second ride with Spokes and had shown strong riding in his maiden race. This group was followed five minutes later by the experienced Mort Harslett, Johny Barber, Roger Swan and Julie Firth. Firth has recovered very well from her fall in the previous event and despite some pre race nerves was looking strong and ready to go.
At twenty five minutes the strong group of Peter Johnson, Mike Paxman, Paul Baldock, Paul Matthews, Duane Crabb and Paul Dodson departed. The depth and speed within this group is excellent, albeit there is a mixture of straight speed with ability to climb and so it was important for riders to settle into their strength early on. Mike Paxman travelled in from Kalbarri for the ride and it was fantastic to see him again. Baldock seemed a little concerned to be set off with this group having recently returned from holidays where no cycling had occurred however after careful consideration the handicapper and starter decided some TUC was all that was needed and Baldock was ready to go!
The ride across Morrell Road saw the majority of the placings remain as handicapped, however the cutting hill sorted groups a little more. Seb Moore pulled away from Eddie Muller, having already left Andrew Toovey and then accelerated down the hill and back to Giles Park to take line honours and finish in a corrected time of 1:01:54. Roger Swan and Johny Barber combined well to pull away from Mort Harslett and Julie Firth although both Mort and Julie rode hard all the way to the line to try and reign them back in. Swan and Barber completed the race in 58:30 at a speed of 32.8km/hr.
The scratch group worked hard for the whole race before Paul Dodson was able to finish just ahead of Mike Paxman, followed in by Paul Matthews and Peter Johnson. This group were only separated by 10 seconds across the line. Dodson's time was fastest at 56:04 with an average speed of 34.2km/hr - an excellent result in very trying conditions. Paul Baldock came in just over a minute later closely followed by Paul Wilson and Dean Carroll who were bragging about how awesome their next handicap would be due to this result............the pair finished in 1:12:26 averaging 26.5km/hr which actually sits just 1km/hr less than predicted!
Kylie Crabb rode very well in her first event, crossing the line ahead of Andrew Toovey and husband Duane. Both Andrew and Duane had suffered early in the ride with their usual fast pace not able to be retained across the rolling terrain leading to being separated from their respective groups and subsequently riding alone. Toovey further suffered when results were announced and he realised that his usual 'team mate' Paul Wilson had actually beaten him by 4 seconds. It looks as though Wilson will be expected to ride on the front in future events.
All riders were happy to see the finish line and enjoy a cool drink and one of Vicky's delicious biscuits. Special thanks to Darryl for helping to put the signs out and marshaling and to Tim Glenister for marshaling. The full results are available below and the Picasa Photostream to the right has been updated with some very average photos taken by Bec - photography is not my strong point!
The next event is the Bootenal 5-Stage Tour on Sunday 31st October 2010, starting at 9.00am. This is a fabulous event which challenges all riders - don't be deceived by the distance of each stage - this ride is both exciting and demanding. We look forward to seeing you there.
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