Some fast friends……………
Spokes Cycle Club started its 2011 calendar with a Bring a Friend - 15km Pairs Time Trial on the Deepdale Circuit. Some old and some new friendships were formed and eleven teams lined up in preparation for the handicap start. It was great to see a mixture of teams with many experienced riders teaming up with newer cyclists - Bec Swan and Kylee Crabb were one such team and headed off first. They were closely followed by experienced duo Darryl and Vicky Sheilds and then Duane and Mitchell Crabb. This was Mitchell's second ride with the Club and as a junior he rides with more restrictive gears, not that this slowed him down!
Barb Glenister and Paula Purcher joined forces with Barb excited to be out on her new bike! Roger Swan introduced fellow mountain biker Tim Rogers to the joys of road riding and were next to leave - this was Tim's first event with the Club and having now seen him in lycra we reckon he is a natural! They were followed by Patrick Bettridge and Jarrod Bell. Rumour has it that Patrick and Jarrod had got talking after seeing each other out training and consequently teamed up for the Spokes event. The more experienced teams were next to leave with Tim Glenister and Julie Firth joining forces, followed by Reg Salmon and Dave Kakuscek, and the very speedy duos of Paul Matthews and Gav Keyser and Paul Dodson and Paul Hearne. Johno teamed up with close friend Paula for the event and this was her first introduction to cycle racing - welcome Paula and we hope to see you at future events.
With all the teams on the road the pace was on and really varied amongst all. The strong winds made the back straight of the Deepdale Circuit quite tough and this is where the experienced teams really benefitted. The placings of the teams continued to change as the race progressed and those that were able to work together maintained consistent speed throughout. Bec Swan and Kylee Crabb were reigned in early by Darryl and Vicky Sheilds who went on to cross the line first.
Tim Glenister and Julie Firth were held up by a grain truck and were given a 20 second time alteration by the very generous timekeeper. Roger Swan got a flat tyre which he tried to blame on wife Bec as she had pumped the tyres up pre race. Roger's team mate, Tim, was pretty happy for the rest albeit he did think Roger could have been a little slower in effecting his tube change to allow for a longer break!
Second to cross the line was Bec Swan and Kylee Crabb - this duo was excited to have held off the extremely fast finishing Paul Matthews and Gav Keyser and Paul Dodson and Paul Hearne. Matthews and Keyser averaged 35.8km/hr for the event with Dodson and Hearne extremely quick at 37.0km/hr around the circuit. These are great speeds when viewed against a strong and warm breeze - it's also fair to say that Dodo probably didn't benefit too much from using Hearney as a wind break considering Paul's slightly smaller stature.
Tim Glenister and Julie Firth were next to finish and they were followed in by Patrick Bettridge and Jarrod Bell, and Reg Salmon and Dave Rakuscek who averaged 32.8km/hr. Barb Glenister and Paula Purcher combined really well to cross the line with an average of 28.2km/hr and they were followed in by Duane and Mitchell Crabb, Roger Swan and Tim Rogers and Johno and Paula.
The announcement of corrected times following the race identified one clear winner in the Crabb family and that was Kylee - it might be time for Mitchell to ride with mum as she was faster than dad around the circuit on this occasion! Many thanks to Barb for her delicious slice post race - much appreciated by all.
Thanks to Ian Andrews, Dom Micono, Peter Burchell and Sharon for running the event, marshalling and timekeeping and to Tim and Barb for putting out the signs. A full list of corrected results is below.
Our next event is the Australia Day Individual Road Race - this is an exciting 20km race around the Deepdale Circuit with prizes for placings and also novelty. Please stay around for a lamington after the ride!
