Fun on Foundation Day……..
On a windy Foundation Day morning, sixteen riders decided against a public holiday sleep in and headed to Jandanol to brave the elements and the course.
Kelly Eastough chose this less than friendly circuit to debut as a rider to Spokes and was joined by cycling enthusiast Bec Swan for a three lap social sojourn. With the girls not partaking in the 'race', this left fourteen serious contenders to group start.
The bunch start saw the group remain as one for most of the first lap. Restricted gears for junior riders Jonty Calder and Mitchell Crabb had them unable to sustain the pace and drop from the back of the peloton. Calder did well to remain in touch with the group until the first lap climb at which time experience and more varied gear selection saw stronger riders pulling away.
Rhonda Bradley showed her spinning prowess and consistency with regular lap times.
At the front of the bunch Andre Eastough, Simon Mulligan and Paul Matthews used the hill climb to ride away from Darryl Sheilds and Simon Teakle. Teakle and Sheilds fought hard once over the climb to rejoin this group before both experienced "the curse of Jandanol" in flat tyres. Matthews managed another lap before suffering the same fate, leaving Eastough and Mulligan to ride as a duo.
Peter Johnson and Reg Salmon were tireless in their efforts to keep the pace high and Julie Firth showed great speed especially as she spent the majority of her ride as a solo. Gerald Laurent brought along his Specialized time trial bike and channelled his inner "Jan Ulrich" by riding huge gears on this undulating course. Unfortunately he was also on the receiving end of a puncture which ended his race.
Duane Crabb, and new rider to Spokes, Paddy Newton looked far too happy to be on the course, chatting away as they completed each lap. Newton allowed the experience of Crabb to assist him in his race plan and was able to pull away on the final lap to beat Crabb across the line.
Andre Eastough won the event in a time of 42:27 and averaging 33.9km.hr - very impressive given the less than favourable conditions.
A full list of results is below.
No comments:
Post a Comment