Last weekend a strong contingent from the Lewes Wanderers Cycling Club headed out to Broadbridge Heath to take part in the SCCU 10 and Worthing Excelsior 25 held on consecutive days.
The Saturday ten was run in pleasant conditions over a revised course. Lewes star Nick Dwyer notched up yet another impressive victory covering the course in a remarkable time of 20:13. Rob Pelham had elected to ride out to the course and despite approaching his ride as a training exercise he still managed to finish his ride in an impressive time of 22:13. Kaye Dwyer was the sole Lady representative for the Wanderers clocking a steady time of 28:18.
On Sunday five Wanderers made the increasingly familiar trip to ride the rolling 25 course around Ockley. Riders must be getting used to the course, as it is noticeable that times have been steadily improving, and this increased familiarity coupled with still conditions saw most of the Wanderers knock a minute or more off their previous ride. Pete Morris made light of the seesaw course and put in a storming ride to finish in a time of 54:43, a time fast enough to secure second place in the General Classification. Duncan Fuller (57:42) and Mark Paton (58:58) teamed up with Pete to grab an impressive team victory over local rivals, In-Gear. Dominic Lowden had an eventful ride, at the start of his efforts he found that he could not engage the big ring, somewhat of a handicap on a circuit that features some very fast downhill sections, and to further add to his woes managed to crack the seat post of his bike, which over a 25 mile course is akin to playing Russian Roulette with valuable assets. Your correspondent knocked over 1:30 off his previous weeks ride and was pleased to have set a new course PB with a time of 1:01:30. Stephen Gaston went one better by slicing over two minutes of his previous ride on the course, and in the process set a new PB of 1:03:52.
Tim trialling is sometimes referred to as “testing”. Last Monday’s LWCC Evening 10 put a slight nuance on the word, as it was run in the most demanding of conditions. Grim overcast weather turned nasty with a sudden increase in wind speed; so strong was the wind that several riders commented after that it was the windiest conditions they had ever ridden in. Several riders after warming up wisely decided that deep sectioned wheels were the wrong choice for the conditions and swapped to low profile alternatives. Riders who did not make this choice were continually buffeted by fierce sidewinds, which at times made riding on the tri bars an unfeasible proposition. Lesser riders look to conditions as an excuse for slow times, where class acts seem impervious to such considerations and post incredible times. Pete Morris mastered the elements to sail around the course in a stunning time of 21:49. Only one other rider, the in-form Peter Baker managed to break the 24-minute mark in a time of 23:55.
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