The ironic Chinese curse “may you live in interesting times” aptly describes events that were to unfold in the ESCA 100 mile time trial held on Sunday. Event organiser, Bob Harber had to revise the course five times due to on-going road-works, eventually settling on four loops of a circuit of the A22. The start of the race was uneventful, though a steady build-up of traffic heading out to the Eastbourne Air Show resulted in long tail backs to the frustration of motorist and cyclists alike.
The Lewes squad had decidedly mixed fortunes on the day. Some sixty miles into his ride, Nick Dwyer had a nasty fall on a bottle change, which forced him to retire, shaken but thankfully uninjured. With only ten miles left to cover, Rob Rollings clipped a pedal on a kerb, which acquainted him with the flora and fauna of the hedgerow. After a few running repairs, Rob gamely got back on his bike to finish with a creditable time of 4:09:07. Rob’s gallant effort ensured that the team prize went to the Wanderers with Rob Pelham (who continued his remarkable record of never having gone over four hours in a hundred event) and Tom Glandfield (4:04:12), who was suffering somewhat after his twelve hour heroics of the previous week, completing the team of three. Rob Pelham finished third overall with a time of 3:59:01. The winner of the event was the talented Steve Kane of Brighton Excelsior, who posted a remarkable time of 3:50:01.
Unfortunately, the last drama of the day befell your correspondent. I had completed 99 miles of the course when disaster struck as a motorist pulled out in front of me, which resulted in a spectacular somersault over the bike. Fortunately, bike and body were largely unscathed and I went on to complete the course, with a nagging feeling in my scrambled brain that something was not quite right. On returning to the HQ someone pointed out that I had failed to take the final roundabout, meaning my ride was some twenty yards too short, invalidating my result. Determined to get a time, I rode back out to the course to complete the elusive twenty yards, eventually clocking up a time of 4:44:05. My disappointment at missing out on a PB was slightly tempered when I discovered that along with Tom Glandfield, and Micky Turner (4:21:57) that we had managed to retain the Surrey and Sussex VTTA team prize. Other Lewes performances on the day were Sam Ramsey (4:27:23), Peter Baker (4:42:25) and John Mankelow DNF.
The previous day, Jamie Lowden was the sole Lewes representative at North Hampshire RC 25. On a fast Bentley course, Jamie slashed an incredible four minutes off his PB, in less than favourable conditions, to post a time of 53:06, fast enough to share third place in a class field. Rob Sharland of Kingston Wheelers won the event in a time of 51:40.
No comments:
Post a Comment