Reading Cycling Club

Despite Arctic weather over the course of the Easter break, Reading's
time-triallists featured in many races. They scored some excellent
early-season results as reward for braving all that the elements threw
at them.

High Wycombe CC 10-mile TT
Peter Graham was the first in action, riding the High Wycombe CC '10' on
the A420 near Oxford. On a very cold and extremely windy Good Friday he
recorded a time of 24"10 for 16th place out of 102 riders. Winner was
the 100 mile national champion Richard Prebble, GS Strada, in 21"03.

Farnham RC 10-mile TT
Nick and Elizabeth English rode their tandem in the Farnham RC event on
the A31 in Hampshire on Saturday morning. Nick reports, "The weather
wasn't kind with savage winds and icy showers so there were just a few
hardy souls on the start line. That did include another tandem, with
Sydney 2000 Paralympian Rob Allen as the blind stoker. It was a tough
race with the strong winds and we didn't get a personal best, recording
26:16, but we did finish ahead of the other tandem, which we were
pleased about as they were both men."

North Hampshire RC 18.5 mile TT
Representing Reading were Steve Bale, Brian Bingham, Peter Graham and
Dave Gaida. The competitors faced northerly gales that brought sleet,
snow and hail. The gale also brought down two trees on the course. The
first at 11 miles caused little problem but the second at a mile to go
completely blocked the road. In true cyclo-cross style, the riders
shouldered their bikes, proceeded through a farm yard, traversed the
farmer's lawn and finally climbed a fence to return to the road. The
race was won by NHRC's Robert Watson in an excellent time of 46.09.
Second place went to Reading CC's Peter Graham, followed closely by
Steve Bale in 4th. Selected results:
1 Robert Watson NHRC 00:46:09
2 Peter Graham Reading CC 00:47:19
4 Stephen Bale Reading CC 00:49:00
8 Brian Bingham Reading CC 00:53:43
19 Dave Gaida Reading CC 01:03:32
Graham commented, "It`s always good to be on the podium, but the next
rung up would be better."
Steve Bale found the conditions tricky, "The gusts howling through
gateways tried to sweep you into the road. While I was passing Preston
Candover a torrential hail storm hit and everything went white. The
fallen tree was massive and there was no easy way around it. The final
times were affected by how much time each rider lost because of the
tree."

Rudy Project Time Trial Series
Border City Wheelers CC's Circuit of Bassenthwaite Lake kicked off the
2008 Rudy Project Time Trial Series. Although temperatures hovered
around freezing it was dry and sunny for most of the competitors.
Reading were represented by Trudi Sammons, who said, "The course was
tough and the competition tougher. I finished 5th lady, so not great,
but there was a strong field." Selected results:
1 Sarah Storey VC St Raphael 38:15
5 Trudi Sammons Reading CC 40:46

Alton CC Hilly 50km
Nick English and Stephen Bale formed Reading's team for the Alton CC
Hilly 2-up time trial on Easter Monday. In a two-up time trial the
riders take turns at the front. Such pairings are generally faster than
solo riders. The wind had dropped but so had the temperature. Bale
reports,"After a brief warm up we launched onto the course. I found the
start hill put me straight into the red. Struggling to recover I took
short turns. Nick was very strong and it was work enough just to hold on
to his wheel. Along the A31 I had recovered enough to come through, but
Nick was still doing the lion's share of the work. Once we'd finished
and were back at the HQ I felt despondent about my part in the race. I
was truly shocked when Nick came over and said that we had come second.
Instantly the picture was changed and I was pleased to have been able to
hang on as I did!" Bale and English rode an excellent 1.16:02 for second
place. The winners were Richard Prebble and James Boyman in 1.10:15.
English reflected, "After a good start catching another team early on,
Steve was finding it hard to come through and take his turns. However we
dug deep and held some good speed on the A31 for the middle section of
the course, and were rewarded by catching a couple more teams before the
end. We knew we'd need a good ride to stay ahead of Prebble/Boyman who
started 6 minutes behind us. I was pleased not to see them before the
finish, although it was a close-run thing."

Hillingdon Circuit Racing
Thomas Allnatt raced at Hillingdon on Saturday in the go-race event and
the 2/3/4 category race. "There were only 6 people in the go-race so it
wasn't much of an event," he commented. "Then in the 2/3/4 cat race I
lasted two laps and crashed. The bunch slowed down due to the wind and I
went onto the wheel in front of me, luckily I didn't bring anyone down
with me."

Torture 40
Despite snow and sleet 19 riders turned out for Torture 40 ride on
Easter Sunday. They aimed to tackle 11 of the steepest climbs in the
Hambleden valley. On the first climb of Pheasants hill Agiskoviner
rider Laura Ralston was the surprise as she surged up the hill. The lead
men had to kick hard to defend their male pride. The ride became an
exercise in perseverance as the wet flinty roads led to multiple
punctures. A strong group of lead riders formed which kept a sustained
pace. Amongst them were Brian Bingham, Hamish Floyd, James
Pilgrim-Morris and Murray Hogge. Tom Sturgess and Paul Elcock fell
behind due to punctures. Experienced veteran Fred Hale was always close
behind, but the strongest performance was again from young female rider
Laura Ralston who kept the lead riders in sight until on the very last
descent she unfortunately skidded and crashed. Results:

1 Brian Bingham 02:59:49
2 Hamish Floyd 02:59:49
3 James Pilgrim - Morris 02:59:49
4 Murray Hogge 02:59:51
5 Simon Notley 03:03:00
6 Steve Millward 03:08:00
7 Fred Hale 03:11:00
8 Greg Woodford 03:14:27
9 Dennis Boltwood 03:15:03
10 Russell Barton 03:35:00
11 Nick Babington 03:35:00
12 Barry Quick 03:35:00

Photo caption: James Pilgrim-Morris leads the charge up Pheasants Hill
in the Torture 40
Photo credit: Chris McLeod

Clubrun
Social, medium and fast groups depart from Reading Market Place at 9am
every Sunday.

Roderick MacFadyen
Reading Cycling Club