New tandem team takes club record and Alex He rides PB

Dennington (front) and Wink (photo by Dominic Austrin)

Two performances stand out from the last local time-trial weekend of the season, a record-equalling tandem time by a new VC Baracchi team and a personal best for solo rider Alex He.

Riding their first ever competitive event together in the Norwich Amateur Bicycle Club’s 10-mile tandem section in sunny weather on Saturday, Paul Dennington and Keith Wink powered a borrowed tandem to 21:04, with Dennington as captain and Wink as stoker.

This was equal to the club record set by Liam Gentry and Simon Asher in 2009 and was a great ride to have pulled off on the updated 1938 Claud Butler machine.

Indeed, it gave regular tandem racers and event winners Gary Pamment and Barry McDonald of Velo Schils Interbike RT a good run for their money.  With only a little more speed the VCB team would have matched the 20:17 time that the Velo Schils riders achieved.

In the solo event the quickest VCB ride was by Lucas He with 21:25 and others were by Paul Hayward 22:04, Mark Saunders 22:45, Alex He 24:04 (PB) and Mike Rainton 28:49.

Rainton has not ridden any events already this year so it was a good effort from the 71-year-old.

The fastest ride was by Jason Bouttell of Team VeloVelocity in 19:10, with David McGaw of Cambridge CC second in 20:07 and Tom Fitzpatrick of CC Breckland third in 20:56.  Cindy Berry of Bowlphish Racing was the fastest lady in 24:12.

On Sunday in wet and windy conditions many of the times recorded in the Norwich ABC 25-mile event took no harm.

The course from near Wortwell is described as, “Almost completely flat, although it doesn’t always feel like it!  Single carriageway of reasonable width; variable surface, but rarely any huge holes. There are about 6.5 miles between the turn roundabouts, with the course completing two laps; with another roundabout in between, riders have to negotiate roundabouts seven times in total.”

VCB rider Hayward was not as quick as he can be, recording 1-00:15 in thirteenth place but the winner, James Rix of Crawley Wheelers, set a new course record with 50:35, nearly two minutes faster than local star rider Harley Matthews of DAP CC (52:23).

Verity Smith of Stowmarket & District CC was the fastest lady in 1-00:45 and Somerleyton rider Jenny Anderson (Gt Yarmouth CC) was second in 1-07:15.

John Thompson rode The Suffolk Byways audax, described by the promoter as “a 117km ride through the Sanderlings to the Suffolk coast and historic beach at the vanished city of Dunwich before heading inland through rural countryside and back via the ancient market town of Woodbridge.”