Mike Rainton and Steve Cone lead in the VC Baracchi riders in Norfolk Nips 2
Mike Rainton, Steve Cone and John Thompson of Velo Club Baracchi rode the Norfolk Nips 104.5km audax on Saturday, organised by Norfolk CTC.
As always the start and finish were at Hellesdon, going first via Ringland and Barnham Broom to the info control at Southborough, then to the main control at Castle Acre at 55.7km.
The return ride was via Swanton Morley and Lenwade.
Thompson reported that he got round in 5 hours 24 minutes and believes that Rainton and Cone took 5 hours four minutes. The quickest of the local riders was Denis Glasscock who completed his ride in 4-54.
Thompson said, “It was a headwind out although nothing terrible and a nice tailwind return most of the way, but it wasn’t all ‘plain sailing’. The route goes through some lovely lanes but is surprisingly hilly.”
He added, “The joke was that the organiser Keith Harrison wants to disprove the theory that the only hills in Norfolk are railway bridges. There was a total of about 700 metres (2500 ft) of climbing, which is a lot for Norfolk and it was surprising what it did to the legs.”
“At Alderford, about 7 mile to go there was a change of direction giving a side-head wind and I as pleased that I wasn’t the only one who found that hard due to tired legs.”
On Sunday Thompson went on a 50-odd-mile ride of his own but seventeen VCB members gathered at the Colville Road roundabout for the club run, which seemed quite a crowd.
At Hulver the ride split into two. The bigger group turned right and others headed down through Sotterley by a time-honoured route to Halesworth, picking up a Wangford-based member along the way.
- Beccles Cycle for Life registration for the 2013 event on May 12 has opened – for details go to Beccles Cycle for Life
