Partridge rides a 20; Lucas He 11th in a road racing bunch sprint

Nick Partridge of Velo Club Baracchi rode to sixth place with 46:10 in the Orwell Velo 20-mile time trial at Debenham on Saturday and was pleased but he declared he intends to improve further.

Lucas He of VCB, who was riding in the same event for Cambridge University CC, went well enough to take second place with 43:23 (27.66mph average), beaten only by Andy Proffitt of Ipswich BC whose time was 42:44.

Third place went to Stuart Fairweather of Team VeloVelocity.co.uk in 43:54.

On Sunday Lucas rode for VC Baracchi, his Eastern Road Race League road racing home club, in the DAP CC “Regional B”race for 3^rd and 4^th cat riders on the Ringsfield course.

Despite his efforts of the day before Lucas was well up with the action throughout and finished just outside the points and prizes with 11^th place in the bunch sprint.

It was a great day for road racing, with a “National B” race staged by the same club on the course in the afternoon.

Quite a few club members watched both of the races, the second of which was won by VC Norwich rider Steven Parsonage, a second cat, against five elite riders and many first cats in a field of 60.  Riders from Team Wiggins le Col were included. 

Parsonage rode nearly half the race in a break with the second-placed rider Barnabus Purbrook of Nuun-Sigma Sports-London RT and they stayed away.

Away from all this hectic competition, VCB’s dogged audax enthusiast John Thompson rode the “Bomber County” 210km audax from Norton Disney, to the north-east of Newark-on-Trent.

The ride took in Bardney, Louth, Mablethorpe, Burgh le Marsh, Bardney and Skellingthorpe before returning to Norton Disney.

Thompson enjoyed the still day and finished in around 12 hours 15 minutes. He commented that it was predominantly in Lincolnshire, but overall it was not flat, including parts of the Wolds.

The wind did get up for a while around midday giving a somewhat tricky sidewind between Mablethorpe and Burgh le Marsh.  Thompson also rode from his digs in Carlton le Moorland, making a total of about 135 miles. He took advantage of his trip to ride about 25 miles in the area the next day.

VC Baracchi is promoting Saturday rides of about 15 miles, meeting at Tandem-Steve’s Cycles in Lowestoft High Street at 9.15am (cycling helmets compulsory).

Everyone is welcome and they provide the opportunity to ride in a group with experienced riders, perhaps as a way into the sport or to develop skills.  The pace will depend on who is there, with nobody left behind.