Richards takes VC Baracchi 25-mile championship

The Velo Club Baracchi 25-mile time trial championship was billed to take place in Godric CC’s Saturday club time trial and just two of the club’s riders were there.

Richards impressed with a strong ride in 57:40 to win the title and John Swanbury was pleased to be the runner-up with his 1-04:45 ride.

Mark “Titch” Richards

It was a sunny day, clouding over and with a side-wind that gave a bit of help in one direction on the two-lap Waveney Valley course.

The fastest rider was James Trenchard of Team Pedal Revolution in 56:03 from Steve Konrad of Gt Yarmouth CC in 57:31, Richards in third place and the remainder of the field of twenty-three to follow.

Jenny Anderson of Gt Yarmouth CC (a VCB second-claim member) was the fastest lady with 1-07:31, beating Kate Lucas of Norwich ABC who rode a 1-09:53 personal best.

In the last evening Diss CC 10-mile time trial from Billingford to the Needham roundabout and back Swanbury and Ali Banks on the tandem were VCB’s only riders and they achieved 22:47.

The fastest solo rider was Nick Partridge of Plomesgate CC with 21:46, who beat the home club’s Tom Fitzpatrick by just one second. 26 solo riders rode and just the one tandem.

The last Gt Yarmouth CC 8.25-mile evening event of the year at Lound featured a battle between VCB’s two riders, Richards and Paul Dennington, separated by just one second in first and second places.

Richards took the honours with 19:46 to Dennington’s 19:47. Third was Larry Colby of the home club in 20:46 and twenty-one rode, with average speeds varying between Richards’ 25.042mph and the last rider’s 16.761.

The VC Norwich open 10 on Bank Holiday Monday in which five VCB riders were entered was abandoned because of spray on the wet road.

John Thompson has returned from a Scottish tour, first taking part in “The Ride of the Falling Rain,” an annual 100-mile invitation ride organised by Velo Club d’Ardberg – starting and finishing at Bruichladdich on the island of Islay.

It’s was laid-back affair with no time limits but he completed it in around 9 hours, which included a long stop for lunch at a cafe in a whisky distillery! Despite its name it didn’t rain but there was a strong Hebridean headwind to deal with.

He also visited the islands of Jura, Mull, Raasay, Colonsay, Barra, Vatersay, Lismore, Coll and Tiree, and also Skye for the ferry journey.

On the mainland his tour included the Ardnamurchan peninsula en-route to Mallaig and Lochcarron to do the Applecross peninsula, a ride of about 60 miles including some beautiful coastal scenery and a long climb and from there to Invergarry.

On his return he rode the Mildenhall rally 207km audax in 12 hours 10 minutes, which I was happy with considering the event has an exceptional number of controls.  He said, “It was an easy ride compared to many I’ve done recently as there was not a lot of wind.”