Womack and Anderson ride well in opening 25-mile time trial

Velo Club Baracchi rider Chris Womack opened his account at the 25-mile time trial distance with 1-09:29 in the Gt Yarmouth CC event.

Also riding in the open time trial on the local Somerleyton sporting course were VCB ladies Jenny Anderson (1-19:29) and Tracy Prewer, who apparently punctured and did not finish.

The wet patches, with water right across in a couple of places, the cold conditions and breezy conditions caused a few problems for the riders, especially punctures on the gritty roads.

Anderson ran out of opponents for the ladies’ top place when one other lady did not start and another, who was in any case no threat, failed to finish. [N.B. This is how I wrote this for Lowestoft Journal, to indicate Jenny Anderson was the most successful woman rider, but it was apparently misunderstood when the headline was written.  It also turns out that GYCC’s new lady rider actually finished. The organiser wrote  “Sallyann Protheroe on the “normal” bike did go on to record a steady 1-45:54 (1st ride ever with minimal “training” so not a bad effort on that course).”]

The two quickest solo riders proved to be Liam Gentry and Stuart Pryce, team-mates in Strada Sport RT, who rode identical times for the joint win in 1-00:03.

Third place was taken by the home club’s John Swindells who, with 1-01:45, beat Laurence Wright of Velo Velocity by three seconds.

Reliable veteran Chris Nudds of CC Breckland deserves a mention for managing to recover from a puncture by changing his front wheel at the HQ in St Olaves as he passed and managing to finish in 1-07:15, beating many who had no such problems.

There were three 2-up teams headed by Declan Davies and Mark Fairhead of CC Breckland in 1-05:08.

Further photos of all the riders in the event are on Gt Yarmouth CC open 25-mile time trial (BS13 course) March 18, 2012 – a set on Flickr

Nick Esser and Mark Westrup who former raced for VCB were in action for Strada Sport in the Ipswich Spring Scramble at Gosbeck but maintained a low profile and were not listed in the first fifteen places.

The first six were in a break initiated by James Jobber (Colchester Rovers) who was eventually dropped.  The winner was Lee Desborough of St Ives CC.

On Saturday John Thompson rode “The Old Squit” 207.6km (129.75 miles) Audax organised by Norfolk CTC from Hellesdon, which he completed in 11.5 hours.

Places visited included Reepham, then Sandringham visitors centre for a main control, Salthouse on the north Norfolk coast, Kelling, Sea Palling, Potter Heigham, and Coltishall.

He said would like to be able to get round them a bit quicker but has let his long distance fitness drop and he now senses an improvement coming on.

On Sunday Thompson took a recovery ride in the Toft Monks area where he was surprised to find some unfamiliar roads. The recovery ride suited him and he was not too tired from the Audax to enjoy it.

The informally-arranged rides on Tuesday and Friday mornings at 9am from Carlton Colville church continue to be popular, especially as they always contain a café stop at Ellough on the way home.

The 45 to 55-mile distance at a pace that is not too blistering is just right for reasonably fit veterans with time on their hands, or those who can get time off in the week. I call them the wrinklies and you can see them on The wrinklies cycling in 2012 – a set on Flickr