Josh Wallis set the pace at the latest round of Spalding Cycling Club’s time trial league on a course that was hit by a heavy downpour prior to the start.
Some 23 riders were caught by the rain as they warmed up – and to their credit, they all managed to finish.
On the night, the top three took on a familiar look with Wallis taking first place by keeping Chris Ward at bay and Neil Palmer taking third.
Andy Bowser kept up the good form he showed on the previous week (until he punctured) by picking up fourth spot with an excellent 22.37mins.
Close behind were the young pretenders Brynn Richards and Thomas Wright, who were separated by only nine seconds the week before.
They had Matt Ellis to contend with this week – and he managed to split the two up, with only 21 seconds covering fourth to sixth places.
- Last weekend saw Chris Ward travel to Six Mile Bottom, south east of Cambridge, to compete in the East Anglia Veteran Time Trials Association 10mile TT on the fast straight out and back E2/10 course.
It was an extremely blustery day but, fortunately, the wind was not a cross wind which would have made riding unsafe.
However, that meant that riding into the head wind was quite a battle.
Despite the conditions Ward, who has been showing good form since racing came back on the calendar, clocked a very good 21.34mins.
- For five of the club’s riders, Chris Bettinson, Andy Bowser, Neil Palmer, Rob Mcalinden and Gareth Richards, social riding took on another meaning when they travelled north to take on one of the coast to coast rides.
They chose the route from Barrow on Solway to South Shields, near Newcastle.
Not content with just cycling west to east, they chose to park up at Hexham in Northumberland and cycle west to the start at Barrow and back east to Hexham a mammoth 118 miles with over 6,000 feet of climbing.
This left them a shorter section the next day. Again they did it the hard way cycling to South Sheilds and then back to Hexham to their transport.
Bettinson said: “The second leg threw everything at us; rain, mud, gravel, cycle paths, navigation, a ferry ride, clambering up grass banks a puncture and an off, but we made it with some great people.”
- Despite windy, wet and unpredictable weather, two groups from Spalding CC went out for social rides last Thursday. One rode a 63-mile loop to Wymondham Windmill, whilst a second drove to Woodhall Spa to ride a 50-mile loop in the Wolds.
