Three VCB riders at Diss 25; Partridge rides course best at Diss 10

Three VC Baracchi members, one of them riding for his university club, Cambridge University CC and another for DAP CC took part in the Diss CC 25-mile open time trial.

Alex He recorded a very satisfactory time of 1-06:08 for VCB on this rolling Bressingham course, which turns at the first Thetford roundabout.

Lucas He, his student son, excelled with third place in 56:04 behind Lowestoft’s Mark Richards of DAP (55:17) and Ben Stancombe of Team VeloVelocity, the winner in a course record time of 52:45.

In last Tuesday’s Diss CC club 10 at Billingford, Richards took the win in 20:34 but VCB’s Nick Partridge was just a few seconds adrift with a course best 20:37 and was very pleased with his ride.

Paul Dennington of VCB achieved 22:30, Lee Garrod of Sole Bay Cycle Sport went a little quicker with 22:14 and Wrentham’s Denise Hurren of Team VeloVelocity was the fastest lady with 24:10.

John Swanbury and Ali Banks of VCB on the tandem achieved a season’s best 23:26.

In the Gt Yarmouth CC club 10, Dennington beat all comers with 23:40 and Richard Allen of VCB recorded a tidy 30:00 (exactly 20mph).

The home club’s fastest (of their seventeen riders) was Jonny Hawes in 24:42.

The 19^th edition of the Paris-Brest-Paris 1200km Randonée (long-distance bike ride) was held over August 18 to 22.

Staged once every four years, it attracts long-distance cyclists from all over the world with some 60 countries represented.

Two VC Baracchi riders, Ian Reid and Kate Churchill, attempted the arduous challenge this year.

Starting out on Sunday evening, Churchill opted to ride straight through to just short of Brest (some 550km) before stopping for a few hours’ sleep, while Ian chose to have a brief sleep stop at Tinteniac (360km) before pushing on to Brest at the half-way point (610km).

Despite starting at different times, they both met on the road and cycled together through to Fougeres (920km).

After a short nap they pressed on, but were separated, with Reid carrying on, to finish in just under 81 hours, while Churchill unfortunately suffered from severe saddle-sores and had to abandon at Villaines-la Juhel (1010km).

The event has over 7000 participants and many of the local towns and villages along the route turned out in force to encourage the riders along and provide refreshments night or day. This makes the event a very sociable affair and a real multicultural experience.