VC Baracchi well represented in the Norwich 100
The Norwich 100 organised by Bike Events for the Norwich Heart Foundation attracted nearly a dozen Velo Club Baracchi riders and friends amongst the total, said to be about 5,000 riders.
The route headed north-west from Norwich and then ran along the coast to Sheringham and on to Mundesley before turning west and back through Horstead.
The VCB group included Mike Rainton, Keith Wink and friend Phil Cox, Mike Wood, Duncan Lines, John Cooper, Paul Clarke and a friend, George Kerridge, Nicky Hawkes, Mark Womack and Mike Mayhew.
Mostly they stayed together and completed the ride at an average of just over 16mph. Rainton said the conditions were good but the north-east wind off the sea made the coastal section harder. It was well signposted.
“Fortunately,” he said, “we had Keith Wink on the front.” Wink is a strong rider and built large enough to provide some shelter from the wind!
There is not as much time trial news as usual because last week’s Godric CC Tuesday event was rained off.
Titch Richards and Mark Womack had sound rides in the GT Yarmouth CC 10, with 25:10 and 26:33 respectively for sixth and seventh places out of the nineteen riders.
Joe Skipper of Team Pedal Revolution NCA won with 21:48 from James Trenchard of Godric CC who achieved 22:31, both exceptional times on the sporting course.
Richards was less happy the following morning when he was in collision with a car at a roundabout on the Gorleston Road at Oulton. Fortunately his injuries did not include any broken bones.
John Thompson took part in the Icknield Road Club 100-mile time trial on the A1 road but his trip was less than successful as the result of an error on his part with the course, as a result of which he did not ride the full distance by a discrepancy of about ten miles and his time did not count.
It didn’t help that his computer was malfunctioning so he had no way of double-checking. A degree of happiness at his apparently good riding time faded to disappointment when his error later became apparent.
The winner was Adam Topham (High Wycombe CC) in 3-28:31.
On May 21, George Kerridge and Thompson riding for VCB and Nicki Hawkes riding for Team VeloVelocity took part in the CC Breckland open 10-mile time trial (for the slowest 60 to apply). That description always seems to condemn with faint praise, but the fastest rider was Trenchard with 21:04, so it was in fact a very varied field.
Kerridge achieved the excellent time of 23:24 and Hawkes 24:43, with Thompson on 27:35. Ian McCluskey, now riding for Diss & District CC, had a good ride with 23:19. Hawkes was first lady and she relegated Sally Withey of VC Norwich (24:49) to second place in a close contest.
The club run on Sunday was to the Bungay café via Halesworth and just four riders, not involved in the Norwich 100, took part.
