On two wheels with the Corinium Cycling Club (From Wilts and Gloucestershire Standard)

On two wheels with the Corinium Cycling Club

THE usual Sunday morning gathering of Corinium Cycling Club riders at the Market Place was conspicuous by its absence last weekend as the club's annual open ten mile event had lured most away to support the racing fraternity.

As chief organiser on the day, Andy Smith gave up his chance of glory to ensure that the event ran as smoothly as possible.

Andy's wife Marie was one of the early risers as she had been entrusted with the signing-on of competitors while Dave Smith charged up and down the bypass erecting the obligatory warning triangles.

Phil Green, Ron Diplock and Dave Roper were in charge of time-keeping and, once they were in place, the racing began as first man off headed out on to the road with the assistance of Andy Kirk.

Traditionally, the first rider will be from the promoting club and the honours of leading the charge this year fell to Mike Appleby.

Manning the far turn was Fred Cambourne, who had to travel marginally further than he does on Thursday evenings to point competitors in the right direction, and Roger Osborn who was checking numbers to ensure that all riders were accounted for.

Jimmy Little, of Chippenham Wheelers, won the event with a stunning time of 21min 29sec on not the easiest of mornings.

Also seeming to shrug off the blustery wind with little effort was Alistair McLeary who posted a personal best time of 24.06 to be the quickest Corinium rider on the morning.

Next came Mike Dolman 24.32, John Ashurst 24.51, Andy Wilcox 25.18, Cliff Dutton 25.19, Dave Martin 27.02, Jerry Peppin 27.15, Mike Appleby 28.06 and Pam Swanston 31.01.

Back at the Bradstone Sports Pavilion, Andy Strickland, Derek Mitchell and Andrew Tolman were kept on their toes keeping the score board up to date and accurate while Bud Dutton and Pam Carter looked after the refreshments.

Many thanks to Andy Smith for taking on the running of the event and to his army of helpers for making it all go so smoothly.

The club is to hold an Audax ride on Saturday, June 14.

The event will cover a little under 40 miles of easy terrain over a triangular route between Cirencester, Malmesbury and Cricklade.

It starts at 10am from the public car park behind Greasy Joe's transport caf, just off the A419 by-pass at Cirencester.

For those not fully conversant as to how an audax operates, further information is available from Terry Cleary on 01453 882928 or, of you wish to find out more about the club visit website at www.coriniumcc.co.uk

For last Saturday's Brevet Cymru 400km (250 miles) Audax, Peter Holden departed from Chepstow with some 80 riders, including CCC member John Smith, at 6am.

They meandered up the Wye valley in early morning sun to Monmouth and stayed close to the river Mono through glorious Welsh border countryside to Ewyas Harold and the Golden Valley with fine views of the Black Mountains.

The Granary cafe in Hay-on-Wye was the first control and breakfast and, under gathering clouds and a strengthening wind, they followed the Wye to Builth Wells and over the hills to Llandovery for lunch at the West End Cafe.

From here, the party turned north and rode with wind and rain on their backs to Tregaron for refreshments at the Talbot.

They battle through a strong headwind, increasing rain and severe hills to the Mariners Restaurant on the front at New Quay. After a late tea, there was a long hard climb out of New Quay into the wind and rain.

Pressing on to Llandovery, the wind and rain had eased as darkness fell and, at 11pm, there was just 100km to go.

After supper in the West End cafe, they followed the A40 past Brecon to Bwlch where the organiser had provided lilos in a village hall for riders to grab a few minutes' kip.

Back on the road just after 4am, they paused in Crickhowell to give directions to a lost motorist.

It was then on to Usk, where they stopped to refuel, before the last climb in early morning sun and over the hills to Chepstow to the finish and breakfast.