There are 4 matching posts.
The Plean race organised by Stirling Bike Club was always going to be one of the best of the series. Set on a weekday evening instead of the weekend, it was going to involve lights!
The course was a new one for Plean, and really enjoyable. A few tight spots, but mostly flat out on long stretches around the bings. Lap times were around six minutes, which was pretty fast considering the course was just under two miles in length.
The start was fast, and racing en-mass with so many other racers made it more exciting than usual. The dark, lit up only by our lights, and the high speeds, made it pretty exhilarating!
By the 4th lap is was pretty well up the field, sitting on Iain Nimmo’s (SBC/Wheels) wheel. Going into the 5th lap my contact lens fell out, so that was me finished for the night.
James Fraser-Moodie (Pedal Power RT) won. I’ll link to results when they’re available.
I was a bit disappointed as it was one of the best races I’ve done this year, and I was feeling on particularly good form. Always next time!
Update
Results are now available.
It was a bit colder for the second round of the series at Mugdock Park. The course as always was cracking, still one of my favorites. After negotiating the chicane, then the off camber grassy bank, it’s up a wall then up a steep bank and back down. The bank was ridable for most of the race, though running made it easier to pass other riders. Then it was onto a long fast section, before a series of switchbacks on a climb. Round the ponds before some slidy technical trails. It was then back into the arena.
Unlike at Townhill, I felt I got a good start, avoiding the mass pileup on the second corner. I settled down fairly quickly, and went round with Keiran Hay and Dave Lines for he first half of the race. Later I got a bit of pace on and started to catch people. I had one funny crash right after I’d passed Ruth Magavigan, I’m still trying to remove all the thorns from my arms!
Provisional results can be found on Balamory’s website, and some photos can be found on my Flickr. I’ll upload more when I get them off the other card.
Thanks to my dad and Babs for doing my bottle at the
race yesterday. Emma had some amusing pics of my him standing with his arm outstretched in a rather dynamic pose, but reaching for nothing. I created this mini-photo essay to explain it. Click for the full size version.
Steven Couper and his crew provided a well organised event for the first round of the Scottish Cyclo-Cross Series, held at Townhill Country Park, Dunfermline. The course itself with was fast and flowy, with plenty of short technical climbs and swoopy descents. Not being too muddy, lap times were pretty fast around the 5 minute mark.
I got off to a fairly bad start, as I couldn’t get my foot into the pedal, so ended up down in around 15th place. Some close-overtaking on the first lap got me up to about 11th. On the third lap I caught two others including Al Dow, and preceded to hunt down Keiran Hay and Dave Lines. When I caught them they both seemed to have sat up, so I quickly passed on one of the rooty climbs. At this point Kieran’s saddle slipped, leaving the nose pointing upwards, resulting in Dave letting out a loud laugh.
On the closing laps I caught Gary McRae, but was hesitant to pass him and lost out in the sprint for 5th place.
Up front it seemed to be a three-way battle between Iain Nimmo, James Fraser-Moodie and Andy Wardman. James Melville had lead for the early laps, but fell off the pace mid way through. A final sprint resulted in Iain coming around the inside of Moodie on the final bend to take second, with Andy taking the win.
I’ll update these results when I see a proper set and can remember/spell everyones name and team.
Results
- Andy Wardman (Glentress / Hub in the Forest)
- Iain Nimmo (Stirling BC / Wheels)
- James Fraser Moodie (Pedal Power RT)
- James Melville (Glasgow United CC)
- Gary McRae (Pedal Power RT)
- Douglas Shearer (Stirling BC / Wheels)
- Dave Lines (Pedal Power RT)
- Kieran Hay (Velo Eccosse)
For dates of events in the weeks to come, have a look at the Stirling Bike Club Forum
