Committee Alan McLean Posted September 21, 2008 Committee Report Share Posted September 21, 2008 The final event of a great cycling weekend on Bute was the road race round the island Jim, Liam, Stuart and I joined a field of about forty in lovely sunshine. Some had done the TT in the morning. Respect. Lots of good riders ( I always say that to make my efforts sound better) included Dan Smith from VS Quimper, Brittany who won this race last year and Aiden McIlroy from ERC who won last week's Lammermuir race. We rolled through Rothesay and the racing started one mile south of the town with the first guy going up the road but soon reeled in. This was the pattern for the next twenty miles with wee breaks never quite getting away. The world famous Mount Stewart climb was hard work but the I stayed in the main bunch. Lots of small hills and sharp corners started to shed folk off the back but we were about twenty strong in a long, stretched out bunch as we circled Port Bannantyne crit style before heading back south to Ettrick Bay. On the climb out of PB we met the chasing groups who were about 3 or 4 minutes behind. The 50+ group, who started 5 minutes later were already picking off stragglers. Dan Smith and AN Other then shot ahead and another bunch of two created a gap as well. There was no way I was good enough to get across so I just stayed near the front but out of the wind to see what developed (that's called tactics). It went wrong on one of the small climbs past Ettrick Bay when my legs stopped working and I watched in resignation as the whole leading bunch steamed past me. Resistance was futile and the gap opened to 10, 15 then 30 seconds then the "I can't believe I am so far behind" gap. I had a 10 mile solo slog to the finish looking nervously over my shoulder, half-expecting the chasers to swallow me up. I was clear ahead with 1k to go so I sat up for minute to rest before a showy and pointless sprint for 15th ish place. Jim and Liam finished shortly after in exciting sprints but Stuart punctured and DNF'd. Dan Smith won, again. A good club turnout in lovely weather through great scenery. Cheers A Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Committee Alan McLean Posted September 25, 2008 Author Committee Report Share Posted September 25, 2008 16th actually. TLI has given my club as the Nightingales. I haven't changed clubs, there is an AM north of the river and our names/clubs/results are sometimes mixed up. If it's a good result then I claim it and if it's a bad result then it's his. A Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tony Posted September 25, 2008 Report Share Posted September 25, 2008 Good report as always Alan. More to the point though - what exactly is a "Whopper with Cheese?" (see link below) http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/3159813.stm Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Committee Alan McLean Posted September 25, 2008 Author Committee Report Share Posted September 25, 2008 NFI Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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