Stephen Hickey Posted June 14, 2005 Report Share Posted June 14, 2005 DATE: THURSDAY 16th June TIME: 1915 VENUE: GATESIDE CIRCUIT Gateside is just East of Beith on the B777. You can usually park at or near the church / village hall. Start line is further out this road (ie away from Beith): you will notice a road heading off on your right with a notice about a whisky bond. Start is about 100 yards along this road. Route is along this unclassified road past the whisky bond until you reach the A736 (Barrhead - Irvine road); turn left (careful here - the A736 can be busy) straight until you reach Lugton and turn left at the Paraffin Lamp (pub) which brings you onto the B777 heading back to Beith and turn left again to cross start line. Lap distance about 6 miles. Race distance just over 3 or 4 laps (finishing at top of hill at whisky bond). Any takers for this Thursday? Kenny and Derek were out last week - you up for it again? Dave and Claire were there also but not quite with the race. Can we get others out to form a chasing group? Any volunteers to coach the first group?? More to the point, what's the weather forecast? I should be there this week. Suggest meeting outside the village hall (opposite the Gateside Inn) at 1900 (prompt) - feel free to warm up going up and down the hill towards the start line if you are early - then ride up to the line for a 1915 PROMPT start. Distance and gap to be decided on the night. Cheers Stephen H Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted June 14, 2005 Report Share Posted June 14, 2005 I should be there - will make a real effort to be early for a change Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tony Posted June 14, 2005 Report Share Posted June 14, 2005 That was me by the way - the Guest-Logon Fairy is up to his tricks again Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted June 14, 2005 Report Share Posted June 14, 2005 big dave here - claire and myself will be there on thursday Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Derek McElhinney Posted June 15, 2005 Report Share Posted June 15, 2005 Sorry guys, won't make Gateside, if I can get away from work I will cycle with the Renfrew bunch, much easier than trying to arrange to borrow a car. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Liam Rankin Posted June 15, 2005 Report Share Posted June 15, 2005 I will be able ride this event. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stephen Hickey Posted June 17, 2005 Author Report Share Posted June 17, 2005 Weather wasn't quite what was forecast but no too bad. Six brave souls battled it out - Kenny S, Liam, Tony Carrigan, Claire, Big Dave and Stephen H. Kenny S tried to call it off at the last minute by suggesting we all have a pint in the Gateside Inn instead but since Liam is still underage we thought better of it. After a quick chat at the start we divided into two groups of 3 - Tony Kenny and Claire headed off with a 4 minute gap on Liam Dave and yoors truly. It was a bit of a case of the blind leading the partially sighted but we sort of muddled along with varying degrees of success. Dave quickly developed his own style of "road racing" with shouts of "you stay in front Steve - it's helping me recover" Meantime Liam was looking very comfortable. We saw the first group just ahead after 1 1/2 laps and thought we must have got the gap badly wrong so stopped to give them another 2 min. It turned out they had had an unscheduled stop on lap one while Kenny made a reaquaintance with a couple of bananas he had eaten earlier (Q. What's yellow and smells of bananas? A. Monkey sick ) Luckily this didn't seem to put any of them off and they settled down again. The 2 groups came together again just after the start of the third lap: Kenny was feeling the pace (and was probably feeling hungry again by now) and dropped off but the remaining 5 stayed together. Claire, who had looked a bit nervous at the start, was much more relaxed by now and in her stride. Dave was attacking on the flat and everyone had a go at breaking away at one point or another. (It might have been a wee club confined midweek event but it was getting pretty serious by this point ) Over start line for the last time with about 2 miles to go and the pace upped with Liam making most of the running. He attacked on second last climb with only myself staying with him - we sat up a bit to prepare for climb to the finish at which point Tony appeared out of nowhere and shot past. A mad scramble followed - Tony was caught and passed - and Liam took off taking first place by about 20 metres. 1. Liam (in his first road race of any description) 2. Stephen H 3. Tony 4. Dave (first timer) 5. Claire (first timer) 6. Kenny S (first timer - last week doesn't really count) As you can see it was a bit of a novice handicap but I think everyone had a good time, had a good work out, and all keen for more. Congrats to Liam He looked very comfortable all the way round and I'm sure we kept him back. Cheers Stephen H Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted June 17, 2005 Report Share Posted June 17, 2005 Thanks Stephen for organising this - it was a good workout and great fun. Looking forward to next Thursday - maybe we'll all be a bit more prepared for Dave and his "Jedi mind tricks" Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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