Post by barryvankellett on Sept 15, 2013 13:18:00 GMT 1
Congratulations to our new (first?) Mountain Bike club champion... BEN WILSON!
The only place to be on a day like that is in the shelter of the woods, and most definitely not on a mountain bike riding up the hills to the start line. Oh well.
I was running late as usual and met Brian up at the top of the course making ammendments to the usual loop. Clearly to suit Ben's technical skills!
Myself and Robert Davidson were first away, with apparently 5 laps for me and only 4 for everyone else. I held Robert off on the climb and down the hill and had a decent first lap, the rest of the guys having started already. The game was on. 2 minutes later the game was over. I was getting it tight so sought out the sharpest rock i could and punctured off it!
The handicap times were proving to be spot on, with everyone coming together towards the end of their races. Adi Booth was pushing hard on round the course after passing early leader Robert, John Shanks in hot pursuit and Robert keeping them both in sight. Gibson and Paul Watson weren't far behind, sporting signs of getting up close and personal with the foliage and course obstacles. Close behind was Zak with half the forest trailing from his (My!) rear mech. Grimley was in his base mile training mode, getting ready for the CX season!
However for all these seasoned racers hard efforts, they were still all behind young Ben who was lapping the course with times on a par with dry lap times, and it was anything but dry, with the wet conditions slowing most of the other riders down.
As he came around the last time, he had a good lead still over Adi and powered up the hill to loop around the final section of the course... appearing a few minutes later to take the win with quite a gap to spare. Congratulations Ben!
Thanks to Brian for sorting out the gaps and starting riders off, and to race commissaire for the day, Bryce, who ensured no family favouritism was shown.
The only place to be on a day like that is in the shelter of the woods, and most definitely not on a mountain bike riding up the hills to the start line. Oh well.
I was running late as usual and met Brian up at the top of the course making ammendments to the usual loop. Clearly to suit Ben's technical skills!
Myself and Robert Davidson were first away, with apparently 5 laps for me and only 4 for everyone else. I held Robert off on the climb and down the hill and had a decent first lap, the rest of the guys having started already. The game was on. 2 minutes later the game was over. I was getting it tight so sought out the sharpest rock i could and punctured off it!
The handicap times were proving to be spot on, with everyone coming together towards the end of their races. Adi Booth was pushing hard on round the course after passing early leader Robert, John Shanks in hot pursuit and Robert keeping them both in sight. Gibson and Paul Watson weren't far behind, sporting signs of getting up close and personal with the foliage and course obstacles. Close behind was Zak with half the forest trailing from his (My!) rear mech. Grimley was in his base mile training mode, getting ready for the CX season!
However for all these seasoned racers hard efforts, they were still all behind young Ben who was lapping the course with times on a par with dry lap times, and it was anything but dry, with the wet conditions slowing most of the other riders down.
As he came around the last time, he had a good lead still over Adi and powered up the hill to loop around the final section of the course... appearing a few minutes later to take the win with quite a gap to spare. Congratulations Ben!
Thanks to Brian for sorting out the gaps and starting riders off, and to race commissaire for the day, Bryce, who ensured no family favouritism was shown.
