Chaos in the car park as potential racers were distracted by the eye candy of the Giant range on display courtesy of Cycle World. Ray’s team seemed to have attracted big numbers of potential buyers and some of the riders this evening got a wee bit side-tracked.
The race/ride was a last minute change of plan with a working bee the original intention for tonight. So with this confusion in mind it was a pleasant surprise to see 24 numbers on the start grid. Peter took everyone on a siting lap as there wasn’t time to place arrows. When the gun went off some of the riders were still on the siting lap. Sven was very late getting back to the start after capturing a few journalistic quality photos.
There were some old familiar faces emerging from the past with ex-president Dominic visiting the region to attend a wedding. He did not pay but circulated on one of the bikes on display, guess he had no money left after forking out for a wedding gift.
A trio came charging towards the finish line after one lap with Matt Squire leading Josh Scott and Joel clinging on for dear life. Kyle Fearn and Robert Kennedy were a few more seconds adrift illustrating that the age difference of riders in this sport can be decades apart. Robert is still in fine form and is a great role model for our younger riders.
Ian Buunk was the main victim of the side show and with eyes bigger than his wallet went for a pit stop to change bikes after just one lap. His main mission then was to try as many bikes as possible without completing another lap.
Eugan also got caught up in the Giant campaign and went for a pit stop after 3 laps hoping (and failing) to get fitted out before the forty minute deadline and go for another lap.
And so the race went on, Joel put in a blistering second lap and was in front of Josh by 10 seconds with Kyle a further 26 seconds adrift of these two. The pack were weaving in and out of bike testers with the usual courtesy being shown by mountain bikers.
After three laps Josh had taken up position on Joel’s wheel and the wiser old head was lining up for a victory. The diminutive Joel succumbed over the next lap and lost around 30 seconds to the vastly experienced Josh. These two were the only riders to fit in 5 laps in the forty minutes allowed. Robert rode consistently into the bronze medal position with Matt and Kyle next representing more junior talent on the rise.
Look forward to more big number at Conders Bend next Thursday.