YELLO VELO CYCLING CLUB

2005-2006

All the up-to-date news from the Yello Velo Cycling Club 2005-2006

NOVEMBER reports for the 2005-2006 season

REPORTS ARCHIVE 2005-2006

Week ending November 20:

The 10^th round of the Lincs Cyclo-Cross League saw a bitingly cold day greet the riders as they assembled at Ostler’s Plantation at Woodhall Spa for the Yello Velo organised event. This location is always popular with the riders in a really testing sporting discipline.

And this year was no different as race organiser Nigel Dymond and his team from Yello Velo devised a testing route through the trees. With a lap length of a mile-and-a-half and no real hills to speak of, this race is always fast. And the sheer variety of surfaces — ranging from forest track to fire roads and even concrete — regularly catches out the unwary rider. Coupled with the heavy frost, crashes were the order of the day.

In the youth race of 30 minutes, the most difficult obstacle — a succession of earth banks — had been removed for safety reasons. But there were still plenty of obstacles left for the young riders to tackle. Current series leader Sam Jackson of VC Lincoln made an early break from the chasing pack and went solo to another impressive victory. He was followed by Paul Clarke of Lincoln Wheelers and Finnian Haynes of Louth who spent most of the race in a tense battle for the coveted second spot. However, Haynes proved the stronger rider at the end with Clarke having to be content with third place this time.

Riding for the Yello Velo team were Ryan Foreman and Tom Garwell. And it was Ryan who, after a slow start, found himself in a battle for the fourth place with Will Hare from Spalding. These two had a close race at Grantham where Ryan won in a sprint finish. However, this time it was not to be as an unshipped chain on the final lap meant his adversary was able to get away. Ryan had to be content with fourth place. Meanwhile team-mate Tom was just a few seconds back. But with the high speed of the race, he was unable to bridge the gap and eventually finished a minute down in sixth place.

The under-12s race was once again a popular affair with 19 riders taking part on a short section of the main course. With forest single track to tackle this tested the bike-handling skills of some of the younger riders. The top three riders in the league quickly established themselves at the front of affairs with Lennox Saint and Jake Poole finishing in first and second. Another superb ride by Aaron Rymer saw him secure third place to establish himself as the club’s top under-12s rider. Making the most of his last ride in the under-12s, Joe Sellars finished in sixth spot while Jody McNichol rode well for 10th and Sam Relton missing the hills, had to be content with 12th spot.

For the final race of the day — the combined seniors, vets and juniors — a smaller than usual field tackled the full course for the one hour race. Missing were several riders who were riding the National Trophy race at Mallory Park in Leicestershire. Yello Velo’s top junior Charlie Porter was absent riding the track at Manchester for the East Midlands Team.

From the starting gun this race went off at a furious pace as riders sped towards the first piece of single track. At the front, it was the VC Lincoln duo of series leader Scott Weekley and Mark Cotton who led. However, with a masterful display of bike control, Weekley eased away from his rival riding several sections where others had to dismount. With the race soon strung out in to little groups, it made spectating more interesting as the course weaved back and forth.

Riding for the Yello Velo, Bodycare, Don White Cycles squad, Martin White and Tom Dymond made the most of their fast starts and for several laps were locked together until a crash by Tom on some slippery concrete broke the join. In fact both riders crashed during the race but were able to quickly remount and continue with Martin finishing in ninth place and first Lincs vet and Tom in 10th, his highest placing this year.

Making a welcome return to racing for the first time in many years was mountain biker Dave Killick who had an untroubled run to 30th place while Steve Blackbourn caught team-mate Amy Willoughby near the line to grab 31st with Amy in her best ride of the year so far in 32nd and first lady home. All-in-all it had been a great day’s racing despite the freezing temperature. And with two riders in the top 10 it was a great result for the team.

The whole event, though, was just reward for organising team of Nigel Dymond and Mark Garwell and the rest of the Yello Velo crew. Thanks must also go to Paul Rymer of Don White Cycles for donating prizes for the under-12s race and to Richard and Mary Holland for their superb timekeeping duties.

Next race in the series will be the re-arranged VC Lincoln race now to be held at Epworth in the far north of the county as the South Common in Lincoln became unavailable. Still in early December, there will be the biggest race of the year for most competitors as the Midlands Championships come to Lincolnshire for the first time in many years. This race, at RAF Cranwell to be promoted by Sleaford Wheelers, will see the might of the Midlands’ best cycle clubs pitted against the best riders in the Lincs League. It should make for some interesting racing.

Week ending November 20:

The ninth round of the Lincs Cyclo Cross League was a Boston-area affair for the Yello Velo-Bodycare-Don White Cycles team squad. They made the short trip to Tunnards Farm in Boston for the race, promoted by the Boston Wheelers Cycling Club.

Using the bankside adjacent to the River Witham as the main focus of the course, the race organisers also weaved riders on a circuit course over grass fields and farm tracks. In the main race of the day, the combined seniors, veterans and juniors event over one hour, a good getaway was essential.

And with the start loop in the field Martin White made his best start of the year and powered past a number of riders to move in to the top 10 — a position he held for the rest of the race. This was Martin’s best finish of the year so far and he also collected useful points in the separate vets category in which he is currently lying in second place. Also riding in this race were Rob Ruck who finished in 20th position and fourth junior along with team-mates Steve Blackbourn in 31st and Andy Woodcock in 32nd place.

There were no Yello Velo riders in the youth race as Tom Garwell didn’t race due to sickness and his team pal Ryan Foreman was away at Mallory Park in Leicestershire for a British cycling Talent squad meeting.

The under-12s race is always an action-packed affair. There were four Yello Velo riders in action and leading finisher for the squad was Aaron Rymer in an excellent third place. Luke Thompson was fourth, Joe Sellars was seventh and Sam Relton came 10th.

Next race for the squad will be the club’s own promotion at Woodhall Spa around the popular Ostlers Plantation site, always a fast course which should stand the squad riders in good stead for the forthcoming Midlands Championships to be held at RAF Cranwell in December.

In other action, Yello Velo ace Charlie Porter was in action on the track at the weekend once again riding as part of a three-man East Midlands team in the Revolution International Track meeting at Manchester. Charlie took part in three events and with only the first 12 riders in each event scoring points the racing is always competitive. In his first race, the 5-kilometre scratch, Charlie missed the break and finished outside the points-scoring positions. However, he had much better rides in his next 2 races finishing 10th in both the 1 mile dash and the devil takes the hindmost.

Week ending November 13:

Yello Velo Cycling Club junior rider Charlie Porter was in action at the weekend competing for England in the Interland Track meeting at the Newport Velodrome in South Wales.

This was the first time Charlie had represented England and he was pleased with his weekend’s racing.

On Saturday he qualified for the match sprints with a time of 12.686 seconds for his flying 200m time trial. In the following rounds, which were dominated by the French riders, Charlie registered placing of second, third and second.

Sunday morning started with the team sprint with Charlie taking the first of the three laps. The team had a good ride finishing third overall again the French proved too strong and won the event. The rest of the day was taken up with the Keiran again Charlie had some solid races finishing sixth, third and third in his three races.

Charlie’s next event will be the Revolution International track meeting at Manchester this weekend when he will be riding for the East Midlands team. And in the New Year he is planning to do some races in Belgium and Holland and is seeking sponsorship to cover the costs of these trips. Any individuals or businesses able to assist can contact Kevin Porter.

Week ending November6:

The eighth round of the Lincolnshire Cyclo-Cross League saw the racing action located at Hubbard Hills’ farm on the edge of Louth.

With all the recent wet weather, this site became a quagmire of sticky mud that simply turned lightweight “cross” bikes into 30lb mud-monsters. Even the course for the under-12s was an arduous affair with them using the top field on this sloping site.

Still, all that climbing made for a fast descent. And with a good turnout this week, these younger riders were blessed with clear conditions.

Riding for the Yello Velo squad were Aaron Rymer and younger sister Paige as well as Sam Relton and Joe Sellars. Making most of the fast start Aaron Rymer was quickly into his rhythm and was best finisher for the Yello Velo squad with an excellent third spot.

Sam and Joe were involved in their own battle with Sam the better climber while Joe was able to catch up on the downhill part. These two stayed together all through the race with Sam securing ninth place and Joe 10th. Finishing in 19th place was Paige Rymer in her second race of the series after some help from dad, Paul, on the stickier sections.

The youth race of 30 minutes was a little down on numbers from the previous week. And with Yello Velo’s Ryan Foreman absent, this time it was left to fellow rider Tom Garwell to represent the team.

Tom made a cautious start as this was bound to be a race of attrition for these racers. And he spent the entire race, chasing adversary from Lincoln Wheelers Paul Clarke who at one point led the race for a short time before eventual winner Sam Jackson of VC Lincoln restored order. At one point, Tom closed to within 10 seconds of Clarke, his running technique on the muddy banks proving superior to his rival. But Clarke was able to summon up some reserves from somewhere and pulled away on the long climbing section of the course.

In the end, Tom had to be content with fourth spot and some useful points in the season-long competition.

In the combined seniors, juniors and veterans’ race — the last of the day — the weather was distinctly wintry with constant rain throughout. And with the course already waterlogged, the going was heavy with mud-clogging an issue for most of the riders.

With all the league’s top riders back after the previous week’s national trophy race, it was VC Lincoln’s Scott Weekly who set the early pace before being caught by Fat Birds’ rider Rick Lister who held on to win by almost a minute after nearly an hour’s racing.

Best finisher for the Yello Velo-Bodycare-Don White Cycles’ team was junior Charlie Porter who at one point was in fifth place before he was caught. And he had to be content with 12th place and second junior.

Behind Charlie, three Yello Velo riders were almost riding together as vet Martin White chased team-mates Rob Ruck and Tom Dymond. As these three approached the pits for the first time, there was a flurry of bike changes as both Martin and Tom changed machines while Rob carried on only to grind to a halt totally clogged up after an early impressive-looking ride.

Both Tom and Martin carried on and this time around Tom was able to pull clear. And with a clean bike each lap he recorded his best finish of the series so far with 17th place. Martin had to be content with 19th while Andy Woodcock plugged away with only one bike to come home in 28th. Amy Willoughby the team’s only female “cross” rider rode well, despite having missed last week’s race and came home 31st.

It had been an incredibly hard race and everyone who finished deserved a medal as well as all the team’s helpers who were kept busy power-washing bikes so that the team’s riders could keep going in the muddy conditions.

Next race in the series will be the Boston Wheelers’ race at Tunnards Farm followed the week later by Yello Velo’s own promotion at Ostlers Plantation near Woodhall Spa. And with the Midlands championships fairly soon in December the team’s “cross” riders will be getting in some much needed practice in their weekly sessions run by cyclo-cross coach Nigel Dymond.