It would seem Lloyd led fro a lap then got overhauled for a fine second, supermasters is a tough race cat.
Hollie again showed skills beyond her years, despit some tree hugging for the cameras, and put in a great lap time.
Infact her lap time would have led the open female class, and had her second in the master female class...infact it would have put her 3rd in the fun MALE class to.
Superb.
Full ResultsBrownie, Stu, Pilch, Dave, Gregg and Jack (pictured) as well as camera shy Rich, Tom, Lloyd, Hollie and Bob all hit the dry trails of Thetford.
Oh the joy of being gridded, holding 3rd in the series I was called up to the line to get a front row start, and dave joined alongside on his Cotic Singlespeed.
The gun went and The first wheel to show was Daves, Yes he lead a winter series race for ohh at least 3 seconds, and was about 3rd into the first corner and about 50th out of it as the pack hit the big gears on the downhill section.
Me I was 3rd behind the 4 hour vet 1st and 2nd overall guys, the chaces of staying with them were remote, so as I eased back before the first singletrack about 10 riders shot past. But one of them wasn't Lloyd as usual. Settling down to a fast but pretty lonely lap, loving the fast singletrack (read and weep 2 hr boys) I got caried away.
Every thetford race BigRing has got the fastest lap of the day.....not this time I was on a mission and went for it. when Gregg came past towards the end of the 2nd lap and pulled a away I started to implode....not the best plan. lloyd finally joined us as i caught Gregg up a few laps later, Gregg then slipped back and Lloyd pulled away, back to a quiet race just hanging on this time, that was tough. (what a crap write up hey!)
Results stuff:
Laps - Position in class - Rider - laps
3 1 02:01:59 Hollie Bettles 00:37:40 00:40:53 00:43:25
4 7th 02:33:44 Richard Jones 00:35:18 00:37:13 00:39:05 00:42:07
4 61st 02:39:21 Tom Wright 00:38:41 00:39:43 00:40:12 00:40:43
3 75th 01:52:29 Stewart Knubley 00:34:54 00:36:47 00:40:46
4 19th 02:31:34 Paul Brown 00:36:44 00:36:57 00:38:26 00:39:24
4 33rd 02:41:26 Bob Mitchell 00:36:44 00:40:18 00:44:26 00:39:56
7 6th 04:04:57 Lloyd Bettles 00:33:38 00:36:27 00:34:23 00:35:09 00:35:20
00:35:20 00:34:38
7 15th 04:22:23 Gregg Payne 00:34:03 00:33:41 00:34:51 00:37:51 00:40:11
00:41:48 00:39:55
7 5th 04:15:11 Jack Peterson 00:32:25 00:34:50 00:35:45 00:37:26 00:37:28
00:38:25 00:38:49
6 17th 03:58:18 Troy Rollason 00:36:05 00:37:39 00:38:39 00:40:39 00:42:48
00:42:26
6 21st 04:05:03 Dave Gardner 00:38:08 00:38:39 00:40:04 00:40:48 00:44:19
00:43:04
Wahay got the fastest lap - But look at that run of consistent lap times after his easy start from Lloyd, thats how to do it. Watch out boys Hollies after you!
Final Vets 4Hr series points.
| 1 | 1 | Paul Ashby | Fat Birds CC | 150 | 150 | 150 | 450 | |
| 2 | 20 | John Fettis | Team F.All | 145 | 145 | 145 | 435 | |
| 3 | 24 | Jack Peterson | Numplumz | 130 | 140 | 130 | 400 | |
| 4 | 36 | Paul West | Shred Magazine / Endura | * | 135 | 140 | 104 | 379 |
| 5 | 6 | Alan Coldray | Team Milton Keynes | 120 | 130 | * | 125 | 375 |
| 6 | 9 | Simon LITTLE | Chelmer Cycles | 110 | 120 | 120 | 350 | |
| 7 | 3 | Paul Facer | SWRC | 108 | 106 | 130 | 344 | |
| 8 | 42 | Russell Rout | 115 | 108 | * | 120 | 343 | |
| 9 | 18 | Dave Gardner | Numplumz Singlespeed | 98 | 94 | 135 | 327 | |
| 10 | 19 | Troy Rollason | Numplumz | * | 96 | 125 | 94 | 315 |
Good race - full results
Fastest laps table again then and difference between fastest and slowest laps.
12 of us out there again was cool , hopefully I didn't miss anyone
| | Fastest Lap | Slow-fast |
| BigRing | 37:12 | 11:11 |
| Jack | 38:29 | 3:33 |
| Stew | 42:33 | 2:41 |
| Rich | 41:22 | 2:23 |
| Brad | 42:33 | 9:05 |
| Troy | 43:55 | 6:34 |
| Dave | 44:55 | 3:57 |
| Brownie | 47:43 | 1:39 |
| Tom | 46:02 | 9:25 |
| Gray | 45:04 | 4:01 |
| Bob | 46:31 | 3:00 |
| Hollie | 50:41 | 6:19 |
This is listed in the same order as round 1 (except for Troy replacing Gregg) so you can see if you improved from then, BigRing again is Mr speedy although he lost the will to live on the last lap letting the old git go by ;-)
Great ride from young Richard, flying faster than a speeding Stu and keeping it consistent to the line as well. Hollie well she is unbeatable at the moment ;-)
Round 3 will be interesting then , see who eats all the pies over Christmas
BC report and pics will be here:- http://www.britishcycling.org.uk/web/site/BC/mtb/EventReports2008/20081207_whyte_enduro_thetford.asp
so how many pictures have you found of us lot then?
But here are the results
Quick results of note: with laps 2 hrs:
1st Hollie 00:52:57 01:03:01
5th Richard Jones 00:40:31 00:45:33 00:54:24
27th Stu Knubley 00:44:27 00:48:04 00:54:49
Vets
16th Paul Brown 00:49:41 00:50:37 00:55:30
19th Bob Mitchell 00:48:43 00:52:12 00:56:54
3rd Lloyd Bettles 00:35:47 00:42:45 00:47:17 00:50:02 00:49:21
9th Gregg payne 00:39:11 00:47:11 00:53:11 00:55:37 00:56:42
Vets
4th Dave Gardner 00:40:55 00:52:08 00:56:09 00:57:23 01:00:20
6th
Great rides from all those above, I bet Dave and
Watch out Brownie Bobs catching you.
And me well……
20th
Well I messed that up good and proper didn’t I.
Felt good going into this race, to be honest, decided on the singlespeed because its flatland and knew it would be very muddy.
But then like a twonk had too big a gear on the bike for the conditions. 32-16 can twiddle all day round here, but not in porridge.
Piss poor really, I should have taken a couple of spare sprockets with me, and definitely should have done a pre-lap just to see how bad it was.
Should have taken geared bike? What’s the point in having lots of nice bikes if you can’t be bothered to take them to races is another good point !!
On the face of it, why after coming in at 1hr30 in 3rd place did I pack in…..
Well I could have walked sections, struggled on but there was no way I was going to put my back through another 2 ½ hours of that hell.
Thetford Winter series Rd 1: Well done to all the plumz racers there but especially Hollie who wins again, Lloyd 3rd , and Singlespeed Dave gets a superb 15th.
Well it was a pleasure to be out riding on Sunday, 50 miles of fast flowing dry singletrack with as much grip as you liked. You could throw your bike around like it was on rails and there were several sections that were super swoopy. Ace.
Oh yes, the race, knew there was a reason we were all there. Well I let antone else put up there versions but here’s mine.
After 2 mins silence, it was I thought a madder than normal start, even though it was a long section of double track the fact that it was downhill meant there were even more fast starters than usual up front. The girls had been sent of like hares in front and we just caught them at the first tight singletrack. Almost dead stop as me and MrRing eased up.
By the time we got by the track was deserted, Lloyd sped off as I settled into a heart rate I thought I could manage for 4 hrs. It was great just being able to ride the deserted track as fast as you wanted, but unless you see who the riders are up front early on you have no idea where you stand in the race. (looking at lap times I was 7th for 2 hrs)
2 hours in an it finally got a bit busier as I caught riders but the empty track had meant no real let up and the legs were screaming, the 2hr Vet leaders came by and I tucked in behind them easily I even followed John McAndrew who was 2nd for ¾ of a lap and passed him on the last climb but then had to force myself to ease off; two hrs to go I kept saying to myself, but this was fun.
I thought I’d blown it, the Lactate was screaming in my legs so I decided to do whole sections in the middle ring to spin a lot more. This seemed to work and after a slower lap, the 2hr racers left the track and it was back to blasting on the clearing super singletrack.
(At this point apparently I’d passed a
Starting the last lap I lapped Gregg and still felt good, so with nothing to lose I pulled the trigger and gave it everything. You can usually notice riders who you are lapping, they come back to you real easy, but I love the thrill of seeing someone slowly appear; you know they are on your lap just by their speed. First one down was Milton Keynes rider Lee Goodman in the under 40’s he woke up as I got to his back wheel but then shouted some expletives as I kicked the big ring up the climb and left him for dead, feels good ;-)
Then another rider appeared, I shadowed him in the singletrack then again just eased away, this was different though I never knew it at the time. I’d just passed Paul Simmons of Koxx/Thetford racing to grab 5th and then put another 90 seconds into him. The legendary last push is still there, and if only I’d known as I was only 100 secs behind 3rd place at the end and my last 3 laps were all faster than theirs.
Bring on Round 2!
Here's each riders fastest lap, just shows you Tuesday night guys that the fast guys on the road don’t mean nothing when it gets twisty and muddy. I also put in the difference between each riders fastest and slowest lap. This shows up riders who go off to fast and then blow, and those that can be consistent. I’m well pleased with my difference for a 4hr blast. Gregg certainly found his limit ;-)
Fastest laps table
| | Fastest Lap | Slow-fast |
| BigRing | 31:34 | 4:00 |
| Jack | 33:41 | 2:45 |
| Stew | 35:10 | 3:23 |
| Rich | 35:17 | 4:56 |
| Brad | 35:41 | 5:13 |
| Gregg | 35:44 | 15:34 |
| Dave | 37:10 | 5:43 |
| Brownie | 37:31 | 1:29 |
| Tom | 38:08 | 2:30 |
| Gray | 38:30 | 2:48 |
| Bob | 39:11 | 3:56 |
| Hollie | 41:28 | 5:59 |
Should be loads of pictures out there too.
Me and Dave took one look, binned it and went round on the road and climbed up from the other way and still beat some riders there, even on singlespeeds. Oh yes we were smug.
It rammed home though why even though this is a very local area to us, we just don't know the tracks......because most of them are just places you don't want to ride for fun. Some good downhills and a few good hard tracks, but mainly poor. We did actully hit another yomp across a field section that must have took us 15 mins to clear,crap choice from me, spirits remained high though, proper teamwork.
Results link is below, it was a good day to be out in the countryside even if Dave was feeling ill. I'm quite suprised how well we did really because we really crawled round at times, and walked several hills, all credit to Dave for keeping going, he was on empty from 15 mins in and I had to physically push him along one-handed at times ;-)
Soup tea and superb cakes back at the clubhouse with the roaring log fire was a good finish reward, nice to see the clubhouse getting used (and dirtied..oops) by mountainbikers for once.
Checking the route we took and how we abandoned early to cruise home we would have picked up at least another 80 easy to get roadside points at our normal speed, so shows that a good route choice can defeat speed in these things, suppose that's why they are very popular with people who don't actually race.
Graham was out there too, and we even finished together in a flurry of spinning legs trying to follow him. you guys should look out for this next year, always a good day out and I'm always suprised how litlle club interest there is!
