Weekly News 20/06/22 to 26/06/22 – Hartlepool Cycling Club

HCC Sunday Social Cafe Ride

This Sunday Peter and Sean were joined by Matt and Uncle Paul who was up from Watford for a blustery ride to Roots Cafe. Matt and Uncle Paul had done a long ride on Saturday with a long stretch into the strong headwind so showed great resilience in turning up for more of the same on Sunday. Leaving the Golden Lion at 8:30 and into the wind along Catcote Road the group soon settled into a steady pace also known as a bit of a grind as the wind continued all the way to the descent into Neasham.

The route from there was a sharp left up the bank towards Dinsdale, then after crossing the Tees on the Suspension bridge the route went along the French style road with White Poplars either side bent double in the wind and towards Hornby. It was around here however that Sean’s breakfast started to run out and realising there was no Girsby Cafe his complaints started, ‘are we there yet’ and ‘where’s the cafe’ being two that can be printed. So now instead of plodding on to the cycling Mecca that is Roots Cafe it was time to head for a closer coffee stop and the Kirlevington prison cafe was the closest. Although the prison cafe was closed so it was coffee and sausage rolls at the Yarm driving range cafe next door.

From the cafe stop it was back through Yarm and Stockton with a following wind then through Billingham towards Cowpen Bewley where a beer stop was required to top up the energy reserves and ensure everyone could make it back to town. At Greatham Uncle Paul and Matt headed straight through the town towards The Pot House while Peter and Sean took the scenic route along Dalton Back Lane.

The ride was around 55 miles in total and mainly flat. Average about 15mph but a high scorer on the enjoyment scale.

Club/Racing News

On Wednesday night, it was the continuation of the Club Tens (Week 4 of 7) from Cowpen Bewley Woodland Park, after last weeks break to make way for the Croft Tens event. It was a nice sunny evening and although there was still a bit of wind, in general it was a good evening for a time trial. 5 riders took part with 3 members from HCC qualifying for this years league points. Lee Morley was 1st home for the club in 24:15, Phil Wright 2nd in 28:00 and Tony Cheshire 3rd in 29:59. All three HCC riders smashing their course records and also beating their standard times. Excellent riding guys! The event was won by Ray Hall of Adept in 22:35.

After 4 weeks of racing, the league standings can be found below alongside this weeks results. There are still 3 weeks remaining in the club tens league for 2022. So please come along on Wednesday night 29th June for week 5 of this great series of time trials on a local course.

On Saturday Phil Wright competed in the Kent Valley RC 10 Mile Time Trial on the L1015 course at Levens just outside Kendal. 80 riders competed and Phil finished in a great time of 25:46 with an average speed of 23.29 mph in 72nd place. Well done Phil! The event was won by Grant Bigham of Wattshop in 18:56 with an average speed of 31.69 mph.

On Sunday was the big event of the season that the club was preparing for as hosts, the RTTC National 50 Mile Time Trial Championships for both the Mens and Womens races on the T502/1 course. The club had no riders competing today, but had a strong field of marshalls to help make the event a success. With the fastest riders in the country, some travelling quite far to compete for the National title. It was a nice warm day, but a strong wind developed from 7am which meant the riders had to manage their pace right on the outlap before flying back after the turn with a nice tailwind in the highest gear they could find.

In the Womens race, 22 riders started and Kate Allan of Team Bottrill finished in 1st place in a time of 1:44:55 and became the National 50 Mile TT Champion for 2022. 2nd was Joanna Patterson of Wahoo Endurance Zone p/b Le Col in 1:45:34 and 3rd place was Jennifer George of The Independant Pedaler – Nopinz in 1:50:13.

In the Mens race, 49 riders started and Christopher Fennell of The Independant Pedaler – Nopinz finished in 1st place in a time of 1:37:38 and became the National 50 Mile TT Champion for 2022. Christopher is also the 25 Mile TT National Champion for 2022! 2nd was Marcel Schubert of Darlington Cycling Club in 1:38:58 and 3rd place was Jack Levick of Rose Race Team in 1:39:39.

Strava Club Leaderboard

This week The Thirlwind took the top spot in the general classification with 162.3 miles, Matthew Johnson was 2nd with 140.8 miles and Stewart Summerside was 3rd with 127.7 miles.

Richard Nichol was the King Of The Mountains this week with 6,276 ft of climbing! A big well done also goes to Richard Nichol for his single ride of the week with a massive 92.8 miles!

This week only 5 riders went over the 100 mile mark for the week – The Thirlwind, Matthew Johnson, Stuart Summerside, Phil Wright and Tim Summerton. Well done to you all.

This week only 18 riders put miles on the board out of 52 Strava HCC members, well done to everyone and for the rest of you, now is the time to get out on the bike in the lovely weather! Well done to everyone.

Other achievements to note, a big well done to Matthew Johnson for getting in some great mileage including an 82 miler, Paul Sefton for continuing to get in those bigger rides and everyone else who is enjoying their cycling this season! Be safe and most of all enjoy it.