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- Written by Steve Stannard
The wet early morning in Palmerston North might have discouraged some late entries, but as with all fun-rides of late, numbers were a little down at the start line.
Some 72 riders began the 96 km Rangitikei River Loop, one of the most enjoyable rides on the annual calendar, on Sunday morning. There are usually some riders from as far a field as Wellington and Taranaki, some using it as training for the Tour of Southland, others just wanting to see the fantastic country-side. This year was no exception.
The tough bit about this ride is the nasty climb straight out of the start line and as usual, this immediately split the bunch. A group of some 16 of the better riders formed at the front, with a couple of large chasing groups hoping to get back on before the first section on SH1.
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- Written by Katherine Stannard
By Katherine Stannard (with apologies to Banjo Patterson and Clancy of the Overflow)
I found this when I was cleaning out the cupboard the other day – while it is a race report from another time and another place it could be describing the twists and turns of almost any race. I thought you might enjoy it.
First, a little bit of background; the Grafton Inverell is a single day, graded, 240km race from Grafton, at sea level in northern New South Wales, up over the Gibraltar range (a winding climb of some 18km) to Inverell, some 600m above sea level. The year that Steve and I did the race Phil Anderson (aka Skippy) was invited to be the race starter. We were racing for our Northern Suburbs Club who were sponsored by the Clancy’s supermarket chain. The rest, as they say, is history….
As we marshalled on the start line
in the early morning light
There were twenty Clancy’s riders, maybe more
And as “Skippy” gave the signal
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- Written by Vaughan Hunt
The recreational rides organisers had the idea to add some variety to our Sunday rides by planning a trip starting a bit further away from home and on roads not regularly used by our club members. Thus the ride from Mangaweka was conceived.
To make the logistics easier, a bus was hired which picked up the approximately 40 riders for just over an hour journey to Mangaweka.
And on time at 8:15 the group set off up the (rather nice climb) towards Rangiwahia. The previous days of heavy rain had brought down a large number of slips and the soft Papa Rock (that muddy greyish sandstone) covered the road. Pretty soon both bikes and riders were were evenly plastered with the stuff.
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- Written by Glenys Taylor
Another cracker day in the Manawatu and some regular and new and old faces appeared on the scene at Ashhurst to see how good the handicapping would be today. With Jaycob Humphreys taking on the role of race manager and overseeing all things, he had a great little team of helpers on the day. Thanks to Louise Ransom and Rebecca Allan for marshalling out on the course and Wayne Fenn for helping on the finish line.
It was nice to be able to relax at the end of the ride at Fusion cafe and enjoy a drink and something to eat while the results for the series were calculated. Prizemoney was then handed out to those that were present and there was only one person not present so that money went back in to the pot to be added to the next series prizemoney.
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- Written by Steve Loversuch
What a lovely ride we had on Sunday 13th October from Mangaweka back to Palmerston North. The weather, albeit a bid windy (very windy actually) was dry, there was a great turn out of people of varying strengths and all appearing to be enjoying the lovely countryside and company of others. It is a shame therefore that again I feel the need to write an article expressing my frustrations (I’m putting it mildly) about rider selfishness.
Shortly after leaving Cheltenham and as the wind continued to blow, there were a few people in our group (two groups having merged at this stage) who were struggling to keep up and as I tend to do, I moved up to the front to ask that the speed be cut back. To my annoyance, the group continued on at the same speed and I decided to drop back to ride with and support one of our colleagues. We rode the last 25 kilometres by ourselves, without any other cyclists in sight, they perhaps clearly more interested in coffee than helping a fellow cyclist. I certainly don’t mind doing this if there is only 2-3 kilometres to go, but how could a group of experienced cyclists and yes, there were some very strong and experienced cyclists in this group, leave someone to struggle on their own, especially with so far to go. Out of a group of approximately 30 cyclists, I would have thought it quite appropriate that 3-4 riders drop back to help those that are struggling.