A report from Mike Sirett on the 2 up – and an offer you can’t refuse
Thanks to Mike for this great report and for his generosity (detailed below). Remember, you can sign up for the next 2 up on 30th July here.
(Please remember to indicate in the comments section who your partner is.)
Over to Mike:
On Tuesday 15th July, the first of 2 2UP Time trials took place on the course from Husbands Bosworth to Lubbenham.
A few months ago, I had popped off my bike and it had taken a while to get some sort of fitness and confidence back so I hadn’t really planned on riding either of these events, but Chris Dainty the club captain requested my presence, and one can’t really turn down the big man when he asks you nicely.
Bearing in mind that Chris took a bit of a tumble a while back also and we only agreed to ride on Sunday with no training whatsoever together, it probably didn’t have the greatest potential, but as Chris informed me, it would be a PB, so we had a tactics team talk and off we went down to the start.
To be honest I was a bit nervous as it’s not an easy course with a few bumps in it and the road surface isn’t the best, plus we were going off first. We turned up in true Corinthian style with no aero attire, unlike a few others who shall remain nameless.
If one could be intimidated by a couple of teenage girls, it was confirmed by seeing young Ruby Isaac and her mate Rose Lewis with their crew waiting at the start.
Off we went and we were doing ok, nigh on flying until I remembered that it’s predominantly down hill with a few rises outwards, so held back a bit to save a bit for the return leg as it’s a bit of a slog. Our changeovers weren’t too shabby at all to be honest.
The turn is after a pretty sharp rise to a roundabout and we’re off on the return. As soon as we got on the straight it was nice to see where the other pairs were, and it looked like we might not get caught.
This is where one really has to focus as my legs were starting to feel the burn and hitting the last sharp rise out of around Theddingworth wasn’t very pretty at all.
The last dash to the finish I was hanging on to Chris as he put a mega turn, and we were over the line. The big man did well.
Happy days as we got around with no problems, so both our wives should now let us ride again on the next 2 up in a fortnight.
Everyone seemed to enjoy it and special mention for Ruby Isaac and her partner Rose Lewis as they did a really good ride, but I did promise her a tenner if she beat Stuart Haycox, so she had an incentive, not that she really needs it.
We had 6 teams entered but a couple of teams lost riders with illness pre-start, so it was 4 teams as follows.
Dan McDonnell/Tom Medley – 24:20
Ruby Isaac/Rose Lewis – 25:48
Chris Dainty/Mike Sirett – 27:16
Roger Kockleburgh/Simon Ward – 28:31
Dale Norris solo – 26:34
Stuart Haycox – 26:58
May thanks to Andy Poulton for organizing and of course all the Marshalls . Angela’s cakes were top notch as usual.
It was mentioned that it was a shame that there was no trophy so I will put together a couple of cycling related goody bags for the winners on the next event in a fortnight. I’ll be popping into Condor Cycles in London this very Saturday, so you never know what may get put in there.
If you haven’t considered taking part, get a partner and have a go as it’s good fun. We all enjoyed it a lot and it doesn’t happen too often.
Mike
A few photos from the event (with apologies to those I didn’t manage to capture – Andy)
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