The day dawned bright and sunny and we were off to the seaside! Excitement mounted as we spotted other cars loaded with bikes that were heading the same way. That is until we realised the Inglis's were in front of us. Fortunately fate was on our side, a road closure ahead meant everyone had to turn around so we ended up in front. We arrived on Eastbourne seafront to clear skies and amazingly a handy parking space. Once unloaded we headed towards King Alfred Lawns and 'pitched' our rollers. Hannah, Toni, Polly, Ellen, Hope and Calvin were all racing along with plenty of SDWs including Jack and Marc.
 |
| Race preparation well under way |
The first race to start was the U14's. The nature of the course and the large field meant they'd organised a rolling start, or almost organised it. As there was no sign of the planned motorbike, the commissaire Paul Tunnell jumped on a bike and led the riders around the course for a lap, then they were off! The technical course suited Ellen and Polly who both handled the corners well. They both rode well, making ground during the race and despite excellent riding both got stranded on their own with the leading bunch of boys hot on their heels by the last lap.
The U16's race followed directly afterwards, Hannah, Toni and Calvin made up our team for this race. They'd located the motorbike this time so the riders were led around the course by a rather noisy (and smelly) bike which struggled to negotiate the corners. They came through the start line and the race was well and truly on and straight into the first hairpin bend. Calvin and Toni were well positioned and soon found themselves in group of eight or so riders racing confidently through the corners and making gains on the straights. Hannah had missed the early acceleration and found herself in a smaller group working hard to make ground. There was great excitement when the leading boys lost his wheel on our corner with one lap to go, went down with a bang but jumped straight back up and hopped back on his bikes, inciting enthusiastic cheering from the crowds. An exciting race that ended with all riders safe and sound and pleased with their performance.
 |
| Megan (Woolwich) and Hannah on our corner |
Our final racer was Hope; we'd started to realise that this was a good course for the KVK and given that I've seen Hope cornering on the playground with speed, skill and determination I figured this could be her moment. With the race underway and all our supporters at the second hairpin we started giving Hope a few tips; attack, attack Hope. It took a few laps but she finally plucked up courage and passed Freja (TRC) on the hairpin and pulled away in the straight. Soon she was just behind another female rider in pink kit. Once again we shouted and once again Hope responded. Everyone was very excited to see Hope making good progress through the race field and we kept shouting encouragement as she held her lead over the riders she'd passed. We were pretty sure she was 3rd but we had to wait for the results to find out for sure. In the mean time Michele was very excited about the Penny Farthing race................
 |
| Spot Hope |
 |
| Calvin and Toni |
 |
| First time on a penny farthing for Calvin |
When those amazing bikes and riders had finally stopped racing (whoever would have thought they could ride for that long), we headed over to the lawns for the results. Toni, Polly and Hope all had their positions confirmed as 3rd, everyone else had to wait. Michele and Calvin were despatched to buy chips, everyone else headed down to the beach for a paddle or a swim (just me and Polly). After the best chips ever (or maybe it was just because that water was SO cold) we headed back up to the lawn and Michele revealed a burning desire to ride a Penny Farthing; ten minutes later she was climbing up into the saddle and being helped along the promenade. It transpires that your legs have to be long enough to reach the pedals, so for that particular bike Michele still has some growing to do but Calvin managed admirably - I wonder how Santa will squeeze a Penny Farthing down chimney this year??? A lovely way to end a day at the seaside seeing Calvin and Michele cycling high along the seafront. Thanks everyone for contributing to such a memorable day.
No comments:
Post a Comment