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| 23-10-2009 : Hairy Coo MTB |
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| The third ‘Hairy Coo’ cross country mountain bike race took place on Saturday 17th Oct at the Comrie Croft centre in Perthshire. This event forms part of the local Drovers Tryst week-long festival.
Although classed as a 'fun' event the excellent reputation of the mountain bike course has ensured that the number and standard of riders increases every year. The excellent weather also helped, ensuring that the riders, who had travelled from all over Scotland, were guaranteed a dry but testing course. Neil Scott and Mike Milne were competing for Angus Bike Chain Cycling Club.
With the format of four laps similar to the Scottish MTB Series the main difference was in the age categories. Normally veterans Neil and Mike compete in the 40-49 year old age group, but for the 'Hairy Coo' event the age groups were combined meaning that Neil & Mike were in the 18-45 age group.
From the outset Neil and Mike were among the leading dozen or so riders. As the long steep climb stretched the field each lap the technical descents caught out many of the less able riders. After a hard hour and a half of racing Neil had secured 9th place with Mike managing 4th.
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| “Relentless” is a 24 hour endurance mountain bike event based around the trails of the World Cup XC course at Fort William. The aim is to do as many laps of the 10 mile loop as possible within the 24 hours, with competitors in teams of 4, 3, 2 or solo.
Angus Bike Chain had 10 riders competing in the field of over 300 and, although the weather was wet, it was not as bad as originally forecast. The course had changed significantly from previous years with lots of long shallow climbs, a couple of really steep climbs, various technical & rooty single-track sections, and a few fast, rough single-track descents that required full concentration, especially when deep holes appeared in these during the night. All of this added up to a hard and unrelenting course with no opportunity for a recovery period during the lap.
In the solos Neil Scott & Mike Webster were competing in the veteran category with Terry Davidson in the senior category. Terry had the best result finishing with 6th place and 16 laps in the seniors, despite finishing slightly before the full 24 hour mark due to mild hypothermia, caused by continuing on during one of the many rain showers without donning the appropriate clothing. Neil was just outside the top 10 in the vets, perhaps regretting riding a rigid singlespeed bike which led to an enforced rest period during the night. Unfortunately, for the first time ever during an endurance event, Mike Webster had to withdraw relatively early on.
In the senior pairs category Mark Smith was teamed with previous ABC rider Niall Frost who is now based in Milton Keynes; Niall having driven up late on the Friday night despite being ill. This category also included the current British champion and his partner so things were already tough for Mark and Niall. They did, however, start off strongly, despite Nialls' obvious illness, and were competing for 1st place up until around the 12 hour point. Niall took a turn for the worse at this stage so they sacrificed any thoughts of 1st place, Niall went to bed and Mark carried on himself during most of the night. Niall got out of his sick bed early in the morning and did another lap before Mark continued with his solo effort until the completion of the event. Marks superb effort allowed them to hold onto 2nd place with a total of 24 laps.
In the mixed trio category, road cyclist Euan Ritchie was competing along with Paul Cooper and Jayne Taylor. Despite Euans’ limited MTB skills (and breaking two bikes during the event!) they managed to win this category with a total of 17 laps. A special mention must go to Jayne who did 7 of these laps.
In the veteran trio category Colin Nicol, Scott Davidson and Mike Milne were competing. Good consist laps from all three over the 24 hours led to a total of 26 laps and a comfortable win in the vets category, only being beaten for the overall trio win by the Edinburgh Union team who had a combined age of around half that of the ABC trio!
Overall, this was another successful event for ABC. The next significant MTB competition will be the UK's hardest mountain bike endurance event, the “Strathpuffer 24”. Held at Strathpeffer in mid January, this event is infamous for winter weather and 17 hours of darkness.
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| 30-9-2009 : Keilder 100 & Strathspey Shenanigan |
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| The Angus Bike Chain mountain bikers have recently taken part in two very different events.
The first was the first Kielder 100 race. As its name suggests this was a 100 mile event and, unlike traditional endurance races which have multiple laps of a short course, this race was one long loop of single track and forest roads which crossed the Scottish/English border twice. The organisers were surprised to get a field of 200 for the event and a pace car was required to get the riders along the initial road section. Once off-road, the ABC riders Mark Smith, Mike Webster and Neil Scott accompanied by Niall Frost, started to move up through the field, especially on a long technical, muddy descent which gave the opportunity to pick up a lot of places. The halfway point was at Newcastleton where a feed station with coffee and rolls were used for refuelling with Mark also having to swap out the brake pads on the bike. Over the next section a large group formed with several riders at the front pulling the group along with Niall doing most of the work. The final feed station was at the 88 mile marker and a lot of the riders were feeling the race distance at this point. Starting the last 12 mile section Niall, Mike and Mark put in a bit of extra effort to break away then were faced with a nightmare section of trail which had some puddles that were handlebar deep! The last marshal on the course had a sense of humour as he announced that “it’s all downhill from here guys” just as they turned a corner and were faced with a final long climb! A last effort saw Niall and Mark pull out a slight gap to cross the finish line in 09:39 for 13th and 14th place in the Open Male Category. Mike finished one minute later with Neil a further minute behind to take 4th and 5th places in the Veteran Category. Only 133 riders completed the race and, of those, only 25 made it to the finish in under 10 hours.
The Strathspey Shenanigan, a couple of weeks later, was a contrast as it came in at “just” 38 miles. Mike Webster, Mark Smith and Scott Davidson were the ABC riders in this race which started and finished at Aviemore, taking in a lot of the trails round the Rothiemurchus Estate. A gentle start meant the whole field stayed together for a few miles before a group of five, including Mike and Mark, got away and they kept together for most of the race. A few miles before the end, a narrow bridge is the critical section, where the first rider across usually wins, as it is almost impossible to overtake on the tight trails to the finish. Mark, Mike and another competitor were side by side going towards the bridge with Mike ending up second and Mark third. At the line Mike was 2nd overall and 1st veteran in 02:13:40, Mark was 4th overall in 02:13:43 with Scott finishing 9th in 02:23:18.
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| 23-09-2009 : SXC 7 & Ironmonster |
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| The final round of the 2009 Scottish Mountain Bike cross country race series was held on the 20th of September at a sunny Drumlanrig Castle. The local organisers had incorporated the usual mix of Drumlanrig single track, both uphill and down, with the normal rough/rooty underwheel conditions testing the rider’s bike handling ability, all linked together with some forest roads. With the course being remarkably dry, fast times and close racing was assured.
With UCI World Ranking points available to the Elite racers, a larger than normal field had entered. Mike Milne and Neil Scott, from Angus Bike Chain, had entered the veterans event with Neil having just returned the previous day from a biking holiday in the French Alps. Neil’s holiday legs survived the event although they were a bit short on 'race pace' and he finished in 11th place in the veteran male race. In the same race Mike Milne's legs were slightly fresher and he came home in 8th place after some close racing. This meant a top 10 finish in the series for Mike, who probably would have been joined in that top 10 by Neil if it had not been for his crash at Fort William back in June which had ruled him out of some of the subsequent events.
The next event for the mountain bike members of Angus Bike Chain is the Relentless 24 hour event at Fort William in October. ABC have entered a mixture of teams including solo riders Mike Webster and Neil Scott, a pairs team of Mark Smith and Nial Frost and a trio team of Colin Nicol, Scott Davidson and Mike Milne.
The previous Sunday, Paul Cooper took part in The First Ironmonster, a tough duathlon consisting of a circuit round Loch Ness with 45km of off-road running and 80km of both on and off-road cycling. The majority of the 1000 competitors were entered in teams of four but Paul was one of the few solo entries at the early 7am start in Inverness. There were some very big climbs on both the running and cycling sections, but Paul found that the most difficult bits were the long downhill runs which pounded the knees and quads. To add to the difficulties, the weather got hotter as the day went on. Most teams used a mixture of road and mountain bikes; however Paul opted to use his cyclocross bike for all of the 80km which saved time at the transition between road and off-road sections. With an excellent time of 7:49:20, Paul finished 2nd in the solo category.
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| 25-08-2009 : 10 at Moray 2009 |
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| Nine riders from Angus Bike Chain Cycling Club were at Fochabers for the third in the ‘No-Fuss’ ten hour mountain bike race series. The ten mile circuit was similar to last year with lots of climbing, some nice flowing single-track and a new 'boardwalk' rooty, downhill section which was fast but rattled bike and body to pieces. It was sunny on the day of the race and the course was remarkably dry considering the recent rain.
Mark Smith entered the Solo Male category with Mike Webster, Mike Milne, Neil Scott and Euan Ritchie entering the Solo Veteran category. Euan, in his first ever 'off road' event, was using it as training for an upcoming 12 hour road TT event in England. Hopefully the TT will go better than his maiden mountain bike event, as a first lap mechanical issue resulted in a wrecked rear wheel and rear derailleur, followed by a long walk back to the start/finish area and retirement. The remaining four riders had all started quite strongly and, after four laps, were all within the top ten solo riders overall. Lap five however, was to see the downfall of Mike Milne, as a front fork failure led to his retirement. Neil Scott broke a spoke on lap four but completed it and changed to his spare bike, only to double puncture on lap five. After running and walking round the remainder of the lap he was able to borrow the wheels from Mike Milne’s’ bike and continue. The remainder of his race was almost routine apart from an altercation with a slower rider, resulting in a small fall in which his rear wheel came out! This was quickly fixed and he eventually finished 6th Solo Veteran with 11 laps. During all of this Mark Smith had gradually caught and passed the few riders that were in front of him and was now leading the solo event overall. Mike Webster had by now also got over his normal slower start for these endurance events, and began catching most of the riders in front of him to be positioned as 3rd Solo Veteran. When the ten hour mark was reached, any competitors still out on the course had an additional one hour to complete the lap that they were on. At this point Mark was still leading by a few seconds and on his 12th lap but, despite his best efforts, he was relegated to 2nd place in the Solo Male category, finishing only 30 seconds behind the winner. Mike Webster comfortably took 2nd place in the Solo Veteran category, also with 12 laps.
In the Pairs Categories, Scott Davidson and Hamish Lean were in the Veterans, with Terry Davidson and Jayne Taylor in the Mixed. Scott and Hamish were in a battle all day for 3rd place but eventually lost out by about 3 minutes after completing 11 laps. A ‘post race analysis’ concluded that Hamish stopping to assist Euan and Scott stopping to assist another rider probably caused them to lose that valuable few minutes! Terry and Jayne had nothing but bad luck, both falling on their first laps, resulting in a shoulder injury for Terry and mild concussion for Jayne and having to retire from the event.
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| 18-08-2009 : Meadowbank GP |
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| On the back of a season of track racing at Caird Park, two of the Angus Bike Chain riders, John Bremner and Neil Raitt took part in the two day Grand Prix meeting at the Meadowbank Velodrome in Edinburgh.
On Saturday, the weather stayed dry and both riders managed to take part in four races. The first event was a 5km scratch race and was a sketchy affair with several ‘near misses’ with John having to shoot up to the top of the track on one lap to avoid a crash. Both finished though with Neil 6th and John 8th. The riders had settled down by event two, the 10km Points race, and John got his best result in this race, breaking away with Marloe Rodman (SIS) and they worked together until they had lapped the rest of the field. At the finish John was 2nd and Neil 9th. Event three was an unknown distance race – here the riders do not know how many laps they are going to do at the start and keep racing until the bell is rung signalling one lap to the finish. Attacks were thick and fast in the race, but all were pulled back and it was a bunch sprint for the line with John 5th and Neil 8th. The final event for the day was the ‘Devil take the hindmost’ where the last rider to cross the line at the end of each lap is eliminated until three riders are left to contest the final lap. Riders are constantly checking their position in the pack and making sure that they are not caught out by the inevitable sprint for the line at the end of each lap. Again John was 5th and Neil 8th.
Sunday saw the racing interrupted by rain at one stage but the riders managed to complete three races. The ‘Devil take the hindmost’ saw both John and Neil improve on Saturday with 3rd and 5th respectively. The Scratch race is the event where Neil gets his best results and in the 3km he was 5th and John 8th. The last event of the day was an 8km Points race where John and Neil tried to attack from the start, but weren’t able to make one stick until five laps from the finish when John managed to get away from the pack and held this position until the end. On final points John was 3rd and Neil 5th.
The good results from the weekend meant that both riders have moved up a category on their race licences; John moves from 3rd to 2nd and Neil from 4th to 3rd.
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| For the second year in a row, Angus Bike Chain had riders at both the road sportive and mountain bike endurance events at Selkirk. On the Saturday, Euan Ritchie, Hamish Lean and Euan McArthur all took part in the road event which had been extended from last year and now covered 135 miles of borders roads with almost 12000 feet of climbing. Some things didn’t change in that the 200 riders all had to start in heavy rain, but this cleared during the day and all completed the route with Euan Ritchie first club rider back in 06:31:29, followed by Hamish in 07:52:09 and Euan McArthur in 08:34:29. The 1000 MTB riders had better luck with the weather on Sunday as it was dry and sunny all day. The Angus Bike Chain Riders decided to ride the event as a group and followed this plan until Neil Scott was involved in a crash which aggravated a previous injury. After having to walk a few sections to a first aid post he was able to transfer to tarmac and cycle back to the finish. The rest of the riders had an almost incident free event, with only a couple of punctures needing fixed. Terry Davidson, Mike Milne, Mark Smith and Mike Webster all finished in 6:08:00.
The Dundee Thistle 25 mile Time Trial was held on the Glamis – Coupar Angus course on the 8th August under near perfect conditions with only a slight headwind on the first leg of the course. Phil Brown of Velo Ecosse set a new course record with a time of 0:54:36. Club rider performances were RG McLean with 0:56:14 (first veteran rider), Terry Davidson 0:59:27 (7th overall) and Anna Harris 1:07:27 (3rd lady).
Call-offs due to a combination of holidays and injuries meant that Mike Milne was the only rider to travel down to Catkin Braes near Paisley for round 5 of the SXC mountain bike races on the 9th August. The race was held on the course which is being developed for the 2014 Commonwealth Games and is quite tough with four steep climbs per lap. Overnight rain had made the muddy climbs and descents even trickier but Mike kept everything together and secured another finish in the top 10.
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| Alex Pattison of Angus Bike Chain threw himself in at the deep end by choosing as his first time trial, the Mersey Roads 24 hour, incorporating the 24 hour national championships, based at Farndon in Cheshire. The riders are set off at 1 minute intervals and cover different legs of the course, passing time keepers who record their progress over the 24 hours. The aim of the race is to see who can cover the greatest distance in the allotted time.
Alex was piloting one of only two tandem teams, riding with Fife based Scottish long-distance cycling legend George Berwick of Edinburgh Road Club, competing in what he reckoned was his 50th 24 hour race. Unfortunately there wasn’t a category for the oldest team as they would have won this with an average age of 65! Alex’s wife, Allison, aided by a friend, was proving the support, keeping the riders fed, watered and motivated over the 24 hours.
A field of 80 started the event on Saturday afternoon in warm and sunny conditions. Alex and George started steadily, aware that they weren’t going to finish until 2:21pm on Sunday. The warm conditions lasted throughout the night although the wind picked up. With no mechanical problems and no signs of sleepiness during the early hours of the morning, they were looking good for a finish. As dawn broke, the rain started and got heavier as the hours ticked by. There was a gradual attrition of cyclists over the next few hours with about 25 having to abandon due to cold, fatigue or demotivation. Alex and George just kept plugging away and eventually finished in 33rd place with a distance of 371 miles.
With his first time trial under his belt, Alex is already thinking about this event for next year and maybe even persuading a few clubmates to enter for the team competition!
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| 14-07-2009 : 10 at Kirroughtree |
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| There was a full field of around 400 riders for the second round of the ‘No-Fuss’ 10 Hour mountain bike endurance events. The event was held at the Kirroughtree MTB centre near Newton Stewart and is probably the most technical of the series with a lot of single-track trails. Angus Bike Chain Cycling Club had seven riders entered in various categories.
The first lap included a road section, complete with a police escort, with a long climb to spread the riders out before heading out onto the MTB course proper. The only organisational problem was on the second lap where a combination of a poorly placed sign and missing barrier tape led to many riders missing out half the lap. The problem was quickly fixed but it still caused a headache for the organisers in allocating corrected lap times for those who took the ‘shortcut’.
In the pairs Mark Smith teamed up with Niall Frost. Niall did a very fast first lap, arriving at the transition area just behind the leader and handing over to Mark. A fast start saw Mark catching and passing the leader on the first climb, which meant that he was now leading the whole race! Unfortunately it wasn’t to last and a couple of missed gear changes meant he was re-passed late in the lap by the eventual winner. As the race progressed they settled into 2nd place, but were only a few seconds ahead of the 3rd placed pairs. A very fast time by one of the rivals on lap 11 saw Mark and Neil down to 3rd. A fight back on the next couple of laps clawed back some time, but the race end was fast approaching, and they finished 3rd pair overall and 3rd in the senior category with 13 laps in a time of 10:24:31, beating a couple of full time riders into 4th place.
Scott Davidson and Hamish Lean formed the second club team and had an almost incident free race. Hamish accidentally took the shortcut on lap 2 which temporarily pushed them up the leader board until the times were corrected. They finished 26th pair overall and 6th in the veteran category with 11 laps.
The solo category had three club members – Mike Webster, Terry Davidson and Jayne Taylor. Mike rode consistently for the whole race with his lap times only varying by a couple of minutes over the 10 hours. At the finish he was 4th solo overall and 2nd in the veteran category with 11 laps in 10:24:24. Terry got off to a flying start, putting in several fast lap and was up with the leaders, before a series of punctures cost him some time. A problem with gears led to him having to stop before the 6 hour mark with only 6 laps completed which resulted in 63rd place at the race end. Jayne had a nightmare first lap with 3 punctures caused by a piece of glass lodged in the tyre and, after running out of spare tubes, she had to run the remainder of the lap to the transition area to fix the problem. Despite this she finished 60th overall and 4th in the senior female category with 7 laps in 10:06:53.
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| 18-06-2009 : SXC Round 4 & Thistle 10TT |
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| The most recent round of the Scottish Mountain Bike Cross Country Series was based at Fort William and also counted as the Scottish Championship. With Mark Smith and Terry Davidson both out with illness or injury the Angus Bike Chain team was down to the two ‘veterans’ - Neil Scott and Mike Milne.
The local race organisers used some of the 10 Under the Ben trails and, with the addition of a few very technical, rooty, slippy descents, the result was another proper mountain bike course. Glorious sunshine on race day meant that the course was riding dry and fast and some close racing was looking likely!
The veterans race began with approximately 50 riders battling for position from the 'off' until the first fire road climb stretched things out. At this stage both Mike and Neil were sitting comfortably within the top 10. The first few technical singletrack descents had to be taken cautiously as the youngsters who were set off a few minutes before the veterans were being caught, and overtaking on these narrow sections was not an option. After the first lap however, things had settled down with Neil being well within the top 10, despite a brief stop to put air in his rear tyre, and with Mike a couple of places behind.
Both riders kept these positions throughout the next couple of laps with Neil beginning to challenge for a top 5 placing on the last lap. However, disaster struck when Neil suffered an attack of cramp on the last technical descent, forcing him off the racing line. Normally this would not have been a major issue and would have only cost a few seconds, but the result this time was a big collision with a large immovable tree. The resulting fall led to a serious shoulder injury (Fort William hospital has seen a few of these now) and the total destruction of his three week old bike with the frame actually breaking in two.
Mike continued his race, passing Neil who, at that time, was being helped by a race marshal, to cross the finish line in 9th place, the third time he has finished in this position this year.
The next few hours were spent at Fort William hospital with Neil until x-rays and further checks had been carried out. The resulting shoulder injury will stop Neil riding for a couple of months giving him plenty of time to build a new bike!
The road section of the club had an incident free event when five riders entered the Dundee Thistle 10 mile Time Trial on the Meigle – Coupar Angus course. Conditions on the night were good with only a slight wind and all the ABC riders matched or improved on their 10 mile TT times for this year. RG McLean was the fastest club rider with a time of 22:23, which also gave him 2nd place in the event. Neil Raitt got his first sub 25 minute event with 24:58; Anna Harris knocked over a minute off her personal best to finish with 27:31; Euan McArthur did 27:41 on his first event on this course and Dougal Dargie finished in 28:33 – 10 seconds faster than last month.
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| 02-06-2009 : Another year, another 10UTB |
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| The last weekend in May saw just about 1000 mountain bikers head to Fort William for the fifth No Fuss 10 under the Ben at the Nevis range MTB centre. The route, of approximately 10 miles, of which competitors have to do as many laps as possible within 10 hours was similar to that of last year although, in typical No Fuss style a few tweaks had been included to keep riders on their toes, including riding 'up' part of the World Cup XC downhill course. With cloudless skies and temperatures in the high 20’s, it was going to be dehydration causing the problems rather than the usual Glen Nevis midges.
Angus Bike Chain riders were out in force competing in several different categories. Everyone completed the event without any major incidents, with only the usual minor crashes and cramp brought on by the heat causing problems.
Jayne Taylor, in her first endurance event, teamed up with two friends, and came away with the best club result of the day by winning first prize in the Female Trio Category.
The solo male category had a total field approaching 160 riders and Mike Webster finished 3rd overall as well claiming 2nd place in the Male Veteran Category with 9 laps in 09:59:33. Mark Smith took 6th overall and 3rd in the Senior Category with 9 laps in 10:09:37 while Terry Davidson was 12th overall and 7th Senior with 9 laps in 10:51:13.
In the Male Pairs Category, over 150 teams were competing and ABC had two entries, both in the Veteran Category. Hamish Lean and Scott Davidson claimed 19th place with 9 laps in 10:47:11 while Neil Scott and Mike Milne got an excellent 1st in category, as well as 5th pair overall with 11 laps in 10:54:06.
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| 20-05-2009 : SXC Round 3 & Wheelers 10TT |
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| Round 3 of the Scottish Mountain Bike series was contested at The Wolfrax at Laggan on Sunday 17th May and four of the Angus Bike Chain mountain bikers were in the race.
This course follows the majority of the 'Red Route' of these man made trails, with this year the long fire road climb being split with a natural section that, although possible to ride was as quick to run, then the long single-track descent back to the start/finish area. The overnight and early morning rain had cleared for sunshine meaning a quick race was on the cards.
Neil Raitt and his son Duncan made their first appearance of the season with Neil finishing within the top 15 in the 2 lap Male Open category. Duncan (in his Discovery JCC colours) however had a mechanical problem with his bike and had to withdraw from the 1 lap Male Juvenile race.
In the 4 lap Male Veteran race Neil Scott didn't compete due to being unwell all week meaning that Mike Milne was the only ABC entrant in the field of 37 riders. Close racing over all 4 laps meant that positions were constantly changing but at the end another 9th place was secured by Mike.
The top ABC rider on the day was Mark Smith from Brechin riding in the 5 lap Male Sport category. The long fire road climb suited Mark and he was in amongst the leaders from the start. One minor 'off' hindered him slightly but at the finish an excellent 4th place was secured, improving on his 5th place at the previous round.
The next round is the Scottish Championships at Fort William in June but before this the 10 hour MTB endurance event '10 Under the Ben' will be contested on the 30th of May. At the moment around a dozen ABC members have entered and the total race entry is approaching 1000.
On the road, six ABC riders entered the Dundee Wheelers 10 mile Time Trial on the Meigle to Coupar Angus course. Conditions on the night were reasonable, with only light winds and the rain clouds over the Sidlaws held off until the race finish. The fastest club time on the night was from RG McLean, who also picked up the veterans prize with a time of 22:50. Other times were Euan Ritchie (24:05), Terry Davidson (24:38), Anna Harris (28:39), Dougal Dargie (28:43) and Jayne Taylor, in her first time trial, (28:55).
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| 30-04-2009 : SXC Round 2 & Midweek Events |
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| Four of the Angus Bike Chain mountain bikers headed down to Aberfoyle on the 26th of April for Round 2 of the Scottish Mountain Bike Cross Country series. This was a return to a course in the Trossachs forests which had not been used for several years and it is probably one of the most technical courses in the series with a lot of steep, twisting singletrack descents.
The recent dry spell didn't hold out until race day and the rain added some mud to the course, just to make things even more difficult. This led to many riders having various 'moments' and a few crashes, although none serious, with the more technical descents being run by many of the less able riders. The ABC riders are used to wet weather and slippy, muddy riding however, so all parts of the course were ridden - no running for them!
The Veterans Category had the biggest entry with 46 riders starting their 4 lap race. This was a closely fought affair with only 10 minutes separating the first dozen riders at the end. Mike Milne had a close race with team mate Neil Scott from the start, with Mike finishing 9th in 01:39:45 and Neil 11th in 01:40:13.
After missing Round 1, Mark Smith had his first outing in the Sport category and an excellent race saw him take 5th place 01:46:03. The good luck ran out when it came to Terry Davidson though, as, when competing in the Expert/Elite Category, he had to retire at the end of the first lap due to a recurrence of a problem knee injury.
The club’s midweek league has started for 2009 and three events have been held so far.
Round 1 was an 8.5 mile Time Trial on a new course at Carmyllie taking in the climb at Conon. On a foggy night nine riders took part with the winner being Euan Ritchie in 0:21:20, followed by Terry Davidson (0:21:45), Mike Milne (0:22:31), Neil Raitt & Mike Webster (both on 0:24:03), Dougal Dargie (0:25:26), Hamish Lean (0:25:49), Roger Peart (0:26:46) and Steve Smith (0:27:22).
For Round 2, we headed for a flat stretch of road to do a 1 mile sprint. From a standing start, each rider had to cycle along a measured mile as fast as possible. On the night, the 16 riders were lucky to have the benefit of a strong tailwind with the finishing times ranging from just over 2 minutes to just under 2.5 minutes.
Round 3 saw the first mountain bike event of the series, on a course round the paths at Station Wood near Glamis. The first lap was a fast affair with four riders pulling clear from the rest of the field. The numbers were down to three on lap 2 when Terry Davidson punctured, dropping him down several places. A desperate overtaking manoeuvre on the last lap saw Mark Smith into the lead, crossing the finish in 0:47:42, followed by Neil Scott (0:48:04), Mike Milne (0:49:00), Colin Murray (0:51:50), Colin Nicol (0:54:39), Terry Davidson (0:54:53), Euan Ritchie (0:58:35), Scott Davidson (0:59:25) and Steve Smith (1:02:05).
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| 19-04-2009 : Nick Hardy Memorial RR 2009 |
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| Sunday the 19th April saw Angus Bike Chain Cycling Club hold their annual Nick Hardy Memorial Road Race for Category 3 & 4 riders. Again, this proved to be a popular event, with all 80 places being taken before the race, and a reserve list of 10 having to be drawn up. Angus Bike Chain had three riders entered.
The course was basically the same as last year (3 laps of a circuit on the roads around Monikie, Crombie, Harecairn and Wellbank), but with the position of the start and finish lines changed. The total race distance was 50 miles and conditions on the day were ideal with sun, cloudless skies and only a light breeze.
After the pre-race briefing at Monikie Park, the riders formed up behind the lead car and rolled out over a short neutral section until the start line near Monikie School. The speed immediately went up but there were no serious attacks, so the whole field was still together going through Newbigging close to the end of the first lap. The short climb back up to Monikie saw the first telling attack with three riders pulling clear by a few seconds. Several counter attacks from the main bunch meant that a few riders crossed the gap, gradually building up the lead group to nine riders. The increased speed and sudden accelerations also had their effect at the back of the main group as riders started to drop back when they couldn’t maintain the pace.
The lack of an organised chase from the main group allowed the leaders to build up a gap of about 40 seconds by the time the main hill at Harecairn was climbed for the second time. They maintained the gap during the fast descent round the sweeping bends to Wellbank and Newbigging, but, on the climb back to Monikie, several of them drifted off the back of the group to be reclaimed by the bunch. Passing Crombie Mill for the last time, the leaders were down to three - Barry Wilson (Spokes RT), Jamie Henderson (Spokes RT) and Ciaran Dougherty (East Kilbride RC). With about 15 miles remaining on the last lap, the main group (still consisting of around 40 riders) was spurred on and an organised chase involving, amongst others, Edinburgh Road Club and Stirling Bike Club, started to close the gap. Passing through Newbigging for the last time, the time gap was down to single figures. The last climb back to Monikie saw the end of the Barry Wilson’s effort and he fell back into the main bunch which had now split into two groups.
The finish line was located just up Panmure Road on the way back to Monikie and an all out effort saw Jamie Henderson sprint to the line just ahead of Ciaran Dougherty to take the win. Eight seconds later there was a mass sprint of 20 riders for 3rd place and the video recording of the finish was needed to determine the placings. Brendan Milliken (Pedal Power) was 3rd, with Liam Cowie (Granite City) 4th and Callum McNeal (Edinburgh RC) 5th. The time of the winner was 02:01:07 which gave an average race speed of just over 24mph. RG McLean was the top finisher for ABC, coming in with the second group.
Back at the race headquarters in Monikie Park, Mr and Mrs Hardy presented the winner with the Nick Hardy Memorial Cup with other prizes being awarded to the various category winners.
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| 01-04-2009 : ADCA Presentation Time Trial |
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| Dave Millard and Dougal Dargie were in action at the Aberdeen District Presentation Time Trial, a 16 mile hilly route round Kirkton of Skene, Midmar and Garlogie. An early morning start meant that the riders were faced with temperatures around the freezing mark so that winter clothing rather than shorts were the order of the day. Dave finished with a time of 42:34 and Dougal, who is returning to competition after a break of a few years, finished in 48:31.
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| 01-04-2009 : Start of the SXC Season |
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| The first round of the 2009 Scottish Cross Country Mountain Bike race series commenced at Kirroughtree, near Stranraer, on Sunday 29th March.
Neil Scott and Mike Milne were the only Angus Bike Chain Cycling Club entries with both of them competing in the Vets (40-49 year old) category.
Glorious spring weather and dry trails made for a fast, technical course with the lack of any 'big' hills, either up or down, meaning that the 4 laps were hard work with no areas to recover during each lap. With the proximity of the course to England and Ireland there were also a lot of unknown riders along with the usual suspects and some new vets recently graduated from the masters category. Due to this being the first round there was no gridding of riders on the start line which led to much jostling for position from the off. Neil got a good start and was tucked in behind the leaders whilst Mike got boxed in and was just outside the top 10 going into the first of the single-track sections. Neil continued to ride with the leading riders although a recent spell of ill health had left him slightly below par. Mike was slowly working his way through the pack and, at the end of the first lap, Neil was sitting 5th with Mike 6th. Lap 2 however was the downfall of Mike when a simple failure of a CO2 canister, used to re-inflate a tyre after a puncture, led to him having to withdraw. Neil battled on hoping to claw back the 3rd and 4th placed riders but his efforts were in vain and he had to settle for 5th at the end his four hard laps. The next round is at Aberfoyle near Stirling with Neil and Mike both positive for a decent campaign in which 5 from 7 races count towards the overall series points, in which Neil secured 3rd place in 2008.
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| 24-03-2009 : 2008-2009 MTB Winter Series |
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| Over the winter months, Angus Bike Chain Cycling Club has been holding their series of mountain bike races with a total of 11 riders competing in the 5 events.
Starting back in November, Round 1 was a 4 lap event at Station Wood, Glamis and, although the day was fair, a lot of recent rain had made the ground very soft. Neil Scott took control of this race from the start by putting in the fastest opening lap of 13:23, giving him 17s lead, which he opened out to just over a minute by the finish. Mike Webster claimed 2nd with Mike Milne a further 2 minutes back in 3rd.
For Round 2, we decided to do something a bit different and opted for a night-time race round some of the trails at Balmashanner. Most of the snow from the previous week had melted, but during the practice lap we discovered that around half of the trails were covered in ice, resulting in a few slow speed crashes. After a bit of discussion it was decided that the race distance would be cut to 2 laps. Mike Milne then proceeded to demonstrate his bike handling skills by finishing in 33:17, 25 seconds ahead of Mark Smith with Colin Murray 3rd in 35:05.
The lights got another airing on Round 3 as we went back to Balmashanner, but for a full 4 lap race this time. A few days of frost had turned the ground hard, but no ice meant that lap times were going to be shorter. Neil Scott and Mike Milne were swapping the lead between them for the first two laps, before mechanical troubles slowed Mike, dropping him to 3rd place and allowing Mark Smith to claim 2nd.
For Round 4, it was back to Glamis for the same course as used in Round 1, but for 5 laps instead of 4. The 1st lap was very tight, with Mike Milne, Neil Scott, Mark Smith and Mike Webster only separated by 5 seconds. Neil upped the pace on the 2nd lap opening up a gap of 30 seconds and consistent riding meant that he was not going to be caught, winning with a lead of over 2 minutes in 01:08:07. Mike Webster was 2nd in 01:10:23 and Mike Milne 3rd in 01:13:05.
At this stage, the club championship title was very close with only 5 points separating the leading 4 riders, so everything depended on Round 5. A new section of course had been added to the existing Glamis circuit, almost doubling the lap distance and, with 4 laps to be completed, it was expected that the race would last up to 2 hours. We had the biggest turnout of the series with nine riders starting this event, but a puncture and a few mechanical troubles meant that only 6 finished. Mike Milne and Mark Smith took control from the start and were trading lap times for the whole race, with Mike winning by just 8 seconds from Mark in a time of 01:36:31. A recent cold meant that Neil Scott was a bit off form, but he still managed to claim 3rd place just over 5 minutes behind Mark in 01:42:02. As well as the race win, this result also gave Mike the series title.
The series overall positions were: Mike Milne (145), Mark Smith (134), Neil Scott (130), Mike Webster (127), Colin Murray (67), Colin Nicol (43), Hamish Lean (41), Scott Davidson (37), Phil Walker (23), Neil Raitt (20).
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| 2-03-2009 : 2008-09 Duathlon Series - Round 3 |
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| The third and final round of the 2008-2009 Angus Bike Chain / SG Baker Ltd duathlon series was held at Monikie Country Park on the 1st of March. This was originally scheduled for February, but had to be postponed due to ice on the course. All the hopes for good weather were realised when the day turned out sunny with only a slight westerly wind. The final round was the longest race in the series with the competitors completing a 4km run on a figure of eight course round Monikie reservoirs, followed by a 40km cycle round a loop of the local roads and then finishing with an identical 4km run. All of the series leaders were there for the race as the various category prizes were still to be won.
The first run section saw the leaders exiting the transition area in just over 15 minutes with the first three being Andrew Brierley (East Fife Tri Club), Peter Anderson (Fleet Feet Triathletes) and Mark Cooper (Perth Road Runners) with only 8 seconds separating them. The leading ladies at this point were Jennifer Ellersten (Dundee University) with 0:17:44, Erni Hamilton (Edinburgh Road Club) with 0:17:45 and Sarah Legge (Fife AC) with 0:18:25.
The cycle section for this round was two laps of the normal 20km circuit and, for the first time in the series, the competitors had the benefit of dry roads. Andy Torrance (Dooley’s Cycles RT) posted the fastest time with 01:06:47. The two main contenders for the series win, RG McLean (Angus Bike Chain) and Jerry Tomlinson (Fife AC) were next with 01:08:07 and 01:09:55 respectively, giving RG a few minutes lead into the final run. The fastest lady on the cycle section was Margaret Anderson (Fleet Feet Triathletes) with 01:23:57 followed by Erni Hamilton with 01:25:05 and Jennifer Ellersten with 01:26:51.
Andy Torrance kept his lead for this round by completing the second run in 0:17:03 to finish with 01:39:34 for the day. Jeremy Tomlinson made a valiant effort to try for the overall series win by posting a storming second run of 0:15:44 to give a total time for the day of 01:46:06. RG McLean slowed on his second run, finishing in 0:17:48 giving a time of 01:42:02 for the event. However this was good enough for RG to claim first place in the series with a total time for all three events of 03:44:37, a margin of 54 seconds ahead of Jeremy.
The category winners for the series were: Female Super Veteran, Margaret Anderson (Fleet Feet Triathletes); Female Veteran, Erni Hamilton (Edinburgh Road Club); Female Senior, Sarah Legge (Fife AC); Male Vintage, Don Lindsay (Fairport Tri Club); Male Super Veteran, Peter Kadobinskyj (Edinburgh Road Club); Male Veteran, RG McLean (Angus Bike Chain); Male Senior, Chris Jessiman (Unattached); Male Youth, Peter Anderson (Fleet Feet Triathletes). The team prize was won for the second year running by Fleet Feet Triathletes. |
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| 17-01-2009 : Strathpuffer 2009 |
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| It's January so it must be Strathpuffer time again. Another 24 hours of rain, snow and wind. Yet there was even some sunshine and it was less icy than last year so the studded tyres stayed in the van.
Seven of the MTB hard men (Mike Milne, Scott Davidson, Neil Scott, Mark Smith, Colin Nicol, Colin Murray & Mike Webster) headed up the A9 to meet Gordon Bathgate and complete the eightsome. Two teams of four this year as no-one fancied a solo effort (not after Relentless....).
Everything went according to plan (was there one?) apart from being located so far from the results tent that it was quicker to text Terry in New Zealand and get the results from him.
Results:
up, ower, roon an' doon...again! 34 laps in 24:05:15 - 2nd overall
THE OTHER ABC TEAM!!!!!!!!!! 32 laps in 24:13:30 - 5th overall |
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| 12-01-2009 : 2008-09 Duathon Series - Round 2 |
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| The second round of the 2008-2009 Angus Bike Chain / SG Baker Ltd duathlon series was held at Monikie Country Park on the 11th of January. For this round the competitors had to complete a 4km run on a figure of eight course round Monikie reservoirs, followed by a 20km cycle round a loop of the local roads and then finishing with an identical 4km run. The recent flu outbreak and a less than ideal weather forecast meant that a reduced field of 75 competitors started the event.
The first run section was completed in times only about a minute slower than those obtained in ideal conditions with the fastest being two of the juniors - Andrew Hood (East Fife Tri Club) in 00:15:38 and Peter Anderson (Fleet Feet Triathletes) only 1 second behind. The fastest lady was Jennifer Ellersten (Dundee University) in 00:18:02 with Erni Hamilton (Edinburgh Road Club) following in 00:18:56.
The cycle section was going to test the competitors as a southerly gale meant that they would be faced with a strong headwind for more than half of the course. RG McLean (Angus Bike Chain CC) put his years of time trialling experience to use and posted the fastest time of 00:37:02 which was over 90s faster than the next competitor and gave him a few seconds advantage going into the second run. The fastest lady on the cycle section was Sandra Tulloch (Fife AC) with 00:46:20 and the fastest junior was Peter Anderson (Fleet Feet Triathletes) in 00:57:22.
The second run section saw the overall lead change a couple of times with the eventual winner being Jeremy Tomlinson (Fife AC) in a total time of 01:10:59 with Andrew Brierley (East Fife Tri Club) second in 01:11:51 and RG McLean (Angus Bike Chain CC) third in 01:11:53. The first lady was Erni Hamilton (Edinburgh Road Club) in 01:25:57, followed by Jennifer Ellersten (Dundee University) in 01:26:35 and Sandra Tulloch (Fife AC) in 01:27:03. Andrew Hood (East Fife Tri Club) was first junior in 01:13:44 with Peter Anderson (Fleet Feet Triathletes) second in 01:14:00 and Cameron Milne (East Fife Tri Club) third in 01:19:29.
Times for other local competitors were Steven Smith (Angus Bike Chain CC) 01:45:15, Janette Rainey (Arbroath Footers) 01:38:35, Dougal Dargie (Angus Bike Chain CC) 01:51:34, Julian Parsons (Fleet Feet Triathletes) 01:37:02, Claire Murray (Angus Bike Chain CC) 01:32:09, Rory Fairbairn (Forfar Roadrunners) 01:24:47, James Rowan (Unattached) 01:27:38, Michael Holme (Unattached) 01:36:47, Derek Clark (Dundee Wheelers) 01:18:23 and Don Lindsay (Fairport Tri Club) 01:30:12.
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| 05-01-2009 : Terry & Jayne in NZ |
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| As if cycling round New Zealand in temperatures that we can only dream about in a Scottish January wasn't enough, Terry & Jayne also managed to take part in an MTB race.
This was the Bannockburn Classic, a 35km race starting from Bannockburn and going round the Nevis Hills (those names sound strangely familiar....). Reports are that it was a great event with lots of climbing on gravel and dirt track fire roads with lots of rough descending on boulder fields.
Great results from both with Terry finishing 13th out of 121 in the open male class (and only 10 minutes behind Marcus Roy who represented NZ at the world champs, and Jayne finishing 12th out of 24 in the ladies class. What's more they were racing on the cyclocross & hybrid bikes that were bought for the tour - although I think they took the luggage off first.
Full results are at:
http://www.cromwell.org.nz/downloads/2008BannockburnClassicFull.HTM |
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| 7-12-2008 : 2008-09 Duathon Series - Round 1 |
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| The first round of the 2008-2009 Angus Bike Chain / SG Baker Ltd duathlon series was held at Monikie Country Park on the 7th of December. The three race series is proving to be as popular as ever, with all 120 places being booked within a week of the on-line entry going live.
This was the shortest of the events, consisting of a 4km run on a figure of eight course around the Monikie reservoirs, followed by a 20km cycle round a loop of the local roads. The recent snow and frost had left some of the roads in the park very icy which meant some last minute work to relocate the transition area in order that competitors would not have to cycle on slippery surfaces. This also extended the run route by about 500m.
Luckily the cycle route was clear and everyone got round safely despite the usual headwind for half the course. There was only one DNF who unfortunately punctured on the cycle route.
88 started on the day and club members results were:
RG – 1st (by 2 seconds…) in 0:50:42
Stan Stewart – 32nd in 01:02:40
Ian White – 42nd in 01:05:01
Stephen Smith – 71st in 01:12:55
Dougal Dargie – 76th in 01:15:24 |
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| 12-10-2008 : SC Hill Climb Championship |
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| Three of the road riders travelled to Dunning for the Dundee District Hill Climb championship which, this year, also included the Scottish Championship. It was originally scheduled to take place on the very steep Path of Condie road, but forestry work had resulted in lot of mud and gravel being deposited on the tarmac, so it was hastily changed to the Yetts o’ Muckhart road which is longer but not so steep. Grant Balfour, Euan Ritchie and Neil Raitt were the club riders competing in this event. Grant managed to knock 3 seconds off his time for this course to finish in 13:44, which gave him 3rd place in the district championship, 23 seconds behind the winner. Euan Ritchie was only a few seconds slower at just under the 14 minute mark with Neil finishing in just over 14 minutes. The Scottish Championship title went to Ben Abrahams (Velo Ecosse) who finished in an amazing time of 11:42, a 17 seconds margin over 2nd place |
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| 11 Oct 2008 : Relentless 24 |
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| The mountain bikers were across at Fort William for the ‘Relentless 24’ cross country 24 hour endurance event which was held at Leanachan Forest. The course had something to suit everyone, with forest roads, climbs, technical singletrack, puddles and mud. In the solo class, Mike Webster put in one of his best performances of the year, completing 24 laps to take 4th place overall and 1st veteran by a clear 3 laps. Colin Murray was competing in the solo category for the first time and completed 16 laps to take 5th position in the veteran category. In the pairs, Mark Smith and Colin Nicol had an excellent race, taking first place overall with 30 laps in a time of 23:43:21. Neil Scott and former club member Gordon Bathgate competed on singlespeed mountain bikes and claimed 3rd place with 30 laps in 24:22:34. Terry Davidson & Mike Milne were also putting in consistently fast laps and holding a high position until around the 12 hour mark, when the effects of a recurring injury saw Mike having to abandon the race – they still finished 8th in category though, with 16 laps completed. Paul Cooper teamed up with three friends in the Quads class and, despite feeling ill for most of the race, he completed 4 laps. His team-mates continued on for the whole 24 hours, eventually finishing 9th in category |
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