Well it again lived up to it’s billing as many riders favourite time trial of the year. the Peak lads did us proud once more and provided a great course, good safe marshalling and a good hq. All in all a further progression on what has become a “must do” event on many riders calendar. If you weren’t riding, ask yourself why not??? Next year don’t miss out.

Rutland was well represented by a turn out of eight riders on the start sheet. The lucky riders were… Liz Barber-Lillie, Fee Wormsley, Thomas Webb, Nicholas Latimer, Denise Bayliss, Michael Birkby, James Bell, Kate Morris and Rob Fowler. Also riding was Danny Lowthorpe.

Sadly due to his recent accident on the chain gang Michael Birkby was unable to ride and due to illness Denise was also a DNS.

How did the rest get on? Well it was a first EVER time trial for three of our new members. Choosing the Peak Hilly as your first TT is maybe a brave choice as it certainly a challenging course but Fee, Kat and Liz all got round and applied themselves very well! It only get’s easier after your first event so we expecting that there will be much more to come from the ladies!

Fee and Liz also picked up prizes at the finish, Liz for the Lantern Rouge and Fee for the best first timer.

The rest got on as follows:

4 Danny Lowthorpe Langsett Cycles RT 44:30
9 Nicholas Latimer Rutland CC 47:29
11 James Bell Rutland CC 48:00
18 Thomas Webb Rutland CC 50:32
24 Robert Fowler Rutland CC 52:38
29 Kate Morris Rutland CC 59:18
33 Fee Womersley Rutland CC 01:09:15
34 Liz Barber-Lilley Rutland CC 01:12:29

I shan’t go into anymore detail of the overall cause it is covered with an excellent article over on the VeloUk.net website.

Suffice to say, it was an absolutely awesome ride by Gunnar to take the win. Have a ride around the round route yourself some time and you will put Gunnars ride into perspective.

The course can be seen here on strava.

So big thanks to the Chris Myhill and Simon Owens and all the Peak Road Club for putting on a great event. Get it in your diaries early for next year and let’s see if we can even more Ruttlers riding!

(view Bren’s photo diary here)

Firstly let us just a MASSIVE thank you to all the Ruttlers who came out and helped to put on the race on Sunday. You all did a fantastic job and helped to make the race such a great event and an absolute credit to the Rutland CC. Numerous riders commented on how good the marshalling of the race had been so give yourselves a pat on the back!

Special mention must go to James Thompson who has been putting in loads of hard work behind the scenes to make this event a reality. What can we say…THANK YOU TOMO !!! The hard work was definitely all worthwhile. You did yourself and the club proud!

Thanks too to the event sponsors, Langsett cycles, Our Cow Molly (damn that ice cream tastes good!), Nourish me now shakes, Bradfield brewery and Harrison cameras.

As for the race itself, well it was tough. Very tough! Many riders from the field had had enough after one climb up to the finish. For the rest of the field, there were 16 more laps! The main break of the day was forged early on when chain gang regular and officially the fastest student in the country, Tom Stewart (RST) broke clear with the Team Hopes Sam Boast. They quickly established a good lead of over a minute and looked all the time they might be contesting the win.

It was good to see that the riders were keen to contest the Our Cow Molly KOM points. Early on it was looking like a a hotly contested competition but as soon as Tom and Sam had broken away, there was only ever going to be one winner. Congratulations to Tom for lifting that award. I think he led through on five of the counting laps so there was little to test Nick’s special spreadsheet.

As the race wore on and the main group gradually narrowed down, we were all expecting a reaction from the bunch. The gap did fluctuate a fair bit but the consistent work rate from the front pairing kept the bunch at bay.

With two laps to go Martin Ford, who had looked very smooth all day, shot out of the bunch and showed some real class to cross a gap of well over a minute in a lap to bridge over to the leaders. I fully expected him to go straight past the front two and take the win but as the riders homed into view for the last time, all three were together. It was Sam Boast who proved to have the best kick to cross the line just ahead of Tom Stewart with Martin Ford coming over in third.

Next up came what was left of the bunch. The vast majority of the crowd were cheering for another chain gang regular Dan Storey. Thankfully Dan was up to the task and led the bunch home for a fine fourth place. Well done Dan!

Special mention must go to another local rider, James Baillie who had been looking very strong in the main bunch all day. Sadly the race proved to be a few laps too long for James but he battled on valiantly and finished the race just outside the top 20. Next year I predict he will be competing for the win!

Well done to all the riders who competed and completed the race. This was a hard event so hats off to you all.

Finally, we have to thank out very own Social Sec and professional photographer Brendon Tyree who has once again stunned me with an absolutely cracking selection of shots that really manage to capture the day. Enjoy Bren’s photo diary here.

ps For those people who did help out on Sunday…remember you are now half way to free membership next year! You only need to marshal at two Rutland events in a season to claim free membership for the following season…bargain…

John Clarke’s partner Peter died suddenly on May 30, aged 81 years. The service will take place at Hutcliffe Wood Crematorium on Wednesday June 13, at 1.00 p.m. Donations if desired to St. Luke’s Hospice, may be sent c/o G & M Lunt, 36 Abbey Lane, Sheffield, S8 0GB

Sunday saw the Yorkshire Divisional Road Race Championships held on the gruelling Sheriff Hutton circuit near Malton, which included the fearsome Bulmer Bank 1-in-6 climb on each of the seven 11 mile laps. 

Jamie Burgan (riding for Langsett Cycles RT) rode a great race to finish in 8th place.  Rutler Nick Latimer took to the start line in an elite race for the first time, with the sole aim of hanging on as long as possible.  As it happened, that was all 77 miles and an 18th place finish (see photo (courtesy of britishcycling.org.uk) for evidence of Nick’s race tactics).  Danny Lowthorpe (riding for Langsett Cycles) came home in 22nd place.

Pete Williams (Node4-Giordana) took the win in what was an attritional race, with only 26 of the 50 starters making it to the finish.

Saturday saw the latest round of the JE James Time Trial League, the Sheffrec 10 mile time trial held at Hatfield Woodhouse.  Rutland were well represented with club secretary Danny Lowthorpe (riding in the colours of Langsett Cycles RT) taking a great win in a very fast 21:08. 

Teacake regular Rob Townsend (also riding for Langsett Cycles) finished 3rd in 21:39 on his sparkly new Shiv.  Nick Latimer was 8th in 22:38, Ray Mason was 35th (25:23) and Barry Ferguson was 47th (27:38).  Teacakers Rich Teare (Langsett Cycles) and Tom Webb (TNT) were 10th and 36th respectively.  Good points for Rutland!

The photo is supposed to show the new skinsuit in action, but the new kit is so fast it’s  impossible to get an unblurred photo of it!

Rutland were well represented at the latest round of the JE James TT league – the Birdwell Wheelers 25 mile TT held on 28th April. 

On a wet and windy day Darren Otter was the first Rutland rider home, placing 10th in 57:12.  He was closely followed by Nick Latimer, 11th in 58:08 with Ray Mason in 32nd in 1:05:31. 

Rutlander at heart Danny Lowthorpe had a great ride, finishing 5th in 54:32 in the colours of Langsett Cycles RT.  International triathlete Philip Graves was fastest on the day, with 53:05.

I was out riding with Jamie yesterday and he mentioned that someone had uploaded a legendary stage of the Kellogg’s Tour of Britain onto YouTube. A bit of digging when I got home uncovered this gem. Watch in awe at the sheer genius of the course designers of the day brining the riders up that b*tch of a climb to Owler bar from Millthorpe followed by my all time favourite climb in the region, Scotsman Pack.

Just awesome…they don’t make routes like this anymore…what makes this day even more engrained in my memory was the fact that it was the first ride I had on my Specialized Allez Epic road carbon road frame. What a day… Anyway hope you enjoy!

Saturday 3rd March saw the start of the local time trialling season with Sheffrec’s 25 mile 2up TTT at Hatfield Woodhouse.  Rutland won this event in 2010 and 2011 and last year’s champs Nick Latimer and Danny Lowthorpe were back for more this year.  This year saw a record entry of 44 teams and it looked like very tough competition was going to come from two Sportscover teams, with multi-time national road race champion John Tanner teaming up with Colin Humphrey, and Adam Duggleby partnered by Ashley Brown. 

Riders had dry conditions and quite warm temperatures, but the wind was strong with tough side wind and head wind sections.  Tanner and Humphrey didn’t disappoint, taking the win with an excellent 52:21, with Duggleby and Brown in second with 52:44.  Rutland’s Latimer and Lowthorpe (with Lowthorpe riding in the colours of Langsett Cycles RT this year) raised their game compared to 2010, riding one minute faster with a 56:02, but it was only good enough for 4th.  Nick reasoned that this was acceptable given severe sleep and (more importantly) riding deprivation in the past 5 weeks due to the arrival of Baby Emma Latimer.  It’s safe to say Danny spent a bit more time on the front! 

Rutland member Rob Townsend and tea-cake regular Rich Teare put in a great ride to take 3rd place in 55:42, proving that the tea cake is the ride to be on to get fit for these early season races!

Sheffield Tri Club and Stocksbridge CC as well as the University all had a few teams in this event which is a really nice way to start the season – let get a few more Rutland teams in next year!

Full results are here:  http://www.velouk.net/2012/03/03/results-sheffrec-2-up-25-mile-time-trial/

Well it was a great night down at the Rollapaluza at Nonnas. The Nonnas posse did us proud with plentiful pasta a drink and evenings entertainment for just a tenner. Well done to them!

There was plenty of Ruttler’s down there supporting, Andy Elston, Andy Ralph, Jon Smallwood, Nathan Smith, Nick Latimer, Steve Slater and myself. Sadly there were very few Ruttler’s riding. But we did have one…so it was great pleasure that I announce, Steve Slater as this year Rutland Roller Racing champion !!! We’ll see if we can’t sort you out a Trophy at this years annual dinner and awards.

In the meantime and to give you a flavour of what you missed, here is Craig Maclean breaking the Rollapulza record. I think last night’s fastest was 20.17 so they weren’t a million miles off…

Get in your diary’s for next year and I’ll see you down there!

Pete from Sharrow CC, a teacake regular, has recently launched a new bike company, Montura bikes. Check out his website below at www.monturabikes.com. They are located just over in the Hope valley.

However not content with the one business, he also offers a full mobile bicycle repair service. More details can be found at www.cyclepro-uk.com/.

It’s amazing that he has any time to go training with all that lot on his plate !!!