Lancaster Cycling Club

It was a cool & slightly blustery but dry evening down at Salt Ayre for the 12th in 2015's season of Thursday evening time trials, with 81 rides across the three different distances.

John Roberts & Isaac Atkinson were joint fastest of the 21 youngsters tackling the two mile distance, both recording a time of 6 minutes & 4 seconds. Max Davies was 3rd in 6:19, & Luke Oakes 4th in 6:32. Then in 5th to 8th places overall came the top 4 girls: Nancye Roberts (6:35); Emilia Wood (6:39); Esther Wong (6:55); & Megan Howarth (7:01).

23 riders took on the 6 mile distance, with Bobby Horton fastest by a good margin, in 15:53. Jacob Aubrey & James McCracken were separated by just a second, in 2nd & 3rd with times of 17:10 & 17:11 respectively. Fastest girl was Sasha Oldham in 17:34.

At 10 miles the top 3 riders from the field of 37 broke 23 minutes: Tom Phillips 1st in 22:42; Ian Sibbert 2nd in 22:50; and a brilliant ride by young Ben Barlow to take 3rd in 22:59. The fastest woman was Niamh Lewis in 27:55.

If you're local to Lancaster, we've a fine Bank Holiday weekend of racing in store, including the third of Lancaster CC's Bank Holiday Monday 10 mile time trials on the Levens course on Monday morning. But if you want to see Salt Ayre Cog Set riders from across the age categories (6 to 16) in national-level action, check out the three-day, four-stage Screentek International North West Youth Tour. Stage 1 is a short uphill prologue time trial past Ashton Memorial in Williamson Park, Lancaster from 4pm on Saturday afternoon. Stage 2 consists of a long circuit race at Preston's UCLan arena on Sunday. And the race concludes with Stages 3 (in the morning) & 4 (in the afternoon) down at Salt Ayre on Monday - in a full day of action, the first race starts at 9:30am.

Almost 400 riders & their families are coming to the district for the event, which is among the very biggest in the youth cycling calendar. Well worth checking out, and cheering on our local riders; and Cog Set's famous catering crew will be serving delicious food!

Here are the results from Monday's second hilly in the Inter Club series, at Old Hutton. It was a close race, with George Wharton winning out in 21:04, Duncan Orme taking 2nd just 7 seconds back in 21:11, & Craig Steele a further 3 seconds back in 21:14 for 3rd place. Our sole Lancaster CC representative on the night was Antony Wood, in a time of 25:06 for 8th place & 43 Inter Club points.

After 2 events, the Inter Club competition stands like this:

But the next 2 events are on our 'home turf': Condor Bottoms hill climb on Monday 15th June; & Jubilee Tower hill climb on Monday 22nd June. Both are just a short ride out of Lancaster. Both these hill climbs have become popular & sociable occasions in recent years, when they've run later in the year, in September. They're a great chance to test your legs over climbs that you might have ridden many times, but rarely raced (& there's a difference!); and for friends & family to come along & roar everybody up the hill. And in June this year, they're a good opportunity to mix & mingle mid-season.

And if enough Club members take part, we should move up the Inter Club leader board!

A dry, cool & blustery night, and another record in what's turning into a year of breaking records down at Salt Ayre - with 87 riders racing this week: 20 at 2 miles, 28 at 6 miles, and 39 at 10 miles. It shows how cycling in general, including time trialling, is a sport for all ages & abilities, with everyone mixing in a spirit of sporting friendship down at the track. These days lots of people talk about making cycling possible for anyone of any age, from 8 to 80; that's something we're already doing in our little cycling sanctuary of Salt Ayre (an achievement we should all be proud of).

This week Isaac Atkinson scored a convincing victory at 2 miles, in 6:05, with Luke Oakes in 2nd (6:42), and Luke Leadbetter just pipping Ethan Yates for 3rd place (6:52 & 6:53 respectively). Emila Woods was the fifth rider to get under 7 minutes, & fastest girl in 6:57.

Guy Jones was fastest over 6 miles, in 17:25. James McCracken finished 2nd in 17:33, and Christopher Eaton edged out Adam Hodgson by 2 seconds for 3rd (17:50 & 17:52 respectively). Evie Barrow was 5th, the final rider to crack 18 minutes (20 mph), and fastest girl, in 17:54.

15 year old George Wharton was fastest by over half a minute at 10 miles, in 22:43. Ian Sibbert beat fastest woman Lynn Hamel by 3 seconds, to take 2nd in 23:16. The 2 other riders to average above 25 mph & crack 24 minutes were Andy Barlow in 23:50 & Steve Hodgson in 23:55.

Thanks to everyone who helped on the night, and see you all again next week! As ever you can access the full results by clicking on 'Read more' below.

The second event in the Inter Club series of hilly time trials takes place this coming Monday, 18th May.

It's around the Old Hutton circuit, details of which you can find here. The distance is 13.3 km (just over 8 miles), including over 200 metres of climbing.

The post code for the start area is LA8 ONL. This is at the motorway bridge and there is room for quite a few cars to park under the bridge

First rider is off at 7pm, with sign on by 6:50pm. You must be over 12 years old to ride, and if you're under 18, you need a Club Parental consent form, made out for KVRC 2015 Club Events.

The winner earns 50 points for her/his Club, 2nd place 49, and so on; so (unless there was to be an exceptionally large turn out of the participating Clubs' riders) every rider earns points towards the Inter Club competition.

The standings after the first event:

1. Lakes Road Club - 183

2. Barrow Central Wheelers - 172

3. Kent Valley Road Club - 90

4. Lancaster Cycling Club - 40

Old Hutton is a bit closer to Lancaster than the last event, so it should be that bit easier for some of us to get up there & earn points for the Club! (Then the 3rd & 4th events are in our back yard - being the Condor Bottoms (15th June) & Jubilee Tower (22nd June) hill climbs respectively.)

A quick hello from Bob Muir, president of Lancaster Cycling Club and member of the organising committee for Le Terrier cycle sportive.

2015 is going so fast – it's nearly mid May and yesterday saw the big daddy of sportives, the 'Fred'.

Congratulations on those of you who rode it, I hope you recovered last night in the glow of a job well done but don't forget our sportive 'Le Terrier' which is just four weeks away on 7th June. The' Terrier' and the 'Fred' are entirely different concepts. The Terrier doesn't have the iconic climbs of the Fred but it also doesn't have the easier miles between. It's just relentless, like a terrier it doesn't give up. All three routes go over climbs that have featured in many Tour of Britain stage races, in its many guises, over the years. When we first started the Terrier in 2008 we never wanted to challenge the big sportives and we would hate to see more than a few hundred riders on our quiet Bowland roads. What we wanted, and I think it's what we've got, is a friendly event where you the riders come first as you help us raise money for two local charities LDHAS and Bay Aquatherapy. With smaller numbers, the helpers and volunteers on the route as well as at the HQ have time for you - a smile, a chat, encouragement and that famous FlapJack. If you haven't ridden Le Terrier for the last couple of years I think you will be pleased with the latest route which itself is designed to be friendly as you meet up with riders on the shorter routes only a short distance after you left them. I hope to see many of you again on 7th June and trust you will pass on recommendations for our event to your cycling buddies.

To enter Le Terrier, please go here

A lovely dry & bright evening yesterday, perhaps the best of the season so far. And definitely the biggest field – 83 riders: 17 @ 2 miles; 28 @ 6 miles and 38 @ 10 miles.

At 2 miles Dylan Edwards & Jake Edwards got exactly the same time, 6:11, with Max Davies rounding out the top 3 in 6:24. Fastest girl was Emila Wood in 6:56.

Quickest over 6 miles - and the fastest ride of the season so far at this distance - was Ken Roberts in 15:32, with fastest girl Evie Barrow in 2nd place, in 16:39. In joint 3rd place, with a time of 17:02, were Jacob Aubrey & Chris Eaton.

Andrew Horn was fastest over 10 miles, in 21:39, just 8 seconds quicker than 2nd placed Tom Brook. These are the 2 best times of the season so far, with Andrew & Tom the only riders so far to have gone under 22 minutes (Andrew 3 times now, Tom the once). Sam Monkhouse was 3rd, in 22:03. Fastest woman was Louise Goddard, in 29:32.

The second of this year's LCC Bank Holiday Monday 10 mile time trials on the Levens course took place yesterday. There was a very good turn out of riders from across the region. A blustery wind made for a tough outward leg, and meant it wasn't the fastest of days - with most of the riders who rode the Easter Monday event going a fair bit slower than on that day. Nonetheless, some very decent times were posted, with winner Ryan Coulton (just!) breaking 21 minutes. Paul Fleming & Mick Smith finished 2nd & 3rd, in 21:23 & 21:36 respectively. Fastest woman was Lynn Hamel in 23:20. Full results below.

Thanks, as always, to the many people who did the organising in advance and/or turned out on the day, to make it such an enjoyable & successful event.

Our next Bank Holiday Monday Levens 10, the 3rd of 4, is on 25th May.

The first of 8 events in the Inter Club Hilly Series took place on Bigland Hill in the south Lakes last night, with excellent rides by Thursday evening Salt Ayre regulars and Cog Set riders George Wharton & Ben Barlow. George broke the course record by one second, but unfortunately for him Craig Steele of Lakes RC broke it by two! So George had to settle for 2nd place, in 5:51. Ben finished 5th in 6:45, and Andy Barlow 13th in 7:59. Robert Burbidge & Jacob Aubry of Salt Ayre Cog Set also rode, finishing in 7:25 & 8:25 respectively. Full results below, or go to Barrow Central Wheelers website here