by Vaughan Hunt | Dec 6, 2011 | Archive(News)
Angus Findlay, Kathryn Young and Campbell Stewart were the three major prize winners from Sunday’s Bike Manawatu School’s prize giving ceremony held in Feilding. Angus received the Best Result by Team or Individual Award. Angus’ meteoric rise has been nothing but outstanding. Having come from golf, and only having recently taken up competitive cycling late in 2010, he quickly became a force to be reckoned with at local and regional level. His performances were that consistent that he was selected for the NZ U19 Development Squad this year where he competed in Canberra.
(more…)
by Vaughan Hunt | Dec 6, 2011 | Track Results
Establishing the direction of the gusty wind was not difficult to assess due to the smell greeting all visitors, as the Easterly wind flows over the Freezing Works oxidation pond on its way to the Feilding velodrome. We had 35 riders on Tuesday night which while affected by school camps and exams is still up on last year.
The programme was set around an Omnium made up of a warm up scratch race followed by 1 lap time trials and ended with a long handicap race. An Omnium is a multi discipline event with points awarded based on where the athlete came in each event with 1 point to the winner and 2 to the second place getter, the winner of the Omnium has the least number of points.
(more…)
by Vaughan Hunt | Dec 5, 2011 | Event Reports
Nine riders from the Wednesday morning ride, which leaves from the bus shelter opposite the BP in Fitzherbert Avenue, entered the 2011 Taupo Cycle Challenge. These are some of their stories gleaned from conversation during last Wednesday’s 87km recovery ride. I have used aliases to protect their identities and some poetic license to add entertainment value to their tales.
All agreed that the 85km/hr winds recorded at Taupo airport on race day by the Metservice were gale force! I know that I struggled to ride above 17km/hr going along the lakefront to the start line and the white caps on Lake Taupo were monstrous!
(more…)
by Vaughan Hunt | Dec 1, 2011 | Event Reports
The last time I did a race around Lake Taupo was in 1993 in a stage of the Wellington to Auckland ‘Post’ Race as a member of the Fosters Australian Team. I remember it as a relatively easy day with few hills and great weather. Cut to 2011 and I’m sure the hills were steeper and the lake larger. I do know that eighteen years later it was windier!
Staying around the other side of the lake with a mad drive to the start line at 5:30 am was not the best preparation. With no warm up my legs went solid when the race went into the gutter in the nasty cross wind 2 km out from the start line. The whole race went to the far right of the road head to head with surprised vehicles and, thinking that I’m too old to go through a windscreen, I pulled over to the left until the last rider went past. I thought I’d better jump on the back at that point to avoid embarrassment.
(more…)
by Vaughan Hunt | Nov 30, 2011 | Event Reports
The strong westerly wind made the Lake Taupo Challenge very tough for many riders this year. Times were certainly down on previous years and many were disappointed about their individual times. Apparently, the wind on Tihoi & Western Bay Road was a direct head wind which reduced some riders to a 20km/hr crawl. Glenys Taylor, who had set a personal goal to go under 6hrs simply was unable to hang on to any bunch and almost rode the 160km journey on her own. “I was at least 45mins slower as a result of the wind”, she said.
(more…)
