by Glenys Taylor | Jan 25, 2011 | Event Reports
Last year I rode a 40km time trial at Kahutara and participants said it was the windiest day they had ever experienced. On Sunday I rode a time trial on the same course and regular riders said it was the windiest day they had ever experienced, including last year! If last year was a record, this the crosswind this year broke it!
I usually take pride in the fact that I can ride the aerobars in cross winds when others don’t. Not on Sunday! The wind was so strong in some places that it caused the shallow Zipp 303 to skip across the road toward the gutter. It was a matter of sitting up and leaning as much weight on the front wheel as much as possible on exposed parts of the course.
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by Vaughan Hunt | Jan 24, 2011 | Event Reports
30 riders battled a strong head wind for sprint points in the second of the four race Summer Crit Series.
All grades saw feircly contested sprints and the bunches generally stayed intact throughout the races.
The points from last week will be added to todays totals and carried forward for the final two races.
The 3rd race will be on Saturday 29 January at Linton Camp.
by Vaughan Hunt | Jan 19, 2011 | Event Reports
The Findlay brothers rode strongly in the Ramblers The Hub Tour in the Hawkes Bay at the weekend but it was the younger Findlay siblings, Mark and Angus, and not former U23 National Road Champion Tom, featuring in the results.
In the highly competitive U17 Boys Grade Mark placed second in the opening prologue (6 km Individual Time Trial) and 1st in Stage 1 (Road Race) and 1st in the Stage 2 Criterium and completed the tour in 3rd place in the General Classification. Older brother Angus was competing in his first competitive event, having only decided to take up cycling in the last 6 months.
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by Glenys Taylor | Jan 17, 2011 | Event Reports
A brisk wind on the back section of the 3.3km course may have slowed the races down a slight bit but the sprints on every second lap of the A/B grade race were at a very fast pace. Unfortunately, Tom Pirie had a mechanical on the first lap and although he made up some ground with some help from James Hutton and Rob Te Moana, over the next few laps, he was not able to catch the lead until the last lap.
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by Glenys Taylor | Dec 20, 2010 | Event Reports
It is Sunday 12 December, stinking hot, and 57 riders are setting off one at a time to tackle the formidable Waihi Midsummer Madness Time Trial.
This is the toughest road time trial event in New Zealand. I make it 127km with about 1300 vertical metres of climbing. There is some great scenery…but I have to admit it is hard to fully appreciate that during the ride.
Ages range from 16 to 77. There were six women, one tandem, three teams and a whole bunch of guys racing. The team category was new and required the team members to ride together over the entire course – nice idea for first timers. There were two Palmerston North riders at the start: Jocelyn Goodwin and myself. It was clear that we would have bolted into the prize for those who travelled the furthest, but sadly the organisers had overlooked that category.
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by Matthijs van Wagtendonk | Dec 14, 2010 | Event Reports
The very popular Wednesday Night Individual Time-Trial series concluded this week with the final round and prize-giving at Kairanga Hall. For BikeManawatu members who are not familiar with this series, it runs twice over the summer months in two nine week blocks, once from October to December and again from January to March. The course starts on Kairanga-Bunnythorpe Rd (at the Rongotea Rd corner and heads out for 6 km (onto Lockwood Rd) and back for a total of 12 km. Points are awarded by comparing individual riders’ times between weeks – 2 points for posting a personal best, 1 point otherwise.
The most recent series was our most successful to date with over 130 unique riders taking part. The highest number of riders on a single night was 64 and on average we had approximately 45 riders. Riders range in ages from 9 years to 60 plus years, and with the points awarded on a personal best basis, every rider has a chance to top the standings.
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