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Post your news from the weekend here - lots going on.

Me? Well we had visitors, but I got 50 miles in this afternoon with one of them; what a fantastic day!

The club run headed over to Osmotherley and back via Carlton Bank. Just over 100 miles from York. A few thrills and spills on the way but hopefully no harm done. "Fantastic day" just about sums it up - I particularly enjoyed the icecream on the way home.

I rode the Royal Sutton 2/3/4 race at Yoxall, Staffs. 7 laps for a total of 103km. I was in an early break of 5 for a couple of laps until caught by a large group and we pottered around half-heartedly for a few more laps with minor attacks not going anywhere. I was being closely marked but managed to roll off the front with 3 other riders with 2 laps to go. We worked fairly well together although there were 2 lads from the same team who took it in turns to sit on. They tried to work us over with about 5km remaining but the attack from one succeeded only in dropping his team mate. I attacked with 1km to go but was closed down, however through judicious braking I managed to not lead out the sprint and came around the outside with 100m to go to win by several lengths, only starting to cramp after the line.
Lovely weather for racing, more like July than April.

Another good trailquest on Saturday with NYMBO Round 2 at Wass. The weather was stunning..perhaps a little too hot for dashing around. The course this year was a little cruel with kites as far apart as Sproxton and Kilburn which meant taking in big climbs at the White Horse and Ampleforth. At least the mud was dry.

I got Gill and Seb to enter their first one as a pair and they returned with 240 points, which is very respectable for a first event.

I made some poor route choices which meant more climbing than I should have so my legs were shot with 20 mins to go. I still got a reasonable 324 points. Andy Stanforth made a great start but punctured twice only to find his 2nd spare tube was NFG, so needed a passing cyclist's help.

Round 3 is Masham Moor on 12th May.

On Sunday I did a 110k Audax in the Dales. Upper 70 degrees heat and 2400m of climbing made for a hard day, but the reward was the views on the way.

Well done Kit! It really CAN'T be many points now until 1st cat, can it?

A few local elderly gentlefolk did the Leeds Mercury vets RR at Bishop Wood on Sunday. Iain M did the Cat C/D (50-59) event as his first ever road race (c'mon Iain, report please!) and I did the A/B event along with Colin H, Simon Wright and Nigel Warnes. Truly wonderful weather - flat calm, sunny, warm - and great fun. I came away with 3rd in the B group; I reckon there were possibly a couple of other B group riders in front of me in the sprint but I didn't complain as (i) it was close and (ii) if they couldn't be bothered to tell the race judge then tough and (iii) I was one of about a dozen who spent a large part of the race working up front to try to pull back a break, prior to the passengers on the back jumping us halfway round the last lap! Nigel was going well, and Colin, predictably, was in the break.

Sorry missed you for the Osmotherly run on Sunday - change of plans meant I only had saturday free. Retraced previous Sunday's route (castleton etc) on my own, but without the cafe break. Great ride.

Steve S - did you get to race as you thought you might?

Dave McKay Memorial RR results from the BC website:-

1 Julian Ramsbottom Scunthorpe Polytechnic CC
2 Simon Day Go Sports Spex RT
3 Mike Moss Cottingham Coureurs RT
4 David Shackleton Cottingham Coureurs RT
5 Matthew Barratt Hull Thursday RC
6 Vincent Cartwright Hull Thursday
7 Paul Musgrave Clifton CC York
8 Richard Dean Team Halfords Bikehut
9 Craig Wilson Birdwell Whls
10 Nick Rylance Wakefield CC - Exponential

Good man!

On Saturday Pete Skelton and myself did the VTTA 10 on the Boroughbridge-Walshford course. Pete did 27:02 and I did 24:11 which is a personal best for me which I put down to a triumph of technology over fitness. I thoroughly enjoyed it and it was good to be back racing again.

As Phil mentioned, I did the LVRC race on the Cawood circuit (in the Cat C/D race) on Sunday, and finished comfortably in the bunch. For me, it was very much a learning experience - watching how the race progressed and seeing how people manoeuvre themselves. It was a lot of fun and not as dicey as I thought it might be. If anyone else is thinking of starting Vets racing, I would encourage them to give it a go! I look forward to doing more road racing this year. Well done to Phil for getting his 3rd place!!

... I put down to a triumph of technology over fitness...

Naaah it's all that time looking after me on clubruns - congrats on getting back into it.

Congrats to all those who posted above - it just goes to show what a varied bunch you are.
Due to some clever riding called sitting-in I managed to have enough left at the end of a waring race for a trade mark uphill sprint and managed second place in the bunch with the first five places decided from a couple of small breakaways. I probably shouldn't be too hard on myself as there were probably only 20 guys left at the end from 60 starters and I'd managed to get to the front on the penultimate climb and stay there. I love it when a plan comes together.

So that was the race but the day was only just beginning - On riding back to the hq, Cath & Peter were standing next to the Musgrave Ford Fiesta with the one and only key we have for it locked inside. This was to tax some of the finest cycling brains in Yorkshire for the next hour after we also discovered our breakdown recovery had lapsed due to a change of address we thought we had told them about. Eventually managed to prize open the drivers door with a car tyre lever and a claw hammer enough for plumber Julian Gromett who fortunately had driven to the event in his works van complete with blow torch and materials to solder 2 pieces of copper pipe together and flatten one end into a lever, slide it inside and flip the door lever from inside!
Thanks also to Andy J for waiting with us after the event.
So thats how you break into a Ford - I'm practicing hot wiring and will give advice on this next week.

This was finished off with BLT's in Millington cafe afterwards - a memorable day.

Good ride Paul; it's the end result that counts! My race was thwarted by a flat on the penultimate lap. Managed to grab a spare out of my car and after a tough chase get back on just in time for the final prime hill, where the effort told I promptly got dropped! Nevertheless a great day, and a good workout.