We hope you all enjoyed the facilities at Thorp Perrow Arboretum, thanks to the venue for allowing us to use their car park, café & toilets. There was even a Park Run but only Tim Evans was brave enough to complete both events. Thanks to Steve, Sarah & Richard for looking after the car parking & registration, enabling me to run the start.
Thanks also to Claire for coming to the rescue of an M70 who forgot his helmet [why do ladies have so much stuff in their handbags?]
The heavy overnight rain had affected the soft parts of the few bridleways that were used, snorkel gear apparently was required for one puddle, so I was told. Hopefully the high points scored for these BWs made those choices worthwhile. A flattish course resulted in lots of km ridden, most of the riding was on minor roads. Apologies for the road closure E of Burrill which I was not aware of, although looking at the tracks, some riders got through OK.
Top rider on the day was M50 Andy Gregg: 481, followed by Rob Mawer: 431, first M60 was Jonathan Purdy: 420; E bike winner was Steve Willis: 372 who claimed to have been distracted by the steam engine on the Wensleydale Railway & found his borrowed helmet a little tight. David Cowgill & Claire Riley won the Mixed 50: 327, Claire was just in front of Pamela Singleton W60 & Karen Blackburn W70: both 287. Only 1 Gen team today – Ewan & Rik Thompson: 273.
Whilst planning, no obvious route stood out but the E circuit had to be completed to make it worthwhile so many riders went S first, then anticlockwise around this loop, then picked off whatever they had time for towards the end. All controls were visited, I calculated that the optimum route would be ~ 65 km, Andy managed 58 km. However the most efficient riders were Peter Shelley who achieved 8.6 pts/km & female equivalent Karen Blackburn with 7.95 pts/km. There were only 5 riders who were not late but most of the latter were less than 5 mins over time so good judgement by them.
Lost property: set of front & rear black bike lights – contact David for return. Next event will be from Ripon Rugby Club on 10 Jan; only a few BWs but more hills can be expected.
Final plea – several riders do not have their correct mobile numbers or emergency contacts correct on BMBO website; we download the start list from this site, if you had to manually change your numbers at Thorp Perrow, your BMBO entry is incorrect – only the individual concerned can change it!
David Day Planner