Brereton Wheelers CC

News added 26/04/2010

Brereton Wheelers first club 25 in two years was always going to be a tough affair and this was borne out by a reduced field of both home and away riders.

Nevertheless, recently back in action following an operation, Steve Williams lined up to face a the brand new course albeit starting from the familiar Cleat Hill. The warm sun was welcome as was the tailwind from Constitution island to the turn at the far side of Draycott in the Clay. The return journey was a completely different story however.

First home for Brereton was Geoff O’ Farrell, his time of 1 hour 11 minutes was a good 10 minutes down on what he would normally return at this time of the year, his post race comments centring on his findings from the new course ‘Pleasant to the turn but gruelling coming back’.

Steve Moss had a similar tale, his economic posture severely challenged up the mile long climb out of Draycott. His 1-12-50 reflected a similar relationship to his best times as that of O’Farrell.

Steve Williams amazed the timekeeping team as he crossed the line. His 1-14-54 beat the ‘evens’ standard of 20 mph which, given his recent medical problems and the subsequent late start to his training regime was a landmark performance.

The previous week Steve, Steve and Matt Bates were busy investing heavily in the miles market in preparation for the club’s big July charity ride. The Shenstone Audax provided the perfect platform, taking riders from the local village of Shenstone to Castleton in the Heart of the Peak District before heading back. The 120 miles trek took in some fierce climbing and beautiful views. Some interesting tales were generated from the venture with certain of the complement suffering in the legs earlier than anticipated. However all made it back satisfactorily with a good deposit of stamina in the bank.

Brereton’s next club outing is the first of their evening foray’s, a 5 miles dash from Kings Bromley to Alrewas and back on Tuesday May 11th.