MIVA WEEKLY CYCLO-CROSS CLINIC AND RACE # 3 120927

MIVA CYCLO -CROSS CLINIC # 4 CORNERING, CROSS CAMBER TURNING, COURSE PRE-RIDE. The turn-out tonight was lower than usual and two of those present had to leave quickly. Topics covered included pre-riding the course and what to watch for, cornering faster, and cross camber turning. A chicane was put on the hill, with riders required to descend cross camber and make a 140 degree turn at speed. Most of the participants were able to negotiate the turn quite well and, on the fourth run and up, all had nailed it.

The 30 minute race included the chicane, three artificial barriers and a techical run through a bunch of trees. Paul Thompson took the early lead but was joined by latecomer Justin Mark on lap two. For a brief while, Kirby Villeneuve cruised out front but on lap four, Kyle Waring surged ahead.

As the second half of the race approached, Paul, Kyle and Justin started to ride away from Kirby, with Judy Villeneuve, Dick Jung and Cheryl Morch falling further back each lap.

At the front end, Justin stopped to tighten his seat bolt (he only finished assembling his bike that afternoon. Once the seat was fixed, he set off in hot pursuit of the leaders and was soon in contact.

With four laps to go, Kirby retired with stomach pains, leaving Paul and Justin to battle for the lead, with Kyle, who was paying for his earlier effort, a distant third and the rest of the field lapped.

With one lap to go, Justin was leading with Paul right behind him and Kyle soldiering on in third.Judy had just been lapped and Cheryl had caught and dropped Dick who had slowed to a crawl.

At the line, Justin finished first,with Paul four seconds behind and Kyle third at fifty seconds. As Justin had ridden a lap less than Paul, the top two positions were reversed.