Gorrick 100 Enduro 1st May

With another day of fantastic weather the Gorrick 100 attracted a huge field in
all classes. The lap was actually about 11.3 miles long which made for nearly an
80 mile race for the 7 lappers! There was so much singletrack that it made my
arms tired!
I had planned to enter the 5 lap event but at the signing on Ben, Alex (Davey)
and Rory (Hitchens) persuaded me to enter the full event of 7 laps – thanks
chaps. So at the start Ben, Alex and I rode off together at a nice steady pace,
all was going well until about 1/3 into the 1st lay I had a sidewall puncture.
Messing about trying the let the Stans seal the hole and then a foam canister
and an air cartridge saw me at the back of the field, and then on lap 2 the tire
needed a tube, thanks to someone unknown for the loan of a pump. Then I had a
race on my hands to try and catch Ben and Alex. The final results were a very
good 14th for Ben, 21st for Ian and 25th for Alex, 26th for James Bailey and
51st for Damian Redman.
The Gorrick 100 attracted a large Southdowns Bike team with the following
entrant:
4 laps – Steve Calland, Marc Clothier and Stephen Turner
5 laps – Roger Smith, Matt Knight, Andy Goodyer and John Davies
Sorry if I’ve missed anyone.

Southern XC round 2 and Southern Championship – Wasing Estate 15th May.

More fine weather attracted what must be a record number of entrants for the
Southern XC championships.
The course was much improved from last year and being dry and dusty it was
considerably safer with a mix of tight and open singletrack, lot of roots, open
fast sections and still including the same big drop off (which seemed easier
this year).
Southdowns Bikes was supported by just 3 riders Ian in Grand Vet, Ben in Masters
and Alex (Taylor) in Open. For my part I was a disappointed 6th being out
sprinted to the line by 1 second, Alex continues to improve and was 7th and Ben
was 23rd Alex now needs to move up to the Masters class with Ben.

Ian P