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Ythan CC confined 15m TT – Tuesday 23rd JulyAs the North-east basked in warm sunshine, a large group of riders assembled for the first 15 mile confined TT of the season. The times of the first riders in each category were:

Alan Smith 35:28
Mike Giles 37:40
Steve Rae 40:00

Jenny Noble 44:16
Wendy Gault 45:05
Morag Thomson 52:01

Robert Smart 53:47

Fife Midweek open 10m TT – Wednesday 24th JulyCarol Middleton and Mike Giles travelled to Fife for this 10 mile TT at Freuchie. Mike returned to the keeper in a PB time of 22.33 to finish in 19th place. Carol also recorded a PB time of 25:46.

The fastest rider on the night was Stewart Irving of Dundee Thistle, with a time of 20:41.

Audrey Gault Memorial 10 mile TT Forres – Saturday 27th July
Held on the out-and-back course from Kinloss to Burghead, the flat TT always produces fast times, and this year was no exception. Iain McLeod of Aberdeen Wheelers didn’t disappoint, breaking the course record with a time of 20:31.

Fastest Ythan rider home was Mike Giles, posting a course PB with a time of 23:23. Carol Middleton returned with a time of 26:44, quickly followed by Wendy Gault in 27:38.

Wendy’s son and former Ythan rider, Fraser Gault, was first youth home with a time of 22:29.

Errigal Youth Tour 2019

Over the last week a contingent of North-east riders, including Ythan’s Matthew Smith, headed to Ireland for the Errigal Youth tour. A fast-paced, full-on few days of cycling in glorious sunshine and torrential rain was to follow. Full details will be in next week’s report.

Gearing up for more…

This weekend a number of the club’s youths will head to Edinburgh for ‘Race the Volcano’, a race held in the shadow of Arthur’s Seat.

All of which will be a warm-up for the Ythan-hosted Ellon Crit, which sees riders from across Scotland descend on Ellon town centre on the morning of Sunday 18th August, for some exciting youth cycling action.

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As all eyes turn to France, and we wonder whether G can retain his Tour de France title, Ythan’s very own G along with fellow club-mates competed in races across Scotland throughout July.

Synergy Cycles Summer Crit Series #2
First up was Kath Thomson, who was the only rider representing the club at the 1.6km closed circuit cycle track at Lochgelly in Fife on Tuesday 2nd July. Kath finished in a fine 14th place after 40 minutes of hard racing.

Grampian Evening Series 5
On Thursday 5th July it was Stuart King’s turn to pull on his race kit at race 5 of the Grampian evening race at Midmar. The continued format of CAT 1,2,3,4 for the Grampian evening series had a detrimental impact on entries once again, with only 39 registered for the race out of a possible 60.

The 64 km race would comprise of 3 laps of a short hilly circuit on the country roads around Midmar, with the finish at the end of the long climb to the Midmar hall. The strength of the CAT 1 and 2 riders would prove challenging for the Ythan rider due to the pace being set.

Miltonduff Road Race
Stuart King was again the only rider to represent the club at the Miltonduff road race near Elgin on Saturday 7th July.

That was the only similarity however – the result couldn’t have been more different to the previous race.

In a race open to CAT 3,4, junior men and women, 59 riders contested the 55-mile race circuit that comprised 12 laps of a flat circuit. The race formed the third race of the SC North Road Race Series.
King had a superb race, and coped well with the crit type circuit. He went on to finish in an excellent 14th place, with CAT 3 riders dominating the top places.

Ythan CC confined TT
Held on the out and back course along the B9000 from Pitmedden, the times of the first 3 riders in each category were:

Alan Smith 23:34
Ewan Gronkowski 23:57
Mike Giles 24:21

Carol Middleton 28:02
Wendy Gault 28:26

Gavin Gronkowski 31:02
Robert Smart 32:45

Fife Midweek Open 10 mile TT – Monifeith
Ewan Gronkowski was back in action a day later in the 10mile TT at Monifeith, and returned to the keeper in a time of 22:41.

Euan’s son Gavin Gronkowski and fellow youth rider Robert Smart also represented the club at the TT with both posting great times.

Synergy Cycles Summer Crit Series #3
A number of riders made the journey to Fife on Tuesday 16th July for race 3 of the Synergy Cycles Crit Series, with races for CAT 4 Men, 2/3/4 Women and E/1/2/3 Men.

John Souter finished in 8th place in the CAT 4 race, with Ewan Gronkowski finishing in 16th place. In the women’s race Kath Thomson crossed the line in 15th place, while Jenny Noble finished in 17th place.

Fife Midweek Open 10 mile TT – Freuchie
Ewan Gronkowski was back in action a day later in the 10mile TT at Freuchie in Fife, where he returned to the keeper in a PB time of 21:59.

Junior G, Gavin Gronkowski, also represented the club at the TT on an evening that stayed dry for the riders and with a nice tailwind for the first half of the course. He had a good race but ended up with a broken arm after his gears jammed in the car-park afterwards, sending him crashing to the ground. We wish him a speedy recovery – heal fast Gavin!

Scottish National 50 mile TT – Invergordon

Having well and truly caught the racing bug, Ewan Gronkowski headed to Invergordon for his first 50 mile TT. Ewan posted a superb sub-2 hour time of time of 1:59:34, to finish in 16th place.

Chapeaux everyone!

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It seems that the general consensus has been that the Ythan Picnic Ride should be considered a success! The sun shone and the rain stayed somewhere else, although the wind did it’s usual best to stay in our faces. Having ridden in a (much) smaller group from the Community Campus, I rode back to Methlick with the QL group. Riding near the front with our juniors was, I think, the most stressful thing I’ve done on a bike since actually racing and (briefly) riding in the bunch… When we were riding, I could swear there were about 60 kids riding with us; attempting to keep track of who was riding in front, on either side or behind; who was on the wrong side of the road, falling behind or finding hidden potholes in roadside puddles had my head spinning. Strangely, when we stopped to regroup, there only seemed to be eight of the kids with us – I have no idea where the rest went at those moments… And anyone finding the pace to slow, could easily have participated in the very unofficial who-can-push-a-sprog-uphill-the-fastest contest. I like to think I did rather well in that, though the uphill segment into a headwind was the hardest I’ve ever worked for a measly 20kph 🙂 Despite the wind and the threat of rain, spirits remained high all the way back to Methlick. Huge credit due to all our grown-ups for managing such a large group on the road to and from Aden, especially to Sean who remained at the front and (mostly) in control of what the junior riders were up to – chapeaux!

Rather than wait for next year, it’s been suggested that a similarly family oriented ride could be repeated as soon as July! Lets hope the weather is good enough to make sunscreen and ice cream the order of the day for that adventure!

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