Fullarton Wheelers weekly report

The event began on Friday with a very nervous Zoe Watters, one of the club’s junior track stars, making her first ever attempt at the Women’s 3000m individual pursuit. Despite the nerves she posted a time of 4:14:272 and a speed of 42.4 kph, which was enough to break the Scottish junior record - a record which has stood since 1989.

Sadly, celebrations were brought to a halt just 11 minutes later when Georgia Mansfield (18) of RT23 took four seconds off Zoe’s record.

The event was eventually won by Lynsey Curran of Dooley's cycles with a time of 3:57:666.

Also competing at the Championships was Natalie Hunter, who put in a strong performance in the Women’s 500m time-trial to finish in the middle of the field of 18 riders with a time of 42.149.

Nat was a little disappointed, feeling she could have gone faster with the right gear selection. Nevertheless, Saturday got off to a flying start with Zoe and a re-charged Nat in the Women’s Team Sprint.

Teams of two complete two laps (500m) of the track as fast as possible from a standing start. Nat was lead-out rider and exploded out of the start gate, smashing away any thoughts of Friday’s frustrations. Zoe slotted on to her wheel and the two riders scorched round the first lap with Nat taking Zoe up to maximum speed as planned just before moving up the bank after the first 250m to let her loose and finish the race.

Maintaining the furious pace, Zoe tore down the back straight, hurtled round the banking, and emptied the tank on the home straight to complete a perfect team performance. Their time of 0:40:539 was the second best of the heats and put them in the final with a chance, albeit a slim one, of a gold medal against two of the best young sprinters in the country, Lusia Steele and Lucy Grant of Glasgow Cycle Team. The gold medal turned out to be just out of reach with Lusia and Lucy putting in a polished performance in the final, but the Fullarton women made the fans present very proud with their blistering effort, which got them a time of 0:40:559 and a well-deserved silver medal.

Next up was tandem star Natalie Jamieson in the Flying 200m Sprint. Riding on a steeply banked track, with no brakes or freewheel, is nerve wracking enough. Doing it on a tandem is another level entirely.

It is also worth mentioning that Natalie is partially sighted, making her achievements on the track all the more remarkable. The Flying 200m Sprint comprises five laps of the track but only the time for the final 200m is recorded.

Natalie and her tandem pilot Rebecca Dornan (The Racers) only became a tandem pair a month ago, and the Flying 200 was their first race together. They started smoothly, working brilliantly as a team, and gradually built up their speed riding high on the track before plunging down off the banking and absolutely flying around the last lap. Their time was 00:13:392, enough for second place and another fantastic silver medal for Fullarton Wheelers.

The last race of the day for Fullarton’s women racers was the Scratch Race. Nat and Zoe took to the track in a strong field of 16 with the honours going to the first three riders over the finishing line after 40 laps of racing. The pace was fast from the start. Breakaways were brought back quickly, but both riders stayed with the front of the race until some aggressive racing with 10 laps to go saw Nat retire after a couple of “incidents” almost caused her to crash. Zoe continued working at the head of the race until a breakaway of six riders made it off the front with around seven laps to go. Zoe and former Scottish Champion Lulu Bartlett of The Racers worked together in an attempt to bridge the gap, but it wasn’t to be as the breakaway succeeded. Zoe still finished a credible eighth.

The final day of competition for Nat saw her competing in the Women’s Flying 200m.

A fast enough time in this event earns the rider a place in the Match Sprint Finals where they race one-on-one over three laps in a hugely tactical battle, ending in an explosive sprint for the line. Nat made her way onto the track on tired legs after two days of racing but went deep to produce a Personal Best and gain a quarter-final place.

Once there it’s the best of three sprints. Nat was up against a funded rider and felt she might struggle in the final few hundred metres, so decided to take the initiative and go early in an attempt to tire her opponent’s legs. Unfortunately she was caught on the back straight on the final lap to go 1-0 down. Onto leg two, and with Nat being front rider she sprung the trap early, again catching her opponent napping, and tearing off at maximum velocity. She was eventually caught and passed on the final bend, with both riders crossing the line together in a close finish. An extremely respectable seventh Place was Nat’s well-earned reward after an intense and demanding weekend of top class racing.

Fullarton Wheelers are one of the few cycling clubs to have a dedicated indoor training facility, affectionately called ‘The Barn’.

It has recently been comprehensively upgraded with state-of-the-art Tacx Neo virtual trainers. These allow riders to mount their own bikes into the trainers and compete against each other, and also other riders, on screen. The new trainers can simulate different road surfaces, and will even allow you to freewheel downhill. Feedback from club members has been very positive, with the new trainers offering a realistic riding feel and excellent graphics.

The new facility was put to the test on Monday with Event One of the Fullarton Wheelers Winter League.

Nearly 40 riders signed up for a challenging five mile route over mixed terrain, with the Saxo-Bank professional team always just ahead on the computer screen.It was great to see such a wide variety of different members having a go, in particular Beth McRae, Zoe Watters, Catherine Logan, Rebecca Bell and Natalie Hunter taking part in what promises to be a closely fought women’s competition. The overall winner of Event One was Sean Barron, with Beth Macrae and Zoe Watters joint winners of the Female competition.

At completely the other end of the cycling spectrum from track racing and the winter league, is the altogether more sedate Sunday Club Run. Meeting at 9.30am outside the Portal in Irvine, this is a steady group ride through the Ayrshire countryside including an all-important café stop. November represents a shift in pace, and a shift in gear, from the hard to pedal ‘big ring’ to the easier and slower ‘little ring’. It is also mudguard time, and the mudguard police were in attendance armed with nothing more than gentle ridicule. This week twelve riders emerged into the sunshine (Brian Johnston and Grant Francis without mudguards) and the group headed out of Irvine through Kilwinning and North to Barmill. It was then right towards Lugton, onwards along some slightly icy roads. Climbing (slowly) out of Dunlop a distant Ben Lomond was just visible, as was snow on the peaks of Arran. The group then threaded its way downhill through Cunninghamhead and into Kilmours to the ever popular Rendezvous café for homemade tray bakes and bacon rolls.

Distance covered from Irvine Cross was 36 miles; 1500 feet of climbing; average speed 16 mph; and no punctures.