Port Nicholson Poneke Cycling Club

There are a lot of masochists who race bikes in the Wellington region and 92 of them were in Upper Hutt this morning. It was seriously cold for the second round of the BP Series, with the icy rain, a bitter southerly and snow on the hills welcoming riders to the first of many Whiteman's Valley races for this season.

The course was short and flat(ish) starting at Mangaroa School on Flux Rd then heading up Whiteman's Valley to Avian Rd for a turnaround and back to the start. Starting into the southerly was pretty cruel for the older guys with no time to warm up and little likehood of it anyway with a temperature of 4 degree celcius.

The handicapper modified the gaps after the last race to level the playing field a little, giving limit a couple of extra minutes and reducing the break3 and break4 gap by 1 minute. Surprisingly break3 still came out on top - perhaps due to the size of the group which may have allowed a more even distribution of pain.

I dont know about the other groups but I would have to say that scratch rode poorly as a group and as a result were beaten on handicap by the break group - a few scratch riders started attacking in the first few kms and when they weren't attacking they were sucking wheel at the back - obviously these characters dont appreciate that a handicap race requires a little team work and cooperation, at least for the first part of the race.

Summary Results are:

Handicap Placing - Men:
1. Chris Walters 1:00:18
2. Martin Sparrow 1:00:23
3. Peter Mora 1:00:24

Handicap Placing - Women:
1. Celia Lie 1:01:50
2. Sarah Barclay 1:03:25
3. Bethany Balmer 1:12:58

Fastest Time:
1. Lee Evans 47:52
2. Andrew Ellis 47:53
3. Hayden Richards 47:54

Full results << here >>

BP Series Points Table after race #2 << here >>

Missing visitor tags - 3 tags were not returned after the race, could the following people please email <<me>> now with details of when the tag will be returned:

V01 Mary Ann Venter

V21 Martin Sparrow

V25 Jamie Carey

Once again a number of current PNP members rode with visitor tags - please note that if you are a current PNP member then there is a personalised/named timing tag at registration for you to pick up. You should not be using visitors tags. Special note - Andrew Ellis, Courtney Grenfell, Mike Naylor, Ricky Pincott, Simon Pope, Matthew Webber, Mark Wallace.

Remember that visitors who do not hold a BikeNZ licence with another club are welcome to come along for 2 races before joining PNP. See the <<membership page>> for information on joining the club.

There are now a large number of PNP club members who have not yet added their name to the volunteer roster - every member is required to volunteer at least once in the season. If you have not yet put forward a date for your volunteer duty then you should do so now. See the <<volunteers page>> for more details. If you are not on the roster race entry may be refused. The BP series points table above includes a column indicating those club members who have raced in one or both of the BP races so far but who are missing from the volunteer roster.

Thanks to race manager Rob Kilvington plus Alan Rice (sans Walter) and volunteers Chris Kendall, Ian Thompson, Garry Humpherson, Karl Ratahi, Jeff Lyall. Also Joe Chapman and Steve Scott for assistance with the timing system.

Steve Chapman