Wyegate Trial 2012 CofC Report
Words by: Matt Neale
Sun had been booked but at the start many people seemed to have anticipated it a bit early. It was cold, poor Ian Thompson who had ridden his bike from Malvern looked a bit chilly, but I bet his ride home was nicer. As usual it was good to see old faces and meet some new ones.
Anth Moore arrived on his enduro bike, muttering something about backache dictating that he not ride the Randonne - he palmed that off on brother Drew instead! A huge bag of bits that he carried was intended for Rob and Roy Breakwell who had phoned through a list big enough to rebuild several Alps at about 5.29pm on Saturday. A few minutes later Rob was seen trying to make the rear pads fit his bike. They didn't. As the old ones were down to metal his day was likely to be rapid. Nothing new there then!
Unfortunately a shortage of fierce looking women to do the job meant that I had to be starter. I suppose that I was qualified as C of C to send the riders off as I saw fit and as the first and last riders went on time it must have been ok. I did run out of things to say by about rider 10 then so recycled the same old gags. No one laughed.
Once everyone had gone Sue and I cleared off to watch at Ian Wixon's. On the way I passed a certain well know Welsh rider and previous Wyegate winner. I wondered why he was in a strange position on the bike. Something to do with cold hands and the need to use the throttle with his left hand whilst warming the other on the engine. All at 30mph. I don't know why he just doesn't talk to his hands. That would warm them up!!
At Wixon's the conversation was mostly about the cold. As usual Andrea Cottle was the only lady rider but by now I was wondering if we had an entry full of school girls. The whinging about the cold was amazing! One or two riders did warm up in the sections through and Ian, instead of dropping off a layer was intending on adding one. As usual the sections took marks. I watched Gavin Moore drop what looked like a centipede 3. Little did I know that that may well have decided the day.
Landrover transport limited the places I could go easily so off we went to Llywna. Drew was observing here and had done a bit of shovelling before hand. The rock slab didn't appear to be causing problems but the 90 right after was. Owner Gordon seemed to be enjoying himself as did the rest of the family when they arrived. A stroll down to Pant Glas revealed something different. No queue! Pete Dunkley was observing here. Apparently he had had to send at least 3 riders around the roads as they had got to the section and cried! Well that's what he said. We discussed the bottom step and came to the conclusion that it was getting easier and that some remedial work was needed by next year. As usual he had removed the kickers placed by wimpy trail riders. As hoped he had done this before the course openers went by. The top of PG is getting harder and needs either luck or talent to get through. Some had neither although Rob Breakwell seemed to have both. How do you make an Alp fly? Dad Roy had the same success level with a different line. I believe that this was less controlled though and the bang as he went up the step might quite possibly have helped Pete's planned landscaping 200 yards down the lane. As the hard bit of this section cannot be seen from the start there is always lots of discussion and plaintive questioning from those waiting to start. Naturally I was helpful and advised full throttle all the way. Well we have got to keep the spectators happy haven't we?
Wandering back to Llywna to get the Landy got us there in time to meet a straggling gaggle of Bendall's. They seemed happy enough although I noticed that Alf had distanced himself from the younger mob. Has any one a suggestion as to what the collective noun for multiple Bendall's might be? A disorganisation maybe?
Before leaving Llywna I made an executive decision and suggested that Drew meet Sue and I at the Boat Inn for a section debrief. When I got there Drew was happily into a pint of cider and moaning that he had been told not to eat his butties at the pub's table. It was nice there.
A collective attention to duty eventually saw us across the river to the Final sections in Forge Wood. Drew went to his section and I lurked around the first section adding logs as it all seemed rather easy. Glen Thomas arrived and I suggested that a touch of modifying might not be out of the way at his section, the big hill. Julian and Claire Bishop had hardly landed to observe section one when the openers arrived. I didn't need to ask where the first riders were, they were pushing the openers along. Deciding that despite my log additions that section 1 wasn't going to provide much drama, we drove up through the woods to the last 4. The openers had gone by now.
You know that Anth had lent the Random to Drew? I think he wished he hadn't here. A dead easy section, rideable by invalid carriages, had seen him have a lovely dismount. What a waste that only a few people were there to witness it!
Pete Neale (ex Chief Marshal) arrived looking annoyingly fresh after a 1:45 ish half marathon and couldn't understand why the riders were so tired! The big hill at the end of the woods promised some entertainment but a surplus of grip proved otherwise. There was some speculation as to how Glen had got his Quad half way up it and more to the point how he would get out of there. We decided he could look after himself and cleared off, back through the sections and back to the pub.
The sun was shining, Roy and Rob had finished !!!!! and the pub was open. The course closers were back on time, not having to chase too many slow coaches and all seemed fine.
A quick enquiry of results seemed to suggest that Rob Breakwell had cleaned the whole event! As I said, too easy. Nibbs had been spotted loosing at least 1, Gavin had the likely 3 that I saw and rumour had several Bendall's on at least a handful.
Ben Falconer commented that a shorter course and nice weather had provided a nice 6 hours riding. Half a day! Is he a man or a mouse? As I suggested, that gives us time for another 50 miles and 15 sections next year! Any volunteers for Clerk of the Course?