It would be hard to imagine a more perfect day for the first of the club’s Soup and Bun series. The Waihopai Valley was benefiting from the recent rain and looked green and fresh, and The Pyramid was in its usual immaculate state. Thanks to Chris and Julie Dawkins for allowing us to use their place and for turning on great weather, no wind, no rain, just plenty of warm sun to highlight the greenery. The tuis were pretty vocal too so a great morning all round.
Despite many of our members busy harvesting, there was still a good turnout. 41 riders ensured that the soup was well tested and tasted. Thanks to chefs Sven and Justin for the taste sensations. These two also set out the course and Justin was also seen to be fixing one of the juniors bikes while not missing a stir of the pot. You haven’t seen Jamie Oliver do that have you ? Thanks also to Wilkes RM for their support/sponsorship. While we are handing out thanks, George’s help gathering up arrows afterwards was much appreciated.
Attached lap times cannot reflect accurately who did which laps, long or short or a mixture. A guess has been attempted so hopefully some of it is correct. You will know what you did so if I have short changed anyone I apologise and if I have flattered anyone please do not blush on the rostrum.
The usual suspects dominated with Sarnim in serious mode and the rest in his dust. He was having problems with his rear tyre and was pumping furiously before the start. Khan was putting in a solid performance in second and Ken third defying the aging process. Good to see newcomer Lucan too keeping everyone honest and Paul joined these in completing 5 laps. It was a good testing course, climbs and technical bits and a splash of creek water thrown in for good measure.
Sarnim was slowing each lap with his tyre slowly deflating. He stopped at the end of lap 3 to put more air in but stopped shortly afterwards with a complete flatty. Frustrated he had another pump and could not resist the perfect riding conditions, so set out to chase Khan who had slipped by into the lead. The hold up was too much and despite a scorching lap 5, the consistent Khan prevailed by just a few seconds.
Sven and George were next completing 4 laps heading Jut. Jut turned up in a very old VW Beetle and was riding a CX bike. Organisers could not find a rule to disqualify him on either of these counts.
Sarnim was not the only rider with tyre problems, David was seen mid forest successfully affecting a repair, but spoiling his lap time for lap 3. There were other with mechanical issues, as mentioned previously one of the younger juniors lost his chain and Kathryn also had transmission problems, enabling her to stop and take photos and first dibs in the trough.
Lots of juniors tried the shorter track and some mixed and matched, but all seemed to be having fun. We hope that interest remains for the rest of the series but it would be hard to guarantee the same ideal conditions we enjoyed today.