Mid Scotland 50 TT champs

Two Clarionistas, Neil and John entered this local 50 event last weekend and came 6th and 9th respectively. And they've now managed to complete one of the qualifying event's for the club's BAR championship. There is another 50 coming up plus a gaggle of 25s, why not take the plunge and give them a go for a chance of winning the club's most prestigious trophy?

Here is Neil's report:

A grand day out! Good (flat) route, well marshalled (cheers Grant) and after thick mist on the drive up to Doune the weather turned out damn-near perfect. Damp and cloudy at the start, but the skies cleared and the roads dried in the first hour. Some slippery roads early on and a few riders went down at the Fire Station roundabout in Stirling, but no serious damage done.

As this was my first time at a 50 I was second off, at 7.02am. Caught my minute man after about 12 miles, but he caught me again a few miles later. Caught him and got passed again a couple of more times and ended up finishing a few yards behind him. Certainly helped having someone to compete against, as most of the guys that caught me later were going way too fast for me to do anything about it.

Only had one real problem on the ride - the left elbow/arm support on my tri-bars fell off after about 18 miles. I carried on riding in a slightly lop-sided style, right arm on a proper support, left arm on the bars. Felt good until about the 2 hour mark, on the last leg from Stirling to Blair Drummond I could feel my energy draining away. Finished in 2:16:42 which I'm pretty pleased about - respectable enough but plenty scope for improvement.

John said "I Want to re-iterate Neil's comments, a fabulous day for a race, some really nice bits of scenery along the. Thank you Grant for the encouragement, not many people get up at 6 in the morning to support and help at cycling events. On this course so there is plenty of room for improvement and a 10 will seem like a doodle to the shops now!"

Winner: James Cuisak 1.51.xx
Neil Fraser: 2.16.42
John McComisky:2.21.xx