18 Nov- Nasty Accident At ESCA Reliability Trial

Ready For Our 9:00 Start

The weather was superb (cold, no wind and full sunshine) for this mornings ESCA reliability trial. The route started from the sport pavilion and was a 50 mile route in a figure of eight. A large number of cyclists were there including Sean Yates riding for InGear. Hastings were represented with six riders: myself, Derek, Ivan, Malcolm, Chris P, Joe, Steve D and Tom.When we arrived we saw the familiar figure of Dave HH who said he would be riding in our group along with a few others from other clubs. We were allowed to ride off at 9:00 and had to be back between 12:20 and 12;30 in order to be classified as reliable. The group worked very well together with different riders taking turns at the front. Steve Denny seemed to be going particularly well. Chris had earlier complained of a pain in his back but was also riding well. Myself and Steve were the only ones in the group with a GPS but many people in the group seemed to know where to go although there was one place where I had to shout out  and get everyone back because they had missed a left turn towards Piltdown. Steve was the first one of the group to get a puncture, I stayed with him to make sure it was fixed while the rest of the group rode on. having fixed the puncture we set off at a brisk pace determined to catch up with the others but after a mile there was a loud ping from my bike. I have heard this sound several times before and knew that yet again I had broken a rear spoke and with the ridiculously small tyre clearance on the frame, my ride was over. Fortunately we were only 2 miles from headquarters so the bike managed to limp there. Derek was there at headquarters waiting from us to catch up. Chris was also there but had decided to abandon with a trapped nerve in his back.

I told you not to buy cheap tyres....

Myself and Chris had resigned ourselves to a long wait before everyone would be back at HQ  when a phone call came through saying that one of the Eastbourne rovers had come off and was being taken away in an ambulance, could someone go over to the scene of the accident and pick up his bike which was being looked after by a friend in the club. We got over there as soon as we could, the ambulance was still there and the police officer said that it looked like a broken pelvis which was not good news (this happened to our own Chris W a few years back while descending Castle Hill). Having handed the bike over to another Eastborne rovers cyclist  at HQ, we saw Derek and Steve D arriving, unfortunately unlike the rest of the team finishers they were outside the allotted time and so must be declared 'not reliable'.