Ravensthorpe CC 10

Gretchen Zoeller and Mark Wolstenholme tasted victory in the time trial bike category at the Ravensthorpe CC 10-mile event in North Yorkshire on Sunday, while the road bike category winners were Angus Owens and Kathryn Argyle.

Riding for VTTA Yorkshire, 43-year-old Zoeller clocked 26-04 for the V511 course near North Duffield, making her the fastest female by 1-50 from Amanda Dean (West Hull Ladies) with Sandra Burrows (Vive le Velo) third, 2-01 behind Zoeller.

Wolstenholme (VTTA Yorkshire) clocked 21-30 to win overall by just seven seconds from Ben Williams (Cliff Pratt Racing) with Harry Nolan (trainSharp) third with 22-04.

The road bike category was also keenly contested with 31 entries, and top of the pile was the promoting club’s own Angus Owens (Ravensthorpe CC) who was riding his first time trial after showing great form in road racing already this season with a couple of podium finishes for the second category road rider.

His time of 22-32 was 19 seconds better than runner-up Darren Yarwood (ADDFORM Vive le Velo) with Joe House (Drighlington BC) third fastest on a road bike.

Another Ravensthorpe CC rider, Kathryn Argyle was quickest female on a road bike with 28-31, seven seconds better than team-mate Susan Sanders in second with Suzanne Noon (Queensbury Queens of the Mountain) third.

“I had a good run and was on for a 10-mile pb until the roundabouts. A double decker bus pulled out on me!” said Zoeller. “For the last four miles it seemed that the wind had switched and I couldn't make up the seconds from the bus.

“It was only my eighth ride on an old TT bike as I'm very new to the sport. I'm a retired international Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belt competitor but need a new knee and couldn't get a fight anymore once I entered the veterans’ category so my knee surgeon said to try cycling. I love it!

I got a 25 mile pb last week (1hour 3mins) and really want to get a 50 and 100 mile pb before the end of the season. All of the equipment and techniques are so new that at the moment I'm just trying everything out, riding every race I can get to and taking on every bit of advice I can. Everyone at the TTs has been wonderful and welcoming. It's a great sport!”

And road bike category winner Angus Owens said: “It was my first time trial so to win by 20 seconds, average just under 27mph and set a new 20-minute power PB of 353 watts made it a good day out for me.

“The road bike category makes it more accessible for everybody now. You obviously don’t need a TT bike which is good. That course suited me as well with it being flat with me being more of a sprinter type rider.”

In other categories the tandem prize went to Stephen Butler (Ravensthorpe CC) and Muzaffar Hussain (Tandem Club) with 32-23, while top two-up were Michael Bunn and Anthony McNamara (Rockingham CC) with 27-02.

* All reports are copyright of Cycling Time Trials/Snowdon Sports. Not to be used without permission.