Biking Mad Reverse Snowball - Tues October 26 2021
Ngā Manu Reverse Snowball
Ride Report – 26 October
Written by Adrian McKenzie – co Race Manager (along with Glynis Te Maipi-Kemp – and Doug on timing)
Photos courtesy of Janice Hill and Glynis
What even is a reverse snowball?
We’d run a snowball last season past (where you start with one rider and pick up team mates as you go) and it was great fun, but never a reverse one. The idea was put out there by Janice and we just had to make it work. How would we even do that? It’s something Glynis and I pondered off and on over a few days.
It’s simple as an idea – start in teams of four (each team being our figurative snowball). The snowball has to stay together, but drop a rider at certain points, thereby reducing the snowball to three, two, then just one rider… We figured a mass start, with everyone barreling down to the first corner, would be tricky with so many people, so, starting the teams 10 seconds apart would nicely spread everyone out before the turn (giving those seconds back at the end). And, it worked out beautifully, with groups of 4 lined up in rows, just like a formula one start grid, and zooming off every 10 seconds.
Dropping a rider every lap seemed a short old event, so the plan was to drop a rider after four laps, then one after another three laps, and another two laps further on, leaving the last rider to complete a final lap on their own in a mad dash to try and catch or stay away from those around them. Or, put another way, drop a rider at lap four, lap seven, and lap nine.
Simple right?
Nobody had any idea that this was the format – or even who was in their team (this being concocted on the night, with riders of differing abilities in each team), so there were a lot of heads together in the pre-start, coming up with plans and schemes, and trying to decide who was faster than who and for how long. Paul Rawlinson came up with the nefarious idea of pushing the slower riders, which saw a rule enforced, one lap in, that we’d neglected to let people know about before the ‘off’ (bugger – the one thing we forgot to say).
One of the cool things about these ‘fun’ events is that it teams up riders from totally different grades. You get to know clubmates who’s names you might have seen in results, but not met, or only know a little. And it’s out and out teamwork, where you must adapt and figure out on the fly how to make your snowball the slipperiest and rolliest (that’s a word right?). Those of us at the start/finish could hear the encouragement and positive talk all the way through. These types of things are fantastic for club spirit and getting to know each other.
So, all good stuff, the teams got away nicely. We saw some amazing rides being put in by the riders that were dropping off first. Howard Davies towed his team to the line in a huge final effort before he pulled off on lap four which was just fantastic to watch. Pete Gibbs and Cath Campbell (going by the name ‘Jath’ for the night - in a team of J’s) were the first riders to drop in their respective teams and both fought tooth and nail to hang on till four laps were done, which gave their teams a chance – both superb rides. It’s really hard when you’re with riders who are faster than you. If the question were asked: “Can you go any faster?” there would likely be no answer as you can’t even talk! Type-two fun indeed.
Everything was going great – Doug was counting laps like a pro and letting the teams know, by ringing the all-important bell, that a drop lap was coming. All the teams had dropped their first rider (a couple had dropped their second) and picked up the pace if they were able to.
Unfortunately, somewhere in lap 6 one of the ‘J’s’ touched wheels with another ‘J’ and went down. There were cuts and bruises and everyone stopped to make sure Justin was OK. A very big thank you to all; the riders, and those from the start/finish that went to help and pick Justin up. Hopefully it’s nothing major and you heal fast Justin. You were riding magnificently in a fast group before the crash – so all the more of a bugger you weren’t able to finish it off.
With everyone stopping to help – only three teams carried on to the finish. Dave Downer showed amazing strength to deliver Katie to the line around 20 seconds behind Leon who would have had tired legs from his amazing exploits in the North Island series over the long weekend. Katie was able to slowly (in the unslowest fashion), but surely, wind Leon in and finish first – followed by Leon, with Paul rounding out the podium for his team.
Teams
1st team – in a time of 41.53
- Katie Richard
- Dave Downer
- Francis De Hair
- Grace Saywell
2nd team in a time of 42.09
- Leon Goodwin
- Tristan Ratcliffe
- Neil Harwood
- Pete Gibbs
3rd team in a time of 43.30 (had stopped to check on Justin)
- Paul Rawlinson
- Tony Levaggi
- Clive Brugh
- Alex Arthur
- Euan Mason
- Andy Ross
- Ricky Field
- Howard Davies
- James De Hair
- Janice Hill
- Justin Fraser
- Jath (Cath) Campbell
- Dwight Garton
- Todd Foster
- Dianna Borman
- Tom Gibbs
Big thanks to our marshalls of Judith Taylor and Christine Stephenson, our set up and take down crew led by Dave Downer and joined at times by Gary Clareburt, Andy Ross and Dwight Garton. And to the race management team extraordinaire – which saw me take the credit for the work done by Glynis and Doug 😊
Well done to all.