Chairman Charlton Discharges Gunn

The second leg of the Three Tens at Kirroughtree tempted a number of Nacc teams and solos. The course was predominantly single track with snaking climbs, slippery root sections and a mixture of slow steep and fast sweeping descents. Short links of fire road were the only respite. Mike Bossard still could not find his way up to first place despite a valiant finish. He fiinished second with eleven laps three minutes behind the leader. Gavin Blainey put in a solid eight laps to finish in 15th place establishing his endurance credentials. Nick went for an early bath, well a sleep in the van 43rd. In the pairs Two Amigos (Greig Macfarlane and Peter Martin) took 8th place in the vets with a commendable 6 laps and those indomitable Gunns, Mixed vets - Team Mocha came in 2nd place with 7 laps despite apparently sleeping on the start line. (see photo). Looks like Gavin had too much coffee.

Full results

Bossards combination of strong climbing and agile descending is proving unbeatable. Ruari Watt needs to step up a gear to knock him off the top. The Gunn family are making their mark on the the headlines after a fine win by Fiona. 30 competitors were met with a very tricky wet course, all handled the conditions well and tonys " tricky trickster" section provoked the usual post race banter and a few ashen faces. There were several retirals but no serious injuries. Thanks too Evo bikes and Argyll pottery for prizes, Fiona was too quick and left without her prize! Full results

The rain stopped and the sun shone for last night's Creran TT. Lucy Heycock continued her progress to getting under 30 minutes for 10.5 mile hilly course. Tim took full advantage of the absence of the boy Bossard, who kindly stood in a cloud of midges for 40 minutes recording the times. Unusually Nick Charlton beat Tom Smith who only just managed to stay upright on his TT bike; a man/machine combination that is not entirely at ease when cornering. Full results

Ten under the Ben ace David Gunn won the only category for real men: The senior vets solo. He completed seven laps in 10 hrs 6 min against stiff opposition. Real men never smile.

Nacc riders competed at the now legendary 10 under the Ben endurance race in blazing sunshine. Regulars Spokey Dokeys under Gavin Blainey's rod of iron continued to improve. Tom lead out with a sound first lap and Nick took over puncturing early, in the middle and late on in the first lap. Gavin on great form put in impressive times to try and save the day but the Glencroft Rabble machine was unforgiving taking the top spot. Spokeys held off the Edinburgh Road Club to take second place.
Mike Bossard rode solo. He settled for second place after refusing the last lap. He claimed not to know how close he was to Steven Macinnes the leader.
Two amigos Mark Evans and Greig Macfarlane joined the single speed revolution. They claimed fist place in the duo singlespeed vets. Unfortunately a category unrecognised by the organisers.
A good day out for all. I recommend this to everyone. Over a thousand riders of all ages and abilities turned out. Look out for 10 at Kirroughtree in July.

Carol Collis of North Argyll Community Trust is assisting in a consultation being carried out on behalf of Sustrans regarding the implementaion of the Oban to Fort William cycle route. Of interest is the map of the route between Oban and Ballachulish and Consultation Poster. Artists and craftsmen amongst you may want to bid for work on seating, shelters, signposting etc. for the route.

Dour Duror is no more. The addition of an extra off road section added interest and gave a welcome break from the fire track at the top of the course, even if it did mean cartwheeling into a mossy bog. Doughnut powered Mike Bossard dominated the long climb and finished comfortably 3 minutes ahead of Gavin Blainey. 1st lady on the full course was Bridget Halewood (I hope that's right. I think Lindsey was on the short course). and Tom Macmahon was first under sixteen. Well done to Ben Miller U16 who took on the full course. Many thanks to David and Callum Shellcock. for timekeeping. Good to see some new faces. We hope to see you all again at Barcaldine in June. Tom is hoping to include some new single track. There may be some work to do to get the tracks into shape. Volunteers will be needed neaarer the time.

The final round of the West Highland Wheelers winter league was held at Leanachan forest last week. NACC riders did well with Mike taking the race victory after his three month break in Hawaii. Tom won the league just doing enough in 4th place to take home the trophy.. KT Tuer was the women's winner on the day and over all league winner. Jamie Maxwell took the junior trophy.
Nick spoke in depth to Spook about his aspirations to revolutionise mountain bike racing with his shoeless/pedalless device, good luck with that.

overall rankings.

Nacc Cross Country Race at Duror

27th April 2008

Nacc cross country race at Duror. This will be
a figure of eight race. See Diary for details.

Creran Time Trials

First Loch Creran road time trial of the year on this Thursday, start times from 7pm onwards. These are very low key events. (You may have to time your self!) Riders start at 1 minute intervals from under the bridge on the south side of the loch. Two laps of the loch roughly 11 miles.

results

Next Creran Time Trial Thursday 1st of May

Nineteen runners and riders turned out for this gruelling event. The inclusion of Shank's pony in this bike event meant that all who took part clearly represent the hard core of athletes. Alex Rawcliffe took first place crossing the finish looking pretty comfortable. Behind him it was a grim tale of pale faces and exhaustion; the promised pictures were almost too horrific to publish. For full race times.

     

Up to 92 km of bike and hike (with short routes available) across Mull and a big party. Click picture for info. Saturday 23 August 2008. The event will start at 7am on Tobermory High Street.

The Nacc hosted cross country at Fearnoch was well attended with nearly fifty riders accepting the challenge. We were very pleased to see many youngsters racing alongside the more experienced riders. The course was mostly hard pack with a couple of uncomfortable quad track sections. In the two lap race Gavin Maclean showed impressive return to form winning comfortably ahead of consistent Grahame Neagle and Gavin Blainey. Lucy Heycock lead the women's race. In the fun race there was great spirit shown with riders helping each other round where the going got tough. Prizes were presented virtually at random. Full results

WOLFTRAX BITES BACK

On sunday the 24th February Round 5 of the West Highland Winter League was held at Wolf Trax near Laggan.
The course took the riders round the fantastic new red loop then up to complete the old red loop with its twisty rocky turns and finaly down the green family trail to finish back at the car park.
First lady was Katie Tuer beating championship contender Collen Foggo to second.
Kinta Gallachar was first home for the men in 36.17 an inpressive time for the runner up British youth champion, Ruari Watt did well to keep him in his sights and Ewan Thorburn showed what a single speed could do in capable hands; just two mins adrift of Watt. Tom Smith of NACC came in 7th, still holding on to the league lead with 4 races to go with his nearest rivals finishing 5th and 6th. It should be exiting!
Full results
Next race is at Roy Bridge on the 9th of March.

A hard fought round of the West Highland Wheelers Winter League saw the first four riders separated by only 26 secs. Tom Smith (Nacc) took the honours increasing his league lead, closely followed by Jo Barnes in his slippers, Gavin "I'm not race fit" Maclean and Mike Bossard (Nacc) complaining of "too much chocolate". Nacc riders took 5 of the top ten places. Full results

Nacc Race at Fearnoch

27th January 2008

Nacc cross country race at Fearnoch by Taynuilt. This will be
a two lap race as at Barcaldine. See Diary for details.

Bossard bags Barcaldine

Michael Bossard was the winner of the first of the winter mountain bike races organised by North Argyll Cycle Club and held at Barcaldine Forest on Sunday the 11th of November. Forty six riders, with ages between 7 and 71, took to the mix of broad forestry track and narrow muddy descents on a 7.5 mile lap. Bossard was a clear winner in the seniors and juniors 2 lap event with Tom Smith, both riding for Nevis Cycles, two and half minutes behind. Coming in third was first the junior, Graham Neagle from Mid Argyll Cycle Club. Colleen Foggo of West Highland Wheelers took the senior women's event and John McNulty and Megan Munro were the successful winners of their respective under-15 1 lap events.
It was encouraging to see so many new faces and we hope to see them again. Many thanks to the sponsors, Evo Bikes, Flit and Owen Sails for providing prizes and competing in the event.

Results Photos

Ormistons and others took on this gruelling six day multi discipline team event in July. Read the Full story. Watch the Slide show.

Club Secretary

Responsibilities include receiving and distributing club mail.

Maintaining club records

Co-ordinating and minuting meetings

If you are interested in taking this up please contact any committee member.

Relentless Nacc Riders on the podium after 24hrs.

The Nevis Cycles/Woo-ha Ecosse had almost as many affiliations as riders. In fact at the start with missing Nacc member Bossard it was more. With the missing rider and three mechanicals hampering the early stages of the race, woo-ha had to play catch up. Glencroft rabble were stomping away with Fat Tread spin off team "pork pie and pizza powerd". The woo-ha (once Mike was out of bed) gradually clawed back some time on the strong Rabble team. Then the bad luck swung to the Rabble, a nasty off by Geoff Martin left him unable to continue. Through the night The Woo-ha team were leading and built on it through to the end to finish 1 lap up on the Pork pies..Not without drama as the mighty Woo-ha rider Bossard crashed on the teams last lap then snapped his chain! . The Glencroft Rabble faught on and impresively finished third with three riders.

Solo entrant Nick found himself chasing a Policeman for 180 miles after drinking 20 pints of a very suspicious tipple. Struggling in the dark hours before dawn and very sore the leaders got away and Nick had to settle for third place.

T.Smith/NC

Relentless Results

Ten under the Ben

Nacc fielded a solo rider and a team of three for this 10 hour endurance event. Mike Bossard led the singles for the best part of the race seeing off early challenges. He was eventually wound in by Ben Thomson his nevis cycles team mate and left to take second place. Picture shows end of lap 9 I think with the boys coming neck and neck through the transition.

Spokey Dokeys - Gavin Blainey, John Grant and Nick Charlton were never going to win with the Glen Croft Rabble about but put in consistent lap times in sweltering heat to gain a trophy in third place. A first for the team that has entered this race since the inaugural 10under in 2005.

Thursday evening road ride.

Lochs Etive and Creran - April to September

Come along and enjoy the challenge of the south face of Gleann Sallach on road bikes on Thursday evenings. Experience the pleasure of running out of gears as the gradient steepens and marvel at the ever changing scenery as you climb into the clouds….

Medium tempo road ride on either 15 or 25mile loop starting at the north side of the Connel bridge and going up the north side of Loch Etive and over Gleann Sallach (157m) into Barcaldine. Continue around Loch Creran for 25mile loop or return directly to Connel bridge for 15mile loop

Contact: Tim Brand 01631 720 696, Michael Bossard 01631 710097 for more details.

Training day - Summer madness in the woods and a visit from the gov'ner.

Eilid and John take on the Merida 100 endurance event at Selkirk. Looking for partners for Sleepless in the Saddle.

Tom going hard on the berms in Scottish Cross Country series.

Health and Lifestyle - Jon gulps down an energy drink before the mile at Taynuilt. (Wrong sport but same idea.).

Oban Weather - Met Of