On a cool evening the first speed judging competition of the year was held on the Barrow course near Staverton. Lots were drawn to select the two speeds to be matched, one for the clockwise circuit and the other for the counter clockwise one. 13 & 14 mph were the targets. First off were Malcolm (14mph) and timekeeper turned competitor Emma (13mph). Malcolm was quickly caught by his minute man, an ominous sign for one of them at least was misjudging it. Despite his cunning use of a fixie there was obviously something wrong with his internal metronome for when the errors of two rides were summed he was to finish last by some margin. His minute man, Theo, did much better, helped perhaps by noting that the bike has a 13 and a 14 sprocket so the same cadence could work on each circuit.
Once all had completed their two circuits they retired in the gathering gloom to the Old Elm Inn, Churchdown, for the results to be analyzed and the Gibb Shield ranking points decided. According to the rules six participants meant that these would be: 1st 30 points, 2nd 27, 3rd 25, 4th 24. In the absence of the Captain, who usually does very well at this competition, it was the senior competitor, Alastair, who triumphed with the most accurate performance, but he was closely challenged by the next three. Of the rest it is perhaps best noted that Emma is used to having a stopwatch in her hand and that Malcolm can only improve at the next opportunity, on Bulley Lane.
- Alastair 22 sec.
- Colin 30sec.
- Tesh 40 sec.
- Theo 49sec.
- Emma 1 min. 7 sec.
- Malcolm 2 min. 41 sec.