Touring section cover 95 miles during final ‘away for the day’ tour

Ballymena Road Club’s touring section held their final “away for the day tour” on Sunday, when their, “last resort”, tour of the harbours took place from the duck pond in Ballymoney.
Ballymena Road Club members at Portballintrae as part of their 2013 harbours tour.Ballymena Road Club members at Portballintrae as part of their 2013 harbours tour.
Ballymena Road Club members at Portballintrae as part of their 2013 harbours tour.

This end of season tour proved again to be very popular with 28 taking part and it was ridden at a moderate pace. The 95 mile route included Macfin, Mountsandel, Coleraine, Portstewart, Portrush, Portballintrae, Dunseverick, Port Bradddan and Ballintoy, where there was a tea stop at the harbour.

Then it was on to Ballycastle and the inland route along Moyarget road to the “Dry arch” near Mosside and left on to Ballinlea road taking in the famous “Dark Hedges” en route to Stranocum and then back in the Kirk road to Ballymoney for a total of 57 miles at 15.5mph average. The tourists were joined by another seven riders from the club’s racing team who cycled from Ballymena to take part.

Last Saturday heralded the start of this year’s Autumn and Winter 13 week series of the Ballymena Road Club “Fun Tours”

Last year the series enjoyed 13 dry weeks but this time out is was the complete opposite. Nevertheless twenty riders turned up at Rex Bonar House for the first round and they completed a 40 miles tour.

This year’s charity fund will benefit the Chernobyl Children’s appeal NI and already the total stands at £380. Once again the tours will receive support from Ballymena Borough Council who will host a presentation at the end of the series. The normal well tried and tested format will continue for this year’s series.

The participants will be divided into at least two groups with the more experienced riders scheduled to cover about 50 miles on their tour. Club members will welcome newcomers to the touring section’s group where the average speed will be kept to around 15mph.

This speed isn’t exactly slow for novices so anyone who turns up needs to have been doing some training in preparation for the event.

The minimum age of the participants is set at 13 years and all those under 16 must be accompanied by a parent, guardian or other nominated adult.

Experienced club members are asked to make themselves available as “travelling marshalls”. They need to be fit to do this job as it means riding ahead of the group, to cover junctions and corners and then staying in position until everyone goes past, and then cycling back up to the front again ready for the next turn. This will certainly be good training for those volunteers.

Certificates and medals will be awarded to the successful participants with five tours earning bronze, eight for silver while eleven wins gold.

Participants are advised that crash helmets must be worn. They are also advised to dress appropriately for the weather conditions and to bring a rain jacket, spare tube, food and money. It goes without saying that bikes must be fully road worthy. There is a minimum one off entry fee of £5 to cover the fun tour series with the donations going to the Chernobyl children’s appeal NI.

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