Another moody day marked the return of our spring classic gravel race Ronde van Dangarsleigh, and with typical flandrian weather on offer and a revised 31km course with repeat gravel sectors, all that was missing was a Kwaremont beer at the finish!

Despite the conditions, we had a great turn out of 20 riders on a selection of equipment, and although gravel bikes are at the fore these days there was still a sprinkling of MTB and road bikes in the mix. First off was Jacqui King riding solo on her MTB, with a healthy 5min buffer on Abbott White who was also sporting an impressive MTB mullet setup, and with a further 5min until the first groups hit the road they would take a nice head start on the chasers.

The groups were a motely assortment of riders and bikes, with the first mob off at 9:30 with PC and Dene Bourke on MTB’s accompanied by Pete Wilko on his CX rig. The pairing of Jo Wauch & Christian were next off at 12:30, with another pair of John Scott-Hamilton and Richard Wilko off a further 3mins back at 15:30. At the business end a large group of 5 riders hit the road at 18:30, with a welcome return to racing for Dave Harris, along with Swanny, Roddy, Kirky, and Hugh McKellar. The Block TT pairing of Phil Thomas and Andy Robb rolled off at 20:30, with the bumper Scratch group of Holly, Toby, Pat Ferris, and Codie Miller off at 23:30.

The first test awaited at the monument turn, as riders hit the gravel for the climb up Dangars Falls Road. At this point we had an early mishap; although rather than a mechanical it was a wrong turn, as gravel rookie Abbott missed the Blacks Lane turn, and although he quickly rectified this once he spotted other riders cresting Blacks Lane, it was too late and he was out of the race. While Jacqui set a steady pace out front, Dave Harris had put in the first big attack of the day to bridge across to Richard Wilko & Johnny. The other groups were largely intact, with scratch chasing hard causing blocks Phil Thomas to feel the heat in his thermal jacket which required an emergency pit stop to de-robe and handoff to Col leaving Andy to fly solo while Phil cooled his heels.

The changed parcours for this years edition meant we had a double serve of Blacks Lane/Elliots Rd as riders looped back for an extra helping, which also give them chance to eyeball the chasers. As riders emerged back onto Enmore Road to start the run for home, Jacqui was still holding a 7min advantage over the closest chasers, while behind the race was tightening up as legs began to fade on the attritional New England gravel.

The punishing Knobs Hill climb awaited, and as riders turned onto the steep slops for the final helping of gravel Jacqui’s lead was shrinking as Dave Harris was mounting a solo chase, with Roddy hot on his heels, and Scratch closing fast. A turb-charged effort from Toby Inglis saw him take the drop the scratchies to take the coveted Knobs Hill KOM (ironically from DaveH!) and make solo bid for glory. But as riders emerged over Simmonds Rd and cleared the final gravel sector, Jacqui was still going strong and would hold fast to take out a well earned win – great ride Jacqui. Dave Harris would catch the handicappers eye with an impressive 2nd place, with Rod Christie holding off Andy & Toby to take out the final podium spot.

Well done to all racers for great efforts on a tough course; thanks to Wilf for the extensive signage, and also to Col & Wilf for running one of our more challenging races.

Next week we return to the tarmac for the next round of RROTY!

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