Champagne Scramble, September 14, 2003

Six club members took a chance on the weather and came out for the 2003 Champagne Scramble: Graham Hallward, Scott Chisholm, Paul Dicks, Isabelle Sheardown, Mark Hopper, and new old member Gary Corin. This year's event featured a handicapping system that would try to balance the results and would also recognize the first overall finisher.

The six riders departed from Maple at 10:00 AM, and headed north to Teston Rd., turned west, and then turned north on Jane. Isabelle rode at her own pace, while the rest stayed relatively together up through the marsh to Hwy 88. Paul Dicks would ride off the front for most of that portion. The five regrouped at Hwy 88, where Paul indicated he had a slow leak and stopped to repair it. He had some difficulty, and had to repair the leaking tire twice. Isabelle managed to pass Paul at this time.

Mark, Graham, Scott, and Gary rode together, aided by an unstable tailwind to the turnaround, and headed back to the infamous Pumpkin Hill. This is where I stopped to watch the decisive break occur.

Graham and Mark gapped Scott and Gary by about 30 seconds on the hill. While the four leaders came up the hill, Isabelle went down, and Paul followed a few minutes later.

Despite a concerted effort and riding into a now stiffening headwind, Gary and Scott could get no closer than 50 meters to Mark and Graham, and lost contact at Hwy 88 on the return leg. Graham gapped Mark climbing up the hill from Hwy 9. Meanwhile, Gary dropped back from Scott going through the Marsh.

Paul had a slight navigational error when he read the route sheet for the rerun leg instead of the outbound leg, and took Concession 13 East instead of west, encountering a German Shepard on the way. When he realized his error, he turned back and of course the dog was waiting to chase him back in the right direction. Paul was then chasing Isabelle on the route, and did not see her again until well into the Marsh. They rode together until Paul realized that Isabelle had a considerable handicap advantage and then tried to make up time.

That pretty well outlined the finishing order.

Rider	Time	Handicap	Time Adjusted	Overall Position	Finishing Position
Graham Hallward	3.12:42	-2:30	3.10:12	1st	1st
Mark Hopper	3.17:27	-2:30	3.14:53	2nd	2nd
Scott Chisholm	3.24:04	-3:00	3.21:04	3rd	3rd
Gary Corin	3.32:29	-3:00	3.29:29	4th	4th
Isabelle Sheardown	4.39:41	-24:45	4.14:56	6th	5th (1st female)
Paul Dicks	4.26:14	-.30	4.25:46	5th	6th

Peter Leiss, organizer