CYCLING: LAST Saturday it seemed summer had arrived, at least for a time, and with it the kind of day cycle time trialists dream about.

Warm conditions, almost windless, were reported throughout the country with race results that may not be bettered over the remainder of the season.

After under-representation in recent weeks there was something prescient about West Pennine’s showing last weekend with fairly hefty improvements all round.

One beneficiary was Denis Thompson in Drighlington BC’s 25-mile time trial at Dishforth in North Yorkshire.

With last week’s re-entry in the lists producing a modest result after a short lay-off, the Pennine veteran zoomed to an impressive time of 58-23, a new target that could remain illusive in the weeks to come.

The winner, certain to be equally pleased with his result, was Yorkshire rider Blair Buss with a time of 51-22.

Saturday’s 10-mile Leigh Premier RC promotion on the Rainford by pass near South port also produced excellent results for all concerned including a 24-55 from Pennine’s Sel Ives, his best for a year or so.

Club-mate Steve Harper’s first event of the season produced a 25-37 while Dave Matthews – who ‘officially retired from racing’ last season, made a cheerful comeback with a 26-32.

Preston Wheeler’s Jimmy Wright was the winner with his 20-27.

Saturday’s bonus conditions were good enough to attract Ron Mellor back to the start line after a combination of illness and less than conducive weather had him side-lined in recent weeks.

A trip north to the rewardingly fast A590 road at Levens resulted in a time of 23-45 and the prize as overall best veteran.

Ex-triathlete Charles McCulloch from the Arctic Shorter team was the winner with a time of 19-31.

An avid Dale fan, Mark Hulme’s attention was totally focused on their fortunes at Darlington on Saturday leaving a more breezy Sunday to reflect on the result and switch his concentration to the Yorkshire veterans ‘30’ at Boroughbridge.

A 1-11-24 was good enough for 17th spot with PedalSport’s Andy Jackson’s 1-3-04 being the winning time.

Nothing short of miraculous was his club-mates’ opinion on Kev Shand’s dicky kneeafter last week’s total immobility and commiserate demeanour.

On Sunday he confounded all with an overall first spot in his age group in the 46-mile Steve Gutteridge memorial veteran road race at Llandyrnog in North Wales.

Active throughout the race Shand repeated attempted to escape the peloton making his final assault on the climb to the line. Misjudging the distance to the chequered flag he attempted a final sprint only to fade to fifth as the combined C and D age group crossed the finish line.

For Daniel Shand, it was a peloton of a vastly different sort in the five-day Friula Venezia race in northern Italy. With 204 starters making up 40 teams from most of the worlds’ cycling nations, the race

featured high-speed action from the moment the flag was dropped.

Despite the frenetic pace, terrain and conditions seemed to suit the Profel Prorace rider who, with his four team-mates, held their own alongside a classy field. It is a race with a considerable pedigree with many of the winners over its 46 years going on to be star Tour de France and Giro d’Italia riders.

For Shand, such fame potentially awaits. At the moment, his form suggests he is destined for the equally important journeyman professional ranks. At this stage in his career it’s hard to say what the future holds. Finishing at 119 overall out of 128 who made it to the finish line was a better than decent result for the 21-year old, allowing for the fact that 76 riders failed to see that final chequered flag.

Saturday’s penultimate stage, with long climbs that decimated the field over its 155 km, was the crunch day for Shand. He finished the stage at 151st, 20 minutes down but still a whole lot better than over fifty riders who either didn’t make the finish or were eliminated on time.

For some comparison it should be noted that the Rochdale lad finished the race on par with an official Great Britain under age 23 team.

The overall winner, by just 38 seconds, was 29-year old Croatian rider Hrveje Mihojevic from the BK Loborika team.