So today I took part in the marshalling of the 2023 CiCle Classic race from Oakham to Melton Mowbray, weaving around the villages, so 34 teams, 176 riders and 183.5km. As a member of Leicestershire & Rutland 4x4 Response, I helped with the road closures and marshalling, moving between locations as the race snaked around the villages.
After an initial briefing in Oakham, myself and two colleagues were sent up to Burley on the Hill for our first road closure at a nominal 12:00, with the race proper commencing at 11:00. Once thay had all passed through, we had a tricky drive to the next location at Pickwell, crossing the race route and getting ahead of the peloton.
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Picture: at Burley before 12:00, Matt's D2 G4 V8, Brian's D2 Td5 and my Grenadier. Brian and his dog, Libby to the right.
We had three passes in Pickwell, (three loops of the local hills), before the cycles headed towards Melton Mowbray.
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Picture: At Pickwell, the cyclists came down from the right and passed behind the Grenadier, heading left.
After the last pass in Pickwell, I had a fast drive to a side turn in Melton Mowbray to block off the joining traffic before heading for the debrief and home. 42 miles driven, much rain and some abuse from the (non) travelling public.
Conclusions: it's fun to drive, it may be big, but it's wieldy, there is quite a high level of recognition from LR owners, (and motorcycle policemen), it has a lot of road presence. If you try and drive it without your seatbelt on, I swear it sulks! The power sockets, one in the centre cubby and one on the left in the loadspace only work with the ignition on; I will need to rig a power socket that works all the time or is switchable for the mag-mount orange beacon, I need it to work while stationary and locked.
