07 FEBRUARY 2004.
Margaret makes her bike fly

By David Ogilvie

MASTERS GAMES: Margaret Scholes only took up cycling two years ago, and the Gisborne 60-year-old appreciates the fact that her Gisborne Cycling Club mates give her a start in races.
She had one over the weekend as well, and she almost made the most of it.
Scholes, one of 15 eager Gisbornites in the New Zealand Masters Games cycle tour which ends today, was one of those given an "early bird start" in the event – in other words allowed to start (with others) before the guns.
" There are 15 of us, we’ve been training for this race," Scholes said. "It’s a good club, because they’ve been kind to me since I’ve started – they usually set me off early. They’re all very nice to me because by letting me go early, I can sort of mingle amongt them in the race."
And after a poor Saturday ride – "it always takes me a long time to warm-up" – Scholes and Aucklander Fred Bloem almost stole the show in yesterday’s second leg from Durie Hill to Hunterville.
She didn’t mingle too much because she and Bloem were only caught by one rider, just one kilometre from Hunterville.
" We were starting to get ideas above our station," said Scholes. "I was so excited because we led all the way to the one-kilometre mark. It was really lovely."
In the afternoon she showed the way until well past Reid’s Hill on the return trip, but maybe the hill proved too much and she faded a touch.
The bike is modified because she can’t manage drop handlebars. It gives the impression of a roadster-mountainbike sort of a mixture, but she surely made it fly yesterday. The overall leader in the tour is Auckland’s Bruce Roberts, who rode away from the “fast” bunch yesterday afternoon by climbing Reid’s Hill much the better. He leads Marcel Hellenstein (Palmerston North) and Lyall Riley (Auckland).Former Olympian Tom Bamford is 5min 42sec from the lead.
The event finishes today on the Kai Iwi circuit.