AS the rider wobbled from the start and into the gully I wondered whether my help might be dispensed with sooner than I had anticipated.

A member of Cleveland Wheelers, I had been asked whether I would volunteer for marshalling duties at the prestigious Blakey Ridge TT.

How difficult could it be? Just so long as I wasn’t asked to collate times – a CSE Grade 3 in mathematics was surely enough to rule me out of that particular task.

Thankfully, organiser Shaun Joughin agreed.

Instead, I, along with another club member, was given the very important job of holding up the riders at the start so they could get a smooth getaway off the line.

The briefing was, well, brief.

“Don’t fight them or they’ll fight back,” Shaun warned, eluding to the pressure required to hold the bike up rather than anything more physical.

With that it was off to the start, a country lane a mile or so out from the North Yorkshire village of Danby.

From here the riders would set off at one minute intervals on their 25-mile trek over Blakey Ridge to Hutton-le-Hole and then looping back to the finish at Castleton.

“You should probably do four or five each,” said Shaun. “And then swap over or you might find your knees give out.”

With that in mind, and the fact I was a complete novice, I kindly let my colleague go first.

At 30 seconds to go, the first rider was called to the start mark, a handily placed sheep dropping denoting the spot.

I watched how he was held up. Two fingers and a thumb from the left hand around the head tube and two fingers from the right pinching the rear fork. Movement, once he was clipped in, was minimal. When the clock reached zero, he was off - smoothness personified.

Another four riders set off in similar fashion.

Then came my turn.

“30 seconds,” called Shaun, eyes on the stopwatch.

I tried to replicate what I had witnessed, but this guy was big or at least he seemed so I opted to grab hold a bit more firmly. The bike fell slightly to the left and I had to push back the other way.

“Ten seconds... 3,2,1...”

I let go. With that rider and bike lurched towards the drystone wall and into a gulley.

Somehow he managed to maintain balance, if not his decorum, angled the bike back onto the road and was away, albeit rather less smoothly than he had anticipated.

“He was probably in too big a gear,” said Shaun, doing his best to cover for my embarrassment.

He pointed out that while it was not permitted to push the competitor, you could guide them away.

Luckily, for the riders that followed I learned from my opening mistake and, generally speaking, they all went off in good order.

In fact, the only issue was not of my making, a rider raising a point of order about a rival folding his race number a little too neatly in a bid to extract a few tenths of a second of aero advantage.

Job done, it was down to the finish to catch the competitors as they crossed the line and then back to the village hall for tea, cake and the trophy presentation.

For the record, the event was won by Steven Guymer in a time of 1:03.54 – no small feat given the terrain and the very warm weather last Sunday.

Afterwards I was interested to hear what people thought of volunteering, giving up the chance to ride in order that others can.

Dave Kirton, Cleveland Wheelers marshalling coordinator, told me: “Out of about 200 members that would be illegible to marshal, about 50 per cent of them volunteer.

“Many of them really want to help, the others maybe just feel a sense of responsibility to help.

“The 50 per cent that don’t volunteer just keep a low profile.

“The way I see it though is that we’re just a cycling club and can’t make anyone do anything they don’t wish to, so I don’t lose sleep over it.”

Fellow member Steve Binks told me: “I have been volunteering at the Cleveland Wheelers since 1972, race organiser, marshal, coach, committee member/officer for 45 years and still doing the League 2000. I also edited Spokesman for a vast number of years.

“It has been a pleasure to be part of the community and to see the youngsters doing so well now but even those who did not make it big really enjoy what they are doing now.

“It’s great to see the club thriving, I can remember when we had 40 members and I knew everyone! So yes I can thoroughly endorse volunteering as it can give as much pleasure as actually riding the bike ... and maybe not as much pain.”

For my part, though nervous to begin with as we all know how competitive riders can be, I really enjoyed my time in the yellow bib.

I’ve been challenged to take part myself next year, thankfully the job of holding my bike will be down to someone else.