DESPITE failing to finish the 184 kilometre road race, cyclist MacInnes Looby insists the experience will make him a better rider.

And he's already set his sights on the next Games in Manchester in 2002. After dropping out at the end of the fifth lap of Saturday's 12-lap race, having fallen back to help team-mate Kris Hedges rejoin the peloton following an early crash, Looby said his failure to finish had made him more determined than ever.

"I learnt what it feels like to race at this level,'' he said afterwards.

"Now I know how much I have to prepare, how much I have to do in order to actually compete with these guys.

"You learn a lot from something like this. Someone can come back and tell you how hard it was, but unless you actually experience it you don't know. Now I know over the next few years how much work I have to do. It's going to literally take full-time riding to prepare, I can't be working someplace else.

*** WARWICK Lanes may never be the same after these Games.

Following Antoine Jones and Conrad Lister's surprise silver medal in the men's doubles, bowling coach June Dill says she expects the sport back home to take off.

"I think we'll get more people behind us and the support we need to grow,'' said Dill.

"Bermudians probably didn't realise just how good our bowlers were. Many of them still think of it as a recreational, leisurely sport. But it's a marathon. You have to be fit, you have to work hard, and if you do the rewards are there as Conrad and Antoine have shown.'' In this neck of the woods, bowling and its top players hardly need any introduction. All of the big tournaments are televised live and here at the Pyramid Bowl, Games tickets have been sold out for weeks with long queues forming outside the entrance each morning as spectators wrestle for the best seats.

** SOMETIMES you don't have to be good, just lucky.

Take Welsh bowler Cynthia Fortt who, while competing in Monday's mixed doubles, got her swollen thumb caught inside the ball as she prepared to throw.

The ball flipped into the air, crashed back down onto the lane and, as Fortt nursed her thumb, continued to trickle towards its target. After what seemed an eternity, it wobbled into the pins, sending all 10 toppling into the pit -- the most bizarre of strikes.

GAMES RESULTS SHOOTING: Men's fullbore rifle stage two -- Sinclair Raynor, 31st (stage two score 141, total 241); Walter Trott, 40th (stage two score 135, total 227).

SQUASH: Men's doubles -- Nick Kyme/Tommy Sherratt lost to David Palmer/Paul Price (Australia) 0-2 (6-15, 10-15); Kyme/Sherratt lost to Paul Steel/Daniel Sharplin (New Zealand) 0-2 (6-15, 4-15).

SWIMMING: Men's 200 metres Individual Medley -- Stephen Fahy, 2:10.68 (fifth in heat). 200m Individual Medley B Final -- Fahy 2:09.78, 6th.