First Season Racing

Today was the last proper race of the season for me, and I use the term proper loosely as it was certainly not the usual format. This was the Handicap Championships no less, which in layman’s terms is a 60 mile handicap race with a bigger field than normal. The field was 80 riders, ranging right through from 4th cat riders to elites (Elites in this case were the Pedal Heaven team who fielded 7-8 riders I think), there was a strong showing from KW with a similar amount of riders spanning the categories, also a large team from VC Meudon and London Dynamo. So it was sure to be an interesting race, and given the usual Handicap races are only an hour long it would be interesting to see how this one played out.

Proceedings kicked off and the groups were being read out, there was to be 18 groups, which to me sounded a bit much, especially given some of the groups were only 2 riders…, however most of the groups were 4-8 riders, we learned that the gap between the scratch group and the first group was to be 14 minutes, which on a course like this one (fairly rolling and quick) was going to come down pretty quick…Everyone got going, and I was put in the penultimate group, myself and two PH riders plus one other, Pete Allan, the scratch group was the rest of the PH team, and it was clear that we were just going to roll through until they caught us, then we would hop on and become one big 8-9 rider chain. It took around 10 mins before I caught a glimpse of the PH group who looked quite daunting with matching kit and all the rest, but I knew it was a good situation to be in as they were all strong riders and had an agenda, there was not going to be any messing about, they wanted to win this race and therefore catch everyone up the road.

As they joined us it was quickly decided that everyone would do a 30 sec turn on the front and fall back into a pace-line formation, this suited me, I wasn’t about to do zero work, but equally it wasn’t too taxing and we made good pace averaging 27 mph or so, it didn’t take long before Pete Allan was dropped and it was just me and the PH lads, we continued to work well and after perhaps 30 mins we caught the next group who were about the catch the group in front of them, so our 9 became 25-30 quite quickly. This was the time to catch a little bit of rest before the next groups came together and the inevitable attacks came. It was clear that PH were working for their sprinter Lewis Atkins, the finish was a drag then false flat sprint to the finish, it probably suited him pretty well so I was keen to keep an eye out for anything that had him in it.

We carried on bringing people in, and eventually it looked like we had caught everyone just before the bell lap, I noticed we had plenty of riders in the bunch, Gareth had made his way up from the back where he had been loitering previously, and Damien was right in the mix too, everything looked positive at this stage. With around 10 miles to go I saw what I thought might be the move to go with, Jake had gone up the road with another in tow following another small group of 3 with 2 PH involved, I sprinted out of the bunch and set about getting onto Jake and the other chap, I got to them and it was clear Jake wasn’t about to help me bridge over to the front group, so I had to keep going despite what my legs wanted, after a minute or so I did get over and Jake was over too. It got going and we caught a couple of others, and suddenly this break had become 9 riders with Damien and Gareth both in it, Gareth did a good ride to get over as he could see the potency of this move, sadly Damien didn’t quite have the legs after a big acceleration near the front and it was down to just Gareth and I and 4 others, 3 PH and Mick Coyle of Brighton who is always partial to a break.

We worked fairly well together though I was reluctant to do too much as I knew with the numbers they had that they would play us for all we were worth towards the end, so there was a bit of shouting as is always the way, it was clear that with a couple of miles to go this was going to contain the winner, Mick started launching attacks, which were chased down, but in a way that meant we had to close some of them down too to ensure 1 of the PH guys and Mick didn’t get away, as we approached the finish hill I was starting to feel the days effort, Rory lead the other two PH guys up the hill at some pace and then Jake jumped hard, Lewis was in his wheel and I was just behind, they played it well as it was an early move, some 35-40 secs from the finish, I jumped on and went hard, but after about 30 secs my legs began to say no, and with the line in sight it was clear they had enough left to push through, I sat up and watched as Lewis took it just from Jake with me 4-5 bikes behind to claim the bottom step on the podium, Gareth had attacked Mick on the climb and rolled in for 4th which was a great result, we also had Pat who had got away with Keith Lea to claim the 10th spot, so 3 in the top 10 at the end of the day, not bad at all.

I was quite pleased with how I rode, and I think on another day I’d have been challenging for the line in the last few meters but I just didn’t quite have it today, but more importantly for me was that I’d made the right move, actually managed to get over to it without blowing up like last time, and stuck the pace with the elite lads (just about) to get into a position to be there at the finish. It bodes well, and I’m some way over where even I was in March race weight wise, I think with a bit more strictness over this winter and some proper thought to training which may or may not come in the way of a coach I am fit enough to be in the mix in local e12’s next year.

http://www.strava.com/activities/82590876

The only things left this season are the club Hill Climb which I will do awfully at, but should be fun, and then the KW Club Championship race at Hillingdon which also will be run as a handicap, so that should be interesting, at that point I’ll make a call whether to ride the Ottershaw Series in October or whether to commence winter training in prep for next year.

Cheers

As the end of the season approaches I was keen to get one more run out on the TT bike before I tuck it away for winter! There was one more event that took my fancy, this won’t be a long report to be honest as it was quite straight forward! Said event was the Redmon CC 10 on G10/42 which is our club ten course. The startsheet had around 60 riders, which on the face of it provided some good competition, mostly Elliot Porter of Rapha who I was keen to see how I fared against, but for reasons unknown to me he couldn’t make it, I looked at the 5’s and 10’s and couldn’t see any names I recognized, which meant I had a good chance of winning at least.

My best time of the season had been done recently with a strange wind, 20.18 – I had done many other times during the season with a couple under 21, and a couple over 21. Today the wind was pretty strong and the first leg looked like it would be a headwind with a rocket finish with the wind behind – with that in mind I made sure the first 5 miles were as hard as I could manage, first 5 mins at 400w or so, next 5 mins at 390 or so and I reached the turn in good time considering, but the effort had taken a bit of a toll. Sure enough when I turned round it was a lot quicker, and as such it was hard at times to motivate to keep powering on. I looked at the average speed and knew I could be on for a reasonable time given the wind, so kept on, got held up for the first time ever at the 2nd roundabout on the way back which cost me a few seconds annoyingly. Eventually the line was in sight and it was looking like a 20.40 or so. 20.45 I was given officially, I think with out the car, fiddling with my garmin to get the right screen a mile in, and being cautious on the extensions in a crosswind I would have shaved 5-10 secs off that which I would have classed as a great ride in those conditions.

I got back to the HQ and had won the event by around a minute which was nice, we were told to wait for the presentation of prize and trophy etc, but after an hour of waiting I couldn’t hang round any longer and had to make a move so apologies to any of the Redmon guys for wondering about that.

I decided against the Leo 30 in the end after people had said its like riding on a motorway, I may look at the Tour of the Lod Valley event however, if not then I suppose the next outing will be in Baltic conditions for the Redhill 18 or similar.

http://www.strava.com/activities/80744851

This race was one I had done a variation of last year, it was run on the Drift Road circuit which is a pretty much flat fast course with minimal technicality. When I raced it last year for the Python RR I was still pretty new to cycling and managed to get round, so this year given I’ve improved a bit I was hoping to try and make it count as it had a sprint finish which suited me.

The race had attracted a good field, but notable teams were Felt and Pedalheaven who had plenty of riders representing. We got off to a start after the earlier 3/4 race had finished (couple of KW riders had been caught up in a crash which is never good) and straight away the pace was high, and it remained so for the first few miles! Where previously I had always been caught napping at the early stages, this time I was keen to try and make sure I was in the right place to go with it. The upshot of that was that I chased quite a few early moves to little avail. I then slipped back in to the first 3rd of the group and sat about waiting for the right one. We had probably done 20 of the 75 miles now, and a small group had formed and were just off the front for a while, I was then keen to get into the bridge group which I knew was going to form sooner or later – notably Pedalheaven were looking to get something together perhaps they had missed the first move, I followed the first few and nothing doing, slipped back a bit and managed to be in the wrong place when they went and it looked like it might stick…

Quite irritated with myself by this point I looked around and saw that most of the people who were likely to be up there had already gone up the road, I saw Tony Gibb was still in the bunch so there was some hope he would try to get over given the finish probably was perfect for him too. A lap or so passed and we had reach halfway point at least, and Tony and 2 others chipped off the front on the long straight drag up to the finish, its so long and straight that actually to get out of sight probably requires a pretty large gap upwards of 2 mins, and as such I could see beyond Tony’s group the two breakaways which looked like they were close to merging. My legs had felt really good all day so I thought now was the time to make it count, I jumped off the front of the group and set about catching Gibb’s group, however when I approached them I still felt good and they were going slowly, so instead of joining them I rode straight by them and carried on, I was gaining on the break and thought I may be able to get over, what I had not really banked on was the way in in which it drags up to the line and the headwind we had, I got within maybe 50m of the group and felt my legs start to fade, a quick check back confirmed that the pack had caught Gibb’s group, I was blowing hard, having shown everyone what the definition of ‘blowing up’ was, and was quickly back in the group (I looked at the data after and had done 500w for 3 mins or so which is a bit above what I would normally do)…

Now it was a case of having missed the moves, people were trying to chip off the front to save some face, lots of things went nothing stuck, with a lap and a half to go I went on my own and stayed away for half a lap before being dragged back, nothing was doing. On the last lap most people were happy to let Gibb lead everyone in. Given we had managed to split our group again there were not many of us, maybe 20, I wasn’t totally sure how many were up the road so made sure I won the mini gallop of our group, but I later learned there were 24 up the road haha!!

Stuff to learn of course as ever, but was pretty pissed off as its becoming a habit now, and I wonder sometimes how I keep missing things given I’m not exactly hanging off the back. 1 more race this season which is to be the Handicap Champs – 60 miles of handicap racing fun!, and then of course the true season closer is the Kingston Wheelers club champs at Hillingdon, with 30 already entered it should be good fun.

http://www.strava.com/activities/79233920

Today was the first weekend without a road race for some time, mainly because there wasn’t much local, and also as it looked like it might be my only chance to do a 25 this year, an added bonus was that it was part of our club TT series, and being the fastest Wheeler in this TT would net me the trophy for this year, annoyingly it fell on the same day as our club ten where I would have won the trophy for that had I ridden, but I prioritized.

The event was on the Bentley H25/8 course where I had done a ten a few weeks back and took the win, and where last year I attempted a 25 on my roadbike only to flat at the 16 mile point. Bizarely despite having done a fair few TT’s this year, I’d not really done anything like this, I’d done a 30 mile sporting course, and also an 18 mile sporting course, but the way you ride those is rather different to a dual carriageway style event. I knew that from my efforts in 10’s what my power should roughly be. Only issues were that I’d had two days fully off the bike, and that the wind was blowing a gale Not ideal!

Got down there and predictably there were lots of DNS, sadly a few of the faster guys had pulled out, James Gilfillan, Stephen Walkling namely, shame as I’d liked to have seen how I stacked up against them. Still, there was plenty of competition to be had, James Walsby who I have raced with a lot this year, he has come on a long way, and is looking like a good prospect for TT’s, Richard Prebble who as ever is always someone who goes well. I felt confident that I would go fastest, but it was a question of how fast, I had in my head that I’d like to do a 51 at least, but on the face of it conditions looked like they might put paid to that…

Had a little warm up and almost binned it at 15 mph when a crosswind gust caught me by surprise while I was warming up, good start. Got down to the start-line and surprisingly it was still dry despite HEAVY rain being forecast. I got off to a start and had to mentally tell myself to keep it in check, I was aiming for a certain wattage into the headwind sections knowing it would be hard to get the power down the other way. I got to the first turn and it was like suddenly I was riding without a brake engaged, I hit the tailwind section and that was it, flying time! Suddenly it was 35mph at all times, and getting to the point where 53-11 was showing its limitation, I did that 7 miles at over 32 mph hitting 40 at times, I would have loved a 55-11 for that. After a blast into the headwind back I had kept the average over 28 MPH, it was looking good – I was also still dry! Back into the huge wind once more and it was full gas time, I was really motoring, I saw 49 tick by, and had distance hopes of a 50, but then 50 ticked by, and the finish never seemed to come, I did almost 33 mph for that return leg with the last 5 mins at full power and over 36 mph, I stopped the clock on 51.40 – to be honest I was pretty pleased with that as a first attempt on a tough day. Predictably my power was not quite where it should have been, I put this down to the overly positive TSB, but it wasn’t a million miles away and importantly I went quickly for that power.

I trundled back up to the HQ where once I had been a cub scout, and waited for the times to come in, I was feeling positive, James was the next in and he did a very impressive 52.08, having looked at his position if he can increase his power he will go bloody fast as he looks super aero (and he went onto win a road race the next day with a 25 mile solo break, solid ride), so it was a case of waiting for Richard to finish, he came in and said he’d done a short 53, so that was confirmation of the win, which was a good feeling. And by some margin.

http://www.strava.com/activities/75417690

Photo courtesy of Chris Mison
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Today was a SERRL race on the Lamberhurst/Frant circuit, I’d been told it was a tough circuit that had a couple of fairly taxing uphills, and a finish at the top of a 3-4 minute hill. I will be honest, initially I thought it would suit me quite well given there was nothing all that steep.

I’d had a fairly hard week on the bike, and though I brought my TSB (power geeks will know what I mean) slightly positive as I always do, there was no denying that my legs ached on the day of the race, quite annoying, and obviously highlights the flaws of training with power, not all TSS is equal.

Anyway, we got started and I felt fine, it was a super quick pace for the first couple of laps with the 9 Pedalheaven boys trying to force a selection, at first I felt good and was moving with the right wheels etc, but I think in that first hour I might have put myself about more than I should have, don’t get me wrong I wasn’t doing a Jen Voight or anything, but in the company of plenty of elite riders on a tough circuit I would have been better ‘keeping my powder dry’ for a little longer.

A few moves went off, and at the 40 mile point I was pretty sure I wasn’t going to be doing anything of note, a few more times up the hill and I was struggling, aches were deep, like I’d been riding intervals the same day before the race. I kept going for training purposes, and with a couple of laps to go we were in a fairly whittled down group with 8-10 away and the heavens opened, a few things went, I tried to get away with Connall Yates and a couple of others, but it wasn’t to be, I saw a few more moves go which is always what happens in these races, they’re very much about attrition and eventually everyone who has remotely anything left gets up the road and everyone else either rolls in at snails pace or pulls out. And in fact a huge number had already climbed off. As we approached the final lap in the heavy rain I started wonder why my bike suddenly felt so Spongy, I looked down and sure enough, I had a puncture. The cars whizzed by, I did put my hand up, but I don’t think there was service, and to be honest, I doubt I’d have got back on if there was. Ever since being lumbered with a long walk a year or so ago, I carry a co2 and super light tube just to get me back to the car, so I whipped wheel off and did just that and rolled back to the HQ and watched the last lap unfold.

Turns out that of the initial break Jake and Rhys Howells had got away, and Jake beat Rhys in the sprint to claim another road win for this year.

This is a great circuit and I really want to give it a good ride at some point, but think I need to work on fitness and perhaps be a bit fresher beforehand! Only 30 odd finished of 80…

http://www.strava.com/activities/73846245

No road races this weekend gone, I have one coming up this Sunday down in Kent, but wanted to write just a bit about the good old club ten.

I think I’ve done in the region of 10 club tens now since I joined the club, I can’t make every one, and the early season ones are a particular challenge to get to as work is not local and getting home, in the car and down to Dorking is not the quickest process. Now I’ve moved a further 10 min walk from the station its even harder. However, as the evenings drew longer I was able to get down there.

There seems to be quite a divide between people that race on the road and those that specifically do TT’s, even though I personally think they compliment each other quite well in terms of training and net effect on each other. What I really like about our club ten is that is attracts a huge variety of people from our club, people that race on the road, people that don’t race, and people that just do TT’s. Its a great mix.

My journey as far as the club ten’s are concerned is probably one that many people make, I started off on my road bike with no TT specific add-ons bar a skinsuit and a insulation taped road helmet, I managed 22.17, initially I was a bit annoyed with it, afterall you look at the results of your local TT’s and all you see if 19’s 20’s and in some cases the odd 18 too. This led me to aero upgrades, so I could go faster on the same power, I moved onto aerobars which gave me another few seconds, though I never managed to crack 22 that year. As time went by I saw how fast people were going, and I wanted a bit of it, as you’ve probably read in another post, I bought a Trek Speed Concept from a clubmate and kitted it out with some aero wheels and all the rest.

Since then my fascination with TT’s has grown, and though I feel like I’ve kind of neglected them this year given I’ve done a handful of open events, but barely anything longer than 10 miles, one thing I’ve tried to make a point of doing is the club tens as the course (G10/42) is quite an honest one, not many gifts, not much chance of a hold up, and I know it well – the TT bike was a bit of a revelation time wise, it immediatley took a minute off what I was doing, and that was with a position I had not really explored and power that wasn’t anywhere near what I’d want to be doing now. I was down to around 21.07 as a best, I was eager to break that 21 barrier and get into the faster times. This was going to take some doing though, and it actually took a bit of thought, and the fear of getting caught by a minute (30 second) man to spur me into action. I managed to do 20.46 that particular day, and upon trying again was slower, I thought that was as good as it was going to get on that course for me this year. I’d given it my all, hit all time high powers for the duration and thought I was in a pretty good position.

However last night I went along and gave it another crack, conditions looks poor, low temps, and crosswind, however as I set off and went about my usual pacing for this course of ‘blast up the hills, and relax a bit down them’ I could see it was fast, and in fact I got to the turn in good time, still 10 seconds down on my previous best, I’d kind of given up hope with this ride, and consigned it to be another sub 21 but nothing of note. However upon setting off on the way back, where I should have been getting crosswind, I felt like I was being pushed along, and actually holding 30 mph along the draggy bits felt OK. I was flying, my legs were feeling it and I knew I had to dig in, I glanced down, saw there wasn’t long left and I was still in the 19’s, there was a fleeting thought that I’d do a 19, but I then was put firmly in my place when I saw I had another few hundred mtrs to go, but when I did cross the line and stop the clock in 20.18 I was very surprised. That was miles better than what I’d done previously, and it would seem others agreed, a PB night for many.

Bit of a ramble on, but that is the story how in 8 club tens I shaved dead on 2 mins off my time, its taken a new bike, sure, but actually its been great fun working out what does and doesn’t work, and how to ride a particular course, there is actually little doubt in my mind that when F11/10 comes good after the initial re-surface job I will do an 18 on it, whether or not I get a day like Steve got and put in a storming ride to beat his record I do not know, its a big ask, and to this day its the fastest 10 that has been done this year in any open event.

I’m still unsure which way my riding will go over the next couple of years as I undoubtedly have less and less time due to work and all of what being an adult entails, but I don’t feel like I’ve realized most of my potential yet, if I’m honest with myself about the riding I do, its pretty lackluster and though I look and see that I’ve done 10-12 hours a week each week for 2 years I also see that the vast majority of this is still far from optimum. I’m planning on working with a coach over the winter, I’ve narrowed a couple down, so am hoping that with a bit of direction and a bit of willpower on my part I can build on this year and compete properly in the National B races.

Today was the annual London Dynamo Summer Road Race – its an e123 race that is run on a different course each year (from what I can tell?). This year they decided on my favorite…The Milland Hill Course, if you look back you can see I’ve raced two or 3 times on this circuit now. The long and short of this one is that its fairly flat for most of the 7.2 mile circuit, but there is a short, very steep (25% peak) hill running up to the finish, followed by a bit of a drag. Because the circuit is quite short we were to do the climb 10 times, to make a race distance of around 75 miles. Its not a circuit that suits me all that much really, the hill is so steep that it doesn’t favor my usual approach of brute power to get my up it faster than others, as power/weight is key up here, and also traction is an issue, the more you stamp the pedals the more likely you are to get wheel slip. So I wanted to just ride hard and stick with the main guys and see what happened.

There were a few teams that had numbers, Felt, Pedalheaven namely, but Dynamo had 4 or so too, so it was always going to be an interesting one to see who marked who, and how PH with 9 guys played their hand. Being a lone rider in these situations is sometimes good as you can just go with the moves you think look good. We got started and right away the pace was high as per usual. The first time up the hill was actually perhaps one of the worst; the previous night had seen heavy rain and some of the circuit is very covered by trees and this meant that much of the circuit was damp making the hill almost impossible. As soon as you started to get out of the saddle wheels were slipping everywhere, this meant that it had to be done seated, which is no easy feat. But I was pleased to get up it in fairly good shape.

On the second lap Chris McNamara and a felt rider got away, which saw the rest of the PH guys mark most of the subsequent moves for the ext few laps. It was clear that the hill was putting people in trouble, and every time up it people would get gaped, and then up the drag onto the main road wheels would be lost and that would be that. I will have to check the results when they come out, but I would say certainly 5-10 people were getting dropped per lap. I followed the wheels and tried to get into a few moves, but nothing much was doing, and with a lap or so to go I was starting to really feel the hill. Into the last lap a few people slipped away, I was in no position to be going with that move so tried to make sure going up the hill the last time I was near the front, which I was, but as soon as it started ramping up and people started romping away it was clear my legs were not going to allow that, so I kept going the best I could and had my own tussle with Martin Smith of AW cycles for 20th or so place haha!

Pedal Heaven won with Dante, and also placed 2nd (possibly Chris?) so a successful day out for those guys, later some people felt they strangled the race with numbers, which I suppose is one way of looking at it, but if the races at this level allow teams to enter 8-9 guys then that is what they will do, they made it work, I’ve seen other clubs with those kinds of numbers in races and they have failed to get anyone in the top ten in some cases! So its not a given.

Will check the results when they come out, but I would estimate that maybe a 3rd of the field finished, lots of good riders didn’t make it round, so I was pleased that I had the legs to get round without ever REALLY being in trouble, and it bodes well for a slightly more suitable circuit, of which I think there are a couple I’ve got in the diary.

Just over 3 hours with a NP of 340w paints the picture and goes some way to explaining why my legs ached a bit on the single speed into work today!

Ride here – http://app.strava.com/activities/70415171

Bletchingley 2/3

Last weekend saw a return to racing after the disappointment of not winning the Tour Of Sussex. It was back to Bletchingley for Dulwich’s 2/3 race. As I am sure you may know, I’ve raced the circuit around 3 times in the last year with varying success. However today was the first time in a year or so that the full circuit has been open, so it had the usual drag finish hill and also a steep 12% job down the bottom of the circuit.

The long and short of this race was that I was going to try and set it up for Gareth as its a finish that didn’t really suit me all that well. I had been to a mates BBQ the night before and got steaming drunk, which I don’t think helped matters!

We rolled round in the blistering heat, a few splits occurring, as much on the fast downhill as anywhere else. One meudon chap managed to get away and won solo, which is a great ride! It got down to the last lap and Gareth said it would be useful if I could string it out and reel in any late breaks – I did just that, 4-5 mins at high pace and I strung the bunch out and reeled in 4 people that tried to get away. Gareth flew off up the hill when I peeled off and bagged 7th. He went a bit early but showed he has good legs for this kind of circuit. Confident next time out he will know how to pace the last hill for a win.

Seale 2/3

Been a hectic week or so. Some good news in that I managed a pb both time and power on our club ten, so was looking in ok shape. I’ve also recently bought a Genesis Flyer single speed for work duties and its great fun. Though dropping people up the hills in the park only for them to fly by you on the downhill as you’re spinning out is irritating! A good week of riding and a good hard threshold workout with Gareth in the park on Friday was just what I needed.

This weekend I was moving house into our first purchase, so to be honest I was feeling a bit guilty racing, but much work was done on the Saturday, so much so I had no time for a pre race spin and my whole body ached this morning after lugging heavy furniture about all day.

Today I was quite keen to get those 16 points needed to get the first cat license in the bag. It was a short circuit at around 4 miles, plenty of corners to sprint from and a couple of hills to split things up a bit. A fairly small 50 man field for today’s race, which was hosted by Wyndymilla. As we arrived the women’s race was just finishing, great news to hear Maryka of KW had done the business in the women’s race to take the win. With 6 of us in the men’s we should have been able to do something.

The race got off to a bad start when a meudon rider hit the deck quite hard in the neutral section, but we were soon underway. My legs felt pretty decent despite the hard labour yesterday. So I was keen to make them count. The first couple of laps were a find your feet situation, and with 14 laps to do it was welcome!

A few laps gone and I was keen to test the water I romped away up one of the hills but was shut down (and kind of gave up as it wasn’t going far) but it did confirm the ‘good sensations’ in the legs. A few more times I tried with various people to get away and the best we did was about half a lap away. At this point Lawrence of AW cycles who has shown he can race at Prem Cal level got away with a GS Avanti rider, I think I was a bit blocked in as I didn’t see it go. They built up a good gap. And at the half way point of the race a around 30 miles they had over a minute on the bunch. Which wasn’t too bothered about chasing unless someone tried to get away that is!

I dropped back and saw Gareth was biding his time at the back, I said that I felt good and that I fancied myself in a sprint up the final hill, he said he would try and get away and let me mop up the rest if so. I said that we could probably both get away if we went hard enough, he agreed and a lap or so later we decided on the point to do so. I followed his wheel as we went up the outside of the bunch. People saw what we were doing but we did it anyway. Gareth went off the front and I came through and kept it quick up to a horrid left hand turn, I was taking the turns faster than Gareth who had been having confidence issues about throwing it into the bend. It wasn’t such an issue though. We went hard up up the hill and were joined by Charlotteville and Dynamo, they sat on until I asked one to come through, which he did, we lost the dynamo, and as we went through the lap board which I think showed 3 or 4 to go I pushed hard and we dropped the other guy too. Just Gareth and I again, which was good as I knew he would commit and his turns would be strong. We quickly established a gap, and every time I looked back I saw nobody, this was good. We we getting shouted time gaps, and with one lap to go my mum said 30 secs to front two and 50 secs to chasers, which was a lap out of date so we were closing fast on Lawrence and co and moving away from the bunch. On the last half of the last lap we got Lawrence in sight, I thought it was going to be perfect and I’d sprint past them to the line, sadly as I hit the last corner and left Gareth as he said he wouldn’t be able to take it as quick and would take the 4th I could see the other two just crossing the line, which was a shame, I rolled over for 3rd with Gareth just behind. And then a fair gap back to our brief break companions and then the bunch.

Over 35 mine we had closed a 2-2.30 gap down to around 8 seconds, which was a hell of an effort, not quite enough for the win but a solid ride I feel. I bagged enough points to get to 1st cat and Gareth took another strong placing after beating pedal heavens finest in a handicap midweek for another victory in a great season for him. He’s fast making a name for himself and if he wanted to u don’t doubt could get join me as another KW 1st cat.

A great way to finish the weekend, only to be brought back down to earth by moving two bengals into the new house, not a good experience for the soft flesh or ears!!

A great season so far, accomplished many goals including winning a race, I’ve won 2 road races and a couple of stages along with a few TT’s I make it around 20 months since that first outing as a 4th cat at Hillingdon to today, learnt a hell of a lot and have got a bit fitter too!

Got a few interesting road races lined up and I might try and free up some time for another shot at the club 10/25 record if I get a good day on the right course – position is better, power is higher so if I can get the right day I should be able to get close to the high benchmark Steve has set this year.

As such with the new house I’ve not got Internet just yet so Strava will have to wait for a day or so 😦

Finally this race was upon us! I had been looking forward to this for some time, not least because I’d been in good form, but also as I really enjoyed my forays into multiday racing earlier in the year with the Toachim GP and obviously the Tour Of The Milburys.

This was a 3 stage affair run over the course of a weekend, 50 mile flat road stage, 2.5 mile TT, and then 50 mile hilly road stage. Time bonuses of 30 secs for winners of road stages down to 10 secs for 3rd place. With all this in mind it was set to be a good race. I had a very strong set of guys with me, Damien Breen, Andy Lack, Seamus Kelly (guess where he’s from?) and Gareth Thomas who had been lighting it up so far this season. We did have Nathan also on the start sheet but he took a tumble a couple of weeks prior so sat this one out sadly. I was staying down in Eastbourne along with a couple of others, I’d dragged my partner Lucy along for the fun and games too!

Stage 1

This was pan flat, a nice circuit which was fast and had a slightly uphill sprint. The idea for this one was to cover the breaks, perhaps send a couple of guys up the road early to test the water and if that didn’t work try to set it up for a sprint for me.

We got off to a start down in Lewes after the Mayor gave us a wave off, and the pace was quick when we did hit the circuit, but perfectly manageable given the lack of elevation! Early on we got Andy up the road and he stayed away for a time. All the while I was just sitting in trying to conserve energy. Eventually Andy came back mainly due to the arrow straight Roman Road down one side of the course, would take around 2-3 mins to get out of sight there. A few things tried to go, but nothing of note, a few shouting matches between some of the riders and before we knew it the lap board came out and showed 3 laps to go (I think). It was around this point that Stu Spies of Dynamo and Mike Lancaster of Dynamo chipped off, they went off hard, and started to pull time. It was looking ominous, they got out to a minute which is a fair gap on a circuit like that. Soon this danger was noted by the KW team, and what ensued was a textbook display of a team working as one, everyone took turns to bring this back, Gareth was putting in some big old turns, and slowly we reeled them in, Lewes boys took a turn or two and before we knew it they were almost caught. I moved to do a turn as I felt a bit guilty just sitting in, but Gareth told me to get back and save myself, so I duly obeyed 😉

Into the last lap it was all together, I said to Gareth and Damien that they would be best off saving their legs to try to stretch it out near the end to make it less chaotic. As we stormed down the Roman Road I was jostling for position, and out of the dead turn about 1 mile from the finish Gareth put in a monster dig, so big that he flew off the front with one in tow, I got over and looked back, the bunch was in a straight line, possibly a bit early, but it was good, he kept going, I could feel his pain, and he put in ANOTHER dig to keep it fast, at this point we maybe had 500m to go and I could see the flags in the distance. Soon the bunch had swarmed, and I said to Gareth to move left a bit so I could get through, to this day I have no idea how I got a line, numerous people have said that they planned to get my wheel but thought I’d be boxed in. The pace hotted up and Alex from Dulwich opened it up and got a couple of bike lengths with around 100m to go, I thought I couldn’t let the guys do all that work and not win! I started sprinting (in the hoods like a chopper, but it was uphill 😉 ) and soon gained on him, went past him, and then if the pics are anything to go by won by a bike length or two.

I turned round and thanked all the guys who all did a great amount of work for me to win this stage, Gareth was delighted as I don’t think it was possible to see who had won from behind. So stage 1 down and 30 sec bonus in hand we were looking good. A yellow jersey presentation followed before we went to the pub for ten pints! Not really, just a chat about how we may play the stages going forward – but before all that, an uphill TT needed to be done, the words that strike fear into a man the wrong side of 75kg 😉

Photo here near the finish line from Pauline Unwin of Meudon

Stage One 6th July – Lewes – Laughton – 51 Miles Road Race
1. Rob Sharland Kingston Wheelers 2 2:04:10 (30sec bonus)
2. Alex Ioannides Dulwich Paragon CC 2 ST (20sec bonus)
3. Richard Unwin VC Meudon 2V ST (10sec bonus)
4. James Walsby Catford CC 3 ST
5. Mark McCullagh Dulwich Paragon CC 2V ST
6. James Local London Dynamo 2 ST
7. Michael Williams Dulwich Paragon CC ST
8. Gavin Morton VC Meudon 2 ST
9. Luke Farren Brighton Mitre 2V ST
10. Marc Townsend Neon-Velo 3 ST

Stage 2

After we had eaten and checked in to the hotel I had about an hour to get ready before my start time which was the last of the day thanks to the win earlier on. I’d been told it was 3.2 miles with a flat bit, then a hilly bit, then a flattish drag, so in my mind it was TT bike territory. Little did I know it was not quite that long, or flat, it was around 2.3 miles with a little bit of flat either side of a fairly tasty climb. But knowing I can get the power out in the TT position I wasn’t too put off by this news. Though Gareth was a bit annoyed as he was saving a bit for the mile that never came.

I was hearing that quick times were near 7 mins, and Mike from VC Meudon had done a 7.06 which seemed quick given till I was up our team had not got below 7.30. I set off and it was hard work, still well into the 20’s I was quickly sweating like a dog! I wanted to try to ride to my powermeter for the first couple of mins as I knew what I’d done for 10 mins in the past (around 410w) so had in my mind around 440w or so would probably be about right for the duration. I set off hard and kept it there, staying seated most of the time, I got to the top of the hill and sprinted out of the saddle up the steep left kick and could see the line in the distance, it was quickly clear I wasn’t getting near Mike’s time, but I wouldn’t be a million miles away, I stopped the clock on 7.21 (and managed 450w which was a surprise) which when back at the HQ was good enough for 5th place, so not bad at all, and it didn’t put us in a bad position for the last stage. I was still leading with Mike as my nearest competitor 15 secs back.

Stage Two 6th July – Eastbourne – Beachy Head – 2.5mile Hill Climb TT
1. Mike Lancaster VC Meudon 2 0:07:06
2. Andrew Feather Exeter Wheelers 3 0:07:08 @ 0:00:02
3. James Lowden Lewes Wanderers 2 0:07:15 @ 0:00:09
4. James Local London Dynamo 2 0:07:15 @ 0:00:09
5. Rob Sharland Kingston Wheelers 2 0:07:21 @ 0:00:15
6. Michael Coyle Brighton Mitre 2V 0:07:22 @ 0:00:16
7. Stuart Spies London Dynamo 2 0:07:23 @ 0:00:17
8. Mark Smith Crawley Wheelers 3V 0:07:25 @ 0:00:19
9. James Walsby Catford CC 3 0:07:29 @ 0:00:23
10. Jamie Francis London Dynamo 3J 0:07:31 @ 0:00:25

Stage 3

This was always going to be the decider to be honest, the course wasn’t long at 47 miles, but it was hard. It started down on the sea front which meant we had to go up the hill climb route before we even got onto the circuit. Once on the circuit it was a mix of rolling roads, fast descents and a long long drag into a headwind that was around 1.5 miles long. All this in a featureless landscape atop Beachy Head in 29 deg! Still, I wasn’t moaning (at first) as it was stunning and totally different from the usual courses in Surrey/Kent etc.

We rolled out and it was clear that people were up for this, and as we hit the early slopes of the hill Andrew Feather of Exeter and a chap from Lewes CC battered it off the front and smashed the race to bits, these two boys were flying. I was quick to get into a small group behind them as people began falling out the back straight away. We got onto the circuit and a group of 8 had got away with a few strong men in the mix. Gareth and Damien had made it to this group with me, but sadly Andy and Seamus had not managed to make the bridge, so we were down to 3. Gareth and Damien wasted little time in getting on the front the drag it back, and that is what they did, a fantastic job, the first of many times I’d been amazed at the effort put in for the KW win. With it all back together the guys slipped back to get a rest, I was in the wheels just covering anything that happened ahead of me. With 4 laps left to go a move went, a Dynamo and Crawley rider went, Damien chased down, but quickly found himself in no mans land, so carried on to get over to them. They rode together quite strongly and pulled out a sizeable gap, I wasn’t too concerned with this, it gave us a break and prompted Meudon to chase, which they soon did, and slowly it all came back together. But before we did make the junction James Walsby of Catford who I’ve raced with quite a few times chipped off the front. To be honest, I wasn’t concerned, I knew James was a bit of a nutter and liked to suffer and was of the opinion he would suffer like a dog in the wind and rule himself out. However, he got up to the leading 3 and rode past them. Once we got up to those 3 James was visible up the road, maybe had 20 secs or so. I was still not too worried. I don’t think Damien was too happy with his judgement in hindsight, but I don’t think it had a negative effect.

We rode on and with 2 laps to go James had 30 odd seconds, it was with maybe 1.5 laps to go that Gareth hit the front again, he hit it hard, I was concerned it was a bit early so tried to call him back so we could go hard on the hill, either way the pace hotted up as we followed Gareth. He dug in hard, and once back round to the hill things were getting desperate, we had only a few miles left and James was still up ahead maintaining a decent gap. Gareth hit the front again and I was finding it tough to hold his pace but I wasn’t the only one and his pulls split the bunch, he was spent, told me it was my time, which I knew it was, but I was so hot and legs aching I had very little give over the top of the hill. Or so I thought, two attacks came, first from Lewes I think, I responded, it hurt. Then after the bunch had fractured, Mick Coyle from Brighton came through hard with Keith Lea in two, I knew I had to respond to this or it would be curtains, I dug in again and we got clear with about 7 others, this was the selection made, sadly Gareth was done, and no wonder, he buried himself all day (weekend) and it was down to me.

Gareth doing the business

We got working eventually over the top to try to cut back James lead, conscious that he would be as quick as the bunch down the hill into the finish, I led the group down the hill, got held up by NEG on one corner, but fairly clear otherwise, I HAD to win the sprint to be in with a shot of retaining the lead. The sprint was downhill so a fast one, I could see the line in the distance and nobody was coming through as I sat on the front, I knew I was going to have to lead it out. Enough was enough and with around 200m to go I opened it up and took the win. We then had a two-hour wait to find out who had won, it was going to be close. I personally thought James had it by a few secs despite what others had said.

After a fish and chips I sauntered into the hall to the presentation, lots of prizes were awarded, last rider, points Jersey (which I won), stage winner of hill climb etc, I was just concerned with one thing, the GC. They read it out in reverse order, 3rd Andrew Feather of Exeter who did a great ride, and is also now a 1st cat I think, and then the moment of truth….

I’d not managed it and was 2nd to James by 12 seconds, be interested to know what it was made up of as James told me he had got 30 secs on us which would have meant he would have won by 2 secs, but one of the marshals mentioned a time bonus for being held up or similar. But all in all it was not important, he had done a storming ride, and certainly surprised me and a few others I think (not least himself, he said he got cold he rode so deep!) so richly deserved and couldn’t have gone to a nicer guy.

The guys were a bit down I think, as was I, but so many positives to take from the weekend, we rode like a unit, and almost delivered on a stage that on paper shouldn’t have had me in the mix at all, let alone winning a bunch kick from a select group. I don’t want to be that boring bloke who keeps yapping on about his team, but I can see why Cav does it, it really is special when you get a few guys working for you and when it comes good its amazing, when it doesn’t its deflating, but they couldn’t have done more. And I’ll surely be able to pay Gareth and co back soon enough. Maybe I could give him my free haircut in Lewes that I won for the points Jersey? 😉

1 James Walsby Catford CC 3 7 2:04:50 @ 0:00:00
2 Rob Sharland Kingston Wheelers 2 28 2:05:30 @ 0:00:40
3 Darrell Pembroke VC Meudon 2 51 2:05:30 @ 0:00:40
4 James Lowden Lewes Wanderers 2 30 2:05:30 @ 0:00:40
5 Andrew Feather Exeter Wheelers 3 24 2:05:30 @ 0:00:40
6 Keith Lea Addiscombe CC 2V 1 2:05:30 @ 0:00:40
7 Michael Coyle Brighton Mitre 2V 3 2:05:30 @ 0:00:40
8 Gavin Morton VC Meudon 2 54 2:05:30 @ 0:00:40
9 Alex Ioannides Dulwich Paragon CC 2 22 2:05:30 @ 0:00:40
10 Stuart Spies London Dynamo 2 38 2:05:30 @ 0:00:40

A great weekend nonetheless, 15 points is all I need to get to 1st category which is pleasing with plenty of the season left. Might have a crack at some more fast TT’s now to see if I can trouble Steve’s records again (though the git keeps lowering them).

Rides here –

http://app.strava.com/activities/65389638
http://app.strava.com/activities/65389591
http://app.strava.com/activities/65389621 (data dodgy till 45 min point when I calibrated again)

A weekend of being a tester was the order of the day(s) for the weekend just gone. Saturday was a 10 on the Bentley course (H10/8 for those in the know), and Sunday was my second bite at the cherry at the second event of 3 in the Richmond Park TT series. I hadn’t told anyone but I wanted to win both and do a half decent time on the Bentley course.

Saturday – Bentley

This was hosted by Alton CC, to be honest given I grew up very close by and went to Alton College, until very recently I didn’t know they had a cycling club, so it was a nice surprise to see the name in the Handbook. My only other time on this course was back last summer where I had attempted a 25 on the road bike. I was going well, until around mile 14 and hit a hole by the Hen & Chicken pub and got a flat. So I took a few mins to drive the course just to spot any big holes before I rode it. Sure enough most of the worst of it was very close to where I’d come a cropper last time – mentally noted.

I’d had a skim over the start-sheet and I only recognised a couple of names, Richard Prebble was riding, so I was looking forward to bench-marking myself against him as he’d beaten me earlier in the year in the Redhill 18. It was a great day of weather, apparently not the fastest day having spoken to people after, but it felt OK to me. Got off to a start and made sure to put a bit more effort in on the outward leg as there was a vague headwind, felt like I was going quite well, got to the turn in good time knowing that the return was quite quick and that there would be an element of tailwind. What was proving tough was how warm I was getting, and also holding the latest position on the bike was making my shoulders and neck ache a bit, but I knew how much narrower I was if I could hold my shoulders together etc, so just put up with it.

Got past the Hen and Chicken on the way back and was feeling OK, speed was looking good, it was about this point where I realised a 19 wasn’t on the cards but a lower 20 was, so I motored on, the last couple of miles are very quick, and I felt like an extra gear would have been nice at times, may look at getting 55/42 but not sure how practical that would be on the road given I use the same powermeter chainset!

Anyway, a final effort for the line and I stopped the garmin at 20.22, felt like I’d had a good ride, legs certainly felt spent (though made worse by saddle being a bit too low). Rolled back up to the HQ and saw Richard outside, he’d done a 20.45, I think, I wandered in and sure enough Richard was quickest to that point, with Phil Ember of KW in 3rd. So a nice way to start the weekend. Thanks to Alton CC for promoting.

http://app.strava.com/activities/63575483

Sunday – Richmond Park TT

This was a last minute effort to rectify my awful ride at the first event, where I took a little tumble on one of the roundabouts, which probably cost me a podium. So I was keen to at least get a clean ride on the course to see if I could at least get up there again.

Having scanned the startlist, the competition was not quite as strong as last time as no Martin, and no Steve. However there was Rob Moore who rides for Phoenix, I’ve raced in a few races that Rob has and its clear he has a huge engine, I remember him towing our group back on at my first race at Palace. So being the geek I am I knew Rob was capable of some serious power, so had it in my head that he was the competition for the top step. I was off last and he was off 30 secs ahead of me.

On the day my legs felt ok, but for some reason I could feel the 10 from the previous day in them, and the beer/German sausage overload of the night before surely wasn’t the ideal prep, but I’d rather have done that than a Nat b road race the day before as Rob had… Got myself up there had a quick chat with Gareth who had stormed to victory in the road cat in 25.05, which is nearly 40 secs quicker than my winning time last year and a minute quicker than Aaron’s winning time a couple of weeks back. Rapid.

I trundled down to the start, man of the moment Mike Debney was pusher off, it was sure to be a good battle as Martin said as Rob went off down the road. I got going and settled into a rhythm, I was keen to change a couple of aspects of my ride today, firstly stay on the bike, and secondly ride the hills a bit smarter. So when I got to the first steep ramp I employed Steve’s tactic of smashing up it out of the saddle, not the most elegant, but I was sure it was the quickest way – (as you can see Jason captured the moment perfectly – check out some of his other shots, some good stuff on there).

As I approached the turn at Kingston Gate which is about half way I could see a Phoenix Rider coming the other way, and my first thought was ‘shit’ as I thought it was Rob and if it was he’d taken 30 secs out of me already, it was only when I got very close to the turn that I did see Rob, and I thought I’d maybe gained a few seconds on him, so was feeling positive. Back up the long drag to Richmond and I couldn’t really see him, I took that turn super easy as to not have a repeat of last week and then took the hill at speed. There was a nice wind pushing down there and 40 mph felt easy at times, so I was careful not to push on too much as it would be wasted effort. Into the final turn I caught a glimpse ahead of Rob and really put the hammer down for those last 4 mins (410w apparently) and killed myself up the hill to the finish. I stopped the clock a bit short of Steve’s winning time of 23.31 and was given 23.44 – still a bit of work to do in that respect.

Got back up to the results board and sure enough I’d managed to sneak it from Rob by 11 secs, 3rd was over a minute back with 24.50 I think – kudos to Martin on the seeding as last 3 off got 1,2,3.

So a pleasing ride, and another voucher for Sigma. Went straight home to bed! And then dragged myself out for another couple of hours later in the evening.

http://app.strava.com/activities/63738693

http://www.flickr.com/people/jason-gardiner/