Corri Dorri SL 2/3 Road Race

After a week of not a lot of riding, and a lot of work enforced drinking I wasn't looking forward to this one too much. And was glad of the course it was being run on, as its pretty easy going as far as they go, I did it back in May and although a fast pace, I found it fine.

After a fairly late night due to my car deciding to spit out its wheel bearings on the A3 and nearly pull me into the central reservation, I had to muck about with recovery vans and ended up getting home pretty late, eating a curry, deciding at 12.30 that my gears needed re-indexing (sure the neighbours were well pleased with that). I wasn't 'that' fresh when I was waiting outside the front door at 07.30 for a club mate to kindly give me a lift down to Henfold.

We got down plenty early enoug, and did a little warm up, I felt OK as it happens, and the weather was (and as I type still is) fantastic, finally. So was feeling pretty good about the race. And was hoping I could do something. I knew there were a couple of very strong guys in the race, Elliot Porter who's team were the race hosts, he was pre-entered but is now a 1st cat rider, and is obviously very strong, also Will Pratt who will follow a similar route soon no doubt was another face to watch (go off onto the horizon more than likely)! after his solo destruction of the field two weeks ago.

So we got going, and I could tell it would be one of those days when someone locked up in the neutral section and nearly caused a pile up!! We got going, the pace was quite high, but given the course is quite flat its not hard to whizz along at 28 mph. To be honest I can't remember what came first, the first break, or the first crash...So I'll talk about the latter first.. I had just moved to the front and Colin saw that as his chance to go for one, he did so and created a split, about 8 riders in total got into a move and as I didn't chase it down (obviously) or up the pace, they got a gap quite quickly. I think all the major teams had a rider in the mix, so it was a decent proposition for Colin to be part of. The first crash I think was just down to poor spacial awareness, and a few people went down, one chap ended up in a ditch I think. Everyone seemed OK...But these constant crashes really do make you wonder what you're doing...well, firstly what you're doing not sitting in the top 10, and secondly, how annoyed I would be if I smashed my bike/face to bits. The latter is just part of the risk but the former really needs to be beaten into me I think. It isn't difficult to sit at the front, I don't find the pace hard to stick, so really still not sure why I can't get into my head that its the place I must be. Will be writing lines on a blackboard "You must stay in the first 15 riders to stand any chance" maybe repetition will get it into my brain!


Anyway, we carried on, and break had about 30 seconds or so, they seemed to be working quite well. Andy and Seamus tried to bridge across, Seamus put in a big dig and they were doing well, but with the bunch flying along it was always going to be a big ask, and sure enough they were reeled back in.

A short time later we were stopped, and told to pull into a car park, not had a race before so was interested to see what the craic was. I had a lurking suspicion that it may be something to do with the police that seemed to be spending their entire morning, and half of Surrey's Force (oh OK, we counted 4 vehicles of various types) following us, and essentially trying to catch us doing something wrong. Now this is obviously fine, they may have responded to reports of poor riding, or whatever, its their job to keep the peace and all that. My first issue with this is the main officer who seemed to be the most irritated by the whole thing drove his Land rover (Well it is Surrey dontchaknow) down a pretty narrow lane, at over 40 mph, obviously some riders were edging over the white line, as it is most weeks due to the size of the field and size of the roads, but I thought driving at what I consider a high speed in a vehicle of that size/width on that kind of road (and he was almost on the white line himself, seemingly taunting the bunch in my mind) was fairly risky, and not really acceptable behavior from a police officer.

Anyway, warning heeded, we set off again under the promise that if our riding didn't improve then we would be stopped and sent home. About a half a lap passed and Elliot seemed to lose control, maybe a puncture, not sure, and a fairly large pile up ensued, he went down hard, so hope he's alright, saw he was up and about being tended to, so hopefully just flesh wounds. Anyway, we carried on, and the pace went up a bit, and the bunch seemed to be strung out for a lap or so, we kept being ushered around the crash point where the ambulance stayed present for a fair time (so not sure if someone else had more serious injury?)

And then we approached that familiar pub and were pulled in again, this time it was obviously the beginning of the end, 36 miles into the race it was, we stood around for a bit while our friendly officer chatted to the race officials, the decision came about ten minutes later. The race was to be called off as we were too dangerous. Great. What a way to spend a morning. People were generally a bit pissed off, and it was agreed that it was incredibly rare, and that the officer in question had little idea of the cycling scene at all.

A few of us decided to do a couple of laps of the course to make the morning slightly more worthwhile before we headed home to watch Cav smash it up again. So not all bad!

Till then the race felt easy as the stats proved :

avg speed 25 mph (last time on this course it was over 26)
avg wattage 210 or so

This article has since been published - http://ukcyclesport.com/all-news/82-latest-news/6326-surrey-league-rr-stopped-by-police - seems to be a case of one man on a mission.

On to the next one then, the goal now still to win one of these races, I think its still possible, but I'm running out of chances to do so. Going to try and get in some E12 crits and more handicaps in where I can. The next race is two weeks time on Bletchingley circuit, the one I got spat out on earlier in the year. It will be a real test to see if I've improved enough to get round. Personally I think I will get round, but it will still be tough!

Brighton Mitre 2/3 Surrey League 70 miles

firstly, let me apologies for any grammatical errors or typos. I do write these ASAP so I can try and get stuff accurate, but as my partner was only to happy to point out (finally putting that English Lit degree to good use) it's a far cry from Wordsworth, and does have a few errors here and there!

At last a sun appeared on the ever pessimistic iPhone weather app, and as luck would have it, it was for Sunday! I was still skeptical as when I first saw the prospect of riding in the dry, it was Wednesday...! However, true to its word, today was much more pleasant than most of the last 3 weeks. Dry, sunny at times, and plenty warm enough. No Complaints from me!

Week leading up to has been fairly normal really, just commuting due to the weather, made arrangements at work to allow me to ride the club 10 on Wednesday. After all the effort of making it happen, I got down there and the heavens opened, hail the size of gravel, rain like I've not seen it, and thunder. Not TT weather IMO (plus I'd just cleaned my bike :P)

After last weeks race I was feeling quite confident, I knew last week was a hard race in terms of the course, not to mention the weather. So having asked around the club, I was told that the circuit for today was fairly easy, flat pretty much. With the obligatory SL uphill drag then flat to the line. Not got a problem with these, but there are some issues, which I'll come onto. There were 3 other wheelers riding today, Seamus, and Steve, who were present last week, and Colin too. So although we were heavily outnumbered by Dulwich who had around 10 I think, I was pleased to have some support.

We were told that the course was fine, no holes etc, just a couple of large puddles which had not quite dried out from the weeks rain. No issues however, I was still enjoying riding without getting mud fired into my face by the wheel in front! We rolled off and the pace was quite high, but it wasn't hard to maintain, the course was pretty flat, and with the exception of the finish, and a couple of tiny rollers there wasn't much to speak of. Quite a few left turns, most were fine, a couple were quite tight however.

We were rolling along then, and nothing much was happening, people were attacking every now and again, pace was up and down. The first main event came I think on the 2nd lap, I was behind a rider, we were approaching the huge puddle and a car was coming the other way (a common theme today, part of the pitfall of racing at midday) everyone bunched in, this chap panicked I think, pulled his brakes, and his wheel locked up, he went down right in front of me, I narrowly missed it by going through the deep puddle. It was an eye opener as the roads today were very narrow and you rarely could see much more than 200m down the road, yet people were still firing up the outside like we had closed roads! Mad.

I tried to get into a break on the 3rd or 4th lap, I motored hard to make the bridge on my own, and as soon as I got there everyone sat up. Seems to be a bit of a theme with the breaks I try to join. A couple more breaks were going and coming back, Seamus was in probably the best one of the day, they stayed away for a lap maybe, but it all came back together. Into the last lap I was feeling fine, if not a little thirsty, I was on the front for a lot of it, at a medium pace, I was waiting for a group to come by, and they eventually did, I was planning to get into position for the last hill quite a way before we were approaching as I knew it would be bloody tough to get up if I wasn't in the first 10 riders. However quickly I found myself swamped by all the seemingly fresh riders that had been sat in all day, I was panicking a bit, I was probably 30 riders back, I managed to get my way towards the front, but still come the bottom of the final climb I was probably just in the top 20. As we turn up the pace, I put some power in and start moving up, then the first of 3 moves that mean I have to perform massive evasive actions to not go down, this did happen 2 or three times, and meant that I had to stop, then get back on the power, and repeat that, it was hard work. I think there was one Dynamo off the front who was the bait for the bunch, I heard someone go down behind me (later saw him lying in the road, poor bloke, had a proper wound on his arm, think he was OK though) and I tried to keep it together and go forward, but it was just so tight, so many people, so many risks were being taken. The issue with these finishes I think are that riders go full gas and look good, but die half way up, they then become yet another obstacle to go round, so I was in and out of these blown riders making my way over the top. It flattens out and I am probably at this point lying back at 15th or something, but I remember its a fairly long drag to the line, so I hammer it, I'm passing plenty of people, but the next bunch have just got too far clear. I think I might have grabbed a top 10 just, although wouldn't be surprised if its another 11th!

So things today that I've learned, POSITIONING!!! there's just not enough room on some of these courses to make your move any later than half way through the last lap I think, so I must get this sorted, as looking at my power numbers I was going very well up the hill and over the top, so must make it count.

Other than that, pleased that I'm still in the mix, nothing was too hard today, nobody was too strong that I couldn't pull back, or hold wheel, it does bode well, and with around 8 of these races left, I think I can get some proper results.

Race numbers then :

Distance 70 miles
Avg Speed 25.2 mph
Avg/NP power/Max - 241 watts / 282 watts / 1369 watts

Vo2 Surrey League RR 2/3

Where to begin...Well, being British maybe the weather is a good starting point, amazingly, despite racing through the winter, today was the first race I've done in the wet, and what an intro it was to wet weather cycling...

I've been riding quite a lot of late, trying to improve up the hills, which is tough work, but I've been getting better over the last month. I was feeling pretty good, then went on Holiday for a week and did nothing, came back and my legs felt very weird after the first ride! Like they'd never done any work before. That first ride was a week ago today, so I thought the best thing to do would be to ride myself back into some kind of form. Which resulted in me doing a fair few miles in the passed week, and despite them feeling like they'd been attacked with a lump hammer on Thursday evening, a day off on Friday and a gentle day yesterday saw me in pretty good shape this morning, I felt good. And yesterday's spin was good too (shame I couldn't quite do the same 20 second effort at today's finish that I managed fresh in the Park yesterday, but there we are) I've recently got a powermeter, so I can see what I've been doing, see where the effort is, and I suppose most importantly, see where I can improve things.

As with most things cycling, its the weight that is the issue as opposed to the power in my case, still, today would be a good test of that as the circuit is a tough one. I'd asked a few wheelers who had ridden it in the past what they thought about it, the general opinion was that it was hard, and not that different in difficulty to Bletchingley, which if you've read back is where I got dropped like a stone 20 miles in a few months ago. And actually one chap (who went on to be the clubs most successful rider of late by making 1st cat) said it was the hardest course in the Surrey League. Great!

So as I said, we all know the weather has been total rubbish for about 2 months now (thankfully I got my fill of sun on Holiday, but still!), and predictably today looked no different on the forecast. I woke up and it was raining, I drove to the race, and it was raining, and you can tell where this is going, it was an on-going theme. I arrived nice and early to sign on and find somewhere to park etc. I caught up with Francis, who rides for Vo2, and thankfully for the rest of us made 1st cat the other week, so he was just marshaling. He told me to watch number 78, and that was about it (William Pratt of Dulwich - in hindsight it was a good call from Francis, not that I could do anything about it...).

So we set off in the pissing rain, there were 3 other wheelers, Stephen who's recently done the RAS and found his wings (also won a Surrey League race about 8 weeks ago), Andy Lack, who soloed his way to amateur stardom a couple of weeks back in an SERRL race, and Seamus who is or resident Irish hard man, rides with an average cadence of 6, and doesn't seem to show any effort whatsoever, also rides what can only be described as the most lairy bike I've seen, flames and all! So I was in god company, if not slightly lacking in numbers compared to Dulwich who had a good 6+ riders including the above who has had very good results of late.

We roll down to the start of the race and the roads are sodden, its not pleasant, but being July its not really that cold, so I don't mind too much, but the crap from the road in your face made it quite hard to see. We got going and I felt ok, first time up the climb was fine too, but I could tell that doing it 5 times would takes its toll (maybe it was 4? either way). There were a couple of rampy parts that could easily generate a split, and there were also points for people to get back on with fast downhills.

Nothing much happened for the first lap or two, a few people tried to get off the front, but nothing stuck, I was watching the Dulwich rider, and he indeed was right near the front, so it was clear that he wanted to do something this race. On lap two I think, he went, and went on his own, which was strange really, as it was not so blistering that people couldn't have bridged, but I don't think anyone wanted it. Probably thought he'd get brought back (you can guess where this is going)... So we cracked on and at times the rain was torrential, worse than being in the car on a waterlogged m25. A crash happened almost straight away, I THINK his wheel came out, or maybe he hit some traffic calming measures and it was forced out, either way, it made me think about how dangerous it could be today. About half way through and I'm still feeling decent despite being soaked, another crash had just happened in front of me and I managed to dodge his falling bike to make it round, each time this happened we got distanced and had to chase back to re-gain position, not ideal. Still, things are going OK, I'm able to keep the pace up the hills, and as usual am able to cruise downhill faster than nearly anyone else which is nice when you need to get a decent position back.

Then probably 2/3'rds of the way through Andy Lack has a dig, and he gets a gap, I think he might be able to do something, so try and get to the front to slow things down, but people swarm, and before too long he's back with us again (I'm probably not doing Andy's break full justice here, I have a hazy memory of most of the race). The pace is going up, we enter the last 12 mile lap of the circuit, by now William Pratt has about 3 mins on the bunch and is clearly going to win in a fantastic solo effort on a hard course in shit weather, he is clearly a very strong rider, not long for cat 2 I doubt. Then Seamus has a go off the front, this was a fairly short lived move as the bunch were just going too quick now really, so with Seamus back in the bunch, we approached the downhill section before the climbs, I was feeling quite good, so went for it, got a gap, not a huge one, but I was away from the bunch, kept drilling on, but the hills soon came, and my lungs were not having it (couldn't get my heartrate up at all today, even at the end I was 3 bpm down on max)  and slowly but surely they reeled me in after maybe 5 mins of being on my own (5 minutes haha, sounds utterly pitiful when you think of the rides some people do on their own to victory etc) and I settled back in to the front of the bunch. With the hills out of the way there is a good 3 or so miles of fast section which is downhill and has a couple of rollers before the final kick up to the finish, Seamus is on the front drilling it along, and I'm 3rd wheel, I eventually go through after trying to get a drink for about 30 secs and sit on the front to keep the pace decent as we head into the last 1.5km... Now given this finish probably suits me quite well, you'd be well within your rights to ask me WTF I was dong on the front a mile from the end, to be honest, I don't know either, it just felt right , even thought it clearly wasn't...

We approach the final ramp and I'm still on the front, as we make our way up, we catch a rider, maybe a dropped rider, not sure (we learn that there are two more up the road now, I must admit I never saw them go), so I prepare for the inevitable as the whole bunch fresh from sitting in wheels like I should have been comes round me to leave me in 30th position. They come, and I let about 4 riders or so come through then put a dig in to make the wheel (I'm suffering by this point) and I keep the wheel, putting in a big effort, breathing like a mad man, I am gaining on some people, but there are others also approaching, we cross the line which is much closer than I thought it was, and I think I may have scraped a 10th if I'm lucky (so 7th or so within the bunch), Stephen I think pipped me at the last minute, but other than that it was just a mass of bodies!

Given my positioning the whole day and that it in hindsight despite all the negatives, weather etc etc, it did actually suit me at the finish , if I could get there, so a bit of a shame to not place a bit higher, but that's what will happen when you do a turn and then try to win too, its very difficult to do that, and I must learn from it.

On the other hand, this course was very similar to Bletchingley, the pace was quite high, and not only did I not get dropped, I managed to be amongst the top few for most of the race, so the improvement is coming, just need to work on a few things and try to drop another couple of kg and I might be able to do something at this level if the stars align. Pleasing progress for the season, its been quite a rollercoster from 45 min crits to 3 hour slogs in the rain, but I am enjoying it and despite having to be a bit more conscious of binge eating/drinking its certainly great fun!

Race stats then :

Distance - 66 miles
Avg Speed - 23.5 mph
Average power - 221 Watts
Normalised power 280 Watts
Max Power - 1130
Max HR - 193

Races thick and fast all the way through till September/October time now, next week down in Kirdford for Brighton Mitre's race!

Richmond Park TT

So, not really a race as such, as the essence of time trialing of course is to race against only the clock (and indeed yourself if yo have previous times).

Richmond Park needs no introduction, most cyclists anywhere near the SE have ridden it, and for those outside the SE they will have been bored to tears with the endless threads on it on various forums, so will know it just as well!

I never really thought of doing anything like this until fairly recently, I was always under the impression that my best asset in cycling was my short burst power, which to an extent is true, but I'd done some decent solo efforts of varying distance over the past few weeks, so the idea to do something like this took shape. Most recently I managed to get into the park and do 3 fast UN-hindered laps, this gave me a bit of a shot in the arm, I knew I'd not be too far away from some of the faster times out there, but I managed to pace it well and come away with a pretty decent time of 49.17, for the distance which is 20.1 miles. Obviously this is not official, and means nothing more than a indicator of where you are at.

Anyway, at some point I'd entered the first of these TT's as they fill up pretty fast. The way they work is that there are category's for road bikes and TT, a road bike must not have deep wheels, tri bars, and the rider must wear a normal helmet. The course is a sporting course (not pan flat) and is 10.4 miles long, with one 180 deg turn on a small roundabout. The category I was going to go with was road, which meant taking off my Zipps and making sure it was all legal. There were 45 names on the start-sheet for the road categorie, and I only knew a few, which were all from KW so I knew who I would be close to time wise, and who would likely beat me based on me riding with him.

Being a first timer, and having never done a TT before, I was un-seeded and therefore set off first, this meant that my star-time was 6.07am. Lucky I live close then! On the morning it was a bit cold but wasn't anywhere near as windy as the day before which would have made it hard work. I had an idea on pacing, and had put down some time splits from Jim Ley's 2nd place time of 26.01 a couple of years ago. I knew that if I could be near those, then I'd do a decent time (even though the conditions could have been totally different, Jim says they were similar as it happens).

I set off 15th I think, I quickly got up to speed and settled into the drops to get as low as possible, I was going well along the straight flat section from Robin Hood to Roehampton, and caught my next man just after the first roundabout (the first of 5/6 as it happens). By the time I got to the top of the only notable hill (Sawyers Hill for those that know it) I was ahead of Jim's split, so was going ok. Down the long shallow downhill towards Kingston I tried to keep it as quick as possible, and passed a couple more riders down this stretch before the 180 turn, which due to it being a tiny roundabout was going to sap the speed in a big way - 28 mph - 12mph. Back up to speed for the long drag back to Richmond Gate, I think at this point there was a tailwind of small proportion, by the time I'd got back up to Richmond Gate I was still about 10-15 secs ahead of Jim's split. Back down Sawyers I knew this is where I could get some speed up, and I made sure to stay above 30 most of the way back down to Roehampton Gate. Now was the headwind it seemed, it felt a bit like hard work to be honest. I grinded my way down to the final little ramp up to the finish and at this point was about 20 secs in front of the splits, put in a big effort up the hill but felt like I was going nowhere, and crossed the line, glanced down and saw 25.39, which got turned into 25.43 as I started the garmin a bit late, I then collapsed on a bench for a few mins :)

Given I went out so early, it was a long wait for others to slowly come through, a lot of 27's, a few 26's when we got to the sharp end of the field, Alex came into the carpark (who was the one person I thought I'd not be able to beat) and had given it a big effort, we waited for a while, he said he'd done around 26, eventually it came in and he'd done 25.53 so just 10 secs behind. We then got ready to get on the podium and bugger off back to bed, however it was then that news got back one of the fast TT guys (Xavier Disley) had switched to the road category, such was his reptation that to organizer had actually penned his name into 1st place before he had even finished (cheers for the confidence boost!). He came in, and also had given it a big effort, we waited for a few mins, turns out he did a 26.11 (I think?) which put him into 3rd spot.

A good day had by KW with 4 people accross the categories on the podium! Couple of snaps below, wish I could hold the flat back position for a few hours, but for 25 mins it was fine and felt very aero.

Alex, Xav and I on the podium -

Hillingdon 2/3/4

After a decent couple of weeks on the bike, there seemed to be a lack of races locally, so thought I'd go with the tried and trusted up at Hillingdon, which meant I could have many many beers at a BBQ that Sat night!

It has obviously been pretty hit and miss weather wise of late, and after having been blown to a stop on Millbank a few times I was really hoping it would subside somewhat. Woke up the Saturday and had a look out the window, thought to myself 'that tree isn't normally horizontal', balls, it was still stupidly windy.

Anyway, I spent the morning messing about with tyres as I didn't want to risk deep rims due to the wind, and possible poor riding, so put my shallow rims on, and then had a bout of OCD and cleaned every inch of them and the cassette with baby wipes...3 hours later I was ready to roll. The headwind was a joke, and getting to the track was hard enough! Came across Francis Cade at the lights, so I knew at least who would be a good rider to follow as he's been smashing it into the rest of the 2nds/3rds in the Surrey League, and is as good a crit racer as he is road, so that was one task made easier. The vo2 lads had a couple riding, there was one other wheeler - Track Beast John Coolahan who is an accomplished trackie and then the usual mix of people.

The race got underway and I saw Francis go straight from the gun (that was the last the bunch saw of him), I was planning to actually be a bit aggressive in this race instead of the bore fest that is sitting in waiting for a sprint as I was during the winter series, so about 2 laps in I put in a big effort and got clear, and a few others came with and before we knew it we were away from the bunch and it was all going well. There was probably about 5 of us, and I was happy to do turns, but did notice that each time we went up the home straight it was getting slower. I was really struggling to keep the pace when a Colbornes rider (Chris Spence) came through, he was a lot stronger than the rest of us by the looks of it and really made it hard work, but he was right to make it hard as we needed to stay away!

I think we were away for about 10-15 laps or so before we got caught, mainly down to fatigue I think, the wind was really taking it out of our small group on the bottom straight. John said that Francis had 4 others with him, and that it was touch and go, as the gap had not really come down on them, and we never really gained on them as a chasing bunch.

Had about 3 laps sitting in, and realized my fitness has come a long way, sitting in was EASY, but I needed a breather after the effort. So was mid pack recovering and another group went, John was in it this time, so I tried to move to the front to chase down any would be breaks, and felt I did a good job of this, it was like interval training!

Anyway, they did work well together, and I think they had 6 or so in total, and it was clear with 5 laps to go (from the 35 we did in total) we would not catch them, I was happy to just roll in, but then thought that I hadn't had a flat sprint for ages, and also mistakenly thought the points went to 15th place (they didn't, 10th was the last points placing) so I kept in position and drove hard on the last lap to stay in the right place, probably in the top ten coming round the last corner. I got boxed a tiny bit on the corner by someone who was going a bit slow after what was probably a big turn so after going round him, I found myself in a good position with nobody really in front but about 5 ahead of me on the left - they were taking the wind and my line was ok - a chap opened up and went quite hard, right from the early part of the straight, I went too (too early) and was about equal to him for what felt like ages, we quickly moved ahead of the rest, and I realized there was still another 50 meters to go, so got back in the saddle stuck it down to the 11 and tucked right over the bars in what must have looked like a descending position and just went and the extra gear and aero advantage of getting my frame out of the wind meant I went clear of this chap and won the bunch gallop by a bike probably.

Francis and co stayed away and he took 2nd, mega ride from him and the others in that group. John got 8th, and he said it was as hard as anything he's ever done on the track.Which I tended to agree with when I threw up in my mouth (banana soreen just before a race is a no no)!

So was a good workout, got to work on my fitness as there were times when I couldn't do my turn to the full speed it needed to be (could have done with the deep rims after all! 20 watts would have helped!), can easily stick the pace with some decent 2nds in the mix, and probably can score points at this level if I can stay in a break or it comes to a sprint as although I've not really worked on the sprint it still seems to be decent enough.

Want to get back to Hillingdon this Tuesday then again next Saturday in the absence of any local road races, good training too, then a weeks sunning in Turkey followed by a packed July full of 2/3 road races!

Race was 34mi, avg 25.5 mph (felt faster, but the wind killed it a bit)

London Phoenix 2/3 RR Surrey League

Well, this week has been great for obvious reasons! Sun!

Sadly though with sun come beer, and I drank every day last week in one shape or form, which isn't ideal, but meh, I've thought long and hard, and I've decided I'm just not up to going pro despite the many contracts landing on my doormat ;) So a beer here and there won't hurt.

Had a couple of weeks off racing, mainly as there hasn't been much about, I didn't fancy paying £50 to enter the divs, and there were not any crits on so the last two weekends I've been training with the fast guys from the club. 2 100 mile rides both very quick pace and some good hills too. So I don't feel like I've been neglecting my training. This week I also made sure I got in some decent riding and did a few hill repeats for the first time (although only little ones) and a few hard efforts in the park on the way back from work, given its so nice out there, seems a shame not to try and beat a few of the Richmond Park pro's up one of the hills!

It was obvious today was going to be tough, the heat being the main factor, and also that the only time I'd ridden at 2nd cat level before (despite being one now) was at Bletchingly, which despite all the other guys claims of it being the hardest course around, didn't ease my mind, as I got dropped like a stone in that race, as I posted back then, so the pace worried me slightly.

A good KW turn out as per, with around 6 of us today, including a recent convert to road racing (Pete M) who has shown massive promise, in weighing next to nothing yet having the power of a good 75kg+ rider. Lucky bugger :D

I got there nice and early, and signed on, and we trundled over to the start line, which was down over the a24, down the finishing hill (which you only do once on the last lap, not a massive fan of that) and then onto the Henfold Hill course. I'd been told that the course was fairly rolling and only had one notable rise. Which was a fair call, but there were two rises and both were as small and almost a non entity. The thing that made them an entity (more the first one as it did ramp up a bit for a few meters) was that my chain was skipping in the small ring, so maybe the mech isn't aligned or the tension isn't being taken out of the chain... Anyway, long and short of it was that I had to use the big ring for the whole ride.

A lap in and I feel quite comfortable, and I'm keeping up and not feeling to bad, only slight niggle is the big ring thing and also whether I'll have enough drink to last me as it was properly warm. I think on the second lap a group of a couple got away. Not sure who, but there were some very strong riders there today, so I think it was a small group of these maybe 5 or so that made the first dig, and got away. Then possibly a lap or so later, another split happened. Now at first they were so close that I was confident I would bridge over solo if needs be, but someone told me Andy Edwards was in the bunch, so we let them build up a lead. Fast forward a few mins, Andy is back in the main bunch and says he hasn't the legs today to stick with them, which is fair enough as there were some super strong riders out there. So this got me thinking about bridging over, I made one attempt which was quickly chased down by the bunch, and then a lap or so later Pete had just started to go and they let him, I stormed up the outside and told him to grab my wheel, I thought with 20 or so up the road they would let us get away, but no, they didn't, we got a gap and then I could see them sprinting to chase us down. Which is a shame as I think at that point we would have got over.

The concencus was that we could catch them and a few of us started doing turns to help bring it back, but the heat and the wind which was there, although not anywhere near as strong as yesterday made it bloodty hard work. The time gaps were increasing each time we went by the lap board, so what was once 30 secs was I think a minute by the end of things.

So last laps rolls by, I still feel pretty decent, so do a bit on the front, make sure I'm in a decent position just so I can maybe have another solo dig later on, we roll round to near the finish, and obviously the finish being off the circuit I got a bit caught out. I went hard up the outside and went by the bunch, to the front, only to see another 400 m of hill till the line. At this point I just carried it on to the line, probably in the top 15 of that bunch, not that it matters as the winners etc had already come through well before with I think a super fast Node 4 TT man winning, and second claim KW Francis Cade of vo2 taking second to get well on his way to 1st cat!! Someone also managed to crash at the finish line and it looked pretty horrible, face to the floor etc..

So in all I'm happy with it as I managed to stick the pace, which despite my initial thoughts of it being similar to a 3rds race, it wasn't it was quite a bit quicker with over 26mph avg speed for the whole race. I felt I had the legs to do more, but it didn't work out today. So it all looks good for the next few 2/3's pace wise.

I'm racing again next weekend, but given the finish is the top of Leith Hill, and I'm 13 stone, its fair to say I will be bloody lucky or have to be in a break to get anywhere near the top. But its all good training eh?

Race stats then, 54 mi, 26.1 mph, top speed 45 mph

Farnborough & Camberley RR 3rd cat

Initially I was really looking forward to this as it seemed the course would be OK for me (still not a flat finish (are any of the SL races?) but not too bad and plenty of fast downhills. However it quickly became something I was dreading due to an odd series of events. A work five a side tournament had been put in on the Friday, and for various reasons, it wasn't something I could duck out of. Added to that given we got to the semi's and lost to a dominant Sony Music team we went out to celebrate...I didn't sleep that night and was at Dalston Junction at 5.45 am waiting for a train home. Needless to say I was buggered yesterday. To top it off my partner was having a girls dinner party so I had to leave the house and wasn't allowed back till they'd gone...Bed at 2am then.

So woke up this morning, and I must say, I've felt better, legs battered from 6 games of football, and tired as hell. Still it was a lovely day, what did I have to lose?

We lined up, and there was a good contingent from KW there today, 6 of us I think. And each of those 6 had the legs to win it I would say. We got going and I felt it straight away, we got onto the long drag which the finish line is in the middle of and my HR was through the roof, so much so that I got gapped the first time up it and spent a lot of the first lap right near the back. Second time round it was slightly better, and I could tell my body was just waking up, this time Damien went off the front on the climb with a couple of other guys to form the first and only break of the race.

A few laps passed and I was starting to feel a bit better, my back was aching a touch by 30-40 miles, must get that sorted. In the second to last lap, we went round the worst corner on the course, a pothole ridden gravel covered corner, I stupidly didn't knock it into the small ring quick enough, and the result of my faffing with the shifters was that I dropped my chain right at the beginning of a climb that went into the fast downhill section. Brilliant. I thought I'd snapped it to be honest, anyway, I got the chain on, took me a bit more time than I'd have liked though, 35 secs according to my race file!!! I chased hard, a motorbike waited for me, I was hoping he was going to let me draft, but he didn't, he stayed about 20 ft in front of me the whole time. Luckily it was the fast down section that was coming, and I'd sen the whole race that I go downhill quicker than nearly anyone, without really trying (combo of the bike, my weight, and what not) so I managed to catch back on to the group quite fast. I went straight up the outside of the bunch and got back into the top 15 riders.

Bell lap came and the break which was still only a couple of riders as I don't think anyone bridged were within sight at times, but they did a great job of eeeking out every last bit of effort and we didn't catch them till the very end as it happens! We came down the first fast sections, through the horrid corner. The pace was higher, but I was comfortable, if not a little bit achey. We came onto another corner which was a bit dicey, I was on the left about 10 back. All of a sudden I see the group move over, and then the clatter of bikes as a few blokes go down (more on this later)...

I was in a great position coming down the last of the hills into the wet little flooded lane (wish I had bought my glasses!!) however the corner there was also a bit tough to take, and someone cut me up and I lost my top 10 position, and got shoved back into the upper teens probably. We drove hard through the little lane, and approached the final climb, I actually now felt ok, and was ready. I hit the slope in probably 10th wheel or so, followed a Dynamo who'd been going well, so I was happy with my position. As I drove on and the pace went up, lots of people went backwards, at this point I think the eventual top 3 made their move, I wanted to go with it, but sadly said Dynamo wasn't quite as quick up the slope as I wanted to be, so after I'd gone round him and coming to the crest I was5th or 6th and I kept digging, onto the short flat before the line and I shifted down the block and got back on the pace, I was nowhere near the front lot now, but had a few bikes over the people behind from the looks of it. So I came in either 5th or 6th depending who you ask, I'll know later. Robin came 3rd, and Stephen won it! Funny as he had said "stick in there Rob, this finish will suit you well" he was right, but I couldn't get there today.

That crash sadly bought down a clubmate (Ed) and his bike was fucked, its hard to think of a better way to describe it. The top tube was mangled and snapped totally in two places (s works SL3 frame), he later came by and his arm and shoulder were not in great shape. But for a law type, he's pretty tough (cake is for pussies apparently) so he shrugged the cuts off, but was probably a little upset about his bike :(

So in summary, I was in hindsight happy with the result despite conditions of my body, and a rather hilly course (for a fat knacker like me), avg speed was 22.5 mph, and top speed of 47 mph or so. I'm also now officially a Category 2 racer! Which was pleasing. So onwards, now to get my head kicked in my people with a lot more talent than me :)