EELMORE 25TH APRIL

The first round of the Pedal Heaven Eelmore series took place in atrocious, wet and
windy weather, on Wednesday 25th April. Not surprisingly therefore, the turn-out was
a little smaller than usual. However, a reasonable field of about 30 riders, including 3
from CCB assembled for the 3rd and 4th Cat race.

Our CCB riders were the evergreen Craig Atwell, and Joe Gray. Jon Harris was also
present for his first race of the season.

The first 20 minutes were fairly processional as everyone came to grips with the
conditions. The first action was a lone break by a young rider from VC Meudon.
He managed to build up almost a half lap lead at one point. However, Joe, keen to
emulate Craig’s recent success set off in pursuit. Over the next few laps he made
significant inroads into the lead but a stiff headwind on the home straight was not
helping. Soon after, the decisive move of the race came when a strong group of 5
broke clear from the front of the bunch. Working well together, they soon caught and
passed Joe and made it across to the lone leader who then joined them. Continuing to
work well together they opened a lead that was never going to be caught by a slightly
dis-organised peleton. Seeing the futility of persisting, Joe dropped back into the
bunch to recover.

With about 8 laps to go, Craig made a brave break from the bunch. Some really
determined riding saw him build a big gap. Spurred on by this, a couple of laps later
Joe tried the same thing but had with him another rider for company. They too built
a fairly comfortable gap from the bunch. So, as the chequered flag came out, the
bunch of 6 sprinted home, Craig soloed in for 7th and Joe out-sprinted his breakaway
companion for 8th. Jon led home the bunch sprint to finish in about 12th.

All in all good results considering the conditions but both races, the 3&4 and the E/
1/2, were scattered all round the circuit as a consequence of the weather, and more
punctures than I have ever seen at a circuit race!

Some planned race dates...

Below are a few dates where a number of riders plan to race.  If you are interested do just let us know so that we can arrange the most economical way to get there - if you like...

13th May Omega Crits at Thruxton 

20th May South Divisional champs 

26th May 10mile TT at Bentley
3rd June Banbury Star RR.
10th June Neil Gardiner Mem RR
17th June Lloyd Coward mem RR

Colin's update...

I've a couple of things to report back on.  

 

I raced the Maidenhead and District CC sporting time trial on 11 March.  This is hilly (just under) 30 mile course in the Chilterns starting at Lane End north of Marlow.  I set off hard and caught my minute man within the first mile or so.  The 6 miles to the first turn are all slightly up hill then there is a technical bit through to Christmas Common, which I did feeling in good form.  From there it is nearly all down hill to Henley, pretty much the fastest 10 miles you'll every do on a time trial.  Its then heavy roads along by the Thames to Marlow and then four miles of mostly draggy uphill before a final kick to the village hall at Frieth.  I got a bit concerned that I hadn't passed anyone else, but it turned out that I had three non-starters and two of the top three placed riders ahead of me.  Finishing time was 1-16.41 which was good enough for 9th, my first top 10 place in an open time trial.  Rode to and from the start from home to bring up an imperial century for the day.  Top day out!

I also completed the Dean 300k Audax on 24 March and was first man home in 12 hours and 47 minutes – as I hadn't bothered to put my race bike away.  It was about 15 minutes slower than the previous year but I'd had less company and I got close to suffering from the bonk between Marlborough and Membury.

Since then I've swapped bike for running shoes to do the Reading Half-Marathon as the office I work at does this big time for charity - we had 37 entrants which knocked me about far more than the Dean the previous weekend but did complete my first half-marathon in 1–31 – the second one from our office back.  So will have a go at doing it properly next year.

Karl spotted me on the way to my caravan in Selsey; I thought I was quite relaxed at the time.  I was more intense on Easter Monday when I set-off at 3.30am to complete a century ride including an ascent of Bignor Hill (so steep the tarmac doesn't stick) before breakfast.

Next events are the Bryan Chapman Memorial 600k Audax on 19-20 May and  the Hounslow and District '100' on the H100/88 course (Bentley – Farnham – Alton – Bentley x5) - if we get two more entries we'd have a chance at a team prize – otherwise its the closest to Basingstoke you can get seeing the club colours in action.

MIXED FORTUNES AT HILLINGDON

It was a week of mixed fortunes for Craig Atwell and Andrew McCombe as they both raced twice at Hillingdon this week.

Both riders raced on Saturday 14th. Craig rode in the 3rd&4th cat race where a bunch of almost 80 riders meant that it was difficult to determine exactly what was going on unless you sat right on the front of the bunch. Consequently, a big break made it away early in the race and Craig was left to sprint in with the main peleton, finishing an un-inspiring 35th. For Andrew riding the E/1/2 race, the result was even less impressive. A fairly high race pace fractured it into a number of smaller groups, and the after effects of a cold meant that he was spat out of the main bunch after about 30 minutes of racing. He continued riding but finished as the definite “lantern rouge” (last place!).

Mid-week brought much better fortunes – and much poorer weather; low cloud and heavy rain were the order of the day for both events.

Craig rode in the 3&4 cat race on Tuesday 17th April. A slightly more manageable group of about 30 riders set off at a fairly brisk pace as they set about chasing an early lone breakaway. This was brought back with about 6 laps to go and another small breakaway, with Craig included, made a bid to escape. The peleton was clearly in no mood to allow any escapes that evening and this too was brought back with a couple of laps to go. Nevertheless, a combination of good positioning, strong sprinting and some timely gaps in the run to the line meant that Craig came through fast to finish in third place!

The first races of the Veteran’s series took place the following day and provided an opportunity for Andrew to ride against some age appropriate competition! A reasonable bunch of about 40 riders set off at a fairly steady pace, wary of the very greasy conditions. A couple of efforts were made to breakaway but as is often the case at Hillingdon, these were brought back fairly quickly to leave the usual bunch gallop over the last couple of laps to the finish. Some firm riding on the last lap put

Andrew in the ideal position just behind the lead riders as the sprint began into the home straight.  A strong effort meant finishing fourth across the line, but, first rider home and winner of the Masters E & F race!

Tuesday Circuits Begin 10 April 2012

Meeting at the top of Farleigh Hill crossroads, these training rides will run from Tuesday 10th April to Tuesday 22nd May.  Depending on the numbers, we might continue with these rides throughout the Summer.

This involves 3 laps (c.7 miles each lap) of a local circuit designed to build on the Sunday training rides; these are at a higher intensity but much shorter in duration (c.1hr).  Because these are circuits, it doesn’t matter if you can’t make the 3 laps to begin with, you can take time to recover and re-join on the next lap and continue to do so until your fitness improves to see you through to the finish.

Start time is 6:15 pm.  Each lap takes around 20 minutes, so even if you can’t make the start time, you can always be there for Lap 2!

See you there.

HILLINGDON, SATURDAY 31ST MARCH

Two races and two representatives for CCB. Craig Attwell was riding in the 4th cat race and Andrew McCombe in the cat 2/3. A dry day but cloudy and the high temperatures of the preceding week had disappeared so that arm and leg warmers were in frequent use! In addition there was a stiff breeze blowing down the finishing straight.
 
The cat 4 race was 40 minute plus 5 laps. A steady start but after 20 minutes Craig, and a fellow racer, made a break. Some hard riding over the next 20 minutes bought them a half lap advantage which they were able to hold all the way to the finish. And with Craig out-sprinting his breakaway companion, a win was in the bag! Congratulations to Craig! This is an excellent start to the season and combined with his 2nd place last week has catapulted  him up to 3rd cat, with enough time to chase for 2nd cat!?
 
The cat 2/3 race followed a not dissimilar format but over a slightly longer time – 35 laps. An early ambitious breakaway of 3 put in a big effort early on to establish a lead of about half a lap. Although this varied a bit over the course of the race, it was held to the finish leaving the rest of the peleton to contest the usual gallop finish. Some good positioning by Andrew meant that he was able to join the back of a Welwyn wheelers lead-out train into the sprint in the home straight. A reasonable sprint, but a 3 week skiing break in Canada showed its effects, and a final position of 8th in the bunch meant 11th overall – first loser! But not too bad for a first outing of the season.

 
Overall a reasonable showing by CCB in the first weeks of the season.