Hillingdon Comedy

Last night I witnessed some unusual comedy. I was in a break of about 15 riders and included all the usual hitters... including Tony and Vegas.

The group were working well and everyone doing their fair share of the work. Tom and Vegas were having their own exchange of words - light-hearted banter - if you've ever team-mated with Vegas you'll understand. In the end Vegas got dropped and had to contest the bunch sprint... losing that too.

Tony had a few digs and as a marked man (what you'd expect from a pedigree rider) everytime he jumped his groupees followed. After 3 attempts he turned to look and decided to slam on his front brakes pulling an endo and stopping instantly. Huh?? What he never realised was that he had a rider inches from his back wheel.

At first I thought it was a joke and I chuckled to myself, but soon realised it was a bit silly. What is that all about?

After the race Vegas and Tom completed their exchange of words... and then burst into laughter and jokes - what a night - it was great.

Tony won, Chris D second and me 3rd. I got £10 for my efforts - thats £3 profit. Results on LondonCycleSport.

My legs are shattered today. I rode to work (1hr10min), then to Don, raced and then rode home. I stepped in at 11pm. My good wife was waiting for me and had some dinner waiting for me.

Some interetsting stats:

am - 40km
to don - 10km
race don - 52km (heart rate: 174/194)
home - 50km
Total - 157km

Team Trip

I've finally managed to sort myself out. I've had a lot of admin to attend to sort out and now I can finally go across to Italy with the team and do some good training and race in some decent Grand Fondos. I fly to Tuscany on the 5th and return to the UK on the 12th - late at night.

I'm not sure what the programme is, but am sure looking forward to it. I can't wait to meet Fred (Morini) and catch up. I think he has a lot of good advise to give.

I'll report back as soon I have any interesting news... and some pictures.

Oh, by the way... good news for me... I'm now finally a sworn-in British Citizen. Hooray!

South Eastern Road Race Champs

Photo compliments of LondonCycleSport.com
Well well.... I'm almost there! A result at last. And, although not the top one its a good one and very very close to top podium.

Losing a close bunch sprint after 85 miles to Gary (D) is a lot easier to swallow than most second place positions. Ok, no one remembers who came second, but the fact that I rode well and worked my butt off is just what I need.

The weather was crap - torrential rain and gusts of wind. Seems by the reports I've read this morning - most regional Championship events had very similar conditions. We started in the rain with 3 laps round Goodwood Motor Circuit where group of 8-10 formed. Most of the 'big hitters' never bothered to react - happy to sit tight for a while.

Once we exited Goodwood the break had 2 minutes up on us. I stayed near the front never more that 15th position and had my eye on a few key riders (my predicitions of 'danger' men). We started 4 laps of the big circuit with that wicked power climb. The pace was quick up there and we seemed to loose a few riders each time we summited. The gap still around 2 minutes on us.

Before starting our last lap of the small circuit Gary (D) and I caught the 4 left of the lead group. We worked pretty well together until we returned to Goodwood. On the second of three laps my legs cramped badly but after a few minutes the cramp vanished. Steve (G) and Chaz (H) jumped away and the rest of us watched not comitting to chasing.... just yet. With 500m to go Paul (H) jumped and Gary (D) and I got on his wheel. Paul (H) did an amazing job of closing the 2 away. As we exited the final bend the sprint had started... I was on Gary's wheel. By the time I had passed him he'd crossed the line to take the win by a very close margin.

1 Gary Dodd Sigma Sport RT (3:21:30)
2 Rob Enslin Agisko Dart
3 Anders Christensen agiskoviner.com
4 Chaz Hollosi Gemini BC
5 Stephen Gowar Sigma Sport RT
6 Paul Holdsworth Hounslow & District Wheelers
7 Steve Calland Norwood Paragon CC @ 2:00
8 Paul Pickup agiskoviner.com
9 Christopher McNamara Wildside RT
10 Tim Elverson VC Meudon

LondonCycleSports coverage: http://www.londoncyclesport.com/reports_2006/se_men.html

The race has taught me 2 valuable key lessons:
1. Mental focus and preparation.
2. Nutritional planning.

I'm going to write a little something about these 2 key areas of my riding. Coming soon...

Special thanks to Gary K and his team and to the generous sponsors of the event. My prizes were awarded to me compliments of a Bike and Run (£100 Voucher), Bromley Video (dvd), For Goodness Shakes! (products) and Agisko Sports Nutrion (Products)

Rutland-Melton Road Race

I got an email from Dunks to say that I'm now only down as a reserve for this race. What can I say? Disappointed... again.

The riders for this race were:
KD, CB, AH (US), GH, NC and DU.

Now what? Not sure what I going to do? I'm going to think about things and when I've got a plan I'll add it to this blog.

Untill the clouds lift.....

Lincoln GP

The Lincoln, which is usually my favourite race, turned out to be a nightmare. A race I should not have started.

I had been told weeks before the race that I wasn't going to ride it and although at the time I was gutted - I got over it. By now my head was on a more local race that I wanted to win. I had pre-entered it and recced the course and well up for it.

Anyway, I met my American team mates on the M4 and we drove up to Lincoln to our hotel. It was great to meet Clayton and Alex - super chaps and well up for racing. Just the sort of guys I wanted to mix and train (and race) with. We chatted and laughed as we sped to Lincoln and when we got there we walked the infamous Michaelgate climb. We were all nervously excited about it.

On Sunday morning (morning of the race) the rain was hammering down. We signed on and joined the rest of the riders. I spent 40 mins trying to reset my seat post height and still never got it right. Back at the HQ the team were donning their race radios while I sat and watched. I wondered why I was there? I wasn't sure of my role in this race, but thought that I'd try and do what Duncan said in his brief (Stay near the front of the group before each climb).

From the gun the racing was fast and the rain continued to poured down. When we got to the climbs I tried to stay near the top half but found the going tuff. 8 laps passed and each time I had to dig real deep to stay in touch the main group. Each time just managing to bridge the gap. Neil helped me on the 8th lap so was gratefull to him. He even gave me a track sling to help. Not sure I needed that but a kind gesture all the same. Neil is a good team mate - a good man to have in the team.

On the 9th lap the gap was too far and I lost trouch. I tried for half a lap to get back on but in the back section of the course the speeds were very high so all the effort went to nothing. I thought about pulling out, but seen that I'd come this far I might as well finish the race. I found a trailing group that was prepared to work and we completed the race 15 mins down on the winner. I finished in 56th place in 3hrs 36mins (140 km). Not a good result and a race I'd rather forget.

Some other stats:
Time: 03.36
Dist: 140km
HR: 161/191
Cal: 6068
Ascent: 1063m
Ave Speed: 39km/hr

Roll on Rutland-Melton RR next weekend....