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Youth Tour of Scotland 2012
![Senecio [Daniel D]](https://forum.ccashwell.co.uk/uploads/userpics/691/nAAIKVAJWITJP.jpg)
Tomorrow (April 5) the CCA U16 team will travel to Perth to compete in the Youth Tour of Scotland. This will be based at Strathallan School.
Jon, Bryn, Theo and Cameron will be racing in the four stages:
1) Prologue (day 1)
2) Team Time Trial (day 1)
3) Flat road stage, 80km (day 2)
4) Hilly road stage, 50km (day 3)
I am hoping that we will be able to post news on The Forum, but this depends on getting access to the interweb. Information is also available following the LINK I hope this site will be updated.
The lads have worked hard to prepare for this event in order to ride their best for CCA.
Daniel
Jon, Bryn, Theo and Cameron will be racing in the four stages:
1) Prologue (day 1)
2) Team Time Trial (day 1)
3) Flat road stage, 80km (day 2)
4) Hilly road stage, 50km (day 3)
I am hoping that we will be able to post news on The Forum, but this depends on getting access to the interweb. Information is also available following the LINK I hope this site will be updated.
The lads have worked hard to prepare for this event in order to ride their best for CCA.
Daniel
Comments
organisers struggling to get info.out. Commisaires great. Bryn faded a bit in the TTT,(he's been fighting a chest infection for quite some time club so this is a good showing and real guts) The others held together to get the team time. Well done for that. All going well so far. 16-33pm
Well done lads. great performance. sorry about crash Cam..better luck on the flat road tomorrow.
This should really show good team work. We're all rooting for you.
Keep up the good work lads and best of luck for the next couple of days.
Overall after stage 2: Theo 40th, Cam 55th, Jon 71, Bryn 89. Team about 18/25. Daniel
Lap 7 of the first road stage Chapman & Shaw attacked causing mayhem in the lead group. Theo & Cam now in the third group with 4 laps to go. Bryn & Jon going well in a group of about 10
Lap 9 and the leaders pulled back. Theo in the second group 20 second down. Don't know what has happened to Cam but he is in a group 2 min down. Bryn and Jon lapped but thrilled to have raced the open road.
Lap 10, Theo is back in the lead group! Haven't seen Cam yet.
Top 20 !!!!
By lap 10 Cameron hit the wall and lost touch with the main group. I don't know how Theo held on, but I suspect he was seeing stars. He finished with the main group which I initially thought was 20, but it may have been larger. Frustratingly we still don't have the results.
It was a good day for CCA. Jon and Bryn rode a great race in the chasing group and are rightly proud of their performance. Cameron rode really well and should not be too hard on himself for running out of gas. Theo was magnificent! (However as a result of the crash he appears to have three knees!)
Sorry no photos to upload at the moment.
So tomorrow they head into the final stage which is a hilly one. Hills and tight corners. What could possibly go wrong?
Daniel
Lap 3 Theo 3rd in the lead group. Cam there too.
Lap 6. Theo & Cam still in the lead group but looking pretty ragged on the steepest climb.
Cameron, Jon, Bryn and I, had arrived at the boarding school on Thursday. It was a 6 hour long train journey, but Stewart and Daniel had driven up there with the bikes. As soon as our taxi dropped us off, we were into our kit and practising Fridays course.
Everyone was eager to get the first stage over. It was a 1.6km prologue. The course was on the rough roads in the school so it was a bit dodgy. We situated our rollers at the top of hill where it started. Here, we had a good view of riders attempting the first part of the course. I saw Bryn go first (he was the fourth to start out of 100 of the nations top riders) then, Jon and Cam go strong up the hill but now it was my turn.
I remembered the starts we practiced at grass track. 5, 4,3,2,1, I stood out the saddle and pounced down on go. I powered up the hill but that was only the first part. Coming down the main straight I was sprinting hard, but I slowed down too late for the u turn at the end. My back wheel slid out, I moved my body to compensate for it and managed to stay upright. Before the end I managed to take another corner wrong but I was still pleased. I finished 11th, Cam 55th, Jon 71st and Bryn 89th
The team time trial was latter that afternoon. Jon led us out at the start, but Bryn had chest troubles. This meant he dropped back but still carried on. Unfortunately the ttt wasnt as smooth as wed hoped but we managed to come 18th out of 25 teams.
Stage 3: the long stage
It was about a 7km lap and our race was 75km. This was a proper closed road race and 75km is about as long as youth races get. The first km or so was neutralised so the car led us out on the first section. It was an extremely bad piece of road; potholes gravel and loose tarmac but also it was pretty narrow. I had a good spot in the bunch, but the race still hadnt started yet. As the peloton turned off the rough road the red and white chequered flag dropped: the race was on. We got off to a good pace but because the corners were so slow and tight, it meant a lot of people sprinted out of them. I just spun my little gear on the back of the sprinting riders and made up places in the bunch. It felt great being in the peloton especially one so large, it was even better when Cam came up on about the 4th lap. Although we were together in the bunch, Jon and Bryn had fallen out the back. Luckily they got into a decent chase group.
On about lap 5or 6 we headed back up the rough part. A rider had mucked up; he tried to go round on the grass butt failed. The group disintegrated. I slammed down the brakes. It made little difference as the riders behind crashed into me, forcing me to the bottom of the pile up. I helped a bike of the rider beside/ on me, his team mate then freed my leg. I stood up but I had no bike. I wrestled it from under another couple of frames. Most riders were already off by now; I jumped on with a cyclocross mount. My chain keeper let me pedal straight away. I was sprinting for other riders. It wasnt long before I got onto a group. Cam was in it. My legs began to stiffen, when I felt the third knee and road rash, but they were just minor and made no difference. We got into a good chain gang and started picking up speed. We shot through the Scottish countryside like a bullet train; pick up riders and then dropping them off. Several spectators we went past shouted that we were 30 seconds down. It was impossible to catch the main peloton but we needed to gain as much time as possible. The pace was getting harder, Cam and I were suffering. He sat on the back for a little just to miss a few turns but when I looked back again he was gone. I thought I was next. I kept doing turns but on about 2 and half laps to go. I found that I physically couldnt come through. I was dangling behind. We passed Jon and Bryn who had only been lapped at about 14km to go. The chain gang reached 2 laps to go, I gave a penultimate kick to get back on, and I managed to slip back in doing turns. Half a lap later, the peloton was somehow caught. It had been 10 out of 11 laps and it would finish with a bunch sprint. I finished about 25th at the back of the bunch. Cam had finished a couple of groups behind and Jon and Bryn finished with their group. After warming down I could see the damage my bike had taken. Unfortunately the top tube has a dent in it. At least steel is repairable.
In eight years time some of the riders in that race will likely be olympians!
I am a bit worried aboit your bike though Theo.
Well done to all the boys.
Phil: I have just realised that i forgot stage 4!
Despite this it was a good circuit and I think the event as a whole has proved to be a very rich and worthwhile experience for all who took part. I am enromously proud of each and every one of our talented U16 riders.
Daniel
Tim: the ride you're thinking of (I remember it well) was more like 9 months ago, I only joined the club last July.
I also enjoyed listening to Stuart on the soundtrack - CCA had the best encouragement/support at the race, I'll bet!
Mark F