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CC London RR
Strong line up of CCA riders (Neil, Carmelo, Dan and myself) turning up for this 3/4 on the rather peculiar Pansanger circuit just south of Tewin. Luckily the weather pretty much held off till after the race, but a forecast of clouds, wind and rain left everybody feeling a little unsure (especially after the commissaire talked us through the course) about riding around 4 roundabouts in a housing estate and on a rather large chunk of the A414 dual carriageway.
Initially the race started quite quick, with attacks from a couple of Cambridge CC riders and an Arbis-Colbert rider continually throughout the first lap and a half, eventually leaving the Arbis rider on his own riding off into the distance. It looked like we would bring him back, the wind was quite strong on the dual carriageway and not really working in his favour. The rest of the race consisted of plenty of attacks to try and form a group to bridge across but the bunch kept everything together with strong riders bringing back most attacks. I spent a fair bit of time trying to get away with a couple of others but nothing came of it. We basically just rolled around the rest of the course with nobody prepared to work together on the front for the last couple of laps. About 2km before the end people started to go across the road to make a break, but oncoming traffic neutralised most efforts. There was a tight situation where a Finchley RT rider came speeding past me and I got on his wheel as a car was coming up the other way. Before I knew it I was attacking the front again (didn't want to end up sat on the front with 2km to go), looking over my shoulder I could see a blue jersey coming through strong. Dan was on my wheel and we went quickly off the front, overtaking a VC Revolution rider ("I've done this move in E123s and E12s and it's always stuck, I'll never ride a 34 again" was his quote at the HQ afterwards, he basically bonked and got usurped) and then passing another rider who was up the road before taking the last corner and sprinting up the hill as hard as possible. I came in 2nd, about 35 seconds after the Arbis rider who rode an absolutely smashing race to keep away for 35 miles, and Dan came in 4th.
Two CCA in the top 5! A great result for the club and especially for Dan, who's showing massive promise there, sprinting hard and managing to have the staying power to keep away now. Good work. Not bad for a 10 year old.
Looking forward to hearing how the PCH race was... Who rode that one?
Initially the race started quite quick, with attacks from a couple of Cambridge CC riders and an Arbis-Colbert rider continually throughout the first lap and a half, eventually leaving the Arbis rider on his own riding off into the distance. It looked like we would bring him back, the wind was quite strong on the dual carriageway and not really working in his favour. The rest of the race consisted of plenty of attacks to try and form a group to bridge across but the bunch kept everything together with strong riders bringing back most attacks. I spent a fair bit of time trying to get away with a couple of others but nothing came of it. We basically just rolled around the rest of the course with nobody prepared to work together on the front for the last couple of laps. About 2km before the end people started to go across the road to make a break, but oncoming traffic neutralised most efforts. There was a tight situation where a Finchley RT rider came speeding past me and I got on his wheel as a car was coming up the other way. Before I knew it I was attacking the front again (didn't want to end up sat on the front with 2km to go), looking over my shoulder I could see a blue jersey coming through strong. Dan was on my wheel and we went quickly off the front, overtaking a VC Revolution rider ("I've done this move in E123s and E12s and it's always stuck, I'll never ride a 34 again" was his quote at the HQ afterwards, he basically bonked and got usurped) and then passing another rider who was up the road before taking the last corner and sprinting up the hill as hard as possible. I came in 2nd, about 35 seconds after the Arbis rider who rode an absolutely smashing race to keep away for 35 miles, and Dan came in 4th.
Two CCA in the top 5! A great result for the club and especially for Dan, who's showing massive promise there, sprinting hard and managing to have the staying power to keep away now. Good work. Not bad for a 10 year old.
Looking forward to hearing how the PCH race was... Who rode that one?
Comments
Dan: That sounds like a mega effort and it was the result to match. A proper achievement by anyone let alone on just your second road race!
'The water's lovely in the second cat pool'
Just me and Antony at the PCH (and my dad supporting). It was raining for most of the race and it was 95 miles! A good field (e123 but no 3rds) meant that attacks came thick, thick fast and early, with a couple of breaks on the first lap. I had the plan to stay in the peloton so when the other chasing groups went of, including Antony, I stayed put. This was an incredibly stupid idea due to the decreasing size of the peloton ( I should have gone in a chasing group) towards the end more people just dropped out as we were so far behind (even the race car overtook us). With one lap to go the 'peloton' was down to just 8 rider because everyone else just pulled out, I was wet, cold and miserable so I pulled out. Bit of a slow disappointing race for me but I think Antony was up there.
P.S although Dan got 4th over he was 1st in under 12s
Great job Dan, really impressive stuff!