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Southend Wheelers Andrews Trophy
Nice and early start for this 80 mile E123 out in East Hanningfield. The BC report goes like this (one particularly wonderful phrase in there, see if you can guess which one I'm thinking of):
"Kieran Brady came through a tight race to take victory in the Southend Wheelers Andrews Trophy in Essex on Sunday.
The 19-year-old City Cycle Centre.com rider crossed the line a second ahead of St Ives Malcolm Smith as seven riders all came through together.
An early break in the race failed to put any distance between themselves and the bunch and was soon dragged back.
Then, with around 20 miles of the race gone, the winning break was formed as 11 riders broke away from the front of the peloton.
That leading group was thinned down to seven riders as the race wore on and going into the final stages of the race, climbing a hill for the final time, there were a number of riders in contention.
But with one kilometre to go, it was Andy Lyons (Richardsons Trek) who made the move, pumping away at the front.
But Brady managed to get on his back wheel and timed his attack just right to beat Lyons to the line."
From my point of view, it was a great experience. My first E123, you could notice the difference in the race immediately. The accelerations came more often and were often much more brutal than in the 234s. Riding in the bunch felt a lot safer too, with the race slowing appropriately for weather conditions and traffic.
I managed to keep up near the front of the bunch for most of the race, with the aim of just getting round so I sat in and watched the attacks all get neutralised by two Richardsons-Trek riders who were looking after their guy in the initial break. This circuit was fairly flat so keeping up wasn't much of a problem, but the wind was pretty brutal. Having tried to get away a couple of times I decided that sitting in was the best tactic and saved my energy for the last sprint, heading off at the bottom of the hill with around 1km to go I managed to stay away from the bunch and grab a couple of points coming in 18th. A pleasant surprise considering how knackered I was feeling. A brilliant experience, can't wait to get stuck into a few more of these!
"Kieran Brady came through a tight race to take victory in the Southend Wheelers Andrews Trophy in Essex on Sunday.
The 19-year-old City Cycle Centre.com rider crossed the line a second ahead of St Ives Malcolm Smith as seven riders all came through together.
An early break in the race failed to put any distance between themselves and the bunch and was soon dragged back.
Then, with around 20 miles of the race gone, the winning break was formed as 11 riders broke away from the front of the peloton.
That leading group was thinned down to seven riders as the race wore on and going into the final stages of the race, climbing a hill for the final time, there were a number of riders in contention.
But with one kilometre to go, it was Andy Lyons (Richardsons Trek) who made the move, pumping away at the front.
But Brady managed to get on his back wheel and timed his attack just right to beat Lyons to the line."
From my point of view, it was a great experience. My first E123, you could notice the difference in the race immediately. The accelerations came more often and were often much more brutal than in the 234s. Riding in the bunch felt a lot safer too, with the race slowing appropriately for weather conditions and traffic.
I managed to keep up near the front of the bunch for most of the race, with the aim of just getting round so I sat in and watched the attacks all get neutralised by two Richardsons-Trek riders who were looking after their guy in the initial break. This circuit was fairly flat so keeping up wasn't much of a problem, but the wind was pretty brutal. Having tried to get away a couple of times I decided that sitting in was the best tactic and saved my energy for the last sprint, heading off at the bottom of the hill with around 1km to go I managed to stay away from the bunch and grab a couple of points coming in 18th. A pleasant surprise considering how knackered I was feeling. A brilliant experience, can't wait to get stuck into a few more of these!
Comments
... which reminds me that the Primavera could be really exciting this year with so many up-and-coming CCA racers. C'mon CCA!