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Hatfield Puncheur
Just the two of us (Anthony and myself) representing CCA this morning on the circuit running out of Hatfield Heath. It's a fast course, the downhill section is on a main road so the speed really picks up before turning at the bottom and heading up a draggy, windy section with a couple of downhills and then you're back at the start again. A lovely morning for it, after the first half hour the sun came out and we had a good couple of hours of dry roads and fast racing. I think the average speed for the race was around 26mph.
The first couple of laps were just fast, a couple of breaks trying to get away but getting dragged back pretty quickly. Anthony was active in the race, jumping across to the breaks and keeping his eyes on the race favourites... I was doing all I could just to stay in the middle of the bunch! The race kind of carried on like that for a while before a crash separated the bunch a bit and the front 7 riders got away in a break. As the bell went they had around a minute, we carried on through down the hill to the turn off. On the way back up I was watching a couple of riders slowly edge off of the front to form a small chase group from about 20 riders back, I decided to move up the line and give it a crack at bridging over, after all, if I finished in the bunch I wasn't going to be getting any points. As I sprinted off the front Anthony held back the bunch and let me get a gap, all I had to do was bridge across and get on the back of the chase group. We just about managed to keep away from the bunch (thanks to another car and another crash) and I picked off a couple more riders to finish 11th. Ant won the bunch sprint a few bike lengths behind the last rider in the break to take 14th place.
Another Regional A race with 2 CCA in the top 15...
In other news, Luke had a cracking time at the Banbury Star 3/4, dead flat course apparently... Do tell!
The first couple of laps were just fast, a couple of breaks trying to get away but getting dragged back pretty quickly. Anthony was active in the race, jumping across to the breaks and keeping his eyes on the race favourites... I was doing all I could just to stay in the middle of the bunch! The race kind of carried on like that for a while before a crash separated the bunch a bit and the front 7 riders got away in a break. As the bell went they had around a minute, we carried on through down the hill to the turn off. On the way back up I was watching a couple of riders slowly edge off of the front to form a small chase group from about 20 riders back, I decided to move up the line and give it a crack at bridging over, after all, if I finished in the bunch I wasn't going to be getting any points. As I sprinted off the front Anthony held back the bunch and let me get a gap, all I had to do was bridge across and get on the back of the chase group. We just about managed to keep away from the bunch (thanks to another car and another crash) and I picked off a couple more riders to finish 11th. Ant won the bunch sprint a few bike lengths behind the last rider in the break to take 14th place.
Another Regional A race with 2 CCA in the top 15...
In other news, Luke had a cracking time at the Banbury Star 3/4, dead flat course apparently... Do tell!
Comments
I was over in Banbury for the Banbury Star 3/4 Road Race. I was only down as a reserve, so i had to wait until 15mins before the start to know if i was riding or not, not great for the warm up. The Course was 71km over 3 laps of just under 25km each with 'rolling terrain' and a large climb up Edge Hill (reminded me of Hexton a bit).
The race started pretty steady with a good tailwind, before turning into the wind and navigating up Edge Hill for the first time. I wanted to see how it was for the first lap, so i moved towards the front at the start and maintained it for the duration of the 1km climb, marking some of the strong 3rd Cats (now 2nds after this result for 2 of them). Over the top the pace kicked up a bit and the result was the field reduced from 80 to about 60. On the second lap a few attacks went in on the decent but didn't stick as we hit the headwind. Decending at 80km/hr on a winding road was new for me! The pace was upped on the second ascent of Edge Hill, so i moved up the outside to stay in contention. I was glad i did as the peleton split significantly at the top, with me getting away in a group of about 15. Unfortunately this only stuck until the third lap when a chase group of 30 or so had worked hard to join us. The third and final climb of Edge Hill was brutal, it really hit the legs as the gradient ramped up. I managed to stay in contention with the front group and decided to attack as we hit the summit. My attack was pretty pathetic lasting about 10 seconds and getting me nowhere. The counter attacks then came and the 10km run in to the finish line was ridiculously hard for me. I was feeling the pace but safe in the very reduced front group. As we hit the final 500m which consisted of a short sharp hill, i kicked up the inside after a corner and started my dig up the hill. I didn't see exactly what happened but a 45 Road club rider and another cam down in front of me, forcing me to run off the road and stop. No injuries but my sprint halted very quickly in a god position.
Overall, an unfortunate end to the most challenging race i have done. I thought i was a bit of a climber after losing a bit of excess weight, i might reassess!
http://www.velouk.net/2014/05/25/result-hatfield-puncheur-rr/