Welcome to the forum
Glendene CC RR 2014
4 CCA riders out on the start line for this 90 mile national B road race out towards Braintree. You couldn't have had more of a contrast to the weather conditions at the commonwealth rr as we set off in the morning sun.
Ant attacked from the word go, as soon as the flag dropped he was off up the road with a couple of others as some of the riders in the bunch started to mess around and joke about chasing a break so early on. Before I knew it, one of the guys that I had my eyes on looked like he was making a move to bridge over to them, so I jumped on that and went across to the break with him. By that point, the break had filled out to around 8 riders including 4 from Richardsons-Trek and were working well together. We pulled the gap up to a minute easily, the bunch must have just been messing around still with nobody prepared to chase. A lap or two later and the race favourites bridged over, Steve Lampier and Russell Hampton joined by Doug Coleman and a guy from the University of Exeter. Whilst heading through the feed zone, which was on the upside of a little dip, Steve and Russell both attacked and split the break considerably. I fell out the back (I'd rather stupidly drilled it down the hill to bridge a gap and had nothing left to respond to the attack) with a couple of other riders who were happy to drop back to the chase group, I was being a bit more stubborn and carried on trying to get back to the break for a bit on my own before dropping back. As I got into the chase group, Wayne Crombie attacked that in the same place and I ended up being dropped again, and then again on the bell lap! I was glad that we didn't have to do that bit again, it was starting to get a little embarrassing. After bridging back up to the 2 guys that dropped me, I managed to be out-sprinted by both of them (both old enough to be my dad) as I came over the line in 20th place. Cam and a Trek guy coming in a couple of minutes later.
Anyway, whilst I was routinely getting dropped and turning myself inside out to get back on (or not), Ant had stayed strong in the break. In the sprint at the end he went for a long one and managed to hold off some very strong riders to grab 7th place! A great result, made even more impressive when you look at the results sheet to see the quality of riders in the race that finished.
Looking on the Eastern Road Race League forum, it's good to see that Ant's now 4th in the standings of the individual riders and CCA are in 3rd place on the club table. A great achievement when you consider that most of the other clubs that we race, especially in the national B's, have some sort of sponsorship or are full on "racing teams".
Also, it's good to see that Theo's got a new winter bike to race on. Very shiny.
Ant attacked from the word go, as soon as the flag dropped he was off up the road with a couple of others as some of the riders in the bunch started to mess around and joke about chasing a break so early on. Before I knew it, one of the guys that I had my eyes on looked like he was making a move to bridge over to them, so I jumped on that and went across to the break with him. By that point, the break had filled out to around 8 riders including 4 from Richardsons-Trek and were working well together. We pulled the gap up to a minute easily, the bunch must have just been messing around still with nobody prepared to chase. A lap or two later and the race favourites bridged over, Steve Lampier and Russell Hampton joined by Doug Coleman and a guy from the University of Exeter. Whilst heading through the feed zone, which was on the upside of a little dip, Steve and Russell both attacked and split the break considerably. I fell out the back (I'd rather stupidly drilled it down the hill to bridge a gap and had nothing left to respond to the attack) with a couple of other riders who were happy to drop back to the chase group, I was being a bit more stubborn and carried on trying to get back to the break for a bit on my own before dropping back. As I got into the chase group, Wayne Crombie attacked that in the same place and I ended up being dropped again, and then again on the bell lap! I was glad that we didn't have to do that bit again, it was starting to get a little embarrassing. After bridging back up to the 2 guys that dropped me, I managed to be out-sprinted by both of them (both old enough to be my dad) as I came over the line in 20th place. Cam and a Trek guy coming in a couple of minutes later.
Anyway, whilst I was routinely getting dropped and turning myself inside out to get back on (or not), Ant had stayed strong in the break. In the sprint at the end he went for a long one and managed to hold off some very strong riders to grab 7th place! A great result, made even more impressive when you look at the results sheet to see the quality of riders in the race that finished.
Looking on the Eastern Road Race League forum, it's good to see that Ant's now 4th in the standings of the individual riders and CCA are in 3rd place on the club table. A great achievement when you consider that most of the other clubs that we race, especially in the national B's, have some sort of sponsorship or are full on "racing teams".
Also, it's good to see that Theo's got a new winter bike to race on. Very shiny.
Comments
Boys were looking classy to me at last week's race so no surprise..won't be long before we have a first cat in the club...who said we're not a racing club!! Geoff ?
Off to Italy for a couple of weeks.. Look forward to hearing of more good performances and write ups when I return..
Bravi Ragazzi !!
Carmelo .cheeky :-) Think I said being a racing club wasn't our first priority. Delighted to see how many are racing and getting better and faster. I still believe that it's more important to be an inclusive club with riders who enjoy their cycling whatever the level. That's because, when riders decide not to race at a high level they can still enjoy cycling with their clubmates.
Btw, I think we all agree with you Geoff!