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Full Gas Winter Series #9, road circuit race, Sat 21st Jan 1pm.
I've applied for round 9 of the winter series at Lea Valley. Hopefully will get in by applying this early. The 'no entrants yet' line on the site isn't true. They hold back the entry list til later on.
Saturday 1pm for the Cat 3/4 race on the Velopark road circuit behind the velodrome. 45 mins + 5 laps.
Free parking [you must put your reg number into the machine], free lockers, Olympic standard changing rooms, digital timing with instant results. Exciting fun! Hairy legs! Go for it!
https://britishcycling.org.uk/events/details/157523/Full-Gas-Winter-Series--09
Saturday 1pm for the Cat 3/4 race on the Velopark road circuit behind the velodrome. 45 mins + 5 laps.
Free parking [you must put your reg number into the machine], free lockers, Olympic standard changing rooms, digital timing with instant results. Exciting fun! Hairy legs! Go for it!
https://britishcycling.org.uk/events/details/157523/Full-Gas-Winter-Series--09
Comments
Cheers,
Dave.
Last Saturday's 3/4 race: I see 1 second separated the first 17 riders. And the first two riders shared the same time to the thousandth of a second. Bunchness!
Happy 2017 all! Salad time!
You may as well enter though if you're there. If you pull up: you can cheer us on. If you make it through: you might get in the points.
We've all had time off - so level playing field there I expect. We'll all be haulin' cheese.
Any more for any more?
It wasn't a great advert for crit racing. From the start, there was so little discipline. There was a lot of concertinaing and people wandering all over the peleton.
A shame, as the day itself was nice. Crystal clear and not too cold. But I was immediately worried by the tonnes of salt on the road. I do wonder if this was more of a hazard than a solution, especially when the surface seemed just fine and dry anyway.
Positives were to see Dave riding strongly. And among the madness, it was great to have someone alongside you could trust and be an extra lookout for trouble. Simon and Tom King were in the mix too. Young Tom was doing well - confidently in the front 10 or so.
There were the usual nutty attempts at a breakaway. They did seem to come thick and fast for a while, really mixing the group up.
All the while, there'd be the occasional scream and dull thud of bloke[s] on floor. I think we had six crashes in the group in total. It was mightily shoulder to shoulder, if you wanted to get near the front.
I had a plan to tag on to the wheel of last week's race winner in the final laps. However, with three laps to go, with no apparent reason, a rider in front went horizontal at high speed on the straight. I think he might have been bumped by passing riders. He went down hard, right in front of me, and I was certain I'd follow his fall. But by a whisker, I rode over his handlebars and remained upright.
The shock affected me and I lost my focus and found myself too near the back to be in with a shout. I was facing a bunch finish, with many riders in front, but without a chance to get through.
All the same, on the final lap, I began to put the foot down with Dave and Simon, down the right of the final three turns. I felt there was a chance of doing something in the sprint. Happily, Christmas doesn't seem to have dented too much form. Then... one rider I think clipped a wheel and slides sideways over half the course. Loads of us have to ride on to the grass to avoid him. Inevitably, someone on the grass goes down, and 8 of us pile into him with nowhere else to go. I just have to jealously watch the remaining riders carry on and sprint for the line while I put my chain back on.
Simon looked bad at first. But then seemed just winded. Me and Dave kinda got away with it. I was cushioned by falling on other riders and by grabbing the fence. I did pierce my brand new CCA TMG-Pro bib shorts though. Rats. We tootled over the line, surprisingly 28th and 29th place, counting our blessings.
Soon enough, deflation turns into relief, turns into laughter and tales, turns into a bottle of Amstel beer on the suntrap, other side of the VeloPark, with Matt and his lad, who cheered us on. This is probably as sketchy as crits get: and we survived. I now yearn a bit for a smaller field and/or a simpler course. Underlined when watching Mitchy in the next E123 race. Smaller field, no argy-bargy. Silent. Controlled. Mitchy spanked it: three man breakaway and came in 2nd for his best ever road result. All good for Team Contour then. Their race averaged near 27mph though. Significantly more than our 25mph.
Fingers crossed the upcoming Tuesday evening race series at the LVVP are less wild.
BTW. The Monday turbo/rollers sessions are a great simulation for this kind of effort. I'm sorting it all out this Monday, while Matt away. See you there 8.30pm. And Richard's Road Bikes on the Track Wednesdays at Welwyn are excellent.
You can see our tyre tracks here!
Coming down towards the end was a real blow as I think myself, Martin and Dave had visions of making a top 10...and I was just winding up my 2000 watt sprint for the line when I realized my new found speed had in fact helped me get airborne, upside down with little chance of landing the right way up and gaining a couple of places.
Tom will be racing at the Dulwich series if anyone is thinking of racing on a Tuesday night. I'll be there supporting...
Still, it's good of you to give Tom a chance!
Will you be having a go at the club TTs?
Might see you there if you do
Cheers
Peter T
Keep us posted on how recovery goes. I'll see you at the Dulwich Series next Tuesday.
All the best.