This was a brilliant event - as others have said the support from the locals was fantastic and the weather gods were with us - bit of a breeze but that just kept the temperature comfortable.
From the results I counted 20 out from Ashwell, Anthony Morris and Barron Mendelssohn both finishing with an amazing 3:11
I started off towards the front of the un-penned riders with Stef, MC, Vince and Jeremy and had a great ride with no drama at all - struggled to find a group to stick with but that's just down to my lack of fitness.
As this was my first group ride this year I was happy with my time of 4:24
as others have said, this was awesome, a real blast. no doubt being right at the front of the 2nd pen helped - well done MC for getting a spot. must have had 4 or 5 thousand riders behind us. i tried to stay with MC, jeremy and vince at the front of group 2 chasing down the front group but my speedo seemed to be mostly reading 27 mph or thereabouts and after 8 or so miles the elastic broke. no problem as loads of fast groups came by so just jumped on and off groups for most of the rest of the ride. this and the closed roads and amazing road side support made the day.
very pleased to do 83 miles continuous, no stops, at just below 21 average in 4 hours. looking at the results today i think vince and i must have qualified as well as we were both in the top 25% of our category. great rides by Ant and Barron less than 2 mins behind the winner Andrew Williams. great ride by MC too after the TT yday, setting group 2 alight for as long as i could stay with him.
Echo all above comments, a great ride/race however you look at it, totally different from the usual thing, more like an 83 mile chain gang. And quite difficult to pace, very tempting to go too fast too early. Seemed to be overtaking pretty much everyone in the last 10-15 miles. And yes surprisingly difficult to find a group going at just the right speed.
Me, Stuart and Alan didn't get through the start until about 12.30, so we missed seeing most of you, and no chance of catching up with you after that - well done to all those finishing under 4 hours. First race-style ride for me as well, so very happy with my time, I couldn't believe my final moving average of 19.2 mph, way quicker than I was expecting for that distance.
Good stuff all. I tried to keep up with the faster riders in the 2nd pen and all was going well until I overcooked that first S bend. You know that feeling when you're trying to haul the bike round and the steering starts to wobble. Had to bunny-hop the kerb and do some CX across the verge. The crowd was sent running and amazingly I held it together to rejoin the bunch. I was seriously lucky to escape unscathed. Full of adrenaline I tried in vain to catch Vince and MC.
Apart from that it was uneventful and eventually rode in the same 30+ group for most of the event. Shamefully I sat on for most of the ride. Remember passing Jane but didnt see another CCA rider until the end. Only low point was the dickhead that sat on my wheel for the last 2k and came past me to sprint for 532nd place with 100m to go!
A great day out, albeit a bit over organised but the weather was banging so hanging out in the sun for an hour or two was great.
Ended up on a flyer of a start and smashed out the first 20miles in a great group at a crazy average speed when it settled from the start which was thankfully accident free.
I then punctured on the aerodrome and was gutted as I then saw MC, Martin and Jane fly past looking on great form as I had mild episode of turrets with an inner tube and co2 canister and it turned out drawing pins had been chucked over the track and whilst they had swept most clean it looked like a few others went down around the first feed station for the same thing,
A top mechanic helped me change up in the end and get me back on my way..... I then had a great ride bumping into Stef in another top peleton later but ran dry of water and stopped for a re-up prior to finishing. slightly disappointed with my time but great sunshine and proud to see CCA smashing it up at an event like this...great scenes.... my word racing in a peleton is a lot of fun :)
A great day indeed. Managed a quick lay-by chat with Tim and Stuart, also bumped into Malcolm at the first feed stop. What a brilliant day and some splendid first tan lines of the season. So much nicer than the Pru 100.
So it's great that everybody enjoyed their first racing experience! Now that means that we should have plenty of people signing on on Saturday for the go ride race and any licence holders should get down here for some proper racing! You've seen what it's like on a fast sportive, now get out there and do it properly!
See you on the start line on Saturday (I'll be wearing a yellow vest and pointing at stuff, already racing in the morning)!
UCI has confirmed the qualifiers for the Amateur World Road Champs and I'm delighted to say that the CCA contingent is even bigger than my 1st guess (above)
Congratulations go to:
Ant Morris Barron Mendelssohn Martin Hillier Mark Constable Jeremy Prodger Jane Wilson Tom Duncan Vince Friedlander Stef Dixon
... and please post here if I've missed anyone. (Unfortunately the UCI list doesn't include club names, so I can't seek you out!)
Now ... if you have a close look at the UCI Amateur World Champs (link from the TOC website), you will notice that you are REQUIRED to ride on your national team colours.
Ladies and gents, you better get cracking to source said colours ... Or ask BC what the heck to do.
I'm looking at going. I need to get a UCI legal for for my Giant but will hopefully be able to find one,
Skinsuit wise I have a friend who has sent a deign to Bioracer who really liked it so are going to make some up. It's their version with the ribbed material on the arms. If anyone is interested let me know. It's not the cheapest in the world but it is one of the best.
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From the results I counted 20 out from Ashwell, Anthony Morris and Barron Mendelssohn both finishing with an amazing 3:11
I started off towards the front of the un-penned riders with Stef, MC, Vince and Jeremy and had a great ride with no drama at all - struggled to find a group to stick with but that's just down to my lack of fitness.
As this was my first group ride this year I was happy with my time of 4:24
Looking forward to next year..
i tried to stay with MC, jeremy and vince at the front of group 2 chasing down the front group but my speedo seemed to be mostly reading 27 mph or thereabouts and after 8 or so miles the elastic broke. no problem as loads of fast groups came by so just jumped on and off groups for most of the rest of the ride. this and the closed roads and amazing road side support made the day.
very pleased to do 83 miles continuous, no stops, at just below 21 average in 4 hours. looking at the results today i think vince and i must have qualified as well as we were both in the top 25% of our category.
great rides by Ant and Barron less than 2 mins behind the winner Andrew Williams. great ride by MC too after the TT yday, setting group 2 alight for as long as i could stay with him.
Me, Stuart and Alan didn't get through the start until about 12.30, so we missed seeing most of you, and no chance of catching up with you after that - well done to all those finishing under 4 hours. First race-style ride for me as well, so very happy with my time, I couldn't believe my final moving average of 19.2 mph, way quicker than I was expecting for that distance.
Bring on next year!
Middle row far left:
http://www.peterboroughtoday.co.uk/what-s-on/latest-leisure-lifestyle/gallery-tour-of-cambridgeshire-1-6785108?ot=johnstonpress.JohnstonPressPageLayoutPP3.ot
http://www.heart.co.uk/cambridgeshire/events/photos/tour-of-cambridgeshire/tour-of-cambridgeshire-22/
Think the guy on the right is CCA:
http://www.heart.co.uk/cambridgeshire/events/photos/tour-of-cambridgeshire/tour-of-cambridgeshire-32/
Apart from that it was uneventful and eventually rode in the same 30+ group for most of the event. Shamefully I sat on for most of the ride. Remember passing Jane but didnt see another CCA rider until the end. Only low point was the dickhead that sat on my wheel for the last 2k and came past me to sprint for 532nd place with 100m to go!
Until next year.........
Ended up on a flyer of a start and smashed out the first 20miles in a great group at a crazy average speed when it settled from the start which was thankfully accident free.
I then punctured on the aerodrome and was gutted as I then saw MC, Martin and Jane fly past looking on great form as I had mild episode of turrets with an inner tube and co2 canister and it turned out drawing pins had been chucked over the track and whilst they had swept most clean it looked like a few others went down around the first feed station for the same thing,
A top mechanic helped me change up in the end and get me back on my way..... I then had a great ride bumping into Stef in another top peleton later but ran dry of water and stopped for a re-up prior to finishing. slightly disappointed with my time but great sunshine and proud to see CCA smashing it up at an event like this...great scenes.... my word racing in a peleton is a lot of fun :)
So it's great that everybody enjoyed their first racing experience! Now that means that we should have plenty of people signing on on Saturday for the go ride race and any licence holders should get down here for some proper racing! You've seen what it's like on a fast sportive, now get out there and do it properly!
See you on the start line on Saturday (I'll be wearing a yellow vest and pointing at stuff, already racing in the morning)!
He didn't smell (in the pen, I mean ... and I am talking about Tom here. Can't vouch for Will)
Congratulations go to:
Ant Morris
Barron Mendelssohn
Martin Hillier
Mark Constable
Jeremy Prodger
Jane Wilson
Tom Duncan
Vince Friedlander
Stef Dixon
... and please post here if I've missed anyone. (Unfortunately the UCI list doesn't include club names, so I can't seek you out!)
Ladies and gents, you better get cracking to source said colours ... Or ask BC what the heck to do.
Glad I didn't qualify
Skinsuit wise I have a friend who has sent a deign to Bioracer who really liked it so are going to make some up. It's their version with the ribbed material on the arms. If anyone is interested let me know. It's not the cheapest in the world but it is one of the best.