Welcome to the forum
Tour of Cambridgeshire 2017
Tour of Cambridgeshire kicks off this Saturday with the Chrono time trial, followed by the Gran Fondo on Sunday. Dave and I are making a weekend of it again and will be there to support the TT-ers on Saturday. Please post start times below so we can be ready to cheer you on!
As last year, anyone riding the Gran Fondo is welcome for a pre-ride coffee at our tent. We've even got a CCA flag this year so you'll be able to spot us.
Good luck to everyone riding...let's get some CCA representation at the World Champs!!
As last year, anyone riding the Gran Fondo is welcome for a pre-ride coffee at our tent. We've even got a CCA flag this year so you'll be able to spot us.
Good luck to everyone riding...let's get some CCA representation at the World Champs!!
Comments
Jenny - will see you and Dave on Sunday morning for coffee - thanks!
Don't forget your race licences.
I'll look out for the CCA flag and see you here!
Good luck every one.
I think this year we're not going through the old Alconbury air base, apart from that bit it's the same, but obviously about 4.5 miles shorter.
8,500 riders. The event made more manageable by the midday start on a 79 miles closed-road loop into the Fens, with rolling hillage at the start and end.
Most people were racing to qualify for the World Champs in France.
Some opted for the Sportive pens, while me and Matt were penned together. We are all in groups of 200 or so in the Race category, divided by age group, with young Dave and Jenny penned further up. There really is no perfect way to launch all these riders on a race safely. I think the origin of these races comes from the USA - and probably benefit from wide highways to help the enormous amount of riders find their race pace. As it was, with just a few miles into our race, we'd caught up with the tail of the previous age group and turned into a narrow lane.
The inevitable happened and a concertina effect forced Matt to brake hard and tumble gentlyish in the middle of the road with a few others. It's only a few seconds, but that break is all that's required for the front 60 of our group to make a gap. The rest of us eventually worked together but not nearly as efficiently as the front bunch and slowly but surely they pulled away. Eventually, they would meet Dave's bunch and come in several minutes ahead of ours.
I think a Gran Fondo sits somewhere between a road race and a crit then. Once all the crashes at the start filtered everyone, it became a lot smoother and safer and enjoyable. Until then, it's pretty nuts.
I found myself at the front of my bunch. It was massive: 100 or so. So it was safer and more energy efficient on corners. There were 7-8 others wanting to pull us on - you never know. But most were content to sit in. I'd say the vast majority of riders were locla to within 100 miles or so of Peterborough. But there were riders from all over the world too.
With 20 miles or so to go, the front bunch from the 50+ age group came up to us and it split our previous bunch. This made the last few miles faster and edgier again. They said their start was split by a massive crash.
The run-in brought our speed up further and we were sweeping up little groups of riders like a giant snowball going downhill, hurtling to the finish at 32mph+ in the tailwind. I was aware of the finish being a twisty turny thing, and eased back into the back of the bunch, knowing what would happen next. Sure enough, with 100 metres to go, a couple of riders sprint for what was probably 134th place or similar and lock handlebars, sending them both sprawling. Two owd boys too: who should know better. All that way, just to do that. I weave between their spilled bidons and broken bike bits and arrive safely over the line and into the arms of a barman giving away pints of alcohol-free Erdinger. Though I'd missed the front bunch, I was pleased with my effort and comfort at the front of my bunch. 24.3mph average meaning I'd qualified for the World Champs. I won't likely go, but the honour is sweet enough.
Our simple CCA shirts stand out a mile, so it's not long before we find each other. Dave stormed it and kept in his bunch. Matt recovered brilliantly and qualified. You can't dwell on what could have been if we'
8,500 riders. The event made more manageable by the midday start on a 79 miles closed-road loop into the windful flat Fens, with rolling hillage at the start and end.
Most people were racing to qualify for the World Champs in France.
Some opted for the Sportive pens. In the Race pens, me and Matt were penned together. We are all in groups of 200 or so in the Race category, divided by UCI age groups, released a few minutes apart, with youngsters Dave and Jenny penned further up. There really is no perfect way to launch all these riders on a race safely. These races are big in the USA - and probably benefit from wide highways to help the enormous amount of riders find their race pace groups. As it was, with just a few miles into our race, we'd caught up with the tail of the previous age group and turned into a narrow British lane.
The inevitable happened and a concertina effect forced Matt to brake hard and tumble gentlyish in the middle of the road with a few others. It's only a few seconds, pick up bidons, clip back in, but that break is all that's required for the front 60 of our group to make a gap. The rest of us eventually worked together but not nearly as powerfully or efficiently as the front bunch and slowly but surely they pulled away. I thought about putting my head down to TT it over. But it would have been too much. Eventually that group, would meet Dave's bunch and come in eight minutes ahead of ours.
I think a Gran Fondo sits somewhere between a road race and a crit then. Beginning bit like a crit. Once all the crashes at the start filtered everyone, it became a lot smoother and safer and enjoyable. Until then, it's pretty nuts. Believe it or not: fun!
I found myself at the front of my bunch. It was massive: 100 or so. So it was safer and more energy efficient on corners. There were 7-8 others wanting to pull us on - you never know what might happen ahead. But most were content or resigned to sit in. I'd say the vast majority of riders were local to within 100 miles or so of Peterborough. But there were riders from all over the world too.
With 20 miles or so to go, the front bunch from the 50+ age group came up to us and it split our previous bunch. This made the last few miles faster and edgier again. They said their category was split by a crash early on too. Theirs sounded quite big.
The run-in brought our speed up further and we were sweeping up little groups of riders like a giant snowball going downhill, hurtling to the finish at 32mph+ in the tailwind. One unique thing is the noise. 100s of bikes, freewheels, the wind in aero wheels. It is something like nothing else.
I was aware of the finish being a horrible twisty-turny thing, and eased back into some space in the middle of the bunch, knowing what would happen next. Sure enough, with barely 100 metres to go, a couple of riders sprinted for what was probably 345th place or similar and locked handlebars, sending them both sprawling. Two owd boys too: who should know better. All that way, just to do that. Silly. I weaved between their spilled bidons and broken bike bits and arrived safely over the line and into the arms of a barman giving away pints of alcohol-free Erdinger. Though I'd missed the front bunch, I was pleased with my effort and comfort at the front of my bunch. 24.3mph average meaning I'd qualified for the World Champs. I won't likely go, but the honour is sweet enough. I forgot to hang around for the medal - which has a UCI logo on and is pretty impressive as these mementos go.
Our simple CCA shirts stand out a mile, so it's not long before we find each other. Dave stormed it and kept in his bunch, riding the last 4 miles with one handlebar, when the other snapped off! Hard man. Matt recovered brilliantly bien sur and qualified.
You can't dwell on what could have been if we'd been in the front at the start. And it's the age-old tip of doing all you can to get to the front and avoid the bedlam. We were trying - we just didn't think we need to be there so soon. Luck has so much to play. Simon had a great ride too and was beaming. He'd already qualified in Ayr. I missed Jenny's arrival - but she made it too and is off to France. Great. I'm not sure how Tim and Tomi got on. Barron, now with Contour Cycles, did really well again up front and I expect came top 20 or so overall.
Thanks to Dave and Jenny for the CCA basecamp. Full catering services, changing room. And our big CCA flag so you couldn't get lost. Great flapjack.
Not sure I'll do this a third time. But maybe. The World Champs 2018 will be in Milan.
Great crowds all the way. I think for some lonely villages in the flatlands, we are their highlight of the year.
All this, just 45 mins away by car off the A1.
After my fall, and losing Martin, it took a little while to get going again (chain came off & I got shouted at for being in the middle of the road. Like it was my choice to be on the floor!). So I had to really bust a gut to try to get back onto a decent group, which I managed to some extent. It felt like I spent most of the rest of the ride trying to move up from group to group, which was not always easy - especially in the wind. And, as Martin mentioned, there were quite few people who really did not want to share the work at all.
But, overall, I thought the general standard of riding was good & I felt safe the whole way.
There was an overly long wait at the end to find out about qualification, but I finally found a very helpful race-official who told me I'd qualified & gave me my medal. So very pleased.
Strava tells me my time was 3:23, 128km @ 37.7kph average. Pretty pleased with that I think!
Well done for all the blue jerseys qualifying for the worlds this year too. Any stripy jerseys on their way to herts this year?
For me a far better day this year- last year's lack of experience led to me desperately clinging on for the first 20 miles, then blowing up and having to face the Fens on my own. Yesterday, a crash across the road just in front of me in exactly the same place as last year (5 miles or so in)split the bunch, and we watched the front half disappear up the road - 6 of us decided to work to get back on, absolutely buried ourselves for twenty miles before catching them- sadly dragging the bunch behind us. After rejoining, it all got a bit messy as at the same moment we caught a group ahead, and the front of Martin and Matt's category hit us from behind- it was very tricky working out who was in which group, and we lost a few of ours who sneaked out the front mixed up with others. After a speedy first 40 miles (25.2mph), it settled down a bit, but the windy Fens were really hard work. It's no wonder the Belgians dominated the podiums yesterday, it was right up their street...
With 5 miles to go I hit a deep pothole with a massive bang, thought at best I'd broken a wheel- turned out I didn't even puncture, but lost a much needed (full) bidon, and snapped my carbon bar-had to be a bit ginger with the left side; held together enough to be able to use the brake, but not much more than that. Got into a nice chaingang for the last few miles which definitely helped get me home, and contesting the sprint obviously wasn't going to be an option for me.
Finished in 3hours 15, 24.3mph, 118th out of 734 in my category. Was never going to podium- my category was won by one Matt Bottrill...
Tough but exciting day out, some great racing experience after you get past the sketchy opening miles - bring on Albi! (Don't think I'll be at grass track tonight, I feel as broken as my handlebars today..!)
At the end I was pleased with my result – 3:39, 21.6 avg – which was better than the 21 mph average speed target I set myself at the start of the year, but unfortunately not quite enough to qualify though: I missed the cut by about 8 minutes.
So I’m a bit disappointed after having put in what I thought I was a lot of extra training over the past 6 months, but overall I can’t complain, I couldn’t have gone any quicker on the day and did beat my personal target, it’s just that that target was not tough enough. I think the problem is that I based it on last year’s time needed to qualify, and I’m sure the standard this year was *much* higher. Pretty much everyone seemed to be going for it in a big way, no doubt spurred on by the closeness of the finals in France this year.
Well done to all those who qualified. As I said at the top of this thread, I’m going to Albi anyway, and myself and Helen are more than happy to be the support crew for those CCA’ers travelling down to represent GB – hope as many of you as possible go for it!
I’ll have to think about next year, Italy is similarly close and doable, just need to consider how much training – and lifestyle compromise - would be needed to chop another 10 minutes+ off my time…
"UCI has decided to change regulations concerning the “recall” of tickets for riders who finished in between 25-50% in the result of the qualifier. The recall won’t be made anymore for the males’ Granfondo age groups 40-44, 45-49 and 50-54. The main reason is the safety of the start groups. In previous World Championships, those age groups were receiving over 250 riders and we risk of having pelotons of over 300 riders at the Albi World Championships. For the other males’ age groups and the females, the recall will be made early July. There won’t be a change for the individual time trial."
So I'll keep any eye out, but won't hold my breath on this. My role now is firmly Directeur-Sportif, soigneur, caterer, mechanic, roadside supporter, general dogsbody or anything else you need me to be!
I started slightly further back than 2016 but still in the first 3rd of the long Sport21 queue. I still don’t understand why Sport21+ is not penned as well, just to make it a less busy experience on the road for everyone. My ride was better than last year. In 2016 I only took one 900ml bottle which I had also drunk from in the hour of waiting around for the start. This year I had 500ml water for the waiting time and 2x800ml on the bike. This, improved things quite a bit with no more cramps due to dehydration at the end.
ToC does not favour my capabilities, I don’t like high speed and pedalling on descents all that much and the first 23 miles are very fast. From the Alconbury climb onwards though the ride does typically look up for me and I did do better from then on. No events, from what I could see, in my groups. A slight regret at the end when I still felt very well and it made me think I could have gone deeper and tried more, especially towards the end of the fens section when my group dwindled due to attrition and I had the energy to sprint in search of a better group ahead but decided to play it safe.
3h:35:31 according to the organizers so 22 mph average for the ride. Getting the results took longer than expected and was a small let down from last year. All in all good fun on closed roads and well organized,just like last year, I’d recommend it.
Great catching up with CCA colleagues before and after.
I did the Chrono on the Sat (along with MC and Brendan) and Tim I feel your pain! Six months ago I genuinely didn’t even know if I would be riding a bike this year let alone competing in TT opens. I have worked like a dog over this time to not only get back to fitness but to try and restore my confidence on roads. On Saturday I knocked nearly 2 mins off my previous PB on this course (3rd time ive now ridden it) and came in 7th out of 25 riders ……..however 6 qualified and I missed out by just 17 secs!
Having said that, I know that I completely emptied myself and could not have given anything else so I am pleased with my ride, just slightly frustrated that I was so close yet so far.
Overall I was much more impressed with the day than in previous years – the start and finish were massively improved and less hazardous, it was sunny and dry although ridiculously windy and overall just better organised. It was good to catch up with Brendan and MC and to also watch the team TT. Thanks to David, Jenny and Dave for their support and cheering on the line.
I joined the club earlier in the year when signing my boy up for the kid's training on a Thursday, figured I would join in with a write up of what, I think, is a great event.
I did the event in the same age category as Dave Wells (reading the above), I saw the kit in the bunch, but couldn't really get over to try and say hi.
Same as Dave got caught the wrong side of the crash and split, a few of us broke clear a fair few times but couldn't get organised and were swallowed back up each time, until eventually we bridged to a group in front (not sure if was the same time Dave bridged, I was in a pink/black OVO energy kit), but then we were caught by the age category behind and our race was over.
Sat in this bunch until the end, it was a decent pace so there was still some work to do to stay in it.
Qualified for France (40to44M 61st 3:11:48), would be a great trip I reckon, can but dream.
I found the bunch quite stressful, but manageable, how would this compare to some of road races/crits I could get involved with around here?
Steve
Steve: great pace. I'd say the stress and closeness of the riders of the start resembled a twisty course crit, like a Lea Valley one. Once things settled, it was a bit like being in the bunch on a road race but without the surges and intervals of effort. Maybe more chainganglike: less aggressive. There were never going to be any breakaways other than from crash-generated splits.