Palace 13 May

[Tamar]

Well, it was with some trepidation that I pinned on my number and hauled my tonnage to the start line. It's been a while since I've ridden in a bunch. In fact it's been a while since I actually tried to sprint for anything other than that final piece of cake after a time trial. But I have to do something to get a bit of speed back and I figured that riding Palace was probably a better option than sitting on my arse eating cake.

Lots of Agreeable faces, both racing and on the sidelines. All v good and I will let them tell their own tales (mostly 'cos I'm not entirely sure of everyone's names and have no idea how everyone did - sorry! ). Racing were: Sylv, Stu, Toks, Hal, Brian, Shadow, Kieran, Mr , Dan and a chap whose name I'm not sure of. Have I missed anyone?

Supporting (but sadly without pompoms) were Elliot, Huw, George, a v enthusiastic chap nr top of hill whose name I'm not sure of and another chap whose name I've forgotten - apologies! There were probably some others too but I have forgotten. Oh, Aodan was there too. And Mr senior.

Anyhow - the race. I started in the separate women's group. There were 6 or 7 of us I think....I didn't count...and a couple more speedy women mixing it with the guys. I had forgotten how to go round that damn hairpin so quickly ended up off the back on lap one...and then dropped on the hill. Ho hum. Maria was not far ahead so I pedalled a bit more and tried to stay with her. Hanna Mayhew and another were in sight a bit further ahead...but after a few laps pulled away from us. Maria and I rode together for a bit but eventually she got bad cramp and suddenly wasn't there any more. She took a lap out then we rode together again and caught Hanna. I pulled away from them and did the remainder of the race on my own, egged on by the Agreeable jamboree on the sidelines and also from within the passing pack (errr - how did you have the breath to shout encouragement???). I got lapped several times by the fast women in with the guys, and once by the faster women in my start group...and finished 3rd from last. I guess it was more of a training session than a race...I was never much of a threat to anyone...but hell, it was fun! And I cornered a bit better by the end too.

No idea how anyone else fared....guys..?

[Sylv]

Hey well done Tamar for hanging on, and also Phil for his first race - baptism of fire or what!

Well I've only raced Palace on tired legs so far this year, last week I can't say I could've joined the two escapees, but last night it was it was frustrating seeing the 7-8 men breakaway up the road and knowing I didn't have the strength to join them. I somehow still haven't recovered from the weekend's riding, and when I got there at 7pm, saw that George wasn't riding as he was tired too, and the queue for entries was a mile long, I was happy to sit and watch. Unfortunately that was the queue for the 3/4 and the E/1/2 was free to go, plus Stu was racing, so I thought what the heck at least I'll be able to justify eating lots of bread and cheese for dinner.

I didn't think I would last all the race, had had the idea of trying to stay near the back of the pack, but in fact was about mid-pack for most of the race, coming further to the front in the third third (sounds odd). I was hanging on ok and thought the speed might have been down from the previous week, but to my surprise it was exactly the same - 40.7km/h, about 40 minutes in. I think it was due to the smoother pace up that hill as Warrick wasn't there to constantly attack. Plus after the break got away there was a bit of floating, especially when we started to get mixed up with the other categories - speed at the end had gone down to 40.2. Tried a few times to jump ahead of the 3/4 just before entering the hairpin, but didn't get very far. We had to slow down to let them contest their sprint on their final lap.

Stu showed up in the final ten laps, he attacked with two to go but the next time around there was still another two laps announced! He attacked again on the penultimate lap but got brought back and then said he'd lead me out for the sprint, we did that but I had only just enough to come past him at the top of the hill, and rolled in in about 13th -15th place I would think (I'll never know!). One of those weeks I'm going to have good legs and join those guys breaking away ...

[George]

Awards for Agreeables at Palace last night are

Toks........I can't pull my tongue into my mouth, it just stays there
Phil L........Oh my god, I can get up this hill on the 12 sprocket
Stu...........Really I'm sitting on the back for extra training
Sylv..........Hide and seek in the pack in blue
Keiren........Looking very comfortable indeed
Andrew G.......Retro King on a clubride in the 18's
Tamar..........Best Solo TT at Palace ever
Brian...........Virgin who must have seen his dads video's
Steve...........Going all the way in the pack, well almost
Mark...........Smiling Assasin no.2
Maria..........Cheering on Hanna
Dan G..........Newsflash Alien from another Planet seen riding round Palace

[Andrew G]

[quote="Tamar"]and a chap whose name I'm not sure of.

a v enthusiastic chap nr top of hill whose name I'm not sure of

[Andrew G]

3/4
1 Richard Holt London Dynamo/Cyclefit
2 Stuart Spies London Dynamo/Cyclefit
3 Neil Archibald VC Elan
4 Tony Smedley London Dynamo/Cyclefit
5 Matt Goodes De Laune CC
6 Rob Jeffroy London Dynamo/Cyclefit
7 Jason Green London Dynamo/Cyclefit
[size=150]8 Hal Bransby Addiscombe CC
9 Kieran Brennan Addiscombe CC[/size]
10 Lois N/A

Women
1 Charlotte Blackman London Dynamo/Cyclefit
2 Jo Munday VC Muedon
3 Enya Nolan Dulwich Paragon
4 Melissa Wadams Agiskoviner
[size=150]5 Tamar Collis Addiscombe CC[/size]
6 Maria David Dulwich Paragon
7 Hannah Stirret City of Edinburgh

I thought you were riding with A-disco-in-a-diner Maria?

[Sylv]

[quote="Sylv"]One of those weeks I'm going to have good legs and join those guys breaking away ...

[Marky Mark]

Happy days

Tamar, I can totally forgive you for forgetting my name, Before I went to the top of of the hill with George of the Jungle to shout lots of stuff I'd better not put into print, I had actually shouted 'come on Michelle' to you on your first lap . Bloody good effort.

Pom-poms needed for next race. Firstly to cheer on the ACC, secondly to blind the opposition in a flash of Yellow, Black and White.

Mr Mark (Cheshire Cat) Locke. Sorry for overtaking you on the hill (on foot!)

Toks, Phil, Stu, Sylv, Andrew, Brian, Steve, Dan and all the others i've missed. Eat more cake and ride faster
Big Mexican wave and pats on backs all round.

Sylv you need to get your kit sorted, How can we cheer you on if we can't see you.

All the best from Marky Mark

[Sylv]

let's not go there again Mark ..

[kieran]

well, a quick write up, I couldn't believe the size of the turn out - both in total numbers and in ACC riders and support. A huge number of London dynamo and Dulwich Paragon. I think Mr Green has expressed most people's opinion of their line up behaviour so I won't say more. So the race began and the fight to stay up front was on. In the first lap two riders in front had their wheels touch and I had do go on the grass down by the bottom corner left turn where the kerb falls away downhill, a nice bit of excitement. otherwise I managed to stay near the front ok and for most of the race things semed to go smoothly for the lead 3/4s. We got mixed up with the E/1/2s who kindly slowed and let us through for our sprint to the finish, where I managed to come 9th, yea, a point! Hal came in 8th, didn't realise he was there at all as he was in disguise in a black and white outfit. The London dynamo did a good race and deserved their places, most of the DP guys disappeared but at I think one of them, whom I think had moved up through the bunch rather than back through it, got confused by the bell for the womens race and stopped? Tough luck to him, not sure but I think he may have been the rider I did the SERRL race with. Anyway a fast race which hardly let up and I could't go faster at the end if "the devil himself was chasing me".

Well done to all who raced and thanks to all who supported, it is really welcome when racing.

[Elliot M]

never quite sure whethere you are expected to become a partisan spectator when marshalling? next time i need to check everyone's names before the start. oh and also check who does how many laps so i don't cheerfully say "only 5 to go" when most riders only have 2.

good circuit to watch at, everyone should come along!

sylv: maybe will would lend you his jersey? he's never worn it, not even when he did race!

[Sylv]

I'm sure he'd be happy to swap it for a blue one! (not quite his shade though)

not same sizes though

[Michelle]

Well done everyone, as you can see I was there in spirit if not in person. My doppleganger will be racing for me on Saturday, eh Tamar

Nice one Hal and Kieran.

And really well done Tamar for braving the possibility of sprinting - and not even for the reward of cake!

[mlocke]

Not that much extra that I can add about the race last night that hasn’t already been said.

It took 3 or 4 laps before I gto round the hairpin on the road as opposed to the grass verge but this was all good fun. That was till some guy just about wiped me and half a dozen others out by swerving the full width of the road.

I managed to hang on a bit longer this week – 6 or 7 laps I think before the group slipped ahead and then I pinned them down at about half a lap gap for a large part of the race.

I’m still not fighting near the front of the field but I definitely feel that things are improving.

I was always intrigued by the facts & figures from racing so for those interested in what it takes to get dropped at palace this is my info:

Distance: 16.58miles
Laps: 20
Minutes: 46
Av Speed: 21.6mph
Climbing: 1,586 feet
Avg HR: 164bpm (81% of max)
Max Hr: 185bpm (92%)

Thanks for the support everyone it definitely kept me pushing.

Locky

[Maria David]

Not much to say about how my race went apart from : a) I must learn to corner b) I must not vomit the day before a race and then expect to ride strongly !
I stopped twice to stretch off my legs that were cramping up, and then just decided to get a good work-out, for my £10.

It was nice to see Tamar and the other local lady riders. (There were 10 of us all together, though Jo Rowsell and Corinne Hall chose to race with the 3/4 men.)
All in all, a pleasant evening.

Well done to all who made it round, and thanks to everyone who cheered me on. (I was in too much pain to see what was happening on the sidelines !)

Maria
http://www.2wheelchick.blogspot.com/

[Maria David]

Oh yes, Dulwich is my first claim club. It used to be my 2nd claim club, with Agisko 1st claim. However, logistically I realised it was more practical to do a role reversal as Dulwich is my local club. My Agisko experience was a brief encounter and I never actually raced for them. I am still a 2nd claim member of ACC.

Hope that clarifies it Andrew.