4/3W/4W @ H'don

[Tamar]

I went to the first of 3 beginners' races at Hillingdon on Saturday and it was brilliant fun. You don't even need a licence to do these.

Only one other ACC face there - Joe Dunbar - sorry, didn't get to speak to you afterwards, but you looked like you were riding your heart out.

Keith expected around 30 riders to show, but there were 60 so he had to change the format a little. We started off in groups of about 12 doing 5 laps of thru'n'off with a coach, and then sprinting uphill into the wind. We then did a faster 5 laps, joining the group behind if we were dropped.

Finally we split into two groups and did a 10 lap race with the groups starting a minute or so apart. The fastest riders of these preliminary races did a final, and the rest of us did a losers' final.

It was a great atmosphere and nice little races - apart from the uphill into the wind sprint finish - so hope to see some more people there on 28th Feb and 6th March. It does rather clash with Jayne's training but would be perfect for complete beginners to get a feel for racing. There were several people I spoke to that said it was their first race. I felt like an old hand at it.

[Toks]

Nice to see that you and Joe were there representing the 'agreeables' Tamar. Are there any more beginner races coming up?. Unfortunately this sat and next saturday are definite No No's for me. From the report in londoncyclesport it looked like London Dynamos were all over that first race. Their club runs are big, but no way as big as 'ours' - we need to get more people racing!...Touch wood I hope to start racing at Hillingdon from early April onwards.

Safe Riding, Toks

[Toks]

Hey Tamar congrats! second LADY in Saturday's race - things look like the`re coming along just nicely!!