SL - Cutmill - 4th April '10

[Keith]

Rode the Cutmill circuit for the first time this afternoon. I had a look at the OS map beforehand and there seemed a few too many contours for my liking. Contours and 1st Cats isn't the most appealing combination.

A 9 1/2 lap race - i.e. 10 times up the hill.

First time up. Ouch. Second time I started questioning why the heck I'd paid for this.

End of the second lap George got a puncture. A little bit of me said "lucky bugger!" You know you're finding it a tough race when you admit to that!

Fortunately the bunch saw sense for the third ascent and took it a little more gradually. Unfortunately this was only a temporary reprieve.

With 4 laps to go I lost contact with the back of the bunch. It happenend oh so slowly, but beyond the finish line the road kicked up again. Once that gap had opened up it was game over. The 2nd car came past (a Porsche Cayennne - only in Surrey League can they use Porsches as support vehicles!!).

A small Autobus of 4 formed, but this soon went down to 2. I asked my riding companion why we were continuing? "Because we'll hate ourselves if we pull out." (By the way, Phil from Finsbury Park CC says "hi" Toks.) Thanks Phil, I doubt I'd have continued to the end without you. Being marked down as "@ 1 lap" is better than "dnf". Just.

P.S. Well done Marcus for an impressive 3rd place, plus DK 6th.

[Marek]

Ouch, it hurts, but will make you a better rider. Cutmill is a pretty tough course that hill really seems to take the speed out of your legs, a great downhill section though, bet you guys were hammering down that hill. More hill training Keith, maybe we should start our mid week kill each other sessions again.

Cheers

Marek.....

[George]

I was quite enjoying the course until on second lap I was in the middle of the bunch then the next thing I knew there was a loud mechanical smash as my front wheel hit the mother of all potholes totally without warning:shock:

Suddenly my bike didn't quite feel right then the front tub punctured so my race was over.

After a 2 mile walk back to the HQ I noticed the carbon frame had cracked right down the front of the headset

Lucky that the tub punctured really cos if I'd have carried on especially on the big decent, god know:?

Oh well I've finally destroyed my road race frame after years of trying so thats a new bike needed then.

By the way the front Bora that took the impact is perfect!

[Keith]

[quote="George"] I noticed the carbon frame had cracked right down the front of the headset

[George]

Your right Keith this frames had quite a few crashes with a big head on one so it's used up all its 9 lives

So what frame to get next then decisions decisions and who's gonna lend me their bike for the ACC RR next weekend

[Toks]

[quote="Keith"]... Contours and 1st Cats isn't the most appealing combination.

[Rob W]

I did the Cutmill 3rd cat race in the morning,and with the rain over night the circuit in places had standing water across the road.i wanted to keep myself tucked away in the top 15 riders.But i kept slipping back by being stuck in the middle so had to keep working my way back up again and stay in the top 15 and not be bullied of the wheel in front.It was pretty frantic when the hill came round but i managed to stay with the front with not to much trouble and hold my position.A break of 4 went up the road which most of us thought would be brought back, WRONG.No body wanted to get on the front and take charge to reel them back in,and are speed kept going up and down playing into the breaks hands.Wish i`d gone with the break when it happened.Any way finally the last lap and we now have to sprint up the hill to the finish line.Now i have already done this hill 6 times so you think i would know what gears to be using.Well i messed it up half way up the hill i changed into a higher gear and next thing i`m churning up the hill, bad move ,then a rider went down in front of me i went round him managed to pass a couple of riders, i could hear someone coming up beside me so i pushed my front wheel over the line to just beat him.With messing up the gears and the rider going down top 20 would be nice.But we will see.

[Toks]

[quote="Rob W"]A break of 4 went up the road which most of us thought would be brought back, WRONG.No body wanted to get on the front and take charge to reel them back in,and are speed kept going up and down playing into the breaks hands.

[Andrew G]

Sounds like an "exciting" race. Bad luck with the frame George I hope you get something sorted for next week, even if you just remove the mudguards from your Aeron and put race wheels in it.

I'll bring my pom poms out next week.

[Marek]

Rob I think that was Steve Shaw who rides for Addiscombe but don't think he has ACC kit. I think he hit the deck and may have busted a rib, shame as he was going really well when I rode with him in a sportive quite recently. He was in for a top 6 and then got knocked off in the sprint. Doesn't sound like this was our weekend, maybe next week.

Cheers

Marek....

[Marek]

Just confirmed with Steve, 2 broken ribs, broken thumb and sprained wrist. Ouch. Get well soon Steve.

Cheers

Marek....

[SteveSh]

Yeh it was me, really annoyed on the final sprint. Some guy in front just stopped pedalling and veered over to one side, I had nowhere to go and clipped my front wheel on his and hit the deck pretty hard.

I wrote my report in the wrong part of the forum - oops! viewtopic.php?f=2&t=11001

I was in the Cat 3 in the morning (saw keith and george arriving as we finished) with Rob Wright.

It started out pretty fierce and somehow 4 riders got away who I never saw even pull away from the bunch. There were quite a few long steep drags which by lap 4 had really started to break the bunch apart.

Lots of potholes in the roads and standing water made the bunch slow down at quite a few frustrating points (eg on the downhills just after dropping laggers on the hills). One thing i found quite frustrating was that there was the usual "dont want to be at the back but not sitting at the front either" mentality so on some of the downhills the bunch was right across both lanes of the road despite us at the front yelling "car!", it was only a matter of time before people started getting forced into the rough and i counted at least 5 people stop with punctures and heard two pretty big crashes as well.

Final lap and there were quite a few big attacks, my legs were starting to hurt now and I didnt have enough in the tank to do another stint on the front, Rob was still with the group as well but i couldnt tell how he was feeling, the bunch had split into 3 now so there were only about 12 of us left from a group of ~50. We came out of the final bend and I kept expecting the pace to really wind up, i thought about making a break but i recognised at least 3 people around me who would just trounce me in a sprint. Eventually someone went and I started to wind it up. Immediately there were 4 people who had obviously burnt all their matches and there were about 6 of us sprinting up the hill for the line, i could feel my hamstrings starting to get hot, powertap was reading 550W so I only had a minute at best with my tired legs before I would start slowing down.

I started to reel in the other 5 around me with about 40m to go and then suddenly, the prat in front of me gave up and stopped pedalling. I tried to swerve around him but my wheel clipped his back wheel as I swerved and yelled abuse at him..... and then i suddenly hit the ground... really hard, i went to pick up my bike but the wheels had shunted and the brakes were jammed on and the bike was in too high a gear to get moving. I watched the rest of the bunch ride past me and by the time i got moving the second bunch had gone past me as well, so i walked/trundled to the finish line.

So, almost top 6, but sadly i came home with a few broken ribs, a sprained wrist and a broken thumb I never found out who stopped in the bunch or whether he was a lagger and realised he was suddenly in the middle of a sprint finish. I spoke to the marshalls and asked at the finish line but amazingly no-one saw it. Rob didn't see it either, he had his head down and just saw me sprawled on the floor, but he got a good finish i believe.

So a week on diclofenac and strong codeine for me

Although the doc said 6, I have found my ribs heal in about 2. Now will i be ok for the Southern XC this week i wonder...

[Rob W]

Sorry to hear about the broken bones etc.you did`nt seem to bad on the way back to the HQ.Hope you heal up soon .

[SteveSh]

[quote="Rob W"]Sorry to hear about the broken bones etc.you did`nt seem to bad on the way back to the HQ.Hope you heal up soon .

[Toks]

Damn Steve, sorry to hear what happened in the sprint. Sadly all it takes is some 'inconsiderate' so and so and you're in great pain and off your bike for a few weeks. I hope you're not too dispirited; thanks for a great report. Like all the ACC peeps I wish you a swift recovery.