Hillingdon Men's Grand Prix

[Toks]

Under the hour in the morning! And a great effort racing against lots of Elite riders in the afternoon. Chapeau Sylv. Were you the first 2nd cat?

E/1/2
1 13 Tony Gibb CyclePremier.com/Metaltek RT 02:17:24
2 27 Jon Mozley Kuota-Road CC st
3 35 Marcel Six Orbea/For Goodness Shakes st
4 8 Ben Luckwell Big Maggies/Wilier/Prendas st
5 19 Jason White CyclePremier.com/Metaltek RT st
6 49 Matt Cronshaw Rapha/Condor/Sharp st
7 56 James Stewart Tm Raleigh/High 5/Skoda st
8 31 David McGowand Kuota-Road CC st
9 75 Lee Smith Felt-Colbornes RT st
10 54 Marc Wilmot Tm Quest/The Bike Shop st
11 7 Will Bergfelt Big Maggies/Wilier/Prendas st
12 9 Marcin Bialoblocki Big Maggies/Wilier/Prendas st
13 15 Richard Hepworth CyclePremier.com/Metaltek RT st
14 50 Wouter Sybrandy Sigma Sport/Specialized RT st
15 16 Simon Wilson CyclePremier.com/Metaltek RT st
16 34 Lewis Atkins Orbea/For Goodness Shakes st
17 28 Andy Tinsley Kuota-Road CC st
18 11 Ian Rees Big Maggies/Wilier/Prendas st
19 64 Blake Pond Southfork Racing st
20 88 Ewen McDonald Epic Cycles RC st
21 63 Peter Johnson Southfork Racing st
22 73 Sylvain Gard Addiscombe CC st
23 5 John Fitzpatrick Abergavenny RC/Gateway Cycles st
24 10 Grant Bayton Big Maggies/Wilier/Prendas st
26 3 Vince Halpern A W Cycles RT st
27 86 Graeme Gouldins Kuota/Spinnergy/GSG st
28 12 Jon Pain Big Maggies/Wilier/Prendas st
30 1 Gavin Spiers A W Cycles RT st

[Sylv]

Sorry Toks just spent a full hour with my jaws locked open, second time in a week (dentist).

Quick - well it would have been if I'd gone the right way on the M40 - drive from Marlow to Hillingdon after the TT got me there on time to see the start of the women's race, with a nice big 70+ field - but no Bridget. Crash on lap 3-ish which got the race re-started, to eventually be won in a bunch sprint by Dani King. I hadn't pre-entered but decided to have a go at the afternoon's race, despite not wanting to get on the bike beforehand to try the legs for fear of them being too bad! It was the usual "big race" clockwise course, with some big names signed on the 80+ start sheet, although fewer than last year it seemed due to the absence of the Halfords team. Rapha only had a couple riders including Matt Cronshaw whom I helped unscrew his tub valve before the start.

The race - well not that much to say from my position hidden in the bunch - 66 laps at 44.3km/h which sounds hard, but with careful positioning wasn't all that bad (you don't want to see my average HR). The kick at what is usually the S-bend just after the start was maybe the hardest, where you had to give it the beans for 10-15s everytime. So it became a game of staying out of the S/W wind for me, the hardest being moving from one side of the track to the other without switching lines. A few times I tried it out on the wrong side (or got caught out) and it was a lot harder. There were some breaks, and moments when it went to single line when it got tough. A few dodgy moments especially in places with a bottleneck effect. The late break that seemed likely to work looked like it had about 15+ riders and a 27s gap at some point, so I thought the teams would police the bunch for it to stick, but somehow we caught them and it was shaping up to a bunch sprint.

Last three laps got very hot but I didn't think there would be a crash - there was, last time around the S-bend, nor far ahead of me. That split the group a bit and I was lucky enough to make the cut. Didn't quite have the legs to mix it up with the top 20 for the sprint though, and lost wheels coming up to the back straight. 22nd so a few places better than last year but points only down to 20th d'oh!

[Andrew G]

A 25 in the morning followed by an E/1/2 crit! Under the hour followed by a good finish in the crit. Mad but brilliant.

[Sylv]

I was very well behaved on the clubrun, well until that non-ACC rider went past just before the Merstham drag, and then when Shadow decided to wind it up on the run in to Coulsdon

[Sylv]

[quote="Sylv"]Last three laps got very hot but I didn't think there would be a crash - there was, last time around the S-bend, nor far ahead of me.

[Sylv]

Lotsa pics now on LCS

[img]http://www.londoncyclesport.com/images/phocagallery/hillgp2010e12s/thumbs/phoca_thumb_l_rc61.jpg[/img]