Kirdford 3's

[Marek]

6 hardy souls from ACC turned up to ride the 60 mile, relatively flat Kirdford circuit. I was feeling pretty confident at the start, Matt looked as strong as ever and Peachey, looked, well not particularly Peachey, but that is a story for later.

The race started off and I positioned myself a 1/3 of the way down the pack. As the race got going a couple of early attacks went off the front. I rode up to the side of Matt and gave him the nod to jump on my wheel and I would drag him up to the early break. He seemed up for it so I dug in deep and nailed it, picking up Matt and Moores (Norwood Paragon), got up to the two early breakaways pretty easily and then Matt came through with Moore and I realised that I had overcooked it a bit as Matt then carried on at the same pace and I couldn't keep hold of his wheel. I ended up back in the pack.

They kept a good gap for quite a way, but some chasing and within a lap or so the guys were back on the fold. Then Matt went again on his own, either that or he hadn't been brought back in properly.

I sat on the front and tried to slow it a bit to allow others to attack off the front to help out Matt. One guy from London Dynamo came up on my outside and started sprinting, he leaned right into my front wheel and his rear skewer hit my spoke, we were both nearly toast, it was really close, I just about managed to hold the bike up, as did the Dynamo rider. Heart nearly jumped out of my throat.

At one point the peleton slowed right down, I was imagining that Matt was probably killing himself out front and then at that point Keith went flying up the outside and nailed it off the front up to Matt. I think a couple of others went off as well and they got a good gap.

I quite fancied getting up in the break, so went over to Peachey and asked him how he was feeling, he didn't seem too good. I asked him if he fancied getting in the break. He said no, I then asked him if he would mind taking me up to the break. He point blankly said no and that he was not up for it. Fair enough, I found out later he hadn't actually slept at all the night before due to Stu's 21st.

I thought that we were not going to see the break again, a lap or so went down and then the London Dynamo, VC Meudon and Norwood Paragon organised a chase. It was the first time I have seen a proper organised chase in a 3rd cat race and they were successful, unfortunately for our boys but they did work hard.

I had a couple more pops off the front and on the penultimate lap had a go off the front. Unfortunately nobody came to join me so spent about 2/3 of the lap out on my own dangling out in front of the peleton. Onto the last lap and we were all together again. It ended in a sprint finish which I think Moores from Norwood Paragon got.

Was a really active and fun race, great to be back racing, legs felt really good today, just couldn't get the break and my sprint is non-existent.

Cheers

Marek....

[Sylv]

Good going Marek and co. Special props Peachey for your resilience, I could never have survived my race with a hangover – sorry Stu!

2/3 race in the afternoon – I turned up just as the 3rd cat guys were packing up - was very jealous of them six ACC riding together whilst I was on my own. Even more jealous as after getting soaked for one lap they were drying themselves up, whereas it looked like our race was going to be three very wet hours. Was getting ready for a warm up ride but the skies suddenly open with a violent shower, almost hail-like, just had time to hide in the car until 5 min before the start.

Keith said 42 had entered but it looked like about 60 riders on the line. The attacks started fusing soon after we got rolling, and I joined a few moves which were brought back. At one point I tried to jump away on my own to join a small group 100m up the road, but ran out of steam half-way and had to wait for the bunch and have a rest, before it all came back together. Next time I did that again, as the group ahead looked like a good one, half-way there I began to fade again, and wonder what the point of trying was, but a guy had come up to me and I took his wheel with relief as he went past. I then took a turn but as I expected to come past again, I realised he’d dropped back. There was quite a way still to the group but it looked doable, so I put in a massive dig and finally joined them. There were 8 of us and we had a gap, and got organised into a through and off. I was in the break

We soon lost one guy and another puncture later on, leaving 6 of us – Cam Austin (budding 1st cat, instigator of most earlier attacks) and Richard Simmonds (top TTer) from London Dynamo, two In-Gear guys, one young guy in white and me. We were really motoring and averaging over 41.5km/h for the next 3 laps on the wet roads. The circuit was non-descript with two main junctions that looked quite similar, and I was having trouble remembering where the finish line was. I was also finding it hard to find the time to grab something to eat, such was the pace with absolutely no freewheel moments – one blink and you’d get dropped. We got a time gap of one minute which didn’t seem enough so Simmonds urged us to do the next lap as fast as we could. I was beginning to flag, and miss a few turns. The young guy was taking no turns at all. Simmonds and Austin were both looking very strong. Phil Glowinski who’d punctured on the first lap was standing at HQ with James and Jules from VCL cheering me on, in between bouts of watching the Tour at the clubhouse.

I had a really bad patch and began to contemplate to possibility (and ignominy) of getting dropped off the break. We’d got a new gap of 1’30 and I was wondering whether I could hold that on my own (no chance). I was looking forward to the small hills on the course as they were the only places where I could actually get a breather. I can’t tell whether it was raining or not as this was the least of my worries, but we were soaked to the bone, and the spray from wheels was atrocious. Then all of a sudden I heard a big crack from under me – my wafer-thin full carbon saddle had literally snapped going over a bump, it was cracked in the middle almost in two parts held only by the rails and a bit of carbon. I was now sitting half an inch too low, and each time I went out of the saddle the carbon strands would catch on my (brand new) shorts.

I wasn’t looking forward to the last lap as I knew attacks would come then. With a little more than one to go, Simmonds jumped away just before a junction, and with Austin now playing the team mate game, was somehow allowed to go clear by the In Gear guys. The three of us half-heartedly got chasing, but I was on my last legs and not able to contribute much. The In Gear guys looked resigned to fight for second place now, though both still looked strong. I managed to spend some time at the front and so did the young guy who was getting worried we’d get caught. That last lap was 2 min slower though, so I recovered a bit, but knew I still wouldn’t be in the mix for the rest of the podium places. Cam had a go at jumping away but we neutralised it. We came up to the last climb and the three of them went clear, I pushed as hard as I could and dropped the young guy, but could not keep up with the others, so crossed the line a few seconds after them in 5th. The bunch came in about a minute after.

Simmond’s win was well impressive, with Austin coming in 3rd. I was pretty pleased with my result, it was really the best I could have done on the day, and spending two hours in a break is always satisfying . Looking forward to having two team mates at Crowhurst next week!

[Keith]

Well done Sylv. Have you dried out yet?

Our break had 6 riders and a healthy gap, but people soon started missing turns and we were down to 5... 4... 3... Pity as we appeared to be working smoothly together. We also needed a Dynamo, Meudon, or a Paragon rider in the break to help prevent the bunch working against us.

[Marcus]

Great reporting from Marek and Sylv. Exciting stuff to read. And well done to all those wearing the ACC shirt.
Can't wait for Peachy's report when he sobers, I mean wakes up

[matt chapman]

I’m able to shed some light as to why Peachy was not looking so peachy! It all goes back to Saturday night when we were out for a drink with Becks, Paul and Stu. Peachy only required one more point to become a second cat so as the beers went down he was getting less fussed about the race. With Becks having to be up at 5.30 for the Hillingdon Triathlon we managed to escape at 11.30. At this point Peachy was still reasonably compos mentis so we agreed that he would pick me up at 7.30 and head over to the race.

At 7.45 Peachy finally arrived and I opened the door to see him holding out his car key, smelling like a brewery and asking me to drive as it is probably not a good idea for him to get back behind the wheel! A few beers turned into quite a session as him and Paul carried on drinking for most the night, so, I guess it was a good effort that Peachy made it to the start line.

As Marek said, we managed to do a few attacks off the front that ended up getting pulled back in. I then went on the attack and ended up out the front for a lap and a bit on my own so when Keith came over to join me with four other lads I was seriously glad to see him. Keith quickly got us organised and we worked well together, it was just a shame that they started to fade and drop off.

Knowing that me legs were shot and I would be useless in a sprint finish I joined in with Marek’s attacks off the front to see if we could get away but with most people still having fresh legs we were reigned back in.

Despite being the last person to role over the line it was a cracking race and hats off to Peachy who managed to get 8th place in the sprint finish - what a git, up all night drinking, rolled round in the peloton and still managed to bag a few points!

[Keith]

Well done Peachy on getting your 2nd Cat licence

[Grahame]

There are two things I remember my coach saying to me when I tried racing as a much younger, slimmer chap:

1) The only time it matters to be at the front is when you cross the line. Anything earlier than that is showing off and a waste of energy.

2) The art of cycle racing is to ride as slowly as possible and still cross the line first.

Congratulations Peachy on a good race strategy, despite the "unconventional" carbo-loading regime.

[Andrew G]

Nice reports chaps, a good read. I always thought those carbon saddles look like an instrument of torture Sylv but you probably didn't expect it to literally bite back.
Well done Peachey, looks the fresh air helped sober you up.

[Phil H]

[quote="Keith"]Well done Sylv. Have you dried out yet?

[Paul H]

[quote="Grahame"]There are two things I remember my coach saying to me when I tried racing as a much younger, slimmer chap:

1) The only time it matters to be at the front is when you cross the line. Anything earlier than that is showing off and a waste of energy.

2) The art of cycle racing is to ride as slowly as possible and still cross the line first.

[Sylv]

[quote="Grahame"]There are two things I remember my coach saying to me

[Grahame]

Yes, I was what could be classified as a "sprinter", certainly not a climber (even in my skinniest days), possibly a "rouleur".

Anyway, the point is to be the first to the finish, not the first to the start of the last lap. For some people, I suppose, the only way they can expect to be first to the finish is with a longer effort either solo or in a group break hoping to exclude the faster finishers. I (as a "sprinter", I suppose) don't understand the fascination with being in a break, especially one that is almost certain to fail. It just strikes me as slightly naive strategy. Better (for me) to save the matches for the finish rather than wasting them on the course.

If you are sponsored and there's TV (or other media) coverage to be had, then the game changes. For a sponsored racer, what matters most is not results but exposure for your sponsors. I kept a sponsorship deal for a couple of years of mountainbike racing, not through excellent results (they were distinctly average), but by being able to get my sponsors positive mentions in the mountainbike press just about every month. Of course, being freinds with and riding with the editor most Wednesday evenings helped.

[Sylv]

[quote="Grahame"]I (as a "sprinter", I suppose) don't understand the fascination with being in a break, especially one that is almost certain to fail. It just strikes me as slightly naive strategy. Better (for me) to save the matches for the finish rather than wasting them on the course.

[Paul H]

I dont understand the fascination of sitting in the peleton for 60 miles - a very boring way to spend a sunday morning (unless youre hungover).

Also there is winning and winning. Ask Thor Hushovd which is his favourite TDF stage win.

[Grahame]

Oh, I understand that. I've only ever won two road races, and enjoyed them both in different ways. The first was a crit in San Francisco in 1990, where I attacked at the bottom of the last hill and managed to stay away for the last couple of miles. This was, I think, largely due to the 4200 miles I'd ridden in the previous 8 weeks on my bike loaded with panniers, so the hill felt small compared with passes in the Rockies - so I have won from a (solo) break. The second was the club "B" chapionship race at Hillingdon in 2007, where I was able to "boss" the peloton and predict which breaks would come back naturally, and which were dangerous enough to need chasing down. I like to think that this was 'cos after a few years as a VC I had a good idea about the strengths and weaknesses of pretty much every other rider in the race. I then took the sprint for the line with just a few metres to spare.

I enjoyed them both in different ways, the first 'cos I felt strong enough to ride away (and, in my coach's terms "show off" a bit), the second 'cos it was close to what I had been taught was the "perfect" race.