Four of us signed but Keith was sick and a DNS. Adam got a reserve place but not Marcus NP.
People started crashing into each other going uphill.
End of lap 1 and as Chris Snook had broken clear with a few seconds gap the coms stopped the race for dodgy riding. As we were restarting he was given back his gap but caught shortly after.
I had told Matt we should try attacking not at the base of final hill but towards the top and push on on the drag,
Promptly forgot that when sponsored German rider Anna Fischer went hard at the bottom and I followed and then passed her, then ran out of steam halfway up and got swamped – lesson learnt.
SW wind was nasty which made it too hard to break away on the A25 drag
Down the fast dark hill someone at the front overcooked a corner and went flying into the bushes with his bike careering down the road, right in front of Matt and me just behind him. Matt had to bunny hop over the bike’s wheel and I was lucky not to go down either. Others were not so lucky with Phil G snapping his carbon frame, and next lap we saw a number of riders wheeling their bikes back to HQ.
This created a gap and we seized the occasion (why not) to break clear, thought it would work but previously sleepy bunch woke up and chased us.
Down the second hill the heavens open in biblical proportions. Soaked to the bone within seconds, couldn’t see a thing with all the spray. All of us ACC on carbon rims and Matt almost rear-ended someone and him and Paul decided to call it quits - like a lot more it seems. My wheels are ok in the wet so I carried on, again with a few of us trying to make the most of the situation trying to break clear but to no avail. At the bottom corner the lead car came to a stop and I thought they were stopping the race becasue of the rain, but it was just horses.
Minutes later and the road was dry and sky clear, it really was a local rainfall. We had Kate, Beckie and George cheering on from various points of the course - they didn't see any of the rain!
Did go hard, or follow moves at top of hill few more times, and once bridged back to James Wilson from Banjo, but we got caught at bottom of downhill
A break of 4 created with people jumping away – Debney, Wakelin, Coyle, Snook again (I think). I was feeling ok but not overly strong. Certainly not enough to jump away from the bunch and get onto them especially given the growing gap – it went up to nearly a minute.
I never thought we’d catch them (and it looked like no-one did), and was beginning to feel quite tired, so spent most of the last lap trying to recover. At one point though I was at the front barely soft-pedalling and no-one would come through, was quite amusing.
The same spot of the course was still wet, and incredibly given the wind, it was still raining there but nowhere else.
Later on Adam did a fair bit of work, and also attacking which a few of us including his old team mates in orange.
Was surprised on the first of the three hills to see the remnants of the break, Debney weaving and looking in pain. Think Wakelin saw us coming and managed to find a little energy to keep going. Vet Coyle impressively was now ahead of them, and was able to stay clear for the win.
We caught Wakelin on the climb, Adam leading I was in his wheel, waiting for the move. Started sprinting up the steep bit and I was now in first place, but that darn bit at the top where it flattens out, I always lose places there, and two came past me. So I was 4th, but 2nd place Junior from Twickenham was later demoted for taking a whole lap out, after coming off the side of the road on a climb, entirely unassisted, which was also quite funny (he was picking himself up so no harm done). 80 entrants just 35 finishers!
Now have a neat round 100 bc points : )
Cats 2/3 - 60 miles
1 Michael Coyle Brighton Mitre 2V
2 James Wilson BanjoCycles.com 2
3 Sylvain Garde Addiscombe CC 2
4 Daniel Sullivan Norwood Paragon CC 2
5 Alan Strang Dulwich Paragon CC 2
6 David Seager Kingsnoth International 2
7 Adam Cotterell Wyndymilla 2
8 Chris Snook BanjoCycles.com 2
9 Maurice Brennan Redhill CC 3
10 Richard Whitehorn Glade CC 3
11 David Murrell London Phoenix 2
12 Gavin Morton Charlotteville CC 3
13 Francis Cade Kingston Wheelers 3
14 Stoyko Bussarov Eagle RC 2
15 Harold Evans Progressive Cycle Coaching 3
16 Elliott Porter London Dynamo 2
17 Andrew Mazewski Kingston Wheelers 2
18 Giorgios Crouch VC Meudon 2
19 Julian Bray Dulwich Paragon CC 2V
20 Declan Higgins Twickenham CC 3J
21 Patrick Hawkins Dulwich Paragon CC 2V
22 James Wakelin La Fuga - Sigma Sport 2
23 David Kennett GBCycles.co.uk 2V
24 Robert Pace Redhill CC 3
25 Paul McGuigan Norwood Paragon CC 2
26 Damien Breen Kingston Wheelers 2
27 Drew Holmes Progressive Cycle Coaching 2
28 Michael Brown Progressive Cycle Coaching 1
29 Christopher Johnson Blazing Saddles 3
30 Daniel Gillow Wyndymilla 2
31 Dean Corney VC Meudon 3
32 Chris Batch Redhill CC 3V
33 Alex Pantelides Twickenham CC 2J
34 Cliff Steele Brixton Cycles 3V
35 Mike Debney London Dynamo 2
dnf Anna Fischer Abus Nutrixxion 2W
dnf Matt Chapman Addiscombe CC 3
dnf Paul Hone Addiscombe CC 3V
dnf Matt Melville awcycles.co.uk 3
dnf Philip Courtier Bababici 3
dnf Andrew Colvin Bigfoot Bike Club 2
dnf Craig Calder Bigfoot Bike Club 3
dnf Geoffrey Lulham Bikelab 3
dnf Paul Edwards Carbon Sports 2
dnf Christian Rudolf De Laune CC 3
dnf Rhys Keepence Dulwich Paragon CC 3
dnf Philip Murrell Finsbury Park CC 2V
dnf Richard Moss GS Henley 3V
dnf Peter Cole Handsling Racing 3V
dnf Andy Edwards Kingston Wheelers 2V
dnf Stephen Looby Kingston Wheelers 3
dnf Gary Sherriff Kingston Wheelers 2
dnf Niall Digby La Fuga - Sigma Sport 2V
dnf Luke Wallis La Fuga - Sigma Sport 2
dnf Mark Phillips London Dynamo 3
dnf Russell Short London Dynamo 3
dnf Andrew O'Connor London Dynamo 3
dnf Martin Garratt London Dynamo 2
dnf Guy Powdrill London Dynamo 2
dnf Ben Weeks London Dynamo 3
dnf Richard Bayfield London Phoenix 3V
dnf Christopher Dick London Phoenix 2
dnf Matthew Harper Look Mum No Hands 2
dnf Steven Smith Medway VC 2
dnf Chris Holmes Norwood Paragon CC 2
dnf Nathan Russell PBScience.com 2
dnf Peter Allan Private Member 3
dnf Charlie Fawke Progressive Cycle Coaching 2J
dnf Will Kemp Progressive Cycle Coaching 2
dnf Joe Harris Reading CC 2
dnf Phillip Jemmison Redhill CC 3
dnf Dominic Clegg Redhill CC 3
dnf Tom Neale Spalding CC 2J
dnf Michael Miach Twickenham CC 3
dnf Jules Birks VC de Londres 2
dnf Philip Glowinski VC de Londres 3
dnf James Solly VC de Londres 2
dnf James Graham VC Meudon 3
dnf Josh Stewart VC St Raphael 2J
dnf Ian Leeding Redhill CC 3V
