Hillingdon tuesday nights

[richv]

Adam

It is true that the racers in the club do tend to do their own thing (with some notable exceptions) but this is mainly because with limited time and racing and training to be fitted in there is often not the opportunity to get out on the club runs. Nealy everyone is happy to offer advice and assistance if asked.

If you want to race I would suggest:

(a) You join the club - this isn't strictly necessary for road racing but will keep Monty off your back when he finds out you're not a member. For juniors I think the cost is reasonably cheap, Phil Nash will be able to give you the details and the appropriate form.

(b) If you're going to race more than once or twice then you should join BC and get a racing licence. You can start racing by buying a day licence but the cost of that each time soon outweighs the cost of the racing licence.

(c) It's not necessary to join the Surrey League straight away. If you're going to try racing at Eastway or Hillingdon (closed circuits in East and West London) then the racing is generally not run by the Surrey League so there is no advantage in being a member. Once you've got the hang of things and want to progress to on-road (as opposed to closed circuit) racing then it would be worth joining to get access to races on the Surrey courses (although I would check to make sure they allow juniors to ride the on-road courses).

(d) If you are a junior you will also need to fiddle with your gears. There are gear restrictions for juniors (details can be found on the BC site) and you will need to adjust your gears so that you cannot use any of the larger gears that exceed the restrictions.

I also think the Club should do something to support juniors who want to race and I'm going to suggest at the next committee meeting that the club should pay for junior members race entry fees provided they turn up and ride. Whether this will be agreed we'll have to wait and see.

[-Adam-]

Thanks for the advice.

I don't think im a junior anymore, since im 19 on May21st. Had a quick browse on the BC website and being born in 1987 puts me firmly in the Senior categories. But i guess that just makes it all more of a challenge.

Is it neccessary to start on closed circuit races, or could i get straight on the open road races?

Thanks

Adam

[Grahame]

Sean - me too (age, not suicide bid). Remember, "Getting old sucks, but it's better than the alternative."

[richv]

Adam, it's not necessary to start on a closed circuit but there are some good reasons for doing so:

(a) Surrey League won't let 4th cats ride their 'on-road' races. Finding a 4th cat 'on-road' race elsewhere can require a fair bit of travelling.

(b) The on-road circuits tend to be 5+ miles. If you get dropped (as can happen in your first few races) you will spent a lot of time cycling around on your own. The closed-road circuits tend to be much shorter and usually in the 4th cat races the organiser is quite happy for you to try and pick up the back of the bunch when it comes round again if you do get dropped. You can therefore have a few goes at trying to stay with the bunch if you want.

(c) The circuits are usually easier to ride.

(d) No cars to worry about.

[Jon H]

4/W/J result from 2nd May:

1 7 MICHAEL WILMOT Hillingdon Slipstreamers
2 10 GRAHAM GIGGS Bath Road Club
3 63 MARK DOEL Team Quest
4 53 MAX BIENKOWSKI Oxford University CC
5 52 LUKE MERRILEES Beyond Mountain Bikes
6 49 JAMES WILSON BC Private Member
7 n/a
8 33 DAVE WILSON Charlotteville CC
9 54 ANDY LACK Kingston Wheelers
10 n/a Addiscombe CC
11 41 DEAN BOND Reading CC
12 37 GAVIN GARRETT Redhill CC
13 ???? Addiscombe CC
14 22 JON HALFHIGE London Dynamo
15 48 ADRI ROUCO Rapha Condor
16 45 PAUL BAXTER Hillingdon Tristars
17 36 CARL HARRIS Kingston Wheelers
18 n/a
19 27 HUGO CAND London Dynamo
20 38 PAUL TROUGHTON Wheelbase/ Ronhill
21 62 RICHARD SANDERS Redhill CC
22 5 BRAN SIVAKUMAR Finchley Racing Team
23 1 NICK WALLIS Hounslow & District Wheelers
24 74 DANIEL CONWAY Kingston Wheelers
25 14 TIM BRASS Thames Velo
26 78 WALTER SYBRANDY Hounslow & District Wheelers
27 55 MATT DAY Addiscombe CC

Who is n/a and ????

[richv]

n/a Addiscombe CC is Andrew Carter
???? Addiscombe CC is me

and one of the n/a's is Ben Jones (Addiscombe CC)

A good ride by Andrew Carter who decided not to do any work at all during the race and then sneaked into the top 10 (now that reminds me of someone )

[ajay khandelwal]

Well done guys - Im gutted to have missed out -...I was on way to Hillingdon and then got a puncture in Ealing and my attempt to pump up inner tube resulted in pump disintegrating. It was a very sorry sight ! End up in a cab to the nearest station. Well done Andy Carter for keeping the arts of wheel sucking alive ! In Mallorca next week...so you see on circuit when I get back !

[Toks]

Well done guys!

[Richard M]

[quote="richv"]who decided not to do any work at all during the race and then sneaked into the top 10 (now that reminds me of someone )

[ajay khandelwal]

Ha Ha Mr Munday good to see your finally coming out of hibernation ! Good luck at Eastway tonight

[Toks]

Fantastic effort Andy and well done Matt (I'm guessing its about getting a better position at the finish now!)

Cat 4/W/J
1 52 LUKE MERRILEES Beyond Mountain Bikes
2 56 ANDY CARTER Addiscombe CC
3 85 MARK PAGE Cycle Club Basingstoke
4 53 MAX BIENKOWSKI Oxford University CC
5 22 JON HALFHIGE London Dynamo
6 49 JAMES WILSON BC Private Member
7 48 ADRI ROUCO Rapha Condor
8 37 GAVIN GARRETT Redhill CC
9 27 HUGO CAND London Dynamo
10 55 MATT DAY Addiscombe CC

[Alan M]

A pretty interesting thread. As one who has dipped a few toes I am tempted to keep quiet but I will venture a couple of thoughts.

Do you not need to go back to basics - what is the club for? Its proclaimed aims are on the website - as follows:

Our aims are twofold. To be the top multi-discipline cycling club in the UK and also to encourage more people to take up cycling in the South East.

It seems as if we are mainly about all cycling opportunities - racing doesn't really get a mention and is only included as an oblique reference in the term multi-discipline.

If you really want to accentuate racing, and why not, as well as all the other stuff, there is a way of pursing it as a club. Call an extraordinary meeting of the club members, develop a form of words or mission like "this club promotes excellence in all cycling disciplines but is particularly concerned to promote its local and national profile through organised competition and racing" and then debate it, agree final wording and hold your elected officers to account to achieve it. And just a final point, do we have an elected racing secretary? I am not sure but it seems to me as if Toks is the driving force here and if its not him it probably should be but it is often the case that you need to bring together the informal energising that Toks does so well with the more formal officer role. 'nuff said!

[Toks]

1 66 TOMASZ CHMIELEWSKI BC Private Member
2 7 MICHAEL WILMOT Hillingdon Slipstreamers
3 93 MICHAEL HADMAN Willesden CC
4 100 KAZEK RHYS BC Private Member
5 11 DYLAN KENNEWAY London Dynamo
6 65 PETER DIBBON i-team.co.uk
7 120 ROGER FOWKES BC Private Member
8 92 MILT WARNER Team Quest
9 117 GORDON BARNES Pearsons
10 28 RICHARD VINEY Addiscombe CC

Well done Rich!...Can you stop messing around now and just win the Bugger. I also expect a detail explanation as to how a London Dynamo rider was able to get 5 places in front to of you. LOL's

[richv]

Ask the E123 rider who decided to sit in the middle of the track on my line as the sprint wound up.

It was bad enough catching the E123s halfway up the hill without one or two of them making no effort to get out of the way. It was a test of how quickly you're prepared to ride at a solid obstacle and I have to confess I wimped out