Surrey League Handicap Championships

[Marek]

http://www.londoncyclesport.com/news/ar ... 49&SP=&v=1

Had fun today in the great weather. As I have been saying to people for ages now, the Handicap races are brilliant fun for beginners and seasoned racers. Today, unfortunately I was the only ACCer to take part, but that did not bother me as there were a few friendly faces around with Dave Kennett and Doug Rollins in the mix.

I went off with the third group of riders, this included a couple of 2nd cat riders and third cats. Unfortunately the group did not gel too well, it started off with a reasonable through and off and then it was just three of four of us doing all the work. Kevin Davey from Norwood Paragon, a guy from Twickenham, Ingear RT and myself. After a bit we got fed up and went to the back and we were not going fast. I had a shout at everyone and they all ignored me, ah well, I think they were waiting for the faster riders to catch us up before doing any work.

This is not good in a handicap race as you know that the faster riders will soon catch you up if you don't work, and when they do they inflict a lot more pain that doing a couple of turns on the front. I decided to try and spice things up by doing some big turns on the front to speed it up. Then I got fed up so I decided to attack the group to see if that would have the desired effect. It seemed to get a bit quicker after they had caught me but was not great.

After 4 laps the 1st cat riders caught us and it got a bit quicker, but it was not mega fast, mind you I was feeling great today, reckon that sportive last week has knocked some form into me. At one point I don't know what came over me but I decided to attack the full group, hoping that someone may come with me. They didn't.

Before long I was back in the group. At one point I got a shove from behind, some guy from Redhill was getting squeezed, he in turn squeezed into me (elbow up my ass) which forced me to push over to some guy from Rapha, he was not happy. Thankfully everyone stayed upright but it was a twitchy moment. Its one of those moments where you want to explain to the guy you knocked into that someone was knocking into you and we should be friends, the way this guy was grimacing, I decided to try and hide my face and number and hope he would not find me after the race.

As we came to the bell it got a bit quicker up Henfold Hill the last time and then it was hammer and tong to the finish. Henfold Hill is short but at 17%, the 6th time around it starts to hurt, take it from me. I managed to stay in with the main bunch which was starting to dwindle in number now as the hill had taken out some of the more tired riders. Into the finish and we had a right hand turn and then a long uphill for about a mile all the wya to the finish. In the sprint I could not do much, the Elite riders really know where to sit and have a good turn of speed in the finish which I just cannot match. I came in 17th and was the second third cat, I am pretty chuffed. Felt great on the bike today and cannot wait until next week.

Cheers

Marek.....

[richv]

Not sure I could manage Henfold Hill once at the moment let alone 6 times. Well done Marek it's impressive being able to stay with some real quality riders round a circuit like that.

[quote]Henfold Hill is short but at 17%, the 6th time around it starts to hurt

[Marek]

When you sign on basically you write down what category rider you are. Then Keith Butler the guy who organises the race calls out the names of people and then you go with that group.

He is a wily old fox and he knows most of the riders. Therefore he knows for instance that some 2nd cats or 3rd cats are a lot faster than others and he groups them with the right people. It is really good as the groups do tend to be well matched.

Keith also does the timings, he has been doing it for a while so knows that each course should be handicapped differently. Today I think each group had about 3 minutes between them. So therefore the Elites were probably starting about 12 - 15 minutes after the first group had left.

It is great fun and sometimes there are shocks where the first or second groups manage to hold off the elites to the end. When the elites do catch up the pace goes up but as you only tend to have a bit of the race left when they catch you it is possible to hang on and get a result.

Come and try them out next year, they are on Thursday nights in the summer and take place all over Surrey.

Cheers

Marek....

[Toks]

[quote]At one point I don't know what came over me but I decided to attack the full group

[Gavin]

only like every club run.........