Excellent fun today
The organisers are still trying to find a way to fit all five categories within the few hours of daylight of mid-December time, so this time unlike the first race, after the ½ hour 4th Cat race they set us 3rd Cats on our own, 20 seconds ahead of the higher categories.
The weather was beautiful, temperature around 7 degrees, wind still strong but a bit less than last time, so it was less of a drag doing turns in the front. A handful of riders of the group of 20-odd 3rd Cats quickly got organised into doing a through-an-off to prevent being caught. This was quite effective although not perfectly coordinated, with some less keen to take to the front, and some (including me at first) not entirely familiar with the “peeling off to the right†method. But a couple riders emulated Toks by giving shouts of orders which got the job done.
I took my turns at the front (hope the pictures reflect that!), the pace was quite high but with the weaker wind and hardly any attacks unlike last time it was a lot more manageable and easy on the heart. I thought about my usual tactic of reverting to the mid-pack for the second half of the race, but was enjoying myself and feeling I could try and join any possible late attacks.
I wasn’t really looking back, but surprisingly we didn’t get caught until the very end of the race, and only by a small group – but of strong riders. There were a few attacks and the pace picked up after the hour mark, for the final five laps. Less riders though so it wasn’t as twitchy as the previous race.
Last time I thought after the finish that I could’ve done better had I started the sprint further up in the bunch, so I stayed within the top ten group on the last lap and we launched the sprint even before the start of the hill. I gave it all but it was a looong sprint, and approaching the top the front end of my bike was wobbling out of control as I used the last bit of strength in my legs and arms. Didn’t lose but didn’t gain any positions, finishing just into the top ten in 9th.
Average speed 40.8 km/h, time 1h15.
Had a great, dark-time and tail-wind assisted chaingaing-type ride back to Victoria with a Dulwich and two Rapha Condor guys, weaving our way around the crazy traffic.
Race Cats E 1 2 3 Results, Race points & Series Points
Race 3 Results Cat Race Points Total Series Point
1 Jason Streather VC St Raphael E 200 410
2 Alex Aldham-Breary PCA CiclosUno 2J 150 150
3 Ben White Finchley RT 3 130 130
4 Wouter Sybrandy
http://www.agiskoviner.com 2 120 270
5 Erick Rowsell Team Corridori 2J 110 110
6 Colin Parry Royal Dean Forest CC 3 100 100
7 Gavin Spiers Reading CC 3 90 90
8 Sam Allen i-team.co.uk 3 80 80
9 Sylvain Garde Addiscombe CC 3 70 80
10 ? 60
11 Andrew Harvey Kingston Whlers Evans 3 50 50
12 Gary Bullock VC Meudon 3 40 40
13 Ian Lowe Thames Velo 3 30 30
14 Richard Collins Imperial Racing Team 3 20 20
15 Paul Stedman Reading CC 3 10 10
16 Richard Barrowclough Privateer 3 0
17 Andrew Stronge London Dynamo 3 0
18 Mike Anderson VC St Raphael 3 0
19 Pete Smith Team M.K. 3 0
20 Daniel Rudd Citihub 2 400
21 Ed Graefe Team Economic Energy 1 100
22 Chris Tune Evans 0
23 Vince Halpern awcycles.co.uk 1 160
24 Sean Sumner Interbike RT 1 120
25 Lewis Atkins Pacific RT 2 220
26 ?
27 Steve Golla High Wycombe CC 2 150
28 Mike Inder Thames Velo 2 50
29 Alex Paton VC Deal 1J 0
30 Gianluca Cappello Pearson cycles 2 190
31 Michael Smith Team M.K. 2J 0
32 Martin Docker
http://www.agiskoviner.com 2 0
32 Rudie Marais Archer RC 2 0
34 David Griffiths Twickenham CC 2 60
35 James Leach Twickenham CC 2 100
36 Mike Bisson Dhcyclesport.co.uk 2 10
36 Peter Jones Hillingdon CC 2 0
38 Kirk Jenns PCA CiclosUno 2 0
39 Nat Spurling Finsbury Park CC 1 0
40 Ben Stockdale MJS Racing 2J 0
41 Steve Legg Twickenham CC 1 0
43 Mario Manelfi
http://www.agiskoviner.com 2 0
44 Mark Holt Cambridge Uni 2 0
45 Alex Atkins Glenedene CC/Biketrax 1 0
46 Steve Wharton Finchley RT 3 0
47 Mike Knight VC Meudon 3 0
48 Stuart Jackson Team Quest 3 0
49 Ben Pochee Bike & Run london 1 0
50 Daniel Staite Rapha Condor E 0
51 Chris Moores Norwood Paragon CC 1 0
52 Phil Holloway Southend Whlrs 2 0