club ride---> crowhurst

[Stu Merckx Man]

we did the crowhurst race circuit this week.

tim, dave, paul, josh, simon, hal, ray and me set off to meet marek in bletchingly. we were led at a good pace by tim when out of nowhere marek turned up!!. the pace was high and unfortunatly josh was dropped up the deul carriage way.

we turned off at mestham and a decent ride over to the circuit. simon went home but the rest of us split--- ray marek and i were to have the 2 minute head start. we did not realy kill ourselves but it was a decent leg tingley pace especially up the hills.

for the first lap we must have been well clear of our chasers. on the second lap it looked like they would never catch us. then a loud shout from behind and tim was right on us!! we were just at the end of the race, at the bottom of a hill leading up to the finish line (a pink house)....marek was leading me up the hill, then he pulled over to the middle and blew!! NOOOOOOOO!!! i was absolutely nakered!. i looked behind me and tim was right on my wheel. then a loud shout from marek snapped me into action and i went for it. i looked behind me again and got another shout from marek (this time to say dont turn around). i had enough time to see that i had made a small gap between me and tim. i put everything into it...my legs went past burning to cold dead and numb!! i approached the line and kept expecting tim to come past me but no one came and i came first!! i couldnt believe it.

a good but slightly hilly ride back (not good news as i was on the old steel thing). riders slowly pealed off to go there separate ways which left me and paul to ride back to coulsdon.

felt realy great today.

merry christmas
stu

[Andrew G]

Normal CR for me today and it was good to see Jon back on the bike after recovering from his broken arm.

Set off in a fair sized group for a steady 17. Quite a lot of us taking it easy today as this group still included Alan, Huw, Steve, Adam etc, etc... Didn't really bother with rotations as those on the front (Mark for most of it I think) seemed happy enough and nobody called for any fresh legs to help out.

All in all, a nice sedate friendly spin with plenty of chatting, we even turned off at Partridge. On the run in, Huw slipped to the front and started winding it up, perhaps going for a long one as there were a few sprinters in the pack.

I felt a bit guilty having done zero work to get there, but as all the others picked up the pace to grab Huw's wheel we all decided to have a go. I grabbed Steve's wheel, knowing he'd be right up there, as we picked our way through some of the others towards the front. Steve went for quite a long sprint so I stuck on his (very fast) wheel and came off to the right as late as possible, and started to move past. Very close finish, I think a draw. Adam was moving up fast so another few yards and he'd probably have pipped both of us. Happy with that as I know these guys are quick, also very satisfying going past people on my winter bike complete with rack and big lights.

Enjoyable ride back as well with a decent pace up Merstham and a few good digs along the way. I think everyone did some work, with wheels being grabbed as someone moved up the outside. Legs a bit stiff at the end as I gave a big dig so I sat up and spun back home.

Good ride, nice crisp weather.

Yuletide felicitations to one and all.

[Marek]

Stu may not have been trying that hard today, but I was certainly having to put my back into it to keep away from Kennett, Tim, Paul and Hal. It was going to be a challenge but the circuit being reasonably flat gave us a bit of an advantage.

The handicap of 2 minutes worked really well today as Tim only caught us on the final hill after Dave Kennett had dragged him around the final lap probably at some ridiculous pace as we were not exactly taking it easy in our group. Paul had dropped off and Hal had a mechanical.

We kept our through and off quite smooth in the first group (Stu, Ray and myself) and did not attack each other. Into the final straight and Stu started to ease off which I knew meant he was saving himself up for the final hill. When I saw Tim coming down the road at a hell of a pace I went to the front and pulled as hard as I could so that Stu could keep away. As we got to the hill I thought I might be ok but I could not keep up the pace and I died on the hill with Stu taking over and out of the saddle pumped his way to the top with Tim in hot pursuit, although this was probably quite slow as we were all cooked at this point. Stu did a couple of over the shoulder glances which I reprimanded him for, although I have made that mistake in the past and it cost me dear in a race at Chertsey.

I am not around for a few weeks now, but I reckon that this format is a winner, it is really good fun and any ability that turns up should be able to have a crack as we can handicap anyone, that is if the pace to the circuit is kept reasonable so that everyone can get there.

Have a happy Xmas everyone and more of the same in the new year, I know a few more circuits in club run territory that we can practice on.

Cheers

Marek....

[Stu Merckx Man]

andrew,
[quote] nice and crisp

[George]

Well done Stu on your win today at last you know what it feels like to cross the finish line first.

It wasn't that cold today where I was riding, It must have been colder out in the lanes.

[Stu Merckx Man]

when i rode back with paul over the top of the downs it was covered in coldfog and with a biting wind!

where did you ride today george?

[quote] i looked behind me and tim was right on my wheel. then a loud shout from marek snapped me into action and i went for it. i looked behind me again and got another shout from marek (this time to say dont turn around). i had enough time to see that i had made a small gap between me and tim. i put everything into it...my legs went past burning to cold dead and numb!! i approached the line and kept expecting tim to come past me but no one came and i came first!! i couldnt believe it.