SCCU Sporting 10 & 25 Weekend.

[Andrew G]

Sporting, my arse!

The 10 - Sat 24th
Today was a bit chilly and very windy. The course was a bit of a roller coaster with a bit of everything, drags, small lumps, swoopy decent, and even a bit of flat.

Entered this to give the club points for the Rawson shield, with the addition of using it as a bit of training. Never done a sporting course before so didn't know what to expect timewise, but I thought under half an hour would be okay.

Used my winter bike with tri bars as I don't want to have to keep taking them on and off when switching between TTs and road races this year, made me look a bit of a peasant compared to some of the bikes .

I started okay on the small loop that you do at the start of this event, but then after a great decent (where I span out on my commuting cassette as it only goes down to a 14) I turned on to the long drag of the course. This was horrendous in to a nasty head wind and I was suffering like a dog trying to push 15mph .

Turned off to a side wind and a run in to a little hill/lump which felt steeper than it probably was as my legs still hurt from the drag. Past the sadistic photographer at the top and was rewarded with a nice drop down and a bit of flatter ground, even had a tail wind.

Along this back section I managed to get a bit of speed going and could shift along at about 30. I'd only been caught by my minute man so far and he was a seeded rider. Hitting the final 2 miles I got caught by 2 more which included the bloke who won, blimey he was quick. I looked at my computer and was doing nearly 30 on a slight downhill bit when he shot past like a rocket .

I kept the other guy in sight to the finish giving me a bit of a target, albeit one that kept getting smaller.

Finished with a 29.22 which hardly set the world alight. I went okay on most of the course, with a couple of big drops in pace on little climbs but they were very short, so I must have lost nearly all my time on the long drag in to the wind.

Fantastic organisation, marshals at every turn to stop me getting lost, and countdown markers from 5 miles.

My first 25 tomorrow, and that's a "Sporting" one as well so God knows what'll happen.

ACC Runners and riders (assuming I noted all the times correctly):
Including 2nd place in the team comp.
Jon Hemming 26.27
Richard Viney 26.38
Paul Tunnell 27.19
Robert Royle-Evatt 27.43
Tamar Collis 29.02 (1st lady)
Moi 29.22

[Sylv]

Ah come on, it's a pretty decent time against those world-class testers!

[Jon H]

And so onto today's installment of the double sporting TT tale...

Today was two laps around Loxwood, Alfold, Dunsfold, Plaistow and Ifold. Similar lumpy twisty terrain to yesterday, a bit warmer and less windy I thought, but with some truly dreadful road surfaces in places.

Despite having another of many cough/cold things during the week, I actually felt quite good yesterday when I was riding, so decided to ride today too.

I was off number 56, and was catching some of the other 50s and 40s throughout the race so knew it was going reasonably well. Didn't get passed by anyone until I was on my second lap and Steve Dennis (2nd place finisher) came flying past on his first lap.

After the race in the HQ it was like a scene from "Casualty", with blood and gore everywhere. Well, slight exageration, but at least three people with bloody knees and elbows from various offs. Including race winner Pete Tadros who still did a 57:21.

Times for our crew:
Jon Hemming 1:07:29
Richard Viney 1:09:48
Robert Royle-Evatt 1:11:46
Matt Day 1:12:06
Tamar Collis 1:13:54 (1st Lady AGAIN)
Andrew Green 1:15:04
Paul Tunnell 1:23:01

And our tales of woe:
Richard fell off after about 5 mile, but no major damage so carried on.
Matt had a 20 second later start, partly due to going to yesterday's race HQ then having to rush around.
Paul was getting the miles in, so after riding out & back to yesterday's event did the same today; 40+ mile warm up leading to a big blow-up on the second lap.

And our prizes:
Dosh, 2 bottles of wine & 2 musettes for Tamar for winning both days and therefore also the combined ladies competition.
Bottle of wine & water bottle each for me, Rich & Paul for 2nd team on Saturday.
Another bottle of wine each for me & Paul in the random name out of the bag prize draw today. Andrew's name was pulled out earlier, but he'd left already so missed out; that'll teach him. Actually, it might have been doppleganger Andrew Green of Londoncyclesport blog fame, but he'd left too so we'll never know.

[Dominic]

Good effort by all concerned. Still a bit miffed about not riding but there you go. The only advantage is my TT bike is almost ready for it's maiden voyage next week. I have to say what a handsome beast it is as well for not a lot of money.

One question. How the hell did Pete Tadros do a 57 if he had an off?

[tel]

Cos he`s `ard. Got up and gone on with it.

If I recall Tamar did something similar in a race last year. She also got up and won the race.

Well done to all concerned. Let`s hope for some decent conditions now that spring has sprung.

Terry

[Andrew G]

As I said I struggled badly in the 10 with the wind on the drag which killed me timewise for about the next 1.5 miles, only breezy today though, not such a strong wind.

As the song goes though "What a difference a day makes". Hadn't even driven today's course so guessed it would be more of the same from yesterday. I don't know if all sporting courses are the same but you seem to lose height quickly in a steepish drop or two, and gain it slowly on more smaller kicks and long drags.

My first 25 so I had no idea what to expect. a 1h15 equals 20mph average and "evens" which I think is the normal target for a virgin, but didn't know what this would mean on a sporting course.

Started quite well and did the first lap at a steady, but fairly strong pace, so that I could a) get the lie of the land, and b) pick up on the second lap and not risk dying. Was caught by Keith Coffey after about 3 miles as he was my minute man, but I had been expecting to see him again soon after the start.

As I was starting my second lap I was starting to get in to it, knew there was nothing that bad out there apart from the horrendous surface at the furthest point for a mile or two.

Kept in higher gears on the second lap and pushed on a bit more. Mr. Tadros again passed me (on his first lap) and I'm sure he was still on the motorbike he must have used yeaterday as well. Also passed by a couple of other fast guys on their first laps. Was caught properly by a couple of riders as per yesterday, in the last three miles, which gave me mini targets to aim for.

Finished fairly dead and don't know that I could have pushed much harder. Was delighted to get evens on a sporting course for my first 25, I'm ignoring those four seconds particularly as I had to stop at a bend on my first lap for a car.

The only problem I had was that as I was using clip-on tri-bars for the first time this weekend, and could stay on them for most of today's course, I found that the position made my thighs ache quite a lot towards the end, and the muscle above my right knee still hurts. Soaked in a bath and a bit of rest and fingers crossed I'll be fine for Bognor next weekend.

Hope the gravel rash (and bike) are okay Rich, and thanks to Joyce for supporting us. Said hello on my first lap, and got a mild telling off for ignoring her on my second , shows I was trying as I missed the guvnor completely on lap two.

(I was also 3.5 minutes faster than my doppelganger. I'll have to check his blog and see how he found it).

[richv]

Glad to hear I did no major damage as I can hardly move at the moment

Won't list the damage done to bike and clothes as that really does make me wince, but at least it wasn't raining

Photos of the two events at:

http://www.mikeanton.com/Cycling/SCCU10 ... index.html

and

http://www.mikeanton.com/Cycling/SCCU25 ... index.html

including a step by step exhibition of my fall

[Toks]

Hey well done guys. Great reports Andrew - no word on your doppleganger yet? On a couple of shots No14 looks the spit of Sir Anthony hopkins

[Jon H]

The photographers were out in force, they've obviously cottoned on to what a photogenic bunch we are. More from the 10 on Paul Wright's site:

[url]http://www.pjwphotos.co.uk/WebSite/240307/index.html[/url]

[Andrew G]

My gurning's not very photogenic! I think they're actually just evil Jon all of them lurking at the top of all the drags and hills.

Sean - difficult to say as they were my first events using it. I think the position takes a bit of getting used to and needs a few races to judge it fairly, I also hardly used it on the 10.

As they were both sporting, it's yomping around lumpy country lanes rather than up and down a dual carriageway. I was pleased with the 25, just know I could have gone a bit quicker in the 10. Good threshold training though which was one of the reasons for doing these, times were never going to be quick but more interesting training than the devil that is the turbo.

I'm planning on doing the SCCU 25 (normal not sporting) on 22nd April so should have a better idea after that.

Cheers,

Andrew.

[Ian A4size]

Andrew- looks like you had a gold tooth put in, very piratey, Snoop will be pleased.

[Ian A4size]

Oh and another thing- how come all the blurks are in full winter gear?

And Miss T Collis is in shorts and T-shirt!

[Sylv]

Tamar = Maya l'abeille

[img]http://i22.ebayimg.com/04/i/06/b8/35/d1_3.JPG[/img] [img]http://www.pjwphotos.co.uk/WebSite/240307/slides/ND030307.JPG[/img]

[Sylv]

Jon = Calimero

[img]http://www.universohq.com/quadrinhos/2003/imagens/Sergio_Toppi_Calimero.jpg[/img]

[img]http://www.pjwphotos.co.uk/WebSite/240307/slides/ND030387.JPG[/img]

[Sylv]

Rich you have to order one of those fall pics!

Do you record your power output during the TTs?