2,3,4 lamberhurst serrl 13/5/07

[Stu Merckx Man]

im off for a shower, but will reveal more later, but ill leave you with a riddle...

one of the following 3 members of the A team is now a 2nd cat but which one??

george the smiling assassin? paul the hurricane hone? jon the man in green?

[Marek]

I know the answer as I was there, but I won't reveal. Man that was hard, I am tired and I did not even finish the race. Last year I did this course and my bottom bracket fell apart on the last corner, this year I did not even make it that far.

After a hard first couple of laps and trying to get into the break I over cooked it and then got distanced with a bunch of other guys on one of the hills. I then led the charge to get back onto the peleton which a few of us worked and managed to do.

Then on the finish hill for the third time up I got dropped and then had to do two more laps on my own.

Well done to John, George and Paul for sticking it out and to the new 2nd cat racer.

Cheers

Marek....

[Sylv]

Has Stu melted in the shower?

Anyone who races in this weather is a 1st Cat loonie

[Marek]

I reckon it is the first wash that Paul and his bike have had in a while.

[Stu Merckx Man]

it was more of a luxuriose bath sylv

so ill tell the story up to the point i was dropped.

well i was not sure i was feeling today after crashing last week, and the gastric ulser mid week.

the race started up a hill and i felt fine, so i was no longer worried. i few attacked from the beggining but got pulled in. then another break went and stuck for a while, so marek charged out from the pack. i felt this was the perfect opportunity to repay him for helping to bring him back last month
so i sprinted out to him and we broke away for about 45 second ..before getting pulled back in , as well as the other break.

after bieng pulled back i rested for the remainder of a pretty long hill. at the top however the front of the group split which allowed about 10 people including paul h to get away. the break got some distance pretty fast.

at the next big hill jon (man in green) must have realised there was a break, but not that paul was in it. it was here i saw something almost surreal---> i was about 10 or so from the front and jon was leading. the rain was falling hard, and there were the headlights of cars in the opposite directing reflecting off the wet tarmac. i pulled out to wipe my steamed up glasses and saw jon going at like a monster at the front! he was about 10 ft infront of the unfortunate person trying to hold his wheel, whose face was screwed up in pain. but with the headlights, the rain and the spray it all looked pretty amazing. then as i looked back the whole peleton was out in one single line! it looked pretty incredible!

anyways eventually george managed to tell jon that paul was in the break and it all eased off. so the three of us started doing some blocking. at 1 point the 3 of us were right at the front side by side pootleing along at about 20 mph

jon told me he was pretty desperate to bridge the gap so when i saw christain yates make a break i went with for it with jon. we had a little break going with him for a while. at one point going up a hill i was on christians wheel, but at my max, he pulled over and gave me the elbow to come through, but all i could do was pull level with him, and nothing more

the same thing happened for the next 30 or so miles--> jon george and i were working well at the front, blocking, and then when a break went we would follow. im not sure how jon and george were feeling but i was getting a real good work out from this, and riding side by side with geroge or jon when they are taking it easy is still pretty tuff!

eventually this used up pretty much all my energy--> i had followed jon up a looooong drag and was pretty nakered. i reached for my energy gel. the instruction roughly go 'enough for 2 shots, 20 mins of energy each'... b*gger that! im nakered so i gulped the whole lot. we then decended and as we got to the next hill christain yates came to the front. i was then on the red line, i had taken the food gel 5 mins too late for it too help me now. i was just hanging on, when jon attacked to get away. well that was in i had nothing and i was straight out the back!!

its annoying though as i still felt really fit and felt hardly any fatiuge at all. i think i must have just used all my energy though. myy legs would not physically go any faster. i looked at my speedo and i had done 50 miles so i was not to dissapointed. i rode the rest of the 5 miles to the HQ. i missed out half of the last lap as it was cold and wet

so did the pack catch paul in his break to give jon and george the opportunity for 2nd cat? or did it stick and was it given to paul?

stu

[Sylv]

Oh the suspense

Whoever it is I'm excited to see how well they will be doing in the "fast" races, at C.Palace amongst others.

Forbidden to look on LCS though!

[Paul H]

It was meeeee.

Another great SERRL circuit - it was a 13 mile undulating circuit with a nice long hill to the finish.

George and myself tried to break away on the first lap but got caught quite quickly.

As we approached the long hill for the first time, Marek and Stu broke away from the front but were caught quite quickly. The pace was really hard up the hill and before I knew it, I was in a break of about 15 people. It was still a long way to go (52 miles) but everybody started to work hard and shared the work at the front and that was the last I saw of the bunch. George said he tried to jump over to us but left it too late and couldnt make it.

The break was getting smaller and smaller and we were left with 8 people with one lap to go and people started to miss turns. 2 guys attacked up the hill and got a good gap on the rest of us but I managed to jump over to them and dragged somebody else with me.

The 4 of us worked really hard to the bottom of the hill at the finish. 1 guy attacked but we were soon on his wheel then I attacked and got caught but dropped one rider which left 3. I was still feeling strong and was going to sprint again when I got to a red car which I had spotted a few laps before about 200m from the finish. Unfortunately the car was gone and before I knew it the other 2 started the sprint for the finish and I came 3rd.

I saw the remains of the pack come in and John was about 8th and George 12th overall and unfortunately Stu got dropped. A big thanks to George, John and Stu as they did some good blocking work at the front of the bunch.

I'm slightly disappointed as I think I was strong enough to win but a least I now have the confidence to race with 2nd Cats and know I will be competitive (not at Palace though as I go round corners like a girl).

I'm now a 2nd Cat but hopefully not for long as I'm sure George and John will there soon.

Today was probably my best (Cycle) race yet.

[Jon H]

Congratulations Paul.
Sounds like some good work was done there by George, John & Stu (aka Ringo ) policing the peloton for you.

[Stu Merckx Man]

george came out with one too before the race but we didnt have a clue what he was talking about at first.

[Sylv]

Excellent work! Know how you feel about the sprint but just knowing you could've got it must be a consolation of sorts.

Inspiring stuff - was going to watch tv but will be going for a 45" run now

[Matthew Ives]

great result Paul...well done Mr Average.

[richv]

Good result Paul and well done on making 2nd cat. Hope you get some company soon

[George]

Well the weather today was atrocious, as soon as we arrived at the HQ the heavens opened and didn't let up

Today was like a war of attrition, people were getting dropped, having punctures, getting into mega strong breaks or just simply giving up.

It sure was a long grind of a ride today, 2 hours 45 mins of pure natural racing, it was tough at times hanging in there.

The Yellow agreeable's were always towards the front keeping an eye on the pack.

Marek had a characteristic 1st lap effort off the front, he must have ant's in his pants in the early stages

As Paul said before we knew it he was off up the road with 10 riders pulling ahead, I saw him go and was sitting right on the front of the peloton at the time.
I was affraid that if I tried to bridge I would just help reel em in so I made the decision to let my team mate go

So with a good 200m gap I went for a lone cross over, I was on my own for quite some time slowly reeling them in, but it was hard work.

Then Danny Rudd joined me but just flew past in an immense all out sprint to get across.
He blew on the hill
I commented about cooperation to get up there but he went backwards faster than you can rewind a DVD.

Another 1k or so alone but they were getting away and I had to return to the fray.

Jon was pulling hard on the front so I thought I'd better mention Paul was up the road

The race then went on forever, the peloton whittled down, unfortunately we lost Marek and Stu.

I'm feeling shattered now after only 2 hours kip last night, my brains just stopped working.

Well done to Paul the Breakaway Hurricane Hone that was just what the doctor ordered

[kieran]

well done Paul, I wnet out today for a spin to Boxhill, I wouldn't have liked to race in the conditions - roads were very slippery. Great result!

[-Adam-]

Fantastic!!!

Good stuff guys, have to say racing in that kind of weather isn't really my cup of tea but i was never really gonna do today anyway...

So sounds like the ACC quest for 2nd cat domination is coming along nicely, its surely only a few more races until George and Jon make it. Then myself, then Stu...

Well done!

Adam