Smithfield nocturne

[Ian A4size]

Go Addiscombe Go !!!!
An amazing night out, but not my story to tell !

[George]

Here's the Addiscombe Story:

Smithfield Nocturne 23/06/07

What a great atmosphere tonight up in London, there were ton’s of crowds, the course was well laid out and there was plenty of room to manoeuvre round the track.

Everything was well professional, up on the podium the commentator was keeping everyone well up to speed on all the front-runners in the race.

We even had Robert Elms from BBC London talking up the event.

Our race was the first of a packed evening of races, the 2,3,4’s Regional A race, we had 2 agreeables Jon Carnell and myself.

On our warm up lap Tim from the mosquito’s came past then the rider ahead just suddenly went flying straight over his handlebars for no apparent reason, in the middle of the start straight.

Tim was right behind him and had a spectacular crash into the advertising hoarding, to my relief I just missed him.

Right at the start, I did a booboo, couldn’t clip my foot in and went right back in the pack , but luckily the wide course allowed me to get back up near the front, within a couple of laps.

This is where Jon and I positioned ourselves for the race, we were riding actively doing a lot of turns on the front and generally keeping the pace high.

The first 20 mins I wasn’t feeling too strong and had to sprint a little out the corners to keep in the top half dozen, but later on I found my legs.

I really was getting into the rhythm of the course swooping round the tight corners, which I loved to take really tight, keeping up the momentum.

At one point I went off the front on my own for a few laps to get some publicity for Addiscombe which I heard over the Loud speakers.

Jon was riding his usual strong style right at the front, when there was a loud hiss and he pulled over with a puncture.

There must have been a big crash down the start/finish straight as the race was neutralised for at least 5 laps whilst the ambulance carted the unfortunate rider away.

Then Jon turned up again into the mix on a different bike, Carbon Look with Zipp wheels cool, I wonder who he got that off.

We got racing again and there were about 7 laps to go I got right up the front and was feeling good so with 5 to go so went for it off the front.

This seemed to spread out the field down the course and helped whittle down the competition e.g get rid of some dreaded Dynamo’s.

I kept it going and was feeling good, I was leading the Peloton and no one else really wanted to come up so I carried on going.

2 laps to go I gave it a super effort to try get away again down the straight, then I heard a big crash behind which took out a few riders, I think Jon must have been held up in this one I’m sure he didn’t want to crash someone else’s bike.

Last lap I was still leading thinking oh well I’d better go faster, then round the bottom corner I heard another big crash right behind me, a hundred yards later looked round and me and 1 other had a 50m gap cool.

Penultimate straight he came round and I grabbed his wheel, then onto the finish straight he pulled ahead in the sprint, he must have had fresher legs than me as I’d been drilling the pace for 5 laps.

So I crossed the line in 2nd position ahead of the depleted Peloton, I got a serious bollocking from my wife for not winning, but I was still well chuffed with the race, and didn’t feel so bad after finding out he was from a Pro team.

Up on the podium with Elmsie and the Commentator was brill, we had Champagne, Podium girls and even David Millar who congratulated us on our race, in front of a massive crowd

[Stu Merckx Man]

well done george thats an amazing result!

[carl f]

Nice one george,sounds fantastic, gutted i couldn't make it up there

[Phil S]

Well done, but he's not from a pro team. He's Craig Stevens and he's 47 years old, he rides for PCA Ciclos Uno (you're probably thinking Plowman Craven, but not the same team)

[Rob C]

Well done George, I saw you pull away on the last five laps and thought you might have got the win. You looked very happy when I saw you having just crossed the line arms in the air.

[Snoop Doug]

Hey George you must be well chuffed - what a FANTASTIC result and the write up is tipperty top.

Well done - Snoop

[Ian A4size]

I liked the way he waved to the commentators when he went by the finish line when he went off the front on one of his "digs".
A great night out, a well organized event- plus nearly every bar/pub sold leffe .
The commuter race was held during a thunderstorm- real true to life, they got a right soaking! We abandoned to the bar.
Both Jon and George did a huge amount of work and were in the top 10 riders all the way, alas for poor Jon it was not his night- a puncture then a bike swap plus a crash in front of him on the final few laps
But both riders got mentioned in the commentary as they came round.

What about Warwick Spence in the elite race
awesome.
Good night out and i stayed up well past my bedtime.

[Ian A4size]

Is george saying the result stinks?

[ajay khandelwal]

congratulations george, that's brilliant !
what's next ??

[Andrew G]

[quote]I liked the way he waved to the commentators when he went by the finish line when he went off the front on one of his "digs".

[Toks]

What A fantastic night!...I head locked a few friends into coming down to the event so whilst being topped up with food and wine I had to remain on full 'race explaining duty' most of the night. Consequently I didn't get to find the ACC section but I did get to meet Jo and Ian which was cool.

You've gotta give it to the George, true to form he looked like a happy smiling kid in the race; he wouldn't have won any style awards, he was honking in 53/12 when others were spinning 53/17 behind him; his fellow competitors cursed and shouted at him - which would have sent most of us into our shells; so after heaps of work on the front and a few favourable crashes near the end he did brilliantly well to grab second spot. Then what happens, he gets a right old fashion public roasting by his wife for not winning. George is Unbelievable

...Oh and as Ian said watching Elite rider Warrick Spence (London Dynamo) cornering like he was on rails on such a wet puddle laced circuit was amazing!!

[Paul H]

Well done George - another great result and it sounds like you had a lot of fun as well.

[quote="seanieh.NearlyNewCondor©"]
Warren S was awesome, there si no other word for it.

[Ian A4size]

AHHHHH Mr Toks, on behalf of Andrew , Kieran and my goodself- a very warm welcome to "pedants corner", a nice cosy world of typos and all things "picky"