Predictions for ACC RR champion?????

[Tony]

To be honest I've no real idea. However, I would not be at all surprised if the riders who enjoy tearing strips off each other on the the club runs marked each other so relentlessly that someone else managed to take the spoils.

Given reasonable odds, I would definitely have put some money on Keith Knight. I'm not sure how fit he is currently (he's been injured for a few seasons) or indeed if he was racing. Nonetheless, I wouldn't be in any way surprised if he put in a serious challenge for the title.

I hope it goes well and look forwards to reading all about it later today!

[George]

I think Stu will win but it won't be easy cos Marek will be hot on his heels. I think the 2 of them will go for a break drop the others then Stu will drop Marek on the last hill for a fine win.

There's no way it will be a bunch sprint

[-Adam-]

Only smarties have the answer...

But well done to the boy wonder, and the afore mentioned past master, and the real sprinter...

I'll let him tell his story before I sum up what happened behind...

[Stu Merckx Man]

so the race got under way with all the favourites (apart from george) turning up.

i new the only way i stood a good chance of winning was to get into a break.

so on the 2nd lap i attacked up the hill, unfortunately i got caught up with the B race, so that came to nothing.

there were a few laps of peace, but soon that was interupted and marek attacked, new keith went with him and i new i had to go incase it stuck. i just about bridged it but marek didnt make it easy! keith couldnt quite make it.

marek was storming on the front and then pulled over for me to come through but my legs were just done in. i did my best but i knew we wouldnt stick it out for long. marek did another strong turn on the front for about a lap and then we were back in.

then, not for the 1st time in the race keith knight rode away on his own... he got bought back, then i think he did it again, and then another time...to be honest i lost count. but anyway, with one of them hal went with him and they put in a great effort for a very long time. it took us ages to catch them and it was not easy!

then the race settled down for a bit and i took the opportunity to rest....then, i was not suprised to see keith knight go off the front. i went with him and we stayed away for a lap or so, but it came to nothing in the end.

with 45 minutes gone, my legs were finally feeling into the race, and i promised myself i would go with the next break. my suspricion was marek would go, to try and expell the sprinters....

nothing really happened until 5 laps to go....someone went off the front...keith knight of course

i hesitated for a bit, wondering if he had much left in him...but he did!....paul tunnel went with him, and then i realised this could be the one. i let it go for a bit, then attacked up the hill as hard as i could. luckily i didnt drag the pack with me. i managed to get to the pair of them as we it the back straight, there was an awful head wind there. i sat there for a tiny bit to get my breath back and then started working.

at first i didnt think we would stay away, so i was not sure wether to commit myself or not.... but i thought it was worth giving it a try so i dug in and started working as hard as i could. i tended to take us up the hill, and to the back straight, and then keith and paul took over on the flat and into the wind. we got a good gap, but i looked back and the pack were still within range of catching us.

3 laps to go now, and as we got to the hill paul cramped up, after doing a goo trun on the front though. i was very worried at this point- could keith and i hold off marek, hal, sylv and steve to name a few, all on our own!??!

we kept going regardless and we started working together really well. keith kept up the encouragement when i came through for my turns which kept me going strong. as with when paul was with us i tended to take kieth up the hill towards the back straight and then he would do the nasty flat gail force head wind section.

2 laps to go and the lactic acid was building up... but now i knew we could do it so the adrenalin kept me going.

1 lap to go DING DING DING. but we didnt get excited and try to jump each other, we kept it smooth and steady. i looked back and saw that marek and steve were trying to get across to us, but i knew they didnt stand a chance

as we got to the back straight keith said he would lead me out for the sprint. i was eternelly greatful but felt guilty, so i made sure i didnt just leave him on the front to give him no chance if he changed his mind.

last corner and i came round keith and he gave me more encouragement. i thought about taking it easy to the finish line, but realised this would be taking the p!iss a bit ...so i sprinted as hard as i could, and took the victory, although it could have gone to either one of us.

in this case i can definately say keith won the moral race ..he also won most agressive rider, un suprisingly.

i was so pleased to be working with keith at the end. he was completely selfless in giving the break his all, and then not challenging me on the sprint. he completely deserved 2nd, if not the win !

adam round off the podium with a 3rd spot.

tony and geroge- if you put your predicitions together your not far off!

cheers
stu

[Stu Merckx Man]

oh yeh, and thankyou toks and huw for the prizes and all the organisation, it was great race!

[George]

What a great write up Stu it really had me on the edge of my seat!

Well done on a well deserved win, where on earth did Keith come from I really wasn't expecting that

Nice one Adam for finally winning a bunch sprint in a race

[Tony]

That sounds like a great afternoon's racing. Congratulations to Stu for taking the victory and to Keith for making such a big contribution to the race. Not forgetting Ads, of course, for winning the bunch sprint.

What a great way to close out the 2007 road racing season. Roll on 2008.....

Chapeau All!

[Sylv]

Well done again Stu that's a deserved win and I bet you must be over the moon.

THat was really hard work with this crazy wind on the backstraight and you did well to stay with the breaks.

Keith's K attacks were impressive - I knew he could be fast but the last few times I'd met him on my commute he'd just be plodding along - I felt sorry for him when no-one could match his speed to work with him!

Well done Adam, you see you were right to choose to race in the end.

We averaged just under 24.4mph.

Thanks to Toks and Huw for the great organisation.

Now we can look forward to seeing the photos on http://www.cyclingphotos.org.uk , I hope you guys buy a few.

[Grahame]

B race averaged about 21mph (my computer is ahowing 20.6 average, including the wamup and warmdown and pre and post race faffing)

I hid in the B race, and did nothing except jump across to the leaders (at the time) to take the first Prime, avoid Michelle's crash, check she was OK and then sneak the sprint.

No honour , but a classic sprinter's victory (I like to think) .

[-Adam-]

Well, it was a fantastic race, and full applause has to go to Keith and Stu. And Paul, just unfortunate he cramped up otherwise the rest of us would have been left to contest the Minor places.

As mentioned, the back straight was incredibly windy, possibly the windyest ive had it at Hillingdon. Fortunately this made breaks hard. Of course there were primes to be contested though...

The first was gone as the Keith/Hal break swept it up, but for the second, we brought them back just in time. So Paul unwittingly led me out for it and i hammered it home with enough time to give it a brief celebration

To clarify, on the back straight of the penultimate lap, Marek followed by Steve moved to close down Keith and Stu. I knew this was it, its now or never I thought. So off I went up the hill as the Bell rang. Made it across to Marek's wheel who by this point was screaming at Steve to work faster . They weren't gonna catch the leaders. They didn't even realise I'd bridged until the penultimate corner. Then Steve peeled off looking clearly spent, good effort though. Then Marek gave it one last dig knowing I was on his wheel. Then I sprinted past him from the bottom of the 'hill' and it was like slow motion:

I could see I was catching Keith and Stu, but was I quick enough. And as the History books will show, I wasn't. They had about 10 bike lengths on me as I crossed the line, sat up in applause of a well timed break. So it wasn't so much a bunch sprint victory, more a canny piece of riding!

But don't worry George, I have actually won the occasional bunch sprint before Credit must go to Keith, the strongest man in the race, no question. And obviously Stu, who's obviously learnt a trick or two on his travels to Belgium! Thanks to Marek for the lead-out too. And everyone else who made it such a great race, you know who you are!!

And finally, most importantly, thanks to Toks for organising again. You are a legend! And thanks of course to Huw and others who contributed prizes. The Roubaix DVD will be watched in the early hours as I slog my way through the night shift at my hotel this evening.

Cheers!

Adam

[Andrew G]

Well done everyone.

Apologies to RobC and Dan who got put in the A race and had a bit of a baptism of fire. General feeling was that as you'd both been riding so well lately you'd be fine in the bunch 'til the half way point and be way too comfortable in the B race, but we hadn't banked on Keith being a man on a mission . Didn't feel guilty about putting Chris Kay there, despite getting an earful of abuse from his wife all afternoon , as he did well and only dropped out the bunch with about 15 mins to go.

B race started out a bit like a CR before it started to get a bit of sorting out following the first prime. Mark McL rode well but spent far too long on the front towing everyone round. Nobody was overly keen to help out and seemed happy to sit on a good testers wheel .

Well done to Grahame for the win, I did say I thought you'd get it. Big strong fella with a decent kick at the end.

The A Race was a cracker. Keith Knight was back following a trip to George's laser man to sort out his troublesome back, and was showing all the class of a top racer. He was always going off the front trying to split the field, joined by a couple of others on occaision.

Hal was going well and joined Keith in one foray for a while. MrPVT was giving it his all, clearly keen to try and grab the title on his fancy bike. He made a couple of the breaks including the winning one.

When Keith and Paul went clear with 5 laps left Stu spotted this as the break and made a superb strong jump across. Keith and Stu were looking good and didn't look like they'd be caught. Paul looked as though he was feeling the pace a touch and then vanished next time round . Rolled in a bit later with cramp, bad luck Paul you were going well today.

Marek put up a good defence of his title riding strongly all race and closing breaks, looking good in yellow again .

Ride home was good fun too. I tried to tow people most of the time as I'd had a slightly easier race (number boards and placing riders), but Sylv kept coming past and tapping out a pace. Either super strong from his recent 12hr off-road race or didn't try hard enough in the race .

A great day.

[Marek]

That was a great race but very tough. I was certainly feeling it with three laps to go and after having chased down Keith K a couple of times already, the last one I just could not go and handed over the baton to the others to chase but it did not get organised, which is fair enough as it had been pretty tough already.

I had on a couple of occasions tried to breakaway as well, but was finding it really tough to get away, think I was being closely marked or I have lost some speed. That back straight was murder when on the front but made the race really interesting.

It was really good to have such an attacking race which Keith Knight certainly made as he was relentless in his attacks which made it nice and hard.

Keith L did well in his first ever race, he got into a couple of breaks but slightly misjudged getting back into the pack, don't worry about this Keith it happens, I get dropped in the odd race now and then, thats racing.

Throughout the race Sylvain was doing a fair amount of work on the front chasing and it was good to see Hal get up there in the break towards the end of the race, but it looked like he got his legs blown off with the effort. And Paul Tunnell going for a break, what is going on, I had to rub my eyes in disbelief.

2 laps to go and we were gradually reeling the break back in, but I was pretty sure we would have to go a bit faster. Well as I was defending my crown it was only fair that I should take up the chasing baton, did a lap on the front and then found that had pulled away from the others with Steve B. I knew he was there but let him have a bit of a free ride as I was feeling ok, but then I started to slow so gave him some gentle encouragement to come through.

I think he was pretty toasted as he came through and his legs started to get slower and slower, I gave him some more gentle encouragement but he had had enough. I came through again and we were onto the final two corners. It was evident that someone else was with us, but I did not know who, I was more intent on just trying to catch up with the leading two. It was pretty evident onto the final hill that we had no chance of catching them, then I just started to slow as the adrenaline faded and then Adam came bounding around and shot off up the hill (which he kindly donated me a beer for leading him out). Think Richard Munday then came past me and I just about had enough to maintain 5th place as we all crawled over the line in 1s and 2s.

After the year that Stu has had he deserved the win today, got into the right break and must have put in a good effort as we were not taking it easy trying to catch them.

Well done everyone who took part and thanks go to Toks and Huw for all the organisation and of course to Joyce for the cakes.

Cheers

Marek.....

[mrP(Boonen)VT]

Not more I can say, that was a great race and I suffered cramp at a critical point after doing a big turn into the wind to make sure we stayed away. I enjoyed being involved in a quality race.

Thanks to everyone riding today, the standard has risen yet again - faster than a normal Hillingdon 3rds race.

[Steve B]

First off, huge thanks to Toks, Huw and all involved in organising todays fantastic Addiscombe road race. Without these guy's putting in all the hard work, none of us would be able to do what we like doing, racing

Rode over to Hillingdon today with Brian R, taking a slightly longer route than was planned, but after a punture and zig zagging (slight exageration) our way across west london, we arrived with plenty of time to spare.

Bloody hell, how strong was that wind today At first I thought this would be an advantage for me as 'the workers' at the front would be tiring themselves out, battling the wind, while I would be getting nice shelter from it by the group that I would be at the back of . As it happened, because the wind was so strong and blustery everyone was getting hit by it, even those sitting mid bunch. This made the race a real tough, no hiding slog

With all the hype and banter over the last month or so, today was more than just a race. Marek was trying to hang on to his crown as champion for the last two years. Could he make it three , that would be a fantastic achievement. Stu had been dreaming about this race in his sleep for the last fortnight . Could his dreams come true? Would Adam race or not- zzzz zzzz Of bloody course he was going to race. Bragging rights were at stake and everyone wanted those rights for themselves, so unlike all the races I've been in this year, where you know there will be another one next week and it didn't really matter, this was different- this mattered- no one wanted to lose

Today was about making lots and lots of decisions These decisions make the difference between winning and losing. Do I go with this break or not, if so, do I go now or wait a few seconds Do I help to close a gap or will that break come back to us With Keith making so many breaks off the front, decisions were constantly being made, some turned out to be right and some, unfortunately, wrong. But thats racing

With the strong wind and the constant breaks (and no one wanting to 'lose'), chasing down these breakaways lacked commitment and sometimes ended up with six abreast, with everyone saying "I'm not going, you go". This probably led to the final break staying away - more later.

At times the pace was super fast and other times very comfortable, but for some reason I never felt strong today. I was doubting myself and having negative thoughts. With about 20mins to go I was thinking to myself that when the next break goes I'm going to drop out as I won't be able to go with the pace. Get a grip of yourself Steve, are you some sort of wuss Anyway, I got my mind back on track and knuckled down.

The best break was when Keith and Hal stayed away for what seemed like ages. Hal semed to be tired from his efforts, but Keith was only getting started. with a lap or so rest, he was off again, then again, and again, without doubt the most aggresive rider of the day

So with 5 or so laps to go, and everyone now feeling pretty tired, the final and decisive break went up the road. Not sure in what order they went but Keith, Paul and Stu found themselves a good 80m ahead of the main group. Right, don't panic we have 5 laps to get them back.

Then the chase started The pace picked up and the commitment was there. Yes, we'll get them easily. Sylv was at the head. He did a good job and we were catching them. Adam took over and also did a good stint. Me next! Here was one of those decisions Do I put in a big effort or a small one and pass the baton It was a no brainer really. If we don't get back to them we can't win anyway so lets do it. Head down arse up I pulled us back to about 40m. Job done I thought, as Stu and Keith had looked round and seen us. Next one through will get us back on and we will all be back together once again. Not . As I pulled out to let the next one through, no one came. Dammit, we had them and now we've let them go again. Big mistake

By now Paul had cramped out, so we were chasing only two. 2 laps to go and Marek realised his crown was slipping out of his grasp. He jumped to see if he could bridge the gap. No one went with him. He had 15m on the rest of us and I realised this could be a good opportunity. I jumped too and got Mareks wheel. He was pushing really hard. I looked round, we had a gap. C'mon Marek, you da man, pull us back to those two up front, you can do it. Then those 'encouraging' words from him tore right through me. "F**k*ng come through, come on, you got f**k*ng legs havn't ya, c'mon" . I knew this was only to spur me on and to help us keep away from those behind. Funny though cos' I did as he said. It was like an order coming from high up the ranks.

Unknown to both of us, Adam had bridged the gap, bringing Richard with him. I was now buried thinking "can we catch the front two", but seconds later my legs started dying and it was all over. Marek went past, followed by Adam and Richard, who eventually both went past Marek. Adam looked as though he might catch Stu and Keith but came up 20m short.

I rolled in sixth, which I'm pleased with, although ultimately I wanted to win, just like the other 16 or so riders in the race

Congratulations to Stu and Keith, both great prformances. Stu that was a very mature ride from such a young'n, well done!

Great day, great racing, great people, Great Club

Up the Addiscombe

Come on people where are the reports for the 'B' race

[-Adam-]

[quote="Steve B"]Come on people where are the reports for the 'B' race