Hillingdon 30th Dec

[Sylv]

"What a day, what a day" is what Keith K wouldn't stop repeating when I spoke to him back at his car after the race.

It's only when he said he'd come 6th out of a breakaway group with all the big names that I understood what kind of day he meant

More later I'm sure ...

[KeithK]

E/1/2/3 Cheers Sylv. The headwind on the back straight makes for tough racing and quite early on the bunch split into three groups on that back straight. The lead group of 10ish had most of the top riders but it was too soon and most of 2nd group of 15odd riders worked to bring them back. In particular the Glendeen rider, possibly a junior but none the less very strong and determined.

When the groups joined at about half race distance the race proper started and after several attacks Sigmas Bye & Golla went clear and in a moment of madness I got on. I have never been so fast into a headwind and after two laps of that I blew out. Seconds later 4 more riders came up, well clear of the bunch. 3 Norwood Paragoners, messers Moores and Moores and the powerfull Sth Afrian Rudi? and Paul Pickup. We clicked straight away and brought back the two Sigma monsters.

As a group this was sporting perfection. Very smooth and fast, no missing turns but just the odd jump out of turns to dislodge any that were not fully committed. Then we got the 5 laps to go and the serious attempts to get away began. Firstly Andrew Bye, he was brought back and one of the Moores was dislodged, then Steve Golla he was also reeled in. Paul Pickup jumped away, again he was brought back. Each time the race was joined one or other of the above would go. To be part of this, OK just hanging on, was the biggest buz. They would occasionally miss turns and eventually with two laps to go I was shot out but luckily so was Rudi and as the last lap started we got on again. A St Raphael Elite rider joined and contested the sprint but I was some way off, my race was done.

I was placed 7th. Paul Pickup got the win and on the warn down lap Paul appologised to me for sitting on as he had to be quite smart against a few of Sigmas finest and two Paragoners.

If it wasn't good enough already that really made my day.

What a day.....

[Stu Merckx Man]

what a race that sounds like. keith you must be super strong now...looks like i got off easy in the addiscombe race!

[KeithK]

Stu, you'ld be fine and I'm afraid you would still out sprint me.

One more thing about today. When you speak to the top riders they are so amazingly polite, humble and modest. If someone else didn't tell you how good they are you wouldn't know talking to them.

[-Adam-]

Well done Keith... See you Tueday for more fun and frolics!

Sylv... how was it for you!?

[Toks]

[quote="KeithK"]I have never been so fast into a headwind and after two laps of that I blew out. Seconds later 4 more riders came up, well clear of the bunch. 3 Norwood Paragoners, messers Moores and Moores and the powerfull Sth Afrian Rudi? and Paul Pickup. We clicked straight away and brought back the two Sigma monsters.

[Rob C]

Well done Keith, I was at hillingdon for the 4th cat race today. Got there in plenty of time, was looking good to start up until the last third of my last warm up lap virtually rolling to the start line. I'd been thinking that the bike had felt a little odd for a while, I looked down at my rear wheel and noticed that it was buckled. Carried on to the the start line to have a look at it; a few of the spokes were loose, one badly. Asked for a spare wheel but no one offered which is fair enough. Went down to the HQ to see if they had a spare in one of those huts but again no joy, it was then in a last ditch attempt with a spoke key that I noticed that the housing for one of the spokes had completley snapped and there was no where for the spoke to sit anymore. Gutted, only need two more points for third cat and it takes an hour to drive there. Going back on New Years day now and the organisers have transferred todays entry till then.

Until next time...

BTW - The wheels are Mavic Aksiums

[Sylv]

1st 06 r Paul Pickup 1 200
2nd 08 r Steve Golla Sigma Sport 1 150
3rd 12 r Chris Moores Norwood Paragon 1 130
4th 13 r Andrew Bye Sigma Sport E 120
5th 02 r Colin Parry VC St Raphael 1 110
6th 76 Rudie Marais Norwood Paragon 2 100
[size=150]7th 21 Keith Knight Addiscombe CC 3 90 [/size]
8th 86 Joe Parrett Glendene CC 2J 80
9th 50r James Jackson PCA Ciclos Uno 1
10th 149 Sam Harrison Y3
11th 01 r Jason Streather VC St Raphael E 70
12th 03 r Pete Smith Team M.K. 1 60
13th 04 r Gianluca Cappello 1 50
14th 30 Matthew Carden Team Quest 3 40
15th 11 r Ben White Finchley RT 1 30
16th 25 Phil Sheehan Mosquito Bikes RT 2 20
17th 81 Mark Baxter West Drayton MBC 3Y 10
18th 19 James Norris High Wycombe Cycling Club 2
19th 2 Michael Hill Team Quest 2
20th 39 Richard Collins Imperial Racing Team 3
21st 32 Harry Bulstrode Thames Velo 2
22nd 50 Joshua Worrall Twickenham CC 3
23rd 54 Peter Jones Hillingdon CC 3
24th 148 Daniel Kogan PCA Ciclos Uno 2
25th 74 Vaughan Luff De Ver/Neovite 3
26th 18r Ben Stockdale MJS Racing 1
27th 28 Richard Jerome Willesden CC 3
28th 65 Andrew Stronge London Dynamo 3
29th 38 Rod Freeman Imperial Racing Team 3
30th 88 Sylvain Garde Addiscombe CC 2
31st 78 Mark O'Brien Archer RC 3
32nd 40 Mick McManus RT316 3
33rd 69 Kevin Holloway High Wycombe CC 3
34th 87 Toby Meadows Corridori CC 2J
35th 31 Guy Phillips Dulwich Paragon 3
36th 73 Graham Gavin Team Economic Energy 2
37th 49r James Whatling PCA Ciclos Uno 1
38th 58 Ben Moores Norwood Paragon 3
39th 146 Ken Price Pearson Cycles 2
40th 142 James Stout Evesham + District Wheelers
41st 85 Stephen Green PCA Ciclos Uno 3
42nd 145 Joanna Rowsell Global RT EW
43rd 5 Gary Wood Maldon and District CC 3
44th 83 Matthew Ullmer Evesham + District Wheelers 2

[Andrew G]

Fantastic Keith, 10th on Boxing Day and then 7th and in the break on the 30th.

You may not be racing for points anymore but that doesn't seem to have stopped you accumulating them fairly rapidly.

I joined the club just after you had started having trouble with your back so your racing was starting to get scuppered, it's great to see/read that everything seems to be coming back together and your class is showing through again. It'll be great to see you, George and co together in the races once the season proper gets under way, no doubt dishing out some pain to others .

Bad luck Rob, I guess you'll check your wheels before chucking them in the car on Tuesday.

[Sylv]

Yes it's good to see to see you back Keith. And inspiring too, I think I'm going to train properly for the upcoming season if I want to see any of the likes of you, Stu George or Adam (I think I said that last year though). I was in Butlers earlier yesterday and admiring that lovely white Look 595 frame at 30% off, I had thoughts of trying to sell my 585 to get this, but now I realise I'm not worth an annual bike upgrade, and will have to focus on training instead of foolish purchases!

Not much to say for me on that race, hadn't ridden in a week so got a good 1.5h warm ride up into the wind, was surprised at how mild it was by 2pm. Did a bit of work early on, but wasn't strong enough to easily get back onto the bunch after taking a turn, which almost cost me to get dropped a couple times, so had to revert to doing as little work as I could. The wind was so strong though that even in around 5th position you wouldn't be getting that much protection. There were loads of attacks which was tiring too!

The bunch split in two and I was in the distanced group. I think it was Rudi that got us organised into a through and off, the two groups were about the same size and they had about 20 seconds on us so I didn't think we'd make it, but we did and the last 20 minutes were spent in a big bunch.

The pace accelerated on the back straight, that seemed way too early as as hard as I was trying I got passed by loads, and from a good position for the sprint I reverted to almost the back of the field. Up the climb I made a few places but was still wayyyy back.

Hope to see you Adam and Keith on the 1st. Anyone else?

[George]

good stuff this is all great news, keith k you sound like your having so much fun out there, thats the main thing, when you start enjoying it you can't help but get some results.

i cant wait to get in there mixing it again! heres for a super team acc.

racing is the best training after all and I'm looking forward to start some proper training