SCCU Sporting 21 - 16th March

[Andrew G]

Result:

George = 54.27 (2nd)
Dominic = 55.20 (4th)
Jon H = 58.52 (10th)
Rob R-E = 1.04.01
Richard Viney = 1.04.10
Andrew G = 1.05.17
Ivor Hewitt = 1.10.02

George, Dom, and Jon picked up the 1st team prize too.

[Andrew G]

[quote="orv"]So that was my first TT! yay.

Turned up at Bletchingly Hall just before 9 and got organised. Weather a light drizzle and a bit windy.
Trooped into the hall to get my number and saw a couple of agreeables milling about. Too nervous to hang around and chat so strolled out to pin on number bumped into George on way out and said hi, joked that I'd wave as he went past later. (and he did near the end of my second lap )
Decided it was time, so rolled off down towards the start. Pulled up just as number 13 was called. I was #14, perfect timing. "Number 14" and up I rolled. held upright and ready to go. 10 seconds. go.
and off, up the drag through Bletchingly. Passed number 13 just as got to the top of the hill, heh perhaps this isn't going to be that bad after all.
Over the M23 and down towards the first turn, careful on the corner, sharp left and rough surface, then its a steady decline down towards Outwood. Felt quite nervous on the descents with the weather and after my recent crashes so took it easy.
Then #15 cruised past, uh oh perhaps I'm not going as well as I thought.
Never mind head down and steady progress, right down to the turning point, water and gravel all over the road, and loads of bright green jackets. ok basically just a steady climb up from here.
But urgh, the wind is in my face now and that rain is starting to get annoying. Legs feeling good though, star hill first, since its the first lap decide to drop down the gears and just spin up, ok that wasn't too bad. Levels off a bit and winds back towards Bletchingly, last little climb back up into the village, spin up again and past the line for lap one. ok maybe this isn't going to be too bad, right I'll do the two laps. Legs feeling good, left and charge up through the village, hammer over the M23 as hard as I can knowing its just down for a bit after the turn.
and now some big numbers start to go past #51 then #50 I think. eh whats going on. confused me at the time. but I may have been having trouble thinking at this point. my wife pointed out the obvious when I stopped, they were the later riders on their first lap. doh.
OK feeling better on the first part of the second lap and feel much more confident in my tyres going down the hills.
seem to be down at the turning point in no time and on the way back up.
Yuck, wind and rain in the face again. right first little climb - star hill - leave the gears higher and stand. and oh my what happened to my legs. ok sit back down and drop down the gears and spin up again.
Ok over the top nice and steady and push on harder along the flat. Hey! Whoosh, George goes past. He said something, sounded like "banana" but I may have misheard!
Then in no time at all its the hill into Bletchingly, right stand, nope no legs, back down, push halfway up, try standing again, nope can't do it. and there's the flag!! gosh. Past the line and start back to HQ. arrgh, forgot to hit stop on watch. says 1hr11. so something slightly less than that. ok that doesn't seem too bad at all. I hoped to be under 1hr20 so I'm happy with that.
Back to base and hand in the number.
Sit in car and head homewards, then the cold really sets in. Ok really should have made sure to bring a towel and some warm clothes. oh well, back and hot bath.

So all in all, great fun. if a little damp and blowy.

Ivor

[Andrew G]

Okay well my first one of the season out the way, and what a lovely day for it .

I was second man off today and didn't have much of a warm up. I set off down the road with my rain cape on but it was a bit grim (wet and windy) so I settled for some verbal intervals and tucked myself out the wind, and in a bit of shelter, in the start slip road and had a chat with Dave P.

Rain cape off, shoved it in my pocket and rolled up to the start.

...and they're off. Fortunately there was a bit of a tail wind on the starting drag up through Bletchingley, which was nice, and helped get in to a good rhythm early (stuck my tongue out for Snoop and his camera but don't think we managed to synchronise so probably don't have an entry). Also passed Legend Jim out to give us a cheer, bit of rain doesn't put him off. My minute man was Robin, who organises the SCCU sporting weekend in April, and I knew I'd catch him quite early. Unfortunately I couldn't quite get to him before the first turn, so I lost a bit of time sitting back on the first part of the descent as I didn't want to overtake on the bends and, a) unsettle him, and b) risk sliding out on the soaking wet road. Got to a straighter bit though and could enjoy the rest of the descent at full bore to carry as much speed as possible for when it levels out.

The long descent is in 2 or 3 drops with flatter bits in between so it gives you a chance to try and carry the speed along these. In today's weather though I was a bit more Captain Cautious as only had a maximum speed of 35mph where in the dry I'd expect to be nearer 45mph down there. There were a couple of sections where the road was completely awash - I was tempted to unclip and freewheel through with my feet in the air but managed to restrain myself.

I knew the left turn at the bottom of the loop was like a gravel quarry so checked behind was clear of traffic and swung over to the other side of the road to take a very wide turn.

As Ivor says on the return bit of the loop, the hilly section, the wind was in your face in places and got a tad annoying. I dropped it to the small ring to save my legs a bit up the first hill, getting out the saddle rather than try and grind a bigger gear. Over this and a nice blasting section of flat where I felt I was going well. Next up is a bit of a drag with a kick but kept it in the big ring and powered (well for me) up and over this before another bit of flat and a little drop to belt along again.

The last hill of the loop isn't as steep as the first but goes on for longer. I dropped to the small ring again and pedaled up, getting out the saddle to keep some speed up rather than drop gears, and speed.

Past the finish mark for the first time and then back to join the loop for a second lap. Passed Snoop and Joyce, thanks for the shout, and back up the draggy bit to the descent. One of the later starters was in front of me on his first lap and I was closing. I was determined to catch him before the left so I wouldn't have to ease back on top of the descent again and managed to swoop past in good time.

At the bottom of the descent I was caught by a flying Dominic who passed with a shout. I hadn't realised he was coming up behind me (Ian!) so his call gave me a bit of a fright and nearly had my jumping in the ditch.

A few seconds later Jon came passed and for a while we were all three in sight of each other, almost like a CR . At the gravelly left I got a funny look from the marshals who I think were trying to work out of they'd gone mad and had been dragged out in the rain for an Addiscombe club event as we were 1,2,3 on the road .

I managed to keep Jon in my sights for quite a while and it really helped to have a carrot at last, for a bit anyway.

I had no idea how quick this course would be as I've never done this event so I checked out last year's results. Jon had done a 1hr, and Rob R-E a 1hr5. Getting busy with a calculator I'd worked out 18s would give a 1hr10 and just over 19s a 1hr5. I'd though that with the grim weather if I could get somewhere in between It'd be okay for a season opener so had my computer on average speed. I'd been checking it from time to time and had kept it at 19s or just over, and with a check before the hills had 19.7 so dug in to try and avoid losing too much on the hills, which are not my friends.

Similar tactics second time around but made sure I kept the pace up a bit higher on the flats, and tried to ignore my legs on the hills and keep some more speed on them.

Finished with a 1.05.17 and was pretty happy with that, bit better than I thought I'd get, but in hindsight I wasn't tired enough at the end and should have pushed myself harder earlier on.

Good to see so many good times at the HQ, super time by Dom and Jon knocked a big chunk off his course pb. George arrived with a grin on his face saying he'd punctured towards the finish so had ridden on a flat tub for the last 3 miles He then set about a big bowl of rice he had with him to shove some carbs down before heading off for the Surrey League race he was riding, there's no stopping this man.

Well done Ivor for losing your cherry, not an easy course for your first TT.

[Ian A4size]

All stirring stuff indeed, and well done the lads!

It is quite a hilly little course, i ride around it a lot- but never in anger!

I would have come down to cheer you all on- but i was in Bristol last night, and even if i stood on my mates kitchen chair i still would not be able to see.

[Jon H]

I've ridden this event every year since 2003, and have done 1:00:10, 1:00:22, 1:00:35, 59:12, & 1:00:42. So 58:52 was a course PB which I'm amazed at considering; a) it was soaking wet and I was holding back on the descents, and b) I've had man-flu during the week and am still a bit snotty.

A pretty good result for the boys in yellow - three in the top 10, fastest team, and I think probably a trophy for George as the fastest rider from a SCCU affiliated club.

I stuck my tongue out for Doug too, but he didn't manage to get it on camera. However there was another photographer on the course and I think he may have got me. Someone said it was a Croydon Advertiser chap, so hopefully we might get another write-up in there.

[Stu Merckx Man]

fantastic guys.

i hear george came 2nd even though he had punctured!

dom your flying now, these chaingangs must have really helped!

[Sylv]

Good work lads! George amazing!

[George]

Drove a lap of the course first to see just how large those puddles were and where and make a mental note of the pothole locations, was concerned how treacherous the bottom Smallfields corner looked with mud and debris all over the shop, not to mention the slippery wet drain cover on the racing line and potholes on the inside line mmm nice.

Stepped into the clubhouse and was greeted by Joyce, Snoop, Rich and robert, met Ivor outside on his first TT ride.

Warmed up for 15 mins on the turbo then quickly down to the start line with 1 min to spare. 3,2,1 GO hammered it up tp Bletrchingly out the saddle, got a lovely cheer of encouragement off Snoop and Joyce, then 100m later Jimmy gave us a shout! Down the decent and I was playing a game of roulette with the wet corners down on the aero bars

Felt lovely and fast down to the turn past a couple of riders, then phew I made it round that corner in one piece, into the headwind and big ringed it up Scotts hill to Outwood past a couple more, down on the aero bars seemed to cut through the wind nicely whereas if I came up on the bull horns the speedo went dow a couple of mph.

On this first lap It felt like I was pushing too hard a pace, I was hoping I wouldn't blow on the 2nd time round! Up the final climb of the lap I went down onto the small ring and flew up, like it was Box hill

At the top threw Snoop my glasses which were so misted up, I was sure I could hear Tina Turner resonating in my eardrums.

Left and down the hill Geraldine gave me a shout so I roared back something, maybe even a mad moo I was enjoying this alot and couldn't ring any more out of the bike guts down the the bottom turn, reminded me of the 400w challenge, passed Robert RE and gave him a cheeky tap as I passed

Up to Outwood caught Ivor and shouted banana at him for some reason, maybe I was seeing things.

Then suddenly I noticed my rear end was bobbing a bit, and then starting to bounce with every pedal stroke, I suspected a slow puncture but only had 3 miles to go, then before I got to the last hill, it was as flat as a pancake

I kept going knowing that I could still finish easy on a flat tub as it was glued on with a solvite/pritstick mix so strong not even Arthur Daily could rip it off.

Up that final climb couldn't quite hammer it as much as I'd have liked on the flat but finished none the less.

Had a big smile on my face in the clubhouse, when I realised I got 2nd, the course seemed to suit me down to the ground, well not literally because I didn't fall off Great atmosphere with all the Agreeables in attendance.

Then it was into the van and off to Dunsfold for a road race

[Toks]

Fantastic work by you all especially in the wet. That newbie tester bloke seems to be doing alright

[mrP(Boonen)VT]

Ivor, you mean

[Dominic]

I did write quite a comprehensive report last night but lost it before I posted it and lost the will to write another one!

Strangely it was fairly similar to Georges in respect of the fast bits but I really suffered on the hills, couldn't make my mind up whether to spin or grind, so did a bit of both.

My pointy hat broke which annoyed me and after 40 minutes warming up in the wind and rain I was wet and not very warm. It was the first race I have ever done where the people I was passing were shouting encouragement

Good turn out for the Agreeables and very good results all round. Long may it continue.