ACC JBS Road Race helpers:Big Thanks

[Toks]

I wanna say big thank to everyone who turned out and help put together a great road race promotion. Thats Snoop, Paul T, Joyce etc the marshalls who stood and even cheered us on in that pouring rain - you know who you are cheers

[Daniel Gee]

I would like to second that!

Thanks very much to everyone for the whole shebang. And a massive big thank you to all the marshals who cheered me around on my lonely odyssey round the course. I think I may have just pulled over & wept gently if it hadn't been for everyone cheering me on.

Big special thanks to Jon for the wee nip & no thanks to Andrew for insisting on photographing my endless circuit of shame

[Marek]

How did it go, I screwed up on Henfold hill on about the 4th lap, was last in the pack having a breather and then Henfold came along. I know that staying at the back is a really bad idea on Henfold as the concertina has a bad effect on this hill, everyone really slowed, to a standstill. I had no where to go so had to take my feet out the pedals. I then had to run to the top of the hill losing my footing a couple of times and then try to catch up. At the corner after Henfold the marshalls were not expecting me and did not stop the traffic, I had to hammer the brakes on, back end came out big time and then I nearly hit a car on the road, thankfully the slowed down and I carried on. Chased for about 3/4 lap but could not get back on, it was really starting to rain so I headed back to get home for an early bath. Am really annoyed with myself.

Good to see so many Marshalls out and lots of ACC racing. Was enjoying it until my little mess up.

Cheers

Marek....

[Sylv]

Marek the race was neutralised with less than one lap to go by sheriff rosco who apparently was called out due to some dodgy right-side of the road riding, and came screaming past us on a narrow downhill which put us all in danger.

George crashed but only had a bruised thigh, Stu dropped his chain and waited a lap to get going again. There was a break of about 12 who weren't stopped by the police, er community support officers, I don't think we would have caught them in one lap anyway. It was raining quite a lot but was ok I thought.

Big thanks again to everyone who came and help, some faces I hadn't seen in a while. I have a few photos I'll put up tomorrow.

[Marek]

Thats a shame, there was one section of the course where right hand side of the road riding was taking place on the drag up where the wind was coming in from the left. There were a lot of riders on the right along that section which is not great, it always happens though when it is windy.

Also when we got to Henfold a couple of times, because of the bunching this hill causes right hand side of the road riding takes place here as well. Not great that the coppers came out, they came out on Norwood Hill course a couple of years ago and stopped the race. They did the same then with a really dodgy police outrider who nearly knocked more of us off and put himself at danger as well. I felt it was pretty safe when I was riding, how did George come off?

Cheers

Marek....

[Sylv]

He's not too sure

[Ian A4size]

I thought the riders in general were chancing it big time, they were all over the road, they ignored all shouts to keep over to the left, all the marshalls on my corner were approached by drivers who were mightily pi$$ed off by their antics. These were drivers who were coming from the other way, some of the riding was really poor.
A fellow marshall and myself were 150/200 yards into the junction, and the race came thru- still on the wrong side of the road. Was there no briefing? It is not a closed road circuit!
I am not surprised the race was stopped/ split.
They only had themselves to blame.

The whole race did not really do any favours to local cyclists.
A lady who stoppped by me said that she rides a horse round these roads- and the drivers don't give her any room at all, and then said that they give cyclists even less.



The only positives were a good natter with a few other ACCers.

"At the corner after Henfold the marshalls were not expecting me and did not stop the traffic" We do not have the "power" to stop traffic- we can only hope that the drivers will slow down and be reasonable.

* I would like to edit the word "poor" and replace with irresponsible.

[-Adam-]

Yes thank you to all who were involved in the organisation, particularly Mr PVT for organising and Snoop Doug for getting the marshalling together.

Was a great shame that the race had to be ended like that. I and many others I spoke to didn't feel there was much un-toward going on today. The way in which the community support car swerved into the bunch while attempting to stop the race was nothing short of disgraceful. Regardless of the fact that they were totally out of their juristiction to stop us, the manner in which they endagered themselves, the other vehicles and not to mention the whole peloton was outrageous.

It just so happened that one of the riders happens to be a Sergeant in the Sussex Police, when he explained this to the PCSO his only response was 'well your not in Sussex are you?'

Way to calm the situation mate. The afore mentioned sergeant seemed quite determined to see that the offending PCSO's are dealt with accordingly.

Oh well, lets just hope that this incident doesn't have wider reaching consequences.

Thanks again.

[-Adam-]

Ian,

The way in which your junction was marshalled lent itself to the peloton using the full width of the road. Had there been cars coming, I'm sure you and Andrew would have been a lot more frantic in your calls.

I'm not saying what was going on through that turn was right or wrong, just explaining the riders' point of view.

[Toks]

I wonder if the wind had something to do with things. I do remember one point half way through the race where we (the riders) seem to occupy the whole road for a few minutes of minutes

[Marek]

Ian, maybe not stop, I know I have marshalled before, but more warn me if anything was coming, I was steaming it as was in a hurry to try and get back on and the adrenaline was running. I know I was wrong looking back hitting that corner so fast, I wasn't criticising the marshalls, they were not expecting me and I was steaming. I nearly lost the bike in a big way which would have been really annoying as it was my first time racing it (I was on the right side of the road though, that being the left side).

When you have a bunch of 80 riders you will find bunching up and at times riders will be on the other side of the road for small amounts of time. If drivers coming the other way heed the warning of the lead car to slow down and beware, then things should be ok as the riders are pretty skilled at getting out of the way in time. I know we should not rely on this and that in general we should all try to keep to the left hand side of the road. Maybe the commisaires need to get tougher and start reprimanding people.

Maybe 3 long honks on the horn means that you should all get over to the left. If it keeps happening then 5 long blows on the horn mean race is stopped and the offending riders are taken out of the race and off you go again. I think this would make a few people think a bit more carefully about riding continuously on the other side of the road.

Cheers

Marek.....

[Stu Merckx Man]

shame it got called off both for riders and marshalls who ended up standing around for a couple of hours for nothing!

thanks all the helpers. the race was expertly marshaled!

[Paul H]

This sounds similar to last year which put me off racing today (along with the wind & rain).

[Andrew G]

[quote="-Adam-"]Ian,

The way in which your junction was marshalled lent itself to the peloton using the full width of the road. Had there been cars coming, I'm sure you and Andrew would have been a lot more frantic in your calls.

I'm not saying what was going on through that turn was right or wrong, just explaining the riders' point of view.

[Dominic]

It is interesting that marshalling at a different junction one year to the next gives you a different view of the race. The junction I did last year had no problems with cyclists or cars. At the Henfold junction (which looked nasty in the dry let alone the wet) we had an older lady (I will call her that) who came round the already stationery traffic. The bunch were halfway through the junction and she wanted to drive on regardless When she was stopped by Ben (quite rightly from stopping carnage point of view) she got out of her car and began to lambast Ben about what right he had etc etc. Now we know we had no right to stop her but then what else can you do to stop her riding through a bunch of cyclists!

Marek I think it was roundabout that time that we weren't ready for you and you got the tail end of the carnage caused by the old dear. I know it is of no consolation for you but we were more aware of the stragglers afterwards. Thanks for the shout

Aside from that well done to you all. It looked like hard wet work.