SERRL (2,3,4cats) Edenbridge 29/06

[Toks]

Today was a lovely day for a road race so when the three of us (Hal, Keiran and me) turned up at at the Edenbridge Centre at 9.30am I thought mmm good things may happen. Our task - circumnavigate a 15mile feisty uppy downy loop four times. Oh and we weren't alone of course, there were 70 other blokes racing as well.Things were very well organised: transponders, five motorcycle outriders, lots of marshals lots of cars... Everyone rode really nicely and er... actually now on refelection it was a fairly dull race and nothing exciting happened. One of those thats instantly forgetable really...In fact the ride back to Croydon with Hal and Kieran was much more exciting. Especially Chalk Pit Hill. Blah Blah whatever...I've got a 5 daystage race in [url=http://www3.newport.ac.uk/displayPage.aspx?object_id=1340&type=PAG=]Wales[/url] starting this Wednesday I'm sure that'll be interesting.

[kieran]

Well,, I turned up at East Croydon and got the train to Hurst Green with Hal. A short cycle to Edenbridge got us there nice and early, giving us plenty of time to change and get ready. Anyway the race started, the start/finish line had some nice big check flags, making it look very official, and with the transponders it was well organised. Apart from no refreshments! I stayed near the back of the bunch, mainly due to my hesitation in overtaking or moving up so I was constantly getting passed. The race was more a war of attrition than anything and a number of riders dropped off the back. I was quite happy in the bunch and kept fuelled up. Sadly, into the 3rd lap, on the second steep hill my chain came off whilst changing down, and by the time I’d got it back on the bunch had zoomed on and sped up on the fast flat section just after the hill, so by the time I got there I just caught a glimpse of them. A fruitless chase followed and as I passed the finish line for the last lap I pulled over as I didn’t fancy a whole lap by myself. Later I found out there was a small bunch a few minutes behind me. I also wasn’t sure of the course as during the previous laps I wasn’t looking at the route, just the riders in front of me, and one or two left turn corners had one or no marshals. The motorcycle marshal had been doing the turns (blocking and warning etc), but I had no escort. Anyway I had an enjoyable chat in the sun and saw the bunch sprint finish from the sideline. So I was a DNF, but happy that I found the pace in the front group fine.

A good ride home with Hal and Toks, sorry I had to pass up the offer of coffee, Hal. Legs were a bit stiff this morning but loosened up on the commute, I was thinking of you, Toks, and your 5 day race!

[Hal]

A good ride, only my second 'real' road race so I was just looking for a bunch finish. As the others have reported the race was quite stable, a few small attacks and a steady pace allowing my to stay relatively fresh.

I had been sitting near the back of the bunch as I was not too comfortable getting past people to the front. But a bit over half way I moved up to the front group and did a tiny bit of work before slipping back into a compfrtable top 10/20 place. On the last lap I was hoping I group would make an attack on the last climb and get clear of the group but altough 10 or so of us got clear it was not by enough to save being caught by the pack.

Fortunately I was up in the front group with a mile or so to go but there was a swarm of riders behing, I was hoping the people in front would power along but it was not fast enough to stop an attack, I stayed with it but then went too early and came round the corner to the finish in 2nd or 3rd place only to get gussaumped in sprint comming in somewhere about 15th/20th.

A really good ride though, lots of experiance and not really feeling too bad during or afterwards.

Hal

[Marek]

Cool, so it sounds as though SERRL have finally got the funds together to get transponders, that is great news. I thought that the race would have been quite hard and a break would have gotten away due to the number of hills and the draining nature of the course. I drove around the course and saw you on your first lap, you were grimmacing Toks, first time I have seen you in a race without your tongue out, but suppose there was no camera pointing in your direction.

Cheers

Marek.....

[Toks]

[quote="Marek"] I drove around the course and saw you on your first lap, you were grimmacing Toks, first time I have seen you in a race without your tongue out, but suppose there was no camera pointing in your direction.

Cheers

Marek.....