Palace - 12th August

[Keith]

The morning's torrential rain plus the day's strong winds kept the numbers down a bit at Palace this week. A dozen or so riders in the E/1/2's (including George & Sylv) and about 30 of us in the 3/4's.

There was a definite reluctance, myself included , for anyone to take the lead in the strong headwind into the start/finish straight first time around. I expect this is what gave Tattoo Man (if you're reading this, sorry, I don't know your name) the heart to go for the lone breakaway on about lap 6. I'd not long ago put in serious effort so was trying to recover a little. We were in around 7th & 8th place half way up the hill, and I could see he was going to make a break, but didn't have the energy to go with him.

Pace seemed a little up and down in the bunch, but I found it better up near the front, rather than towards the back where I rode on my only other Palace visit. Then I seemed to be sprinting out of every bend.

Still haven't quite got the hang of the left-hander at the bottom of the hill.

With 7 to go, the threatening clouds started to deliver a little rain, but fortunately this didn't set in. I'd visions of following Sylv's lead last week, sliding off into the trees.

4 or 5 to go and there was a crash as we crossed the start finish straight. 2 riders down. Later they were walking (limping) wounded, but appeared pretty shaken up. The bell was rung early as these riders were down.

Guess there was around 15 in the main group at the end. I'd assumed things would come down to a bunch sprint, but realise now that things are won or lost on the latter part of the hill.

Anyway, Tattoo man was long gone for a gutsy solo victory, I came across the line in 3rd. I couldn't get the wheel of the 2nd place man, but felt comfortably ahead of 4th.

Back to the crash. I think that I felt a nudge on my back wheel just before it. Don't know if this was the first guy to go down or the start of a chain of events? I was simply following the wheel of the man in front, not moving across the pack, or looking to pull out to overtake, so I guess somebody was overlapping wheels behind. The wind was pretty gusty on the home straight. Earlier in the race I'd seen somebody else get it wrong with overlapped wheels on the way down the hill. He just managed to keep it upright after riding his bucking-bronco onto the grass. There's not much I can do about what happens behind me, but it did take a bit of the shine off the finish, seeing someone still down and being attended to by the medics.

[Michelle]

Well done hubby, v. proud of you

[Toks]

Hey great result Keith, well done What other ACC'ers were riding then?

[Sylv]

Well done Keith! Toks he was the only ACC in the 3/4

That was quite a different race. To start with the field was small due to the uncertain weather (plus L.Dynamo must have had a race elsewhere as I don't think I saw a single one). Think it was 28 riders in the 3/4 and 13 in the E/1/2, but with some Elites of the calibre of Jody Crawforth or Chris Moores, and some strong riders from Pearson, Arctic, Rapha and Dulwich. Oh and ACC of course - George and myself. I just had the time to remove my TT extensions and swap saddle and seatpost before we were sent off.

It started fast - too fast. Usually sitting in around 10th place feels quite safe and comfortable, but yesterday it meant you weren't far from the back, and I think on lap 3 when someone accelerated on the climb and a few followed, I didn't react - before I knew it though 2/3rds of the field had followed suit and gained 20 metres on the rest. The crazy headwind on the top section made it extremely hard to fight back if you lost a wheel, thankfully we had a few strong riders which helped to get the bunch back together, but it took us more than a lap - that was scary. What was also a bit scary was the bottom bend, I was being a bit apprehensive as there were a few tiny wet patches and lots of debris from the trees. Oh and on lap one I was in second wheel and both of us narrowly avoided running over a squirrel there.

The pace stayed high. Once at the bottom of the climb Moores attacked when I was on his wheel, boy did it put me in the red, 3/4 of the way up I had to give up the chase, not surprisingly no-one was able to help, Moores escaped solo and stayed away for a lap and a bit. Later on him, Crawforth and Seaton (?) managed to break away, we chased for a while but soon realised we wouln't bring them back. From then on the pace changed radically, only Artic (and possibly Rapha, can't remember if they had a second rider) had a man away but no-one seemed to want to lead - several times I was left at the front for 1.5 lap, having to slow down to 20mph before anyone would come past. Realising there was no point in exhausting myself for nothing, and fearing a surprise attack by a few riders I started playing that game. I thought this might be the time George would chose to attack, but he said he was feeling lazy.

With 8 odd laps to the three had over 1/3rd of a lap on us, and a Pearson guy convinced us to through and off to avoid being lapped. It worked quite well and we kept it going until the rain started (few drops only), don't know if it was this or the 3/4 crash which led to the decision to ring the bell. I got in third wheel bottom of hill, and kept it to the top, but couldn't come past, and lost I think another two places as riders went past, so I think I was 8th overall (but I think the field had been reduced to 10!). Bit disappointing, but there was nothing else I could have done. Still a bit of pain in my hip, and arm (not on the bike though), I hope my right side doesn't start over compensating for my weak left side, otherwise I could be in trouble for the 12h.

[Toks]

Cool well done Sylv. I reckon our resident strong man George is using crits and RR's as recovery rides these days

[Andrew G]

Well done Kieth . You're easily able to boss races at Palace, once you're used to the circuit you'll be slaying people there and making life more difficult for the likes of me trying in vain to hang on to the back .

Were there many riders using deep dish carbon rims? I know from TTs that if you get a gust or strong side wind you can get a bit of a pull on the front if you're not prepared for it. I've done a few TTs where you go past a gap (gate or similar) on the dual carriageway and you can get a noticable "pull" (particularly if you're a lighter rider). It's not that big or a problem but if you're overlapping wheels in a tight bunch I guess it could be more of an issue.

Sylv, George - you're mad as a pair of badgers!

[Sylv]

It was pretty gusty on that top bit, especially around the finish line with the building behind. There were quite a few deep-ish wheels, I had my 50mm and had to keep a good grip on the bars.

It was all a bit surreal as it got pretty dark and menacing, and when it started raining we were just looking for clues as to what the commissaires would say. Like I said only a few drops thankfully, not even enough to dampen the tarmac.

[Sylv]

I obviously forgot about another break of two ...


Road & Track - 3/4
Place Rider Club Age Cat Disc Cat Rank Pts Series Pts
1 Jacob Wolcendorf 0 0
2 James Thorne VC Londres Over 23 4th 8 0
3 Keith Lea Addiscombe CC Over 23 3rd 7 0
4 Andrew Carnall http://www.agiskoviner.com Over 23 3rd 6 0
5 Alex Robbins Dulwich Paragon CC Over 23 4th 5 0
6 Alex Ioannides Sigma Sport.co.uk Over 23 3rd 4 0
7 Richard Black Dulwich Paragon CC Over 23 3rd 3 0
8 Cosmo Kedros Team Chevin Cycles Over 23 3rd 2 0
9 Benedict Spurrier Over 23 3rd 1 0
10 Anne Boorsma Dulwich Paragon CC Over 23 3rd 1 0

Road & Track - EL/1/2
Place Rider Club Age Cat Disc Cat Rank Pts Series Pts
1 Jody Crawforth Arctic - Premier Racing Team Over 23 2nd 10 0
2 Johny Torrez Rapha Condor Recycling.co.uk Over 23 1st 8 0
3 Patrick Jones Dulwich Paragon CC Over 23 2nd 7 0
4 Christopher Moores Norwood Paragon CC Over 23 Elite 6 0
5 Matt Seaton Rapha Condor Recycling.co.uk Over 23 1st 5 0
6 Kevin Knox Dulwich Paragon CC Over 23 1st 4 0
7 Guy Pearson Pearson Cycles Over 23 2nd 3 0
8 Simon Bird Dulwich Paragon CC Over 23 2nd 2 0
9 Allister Tulett Arctic - Premier Racing Team Over 23 1st 1 0
10 Sylvain Garde Addiscombe CC Over 23 2nd 1 0