So off we set at silly'o'clock up to the delightful Oxon country side. We arrived at just after 9 for the 10'o'clock start but had plenty of time to sign on and go for a quick warm up on what was a sunny yet rather nippy Sunday morning.
Off we went, bang ontime at 10am after what seemed to be an unfeasibly long briefing which left me needing the loo again! Thats the second race in 8 days that I started already needing a pee, its such a horrible feeling! Anyhow, the plan was for Dave and I to get away in a break together at some point and for me to win. As 30 points would see Dave promoted back to 1st cat, and, well he can't be arsed basically. So we decided the first lap ought to be a bit of a easy ride while we got a feel for the course. So after an initial descent, and then a long draggy part of the course through a succession of little hamlets we got to the tough part of the course. Through a narrow village, cars parked everywhere, speed bumps... the works. Then a dead left hander onto the 'climb'. Which was basically about 1km at around 10%, with a bit of a kick in the middle and then it leveled out for the last 200m to the finish. Interesting. So my youthful exuberance got the better of me and I rode off the front on the steep part of the climb and sat down back into my rythm and kept on pushing over the line. Back into the big ring I cranked it back up to 25mph+ until I started to slow again, I couldn't understand why initially as there was no wind. Then I realised I was just going up hill again! All be it a much shallower gradient though, a bit like the Merstham drag. So I stayed in the big ring and kept plowing along. As it was this was way to early to attack, when I hit the fast wide open downhill/flat sections my brief lone attack was soon doomed. So I sat up had a bit of a stretch then drifted back into the bunch. But not before making some comment about it beeing tough on the front to the guy who was on the front
. So after 5 miles on my own I was certainly warmed up!Later on in the race the hill was certainly starting to take its toll, with riders being ejected out the rear all the time. About 60 odd started the race and only 31 finished!
Eventually as we hit the climb with two to go it seemed like an attack could work. And believe me, this wasn't for lack of trying throughout the rest of the race! Funnily enough I rode up the hill this time at the back of the greatly reduced peloton just chlling out and getting around guys as they were being dropped. Then after the finish, on the second bit of the climb Dave finally got away with two other guys. So I waited to see the reaction, and after a while it was another group of three who went to get across. Initially I wasn't convinced they'd make it, but once they got a decent gap I made damn sure I got on there coat tails. Then when I did, I did so without them noticing. Meaning I could sit on them almost all the way across to Daves group. When we came together it was clear the 7 of us could well be the key move of the race. So we all stated working fairly sharpish. All but one guy that was, a cheeky little columbian guy from Finchley RT. One of the other guys said don't worry, he's a lazy b*****d and always sits in. Well I was going to have none of this and when I was at the back of the group I exchanged words with him, perhaps a little harshley, telling him to either work or go back to the bunch. Low and behold he could work after all, although he made a drama of it all!! So with 20miles still to race of 70. It was key we all trusted each other and worked well for as long as possible. And in the end we worked well right up until about 2 miles to go. By which time we were apparently well over a minute clear of the bunch which had by all accounts disintergrated in their attempts to chase us down.
At which point one of the stronger looking guys had a half hearted attempt at going off the front, which probably screwed his chances of winning as he just didn't commit, so really just wasted energy. Especially after Dave hit the front and pinned him back for me. Then we hit the climb. I basically rode on the front the whole way up. As Dave drifted back through the group he congratulated us all on a successful break, and was greeted by silence! It seemed everyone else was focused on the win... Then shortly after the 500m to go sign guess who attacked... Yep, the cheeky little Finchley rider. There was no f*****g way I was gonna let him take the glory after doing about 50% less work than everyone else! But he nearly got me. It was gonna be between me and him. And on the steep part of the climb he had me on the ropes big time. But I knew the last 200m leveled out and that if I could just hold him where he was I could make up ground as the ground leveled out. As I came back level with him he looked across to me and captitulated. There was still around 50m to the line so I made one last dig just to be sure and sat up with about 10m to go just like Saturday (only a bit slower!). Arms aloft and another roar was let out. Yes, two wins in two days. What a feeling. And in totally different style... sprinting one day, dropping the break on the final climb the next.
Mission accomplished, we drove up there to win, and we did!
Only 19 points til the 1st cat licence comes then. But not this year, better avoid the top 3 at Chertsey in a couple of weeks then...
Martin Newall Memorial Road Race
Road & Track - 2/3/4
Place Rider Club Age Cat Disc Cat Rank Pts Series Pts
1 Adam Cotterell Trisportnews.com Under 23 2nd 30
2 Edgar Medellin Finchley Racing Team Over 23 2nd 25
3 Jason Roberts 0
4 Andrew Hastings Bishops Stortford CC Over 23 2nd 17
5 Neil Wass Anders Electronics/TMG Horizon RT Over 23 2nd 14
6 Mark Williams Python Racing Team Over 23 2nd 12
7 David Kennett Norwood Paragon CC Over 23 2nd 10
8 Samuel Parker Under 23 4th 8
9 Flavio Zappi Oxford University CC Over 23 2nd 7
10 Matthew Ullmer Evesham & District Whls CC Under 23 2nd 6
11 James Ward Cambridge CC Over 23 2nd 5
12 Christopher Smith Python Racing Team Over 23 2nd 4
13 David Miller API - Metrow Over 23 2nd 3
14 Steven Booth Banbury Star CC Over 23 2nd 2
15 James Jones Didcot Phoenix CC Over 23 3rd 1
16 Andrew Swain http://www.Cyclingbargains.com Racing Team Over 23 0
17 Sam Allen I-Team Cyclist's Club Junior 0
18 Harry Bulstrode Thames Velo Over 23 0
19 Gareth Casburn Bicester Millennium CC Over 23 0
20 Darren Parker Python Racing Team Over 23 0
21 Rob Jackson Cambridge CC Over 23 0
22 Eric Gowland Cambridge CC Over 23 0
23 Anthony Cooper Over 23 0
24 Tom Stockdale Evesham & District Whls CC Junior 0
25 Robert King Reading CC Over 23 0
26 Paul Londors Team Milton Keynes Over 23 0
27 Richard Parrotte Shaftesbury CC Over 23 0
28 Jesse Elzinga Oxford University CC Over 23 0
29 Llewellyn Kinch GWR Team/Scott Wilson/Giant Under 23 0
30 Michael Cripps Army Cycling Union Under 23 0
31 Henry Martin Oxford University CC Under 23 0
). 
