Road racers' meeting for 2009 season?

[Sylv]

Last year a few of us got together at Marek's initiative once the BC calendar was out to plan the races we would "target" (big word);

Should we try and do the same early in the new year, now that there are quite a few more racers, some of which are doing serious training?

It could possibly done at the clubroom one Weds evening, or maybe with a beer a couple hours before the club diner? (didn't think i would mention beer again all that soon )

[-Adam-]

What happened to last years plan then!?

[Sylv]

Get back to 3rd cat - mission accomplished!

The plan for 09 is a secret ..

[Toks]

Yeah its a good idea Sylv. It really depends what people plans are. I may be wrong but my impression last year was people like Marek and Paul for example just wanted to compete in some really hard races. That's fine but didn't really suit what I was all about which was to improve at my level, win a race, step things up and become a 2nd cat. We did put in a good team effort in one of the races towards the end of the season where I got on to the podium. There was good work by Dan and especially Andy in that race to set thing up. Now the most obvious target next year is the ACC Road Race (2/3) and maybe some others. You 3rd cat guys should have a really strong team so yeah lets get together

[Marek]

Hmmm, I am not sure that compete was top of the agenda. Basically last year we sat around, drank tea, ate cakes and made a list of the races that we would all try to attend. As with everything things can change as the season progresses, but thought we did quite well early season with quite a few of us competing together.

I find it hard to race mid-week due to work, and can tend to only race once at the weekend due to family, but I managed to get in a few races early season and was relatively competitive. As the season went on it started to go a bit pear shaped as I lost a bit of fitness, but thats the way it goes. I only race for fun, with no real ambition for promotion as the amount of training that I do is not conducive to actually being particularly competitive, but I do really enjoy it and the more ACCers around while I am racing the more fun we will have.

If your struggling for a venue, your welcome to do it at my place like last year, although I realise it is a bit of a trek down to EG. Can't all those that want to race next year just set off in a group on Saturday and then go to another cafe and discuss the plans. Bring your diary etc and a bcf and surrey league, SERRL calendar and before long we will have chosen a few.

Probably best to wait for SERRL and Surrey League to publish their calendars though.

Cheers

Marek....

[Toks]

Yeah i agree wit for calenders to be published. Hey Marek, no probs obviously I've got total respect for your family situation. Its much harder for you guys to train consistently I know. I still reckon with limited training time given the accumulated fitness over the years you could still be competitive in a few races as a 3rd cat.

[Sylv]

Yeah it was more of a way to get people like me who are bad at planning ahead, to have goals for the upcoming season, and also find races that several of us want to do, as it's always more fun to ride them as a team.

[Michelle]

You guys are quite welcome to come round to our house in Oxted, we have a big table that will seat 10 and the wife is quite accommodating about cycle racing . There are some nice hills here - or on the way back - which could make it a good ride over for some.

[-Adam-]

[quote="Toks"]Now the most obvious target next year is the ACC Road Race (2/3)

[Toks]

Good words Adam. One thing I learnt from last year is to do race specific training. IOW do at least a couple of races before your target race. I didn't do that last year and the ACC Road Race was a bit of a shock to the system in terms of pace and intensity so I'll try not to make that mistake again

[Andy E]

Count me in for this. I'm hoping to do a lot more racing this year and would love it if we could come up with a plan for a few races.

[Stu Merckx Man]

andy you could be winning some yourself!!

i dont think im going to be of competetive finess early season, its been a poor winter for me!

[Andy E]

Cheers Stu I hope to be in the mix a bit, but need to start working off some of xmas excesses. The Easter 3-day looks like it could be a cracker, and with seperate 3rd only races i'm sure we could get a great team out for that.

[Sylv]

[quote="Andy E"]The Easter 3-day looks like it could be a cracker, and with seperate 3rd only races i'm sure we could get a great team out for that.

[mrP(Boonen)VT]

Adam, you know we are not a specific racing team - a cycling club with a lot of fantastic members that also race, and can do very well.

However, it would be good to get numbers in certain races rather than doing different things on the same day.

Let's get together and see what's what.

You're all very welcome to Tunnell Towers - I keep coming up to Croydon - it's not that far, and there are plenty of beers

Guru P