This ones for Keith!

[George]

Addiscombe 1st and 2nd
More later

[huw williams]

A fitting tribute George well done to you and Sylv

Chloe was 8th in her first race with the big girls after being split off the break (she got stuck behind a crash). So after Stu and Rob's BB performances another great weekend.

More to follow...

[Stu Merckx Man]

well done guys, looking forward to the write up!

[Sylv]

Yeah ... more to follow .. you b*stard George

[Marek]

Excellent stuff, am looking forward to hearing the details of how this panned out.

Cheers

Marek....

[Antloony]

Well I'll give my view of the race before before the winners get their say and everybody ignores mine


Paul, Andy, Sylv and myself all turned up at the same time and went for a drive around the lap to see what it was like. The further we went round the happier I got as it was a flattish course with some nice sweeping down hill sections...no horrid short up hill bits to wear my legs out which was a blessing. I was worried about the finish as I was told it was up hill but it was nothing, short enough to use my power and just blast over the top before it levelled out for the finish.

As we rolled out and the pace started to pick up I had a dig off the front, just wanted to give my knee a little test to see how it felt, luckily it was ok and I kept up a good pace without to much effort. I was soon joined by Paul H and we worked together really well without going to mad. Shortly after our gap was bridges by abother 3 or 4 riders and as we still had a gap Paul called for more work and a through and off, think this must have scared them as they eased off a little and soon it was all back together. This was the last I saw of Paul in the race proper as he had a mechanical. A great shame as this circuit was perfect for him.

As the race rolled on there was a few small digs by Addiscombe and we kept up the pace and made the other teams do the chasing as we tried to control the race from the front. A tactic that was greeted with a few 'well dones' at the finish line.

The real break came with George and Sylv who just went off the front followed by a couple of other riders. Again we played a holding role back in the bunch as much as we could to let our boys get away. Keith went of in pursuit and had one other rider with him but they seemed to spend an eternity in no mans land untill they were reeled back in. Shame this didn't work out as Keith had worked so hard and was now feeling the effects of all his efforts.

I just played it safely and stayed in the bunch but always quite near the front with Andy. I felt really strong today and was riding well within my comfort zone so Andy very kindly offered to stay in front of me and keep me towards the front and out of trouble which he did with ease (great riding dude ) in a bid to get a shout in when it came down to the sprint.

The bell soon came ringing out to announce the last lap. Still happy with where I was behind Andy we made our move and got right near the front in the thick of the action. As the road swung right towards the finish it all kicked off and Andy went with me in hot pursuit, we had a great line right down the right hand side of everyone and all was looking great until...BANG....a coming together at my left with some horrible expensvive to repair crunching noises. The rider just off to my left swung out and hit me just as we were heading towards a car that had stopped. I had no option but to hit the anchors and come to a virtual standstill and watch my chances of a good place go begging. I got going again giving it everything I had but going up hill from a near standing start on the 13 cog just ain't no good as I watched Andy ride away from me.

I did give it everything though and was suprised how many riders I re-passed to come over the line in 22nd. A real shame as I had felt so good through out the whole race, even my poorly knee behaved quite well. The main thing is though is that I finished in one piece. Its a shame that the cars were there and weren't stopped from coming down the road till the race had finished but thats the nature of road racing I guess as the roads are still open to the public.

A great days racing, a great days weather and a great result.

We all donned black armbands in memory of Keith and we all know how pleased he would have been for us in getting the win that George dedicated to him. A nice touch to end the day.

[George]

We had a good team of Agreeables out this morning for the Surrey League race at Dunsfold.
Antloony, Andy E, Keith, Sylv, Paul H & Myself we think Mark B was a no show.
We all donned black armbands in respect for Keith Wawman, and said that one of us had to win for him today.

The race started and we littered the front of the pack.
For the first lap it was gentle and calm with nothing too much really happening,
Paul asked me if I had warmed up yet, I kind of knew what he meant by that so I was expecting him to go off the front soon.
Sylv was up the road and dangling about 20 seconds up the road for over half a lap, then unfortunately Pauls Crank came loose so he was out of it with another bolt not doing what it was told.

On the drag after the start of the 3rd lap I attacked and quickly caught Sylv alone, I shouted come on lets go but I was going a bit hard at the time to get away.
Then a few minutes later there was 8 of us with Sylv and myself in attendance.
Cool I thought this was great and for some reason just knew we wouldn't be seeing the bunch again, as we had some of the strongest riders in the race in our little break such as us three agreeables, Big tall Huw from dynamos and James Stewart from Norwood Paragon.

James then punctured and another fell off the back so that left 6 of us doing some good through and off. Sylv had done real well to recover from his solo break earlier and I felt like business as usual. We could see one or two riders were missing turns looking very knackered and sweating profusely.
I noted this and with just over 2 laps to go really attacked hard up that drag into the breeze.
I was alone for a while then to my relief I looked round and saw Sylv there too, so I upped the pace a bit, a minute or so later a Cv Mueden rider had bridged to us to complete our crack breakaway of 3.

With 2 agreeables there I knew we shouldn't really let the other guy win so I said to Sylv we would do the old 1,2 on him.
I attacked, gunned it hard only to see Sylv pulling the other guy back, we had a brief chat and tried again, then again and again, but we couldn't shake him off.
We heard that the time checks were rapidly diminishing and on the last lap we were barely keeping the 2nd breakaway group at bay,

I could also see the comissionaires cars jigging around so looked back and could see the big bunch just behind so I attacked again if only to increase our speed.
Last lap and we tried some more and more to break him, then with a couple of miles to go I rested up a little as all that attacking was turning my legs to wood!

I was getting concerned we would be caught just before the line, 1 km to go and Sylv was leading, I stuck like glue to the VC Mueden riders rear wheel and was waiting to counter his attack,It didn't come.

Bang and up the final hill all 3 of us with 200m to go to the line, Sylv opened the sprint and I waited 150m to go the Mueden rider tried to come round Sylv on the right, 100m to go I opened it up and tried to come past the VC rider, I just about managed this and then it was Sylv and I head to head for the sprint finish.
Toks and Serge were screaming out come on Addiscome,
I gave it everything and just managed to get a couple of inches on Sylvain's wheel, sorry Sylv , as I crossed the line I pointed to the sky and shouted for Keith!

[Alan M]

Fantastic guys, well done!

[Snoop Doug]

Well done Team ACC - Mr W would be proud

[huw williams]

For all those people she told she'd NEVER be seen in yellow

[img]http://i42.tinypic.com/1112mie.jpg[/img]

[Andrew G]

Fantastic result guys, especially George and Sylv (did you talk to him in the van on the way home Sylv ).

[Michelle]

Well done George and Sylv for a fantastic performance.

Well done Ant and Andy E for controlling the pack.

Well done hubby for putting your all into a 2 man chase, I know you gave it everything.

Well done Chloe for your 8th place at Thruxton agains the Elites.

Oh dear Paul for your mechanical. Perhaps if you washed your bikes you might find these things out in good time......

[Sylv]

I am slowly improving ... last race 3rd place for 3 seconds, this one 2nd for about 1/100th of a second

Well that was a truly enjoyable race and probably the first time I got to properly experience breakaway tactics. I wondered whether Paul thought I was too lazy to work in a break after I told him I wouldn't be using my Powertap as I thought the aim in a race was not to put in as much but as little power as possible (well the main reason was that I was using my tubulars), so I hope you are reassured now Paul

I didn't feel nearly as bad as on Friday and my test on the clubrun revealed my legs were fine it was only my throat that was suffering when breathing hard in the cold air. Paul suggested some Strepsils and they did wonders, I even contemplated taking some on with me for the race.

I started near the front and after one guy pulled off after taking his turn, I found myself doing an unexpectedly long turn as no-one would come past for the best part of ten minutes. I toyed a bit with this by putting slight digs on the inclines to test my legs, which were good. Then Andy came past attacking, and I was happy to let him go. He got a decent gap but was brought back half a lap or so later. I think shortly after when Ant and Paul were doing work at the front I came past Paul slowing down to a stop with his left-side crank arm detached from his bike, but still attached and dangling from his shoe - that was at the same time the most comical, and the saddest sight - as it had been suggested that Paul should win the race this time.

Then me and Andy went away again soon after, we were working well but after a while I could sense Andy was getting cooked from his previous solo break, I think he slipped back and I continued on my own for a while. Coming to the downhill at the end of the lap I could see the bunch creeping back on my so I readied myself for being swallowed but not spat off by easing off a bit. Then George went past attacking and urging me to come with him - there was only one Dynamo with him, and I wasn't sure I was up for that! But I gave it all and got onto their wheel and then started taking my turns, and we were joined by a few more to make it 8.

Then it was 6 of us and we got organised in a through and off which worked really well and increased our gap. As George said a couple guys started missing turns which got annoying after a while as they were still clinging on. So there were a few attacks to try and get rid of them, it was hard work. George said he wanted to do a 1-2 on them and not to do any work for a while, which we did. But that kind of disrupted the through and off and slowed the pace considerably, so much that we started worrying about losing our gap - I thought it was best to work together a bit more and delay the attack.

On the last downhill of the second to last lap I could see George getting himself ready so I got onto his wheel. He attacked up the hill but no-one went with him and at that moment I decided to let him go, as I was worried about holding him back in his breakaway attempt. Soon later the Meudon guy jumped away on a bid to join George, on his own. So the final lap looked like an easy one for me - sit at the back of our group of 4, and then try and sprint for 3rd place - still a bit frustrating as I was feeling ok.

But George and the guy, about 70m ahead, weren't making any progress on us. Reading George it seems like the guy hadn't actually made contact with him, but from the back it looked like it - maybe he was just a few meters behind him struggling to make it to him. Anyway I started thinking of a change of tactics, as I felt I could bridge that gap - but that had to be done without anyone else joining me, otherwise the whole race could be turned upside down for George. So I waited and waited, sitting in third wheel while the two guys at the front were exchanging turns. Behind me was a Rapha guy who I thought at the time had bridged back to us on his own (don't know where he came from but I was told he hadn't), so I was a bit concerned that he would be strong enough to follow me when I jumped.

On one of the tree covered drags I jumped away and almost immediately started looking back, willing to stop the chase if anyone went with me - but they didn't, so I kept going, even passing George and the guy and taking my first turn at the front. We got a through and off going for a good while, but George was readying himself to attack and the guy was getting annoyed as he was worried we'd get caught - he told me he couldn't sprint so there wasn't any point in attacking each other, but George didn't hear that . So I had no choice other than to follow George's wheel when he attacked, which was pretty tough. But amazingly us three kept together till the end, coming down the last hill I got to the front, George was in third and I couldn't guess whether he had chosen to let me go for it, or waiting to attack in the smiling assassin fashion.

So I improvised the uphill sprint from the front, it was really tough going up the hill and then there was that never-ending drag after, with the flag in sight. I was absolutely at my maximum but could see a wheel creeping up by my right side - I thought it was the Meudon guy at the time - so I had to go even harder, the finish was soooo close I was looking down at the line and it can't have been much more than 5 inches difference - if that - grrrrrr I joked after that if I' d stuck my transponder a bit further than George I might have gotten it. I didn't think to throw my bike forward maybe it would have helped.

Stats
distance 84.75km
time 2.13.40
av speed 38.00
av HR 161
max HR 181
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/2693848

[Sylv]

[quote="Andrew G"]Fantastic result guys, especially George and Sylv (did you talk to him in the van on the way home Sylv ).

[Toks]

Once again well done Team ACC

[size=150]1 George Brent Addiscombe CC 3 4 2:10:00
2 Sylvain Garde Addiscombe CC 3 7 [/size]
3 Martin Hulbert VC Meudon 3V 65
4 Huw Watkins London Dynamo 3V 33 @ 0:04
5 Clive Copeland Onelife Fuga Racing Team 3V 40 @ 0:09
6 Graeme Hadlow Bayeux Landscapes 3 10
7 Paul Drake London Dynamo 3 37 @ 0:19
8 Martyn Potter Brighton Mitre 3 17
9 Peter Clifton London Dynamo 3 64
10 David Walls Private Member 3V 44
11 Mickael Metayer Kingston Wheelers 3 28
[size=150]12 Andrew Ellis Addiscombe CC 3 8 [/size]
13 Paul Callaghan G S Avanti 3 22
14 Laura Trott VC de Londres 2JW 53
15 Ray Healey Racing Team 316 3V 46
16 Andrew Page Southdown Velo 3 51
17 Ralph Carter London Dynamo 3V 34
18 Mark Williams Velocity Bikes CC 3V 57
19 Mark Walter Private Member 3V 43
20 Murray Quiney VC Meudon 3V 56
21 Darren Franklin VC Meudon 3 59
[size=150]22 Antony Leeson Addiscombe CC 3 60 [/size]
23 Christian Cormack London Dynamo 3 35
24 Andy Bristow AD Cycles RT 3V 2
25 Stewart Martin Kingston Wheelers 3 25
26 George Edwards Kingston Wheelers 3 30
27 Nathan Dye Brighton Mitre 3 13
28 Andrew Seltzer East Grinstead CC 3V 19
[size=150]29 Keith Lea Addiscombe CC 3 9 [/size]
30 James Graham Festival RC 3 20
31 Richard Bevan Southdown Velo 3V 67
32 Gavin Spiers Reading CC 3 48
33 Andrew Britz London Dynamo 3 38
34 James Wasley Kingston Wheelers 3 31
35 Andy Lack Kingston Wheelers 3 27
36 Glenn Chamberlin Kingston Wheelers 3 29
37 Colin Addison VC Meudon 3V 55
38 Colin Bateman Festival RC 3V 21
39 Adrian Trott Welwyn 3V 58
40 Alex Ioannides Sigma Sport RT 3 50