SE Champs E123 Tenterden 31 May

[Sylv]

Results out of about 80 starters. 145km, 3h45.

Well done to Adam who was in a break. And well done of course to Steve, who wasn't even in the early winning break which included Gary Dodd to start with, and joined them later on.



1st - Steve Calland - 1 - Norwood Paragon
2nd - Gary Dodd - e - Sigma Sport
3rd - Gareth McCullogh - 1 - Medway Velo
4th - Andy Betts - 1 - Sigma Sport
5th - Toby Neave - 1 - Southdown Velo
6th - Jaco Elhers - 2 - De Rosa / MG Decor
7th - Darren Barclay - 1 - Arctic
8th - Steven Saunders - 1 - Kingston Wheelers
9th - Dan Duguid - 1 - Sigma Sport
10th - Adam Cotterell - 1 - In Gear Development / One Life
11th - Robert Jackson - 2 - Team Toachim
12th - Simon McNamara - 1 - Wildside 707 RT
13th - Ishmael Burdeau - 1 - Agiskoviner.com
14th - Adam Bye - e - Sigma Sport
15th - Phil Anthony - 1 - Team Toachim
16th - Andrew Dolan - 2 - Team Toachim
17th - Andy Davies - 1 - Fit For
18th - Paul Alderson - 2 - South Western RC
19th - Mark Perry - 2 - Dulwich Paragon
20th - Daniel Felstead - 2 - Dulwich Paragon
21st - Will Kemp - 3 - In Gear Velo Club
22nd - Graeme Rose - 2 - Wildside 707 RT
23rd - Simon Lawn - 1 - Sigma Sport
24th - Danielle Santoni - 1 - Pearson Cycles
25th - Luke Anderson - 2 - Wigmore CC
26th - Matthew Miles - 2 - Wildside 707 RT
27th - Sylvain Garde - 2 - Addiscombe CC
28th - Bill Bell - 3 - Gemini BC
29th - Malcolm Davies - 2 - Kent Cycles
30th - Darrell Pembroke - 1 - Agiskoviner.com
31st - Andrew Eagles - - Dulwich Paragon
32nd - Joe Godding - 2 - San Fairy Ann CC
33rd - Shaun Reed - 2 - Bayeaux Landscapes
34th - Richard Whitehorn - 3 - Glade CC
35th - Luke Ryan - 2 - Team Toachim
36th - James Bowtell - - In Gear Development / One life
37th - Daniel Clark - 2 - Private
38th - Craig Northam - 2 - Dulwich Paragon
39th - Paul Wills - 3 - Kingsnorth Int Whlrs
40th - Andrew Briggs - 1 - Fit For
41st - David Struele - 2 - London Dynamo
42nd - David Kennett - 2 - Norwood Paragon
43rd - James Beaumont - 2 - Kingston Wheelers
44th - Malcolm Dixon - 3 - Dulwich Paragon
45th - Warren Jesse - 1 - Felt Racing

[Sylv]

Adam, is Will Kemp a really tall guy, has he got to do with your In-Gear? If it's him, he attacked our group of about 9 with about 300m to go and no-one could go with him, very strong.

[-Adam-]

Cheers Sylv, I don't really know this Will Kemp fella. He's not on the squad, he just rides for the shops club.

My word that was one tough day in the saddle. It was hot, and it was fast.

The original break, went after about 2/3 laps, without Doddy. As being the defending champion, he was something of a marked man. However, it did include 4 other Sigma riders. My plan for the day was to follow Gary Dodd and Chris McNamara as much as possible, this way I would surely end up somewhere towards the top of the results sheet. As it was, with about 90km to go, the two of them launched the chase group at the top of the hill into Tenterden. I had no choice but to follow. Unfortunately I was quite a way back when they lauched their move meaning I had to sprint past the first 15 riders, and then put my head down and nail it to get on. It took a couple of miles, I even flew past hill climb extraordinaire Bill Bell in the process. It was touch and go for a while, even once I got on I had to leave it for a few miles before working with the group. Which consisted of Steve Calland, Gary Dodd, Chris McNamara, Steve Saunders, Gareth McCullough, Rob Jackson and myself. Once we got it going, we were not hanging around. It took another lap, of about 20km, but eventually we made contact. This created a large group of about 16 riders at the head of the race, and we were informed we had a gap of two minutes at this point. Which was just as well, as I was pretty much right on my limit. It then became apparent that two men were off the front still, Andy Betts of Sigma, and Darren Barclay. This was something of a problem, as there were four other Sigma riders in the front group (Dodd, Lawn, Bye and Duguid), which meant they would just sit on.

The two leaders were never far in front however, and there was still a long ways to the finish, so the pursuit of them was not all that urgent. It was not until the penultimate lap that the fireworks really began. After a flurry of attacks that left me on my knees, Steve Calland and Toby Neave made contact with Betts and Barclay, making four at the front. Shortly after Doddy, Jaco Ehlers and Gareth McCullough took off after them. It was all I could do but watch, I had nothing to go at this point. Steve Saunders had a go at going with them, but left it a little late and even his power couldn't carry himself across. This left 7 in front, and 7 behind as some were dropped, and I think Chris McNamara punctured. Thankfully I hung on with the second group of 7 and just made sure I stayed with them. I'll admit, I rode a bit canny from here on in, I knew we wouldn't get back to the leaders, so I just made sure I didn't get dropped, and concentrated on making the top 10. Coming towards the finish, the final time up the hill in to Tenterden, the cramp was setting in, but fortunately I was able to ride through it. As I was shaking that off, Steve Saunders took the opportunity to chip off to take 8th place, solo. Meaning I had to be at least 2nd in the sprint from my group. I left it as late as possible to go, following the sprint of Dan Duguid. As I moved to his left, Rob Jackson had moved also meant I was sandwiched between the two. I had to freewheel for a second to get round on Dan's right. As I made my final push I just made it past Rob, but not quite Dan, for 10th place overall.

For the third time in 8 days I crossed the finish line only capable of holding the bike in a straight line, and then pretty much collapsing by the side of the road! I had given my all. It was one of the hardest races I have done so far, 143km is a fairly long race (although I have 181km of the Ryedale Grand Prix ahead of me next week), and the heat of the sun meant I got through almost 5 bottles through the race. I was happy to have made the key moves, tactically I don't think I could have ridden much better, but I was disappointed I wasn't physically capable of more. But getting the legs is easier than getting the mind, so I guess it'll come.

[Sylv]

Great report Adam, as you know back in the main bunch the pace slowed to a crawl in the final two laps, and the pace was much more manageable in there As you can see from the data -

Laps - Time - Avg Speed
Summary-03:41:27-39.1
1-00:28:39-41.1
2-00:28:45-40.9
3-00:29:20-40.1
4-00:29:37-39.7
5-00:29:56-39.3
6-00:30:56-38
7-00:32:11-36.5
8-00:12:01-35.4

I only thought Dodd was in the early break cos i overheard a rider mentioning it to someone else.

I made a last-minute decision on the day to race as it seemed i was feeling much better than the past whole week. I'd had a 3h ride the previous day not the best prep but hey ho. A quick 10 minute ride in the morning confirmed this, I did a few sprints and hit 1092w so thought the legs should be ok. We started at 2.30pm under a burning sun and some wind, but thankfully at 25mph it didn't feel too hot (and the climbs were tree-covered). I had two 750ml bottles (had to nick some salt from burger king on the motorway as I had forgotten it), and gave another bottle to Adam's team for later on, but in the end I didn't need it.

I had every intention to hide in the bunch that day. The pace was fast but manageable in there, i liked the climbs, the downhills were good fast fun, but the side-winds in some areas always made it to a single line which was quite tough at times. Later in the race I moved upwards, and did a bit of chasing, at some point a small group of us detached from the bunch with a nice through and off going on, but it didn't last too long, thing is the same 4 or 5 of us were still t-n-offing with the rest of the big bunch doing nothing behind us! That was pointless so I wanted to move backwards, this is almost as tricky as moving upwards reallly (especially when it single-files). At some point I even thought of pretending a dropped chain or something to let myself slip back . We saw Dan Felstead who had attacked solo before the climb stopped near the top, looking very dazed, I wondered what had happened, it turned out a spectator had ran into him. He got back on but could have done better.

Onto the last lap and I moved up again but not doing any work, that's when the pace slowed down to clubrun pace and my heart was going under 120bpm. Some small attacks went away though but they were left to go, everybody seemed to have given up, including me, didn't even know how many were away in total. Onto the final climb and I was first wheel, I let Dan Santoni come past for a bit then i pushed harder and to my surprised most of the bunch did not respond, except Bill Bell and (I think) Simon Lawn from Sigma. We exchanged turns on the climb and as we got to the top we had a group of about 8 in sight, I couldn't believe we had managed to get back to them, then some more riders latched onto us on the top section, we went into the fast downhill turn and I was second behind a Wildside, about 1km to go. Then Will Kemp just shot off and we were left to fight for the sprint, seems I was 6th of our group.

Was really glad i chose to race and even more glad i finished, seems the sun, pace and length took their toll on a fair few riders. Kevin Knox's front wheel deflated on a downhill turn, sounds scary, he couldn't get a spare. Then I had a 10km hilly ride back to HQ! Looking forward to my first race in about 7 weeks with no 1st cats, elites or olympians this weekend : -) ..

[-Adam-]

[quote="Sylv"]Looking forward to my first race in about 7 weeks with no 1st cats, elites or olympians this weekend : -) ..

[-Adam-]

I just noticed something...

I was (by the skin of my teeth), the first U23 to cross the line, does that make me the U23 regional champion!?

[-Adam-]

I always like results with time gaps, obviously preferably I wouldn't be at 2:11, but there you go!

1. Steve Calland Norwood Paragon CC
2. Gary Dodd Sigma Sport RT @ 0:12
3. Gareth McCullogh Medway Velo @ 0:14
4. Andy Betts Sigma Sport RT @ 0:33
5. Toby Neave Southdown Velo @ st
6. Jaco Elhers De Rosa @ 0:35
7. Darren Barclay Arctic RT @ 1:00
8. Steven Saunders Kingston Wheelers @ 2:00
9. Dan Duguid Sigma Sport RT @ 2:11
10. Adam Cotterell In Gear Development
11. Robert Jackson Team Toacham
12. Simon McNamara Wildside 707 RT @ 2:13
13. Ishmael Burdeau agiskoviner.com
14. Adam Bye Sigma Sport RT
15. Phil Anthony Team Toacham @ 3:00
16. Andrew Dolan Team Toacham @ 4:09
17. Andy Davies Fit-For @ 5:00
18. Paul Alderson South Western RC
19. Mark Perry Dulwich Paragon @ 5:07
20. Daniel Felstead Dulwich Paragon @ 5:14
21. Will Kemp VC In Gear @ 7:00
22. Graeme Rose Wildside 707 RT
23. Simon Lawn Sigma Sport RT
24. Danielle Santoni Pearson Cycles
25. Luke Anderson Wigmore CC
26. Matthew Miles Wildside 707 RT
27. Sylvain Garde Addiscombe CC
28. Bill Bell Gemini BC
29. Malcolm Davies Kent Cycles
30. Darrell Pembroke agiskoviner.com
31. Andrew Eagles Dulwich Paragon
32. Joe Godding San Fiary Ann CC @ 8:00
33. Shaun Reed Bayeux Landscapes
34. Richard Whitehorn Glade CC
35. Luke Ryan Team Toacham
36. James Bowtell In Gear Development
37. Daniel Clark Private Member
38. Craig Northam Dulwich Paragon @ 8:05
39. Paul Wills Kingsnorth International
40. Andrew Briggs Fit-For
41. David Struele London Dynamo
42. David Kennett Norwood Paragon CC
43. James Beaumont Kingston Wheelers
44. Malcolm Dixon Dulwich Paragon
45. Warren Jesse Felt Racing