New Chapel Handicap

[Rob W]

Well i nearly didnt make it,the post code i had from surrey league was about 3 miles down the road.Also on the way down there the rain started and the radio said torrential downpours.Any way got there in the end signed on.Had a very small warm up due to rain.In my group we all said to stay away we had to work together or forget it.So we were the second group to be sent off and from the start we all got into a not to bad through and off.One off the riders from Norwood Paragon he was quite strong,stronger than any 4th cat ive met.Are group had by now split into about 6 of us,all taking turns on the front.The rain was making some of the corners quite scary and with the spray from wheel in front we were soaked.By about half way through the race are time gap was still a good one.Then on lap 7/8ish the Norwood Paragon rider just started to ride away from us,i thought about going after him. But off the back of are group that would have been stupid ,any way all i needed was that one elusive point.So we let him go.Buy now we had also caught up with the group in front and they jumped in with us.But some of them soon started to fall of the back.Now we had Three Redhill riders, one rider from the first group and myself.The Red hill riders kept picking the pace up with 2 laps to go.I popped up the front to show my face but me and the other rider let the Redhill riders pull us along.I think they thought they could shed us of the back,but oh no,it wasnt going to be that easy to get rid of me.As we rounded the final corner on to the home run withthe Redhill riders in front the other rider pulled out from the back of them and was winding up for the sprint so i went with him and of we went into are sprint.I was fully expecting to be pasted by the Redhill riders but no they had blown trying to get rid of me and the other rider.Crossing the line i thought that i was 3rd but no the Norwood Paragon rider had had a puncture on the final lap.Racing can be so cruel.But not for me 2nd.No more going all the way to Hillingdon any more.YEAH.Thanks for the shouts of support from Addiscombe supporters club Michelle cheers.Cor that was hard work.No not the racing the flipping report.typing with two fingers.

[Keith]

Well done Rob on your 3rd Cat licence. I'd always assumed that you liked going to Hillingdon all the time.

Technically I'm not a 2nd Cat yet, being as last week's points haven't yet made it to BC. However, I thought it about time I joined the scratch group for the first time.

Just when you're nearing the top of the 3rd cat ladder, you roll a double and land on the snake that is BC promotion, finding yourself at the bottom of the 2nd Cat ladder.

The first few laps felt pretty full-on. Perhaps too quick as people stopped coming through so readily. The pace then dropped a little and we lost the race to catch the leading group on the road. Perhaps we should have words with whomever did the handicapping?

[Sylv]

Was it big Simon H in Rob's group?!
Blimey didn't expect handicaps to be that tough, scratch group started flat out through and off in pouring rain, without a warmup I was struggling and after 10 min started missing turns, looked at my PT and after 20 min it was showing 299w, I almost conked out at that point, there were some strong riders in there (Marcus, Wildside, guy in red jersey). About 5 min later we caught the closest group and it got a bit easier, group got bigger and t'n'o not so fluid. We kept a good pace though but no chance of making up 7+ minutes, think it was 2 minutes on the line? Av speed 41.75km/h av power incl zeros 269w (282w first half/257w second half). Well done to Rob

[Gavin]

So being a 4th cat obviously I started in the 3rd group on the road!

Was really wet and treachorous in our group as we had a Paragon guy really pushing it and then a sydenham wheelers guy who was willing but slowed the flow of the group. I missed most of the turns as I was really suffering early on. I came on the front on the hill on all the laps and felt okish. The scratch group caught us with 2 laps to go and the pace quickened (for us anyway). It was really tough but I held on and finished at the back of the group.

The front group must have been going well though as it seemed to stay at 3 minutes for a long time.

Fairly happy with that though. 24mph avg.

G

[Sylv]

[quote="Keith"]
Just when you're nearing the top of the 3rd cat ladder, you roll a double and land on the snake that is BC promotion, finding yourself at the bottom of the 2nd Cat ladder.

[Michelle]

How much can you enjoy yourself on a windy, darkening road in Surrey, watching grass roots racing?

A whole lot more than the poor sods getting soaked on the road . I had a great time, though got pretty drenched.

Well done all ACCers, nice to know that my shouting helps you along. Thoroughly enjoyed myself, though I think Surrey League need to sort out their timings. Fewer and fewer 1st Cats and Elites are turning up to the Handicaps, as with the current calculations there is no point for them to flog their guts out in order to not catch the rest of the field. Just a waste of £13.

[Andrew G]

Excellent Rob, a well deserved result. It was a bit wet last night wasn't it, had to turn the volume up on the tele as it was making such a noise on the window.

[Dominic]

I thought I too would have another crack at this road racing lark so I trundled to Newchapel last night aswell. My cunning plan was to get in one of the first groups being a 4th cat and see what happened at the end.

That plan went for a burton with Guru Ps handicapping. Out of 5 groups I was in the fourth. I shouldn't complain too much as he had me in the scartch group intially. Started off not too bad. We kept away for a couple of laps with everybody working. I was concentrating so hard that I wasn't looking at the lap board but we eventually got caught by he scratch group. Things certainly changed then with everything increasing by about 2mph. So it was about 28-30 on the flats and slight downhills and 25-26 on the slight inclines. I was managing about one turn every lap and then having to have the rest of the lap to recover. There was another guy doing similar (another 4th cat I later found out). This obviously wasn't pleasing one of the Wildside riders as with just about 2 laps to go he drifted off the back with us, then sprinted away leaving us dangling

We then spent the rest of the lap trying to chase the elusive end of the bunch but to no avail and they were long gone by the time we got to the last lap. We were stopped then and went back to the HQ.

I take my hats off to the scratch group who I thought were motoring and it was even more impressive given the weather conditions. Certainly something to aspire to

Yet again despite a rubbish result I really enjoyed it and must get my life organised so I can do more of them next year.

[quote="Sylv"]Don’t fret, there are only 113 Elites, 244 1st cats and 418 2nd cats who are (in theory) stronger than you to race against in this country ..

[Sylv]

[quote="-Adam-"]Where are you getting those numbers from, Sylv?

[-Adam-]

Yeah, they'll be more 2nd cats because not all points you score as a 2nd cat count towards national rankings, and also, there will be plenty of licence holders who don't appear on the rankings by virtue of having not scored any points!

Besides, I wouldn't pay much attention to categories anyway, Keith.

Your style of racing will be much more productive in 2nd cat racing, just so long as you keep having the balls to attack!

[glyn]

The official racing license numbers are:

Elites (Nationally 142) (South East 16)
1st (Nationally 296) (South East 49)
2nds (Nationally 911) (South East 152)
3rds (Nationally 2947) (South East 533)
4ths (Nationally 5203) (South East 753)

The South East has the largest number of racing licenses held around the regions.

Glyn

[Antloony]

Well done Rob, will be able to join in some 3rds races now and have a laugh along the way.

Horrid night for racing, take my hat off to you guys for getting out there and getting wet.

[Marek]

Excellent stuff Rob, now you will be able to enter races that play to your climbing skills.

I have entered the SERRL race at the beginning of September, anyone else intending to come along?

[Rob W]

MMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM sounds interesting