SERRL Stage race

For the past couple of years the South-East Road Race League (SERRL) have put on a stage race over the May Bank Holiday weekend. I like the race for two reasons, the first being it is a good format with a long time-trial, a circuit race and two road stages, one on a very testing hilly circuit. The second reason is that I grew up in Kent where the race is held, so it gives me a chance to revisit a few memories, some of which I’ll share as the report goes on (don’t let this put you off reading any further!). I was lucky to be accompanied for the weekend by my soigneur Cat, who I had managed to sell the race to as a ‘weekend away’.

Stage One- Fowlmead TT

The Fowlmead circuit has only been open a few years, and was built as part of the Fowlmead Country Park. This is essentially an old slag heap from the closed Betteshanger Colliery that has been turned around into a country park.

I had raced on this circuit last year and remembered it having a few twists and turns, but couldn’t remember quite how technical it was. Hedging my bets I chucked the TT bike in the car anyway and I’m glad I did, you could do the whole circuit without coming off the aero bars. We did five laps and I ended up 4th, a good 30 seconds down on the winner Gareth McCullough. I was pretty happy given the lack of preparation and it meant I was starting the event from a strong point.

Stage Two- Fowlmead Crit

Having had a sausage sandwich, a snickers and a couple of cans of coke for recovery, we lined up for a one hour plus five lap criterium around a shortened course. The pace was fast and furious making it hard to get away, not that it stopped us trying but it ended in the inevitable bunch sprint won by David Kirby of Coventry Cycle Centre. I have to say the days efforts had left me fresher than when I started, as if the legs had finally woken up from a bit of a sleep. This was good given the advertised course for Sunday’s stage.

In the evening we went into Canterbury for a meal, to the excellent Cafe Des Amis and had a walk around to see what has changed. I was sad to see a lot of the old shops from a mis-spent youth such as Richards Records on the high street turned into trendy cafes, but it was nice to drive past the old tannery and rather than be hit by the familiar foul smell instead be confronted with new ultra-modern flats complete with fake city wall. Incidentally that is about 500 metres from the Tour stage finish last year where Robbie Mcewan came from nowhere to win. That brings us neatly back to racing.

Stage Three- Chilham

Cat and I were staying in a B&B in Chilham so we had a very lazy start to the day, me trying to get my eating strategy right whilst keeping the feet up and Cat nursing her sunburn from the previous days spectating.

The Chilham circuit is one of my favourites, taking in a big lap that has one draggy climb and then a finishing circuit that climbs White Hill. The roads used were very much a part of my teenage years where I worked on the local estate in the summer holidays, and I even watched the Tour de France use the same section of the A28 (although heading the other way) in 1995. The “YATES” my brother and I had written in chalk on the road had long gone, in fact thinking about it I’m getting on now so the road has probably been resurface several times since then.

We were told in briefing that we would complete just under four big laps, and just under four small laps, thus climbing White Hill four times. This suited me and the other strong riders as it can help remove tactics and split things up naturally. Today however myself and others were caught out by two things. The first was the early move by Jaco Ehlers (De Rosa/MG Décor) and Phil Anthony (Toachim House RT) that turned out to be quite a break, indeed before you could say “perhaps we should up the pace a bit” they had moved out to three or four minutes. I for one was not too worried, as both were a fair way back on GC and thought that the four times up White Hill would be slow for them as we closed in behind.

Unfortunately the second factor hit, and this was mis-communication between the commissaires, marshals and riders. I moved to the front of the bunch coming towards the bottom of White Hill to avoid being stuck on the climb, but the marshal waved us on to continue another lap of the larger circuit. After a couple of minutes one of the NEG motorbikes came alongside and said that after this lap we would then turn onto the finishing circuit for only two laps.

It’s hard to say how much affect this had on the overall results, although I personally think that four times up the climb would have seen us get the gap down to a more manageable time, even if we had not caught the two escapees. The bottom line is they went for it and fully deserved the first and second place on the stage and GC, with Phil Anthony taking the former and Jaco the latter. I led out the final climb and ended up in 7th place on the stage, gaining valuable seconds on a couple of riders around me on the overall, although now moving down two places to 6th on GC having finished three minutes behind the lead two.

The evenings entertainment was much less inspiring than the previous night as we went straight to the nearest pub on the way to the B&B for a quick meal. The Woolpack in Chilham provided Cat with a delicious stuffed chicken breast although my steak was tough and below expectations. A quick leg rub and a bath and I was soon out for the count.

Stage Four – Biddenden

I had never raced this circuit before, and it was essentially flat using some of the A28 and some very quiet back lanes. As we rolled into HQ the sky really darkened and as we set off it was in a huge downpour with lots of surface water. The race was fast and furious with attacking throughout. I was one of those looking to get up the road to steal overall time and got in a doomed early move where the two riders with me had nothing to give so we soon got reeled in. Towards the end of the race a couple of riders clipped away including Dan Staite (Python RT) who won this race last year.

With one and a half laps top go Cameron Austin (London Dynamo) started to bridge, and on the only small climb on the circuit I sprinted off the top to catch him. We soon caught the two up the road but both were pretty tired with one getting dropped instantly and Staite struggling to pull through. Cameron and I drilled it together to the bell lap, and I was surprised when he attacked with a hundred metres to go to the line- he must have not been watching the lap board and thought it was the last lap. His head seemed to go down a little so I tried to keep things going, and with only half a lap to go a lead car let us through meaning that we must have got about a minute ahead. Up the same climb we had attacked on Staite was dropped leaving just the two of us. At this point I really thought we might pull it off, there was only about 10km to go and I wondered who would be willing to chase as hard as I was riding.

Unfortunately as we turned off the main road and onto the lanes towards the finish I turned to see the bunch looming. I gave it one last futile dig solo but soon sat up and had a drink. It turned out the young chaps from the In-Gear Development Squad had taken up the chase to set up the stage win for their sprinter Josh Cunningham. All credit to them as he won the stage, I’m just gutted the break didn’t come off. You can see the contrast in emotion at the finish between successful chaser and foiled escapee in this photo:

All packed up, fuelled up and ready to head home we had the prize presentation where I was surprised to hear my name earlier than expected for 8th place on GC. It turns out the organisers who rely on a transponder system (which is very useful for tricky bunch finishes) had worked out the final GC quickly using the transponder time rather than adjusting the times to a bunch finish. Normally all those who finish together should be awarded the same time, and with only seconds splitting three places this was a crucial decision. After a word with the chief commissaire and the other riders involved all was eventually sorted. SERRL races are usually very good, and are certainly very safe with NEG riders supporting. With a few tweaks to keep everyone happy this is definitely a stage race worth doing!

That concludes another stage race report, with a top ten on GC and a couple of top ten stage results. I was really looking to win this race, but what with having my arm in a sling for the week leading into it things were not ideal. Thankfully the shoulder was fine, and the new bike and kit were a real success. As I’m on half-term I’ll try and do a techie post at the end of the week reviewing some of my stuff!