This weekend I took a break from racing to help out with the Kingston Wheelers Surrey League road races near Dunsfold in rural Surrey. I did this race last year and it was just about the wettest experience I’ve had on a bike, with then clubmate Jules Birks up the road taking the win and me and a few others getting progressively soggier in the bunch.
Well, today was a huge contrast, with glorious weather and a much happier looking field. In the morning, as the 3rd cats raced I went out for a training ride, looping back to the race circuit at times to see what was going on. From what I saw Addiscombe CC had things pretty sewn up with some strong riders up the road and the bunch not committing fully to the chase. It looked like things would come together on the last lap but George Brent of Addiscombe stayed away for the win in impressive style.
In the afternoon, fueled by a cheese and ham sandwich courtesy of Gezza and a variety of cakes I put the bike in the boot of the car and pimped out the Passatt for lead car duty. My radio man for the race was clubmate Stewie Martin who seemed slightly frustrated by the way his earlier race had gone. I had never been involved in a race convey before, so took Glyn Durrant’s advice and made sure I went to the loo before setting off, and plugged the rooftop light in Starsky and Hutch style, as well as the CB radio.
I’ve watched Smokey and the Bandit more times than a grown man should, and therefore was pretty excited to have my handle “Lead car 1″ and a CB to play with, so was practicing my “ten-four” calls with earnest
The reality was rather less glamorous than 1980′s films had led me to believe, and instead of Burt Reynolds, Stewie and I had this for the majority of the race:
As well as concentrating on the safety of the race Stewie and I kept ourselves amused by keeping track of a rider who was following the race in reverse, and twice each lap as we passed him he would literally jump off his bike, throw it in the ditch Bijane Riis style and grab his camera for some action shots. It didn’t get boring even after nine laps!
There were however some good perks to being up front, as you get to see the race unfold at the sharp end. Two riders were away early, and four more bridged across to them mid-race, and these guys worked very well to pull out some three minutes on the bunch. Two London Dynamo riders then attacked the break with two laps to go, and did a great job of pulling away, staying ahead of the chasing pack by some two minutes. After a slightly hairy battle with a tractor on the penultimate lap that cost the two leaders valuable seconds they showed good mettle by hanging on and getting the first and second place, with the win going to Cameron Austin.
It certainly makes me appreciate all those that help out organising road races, I will make a point of thanking the helpers every weekend from now on!
As for my riding, frankly I’m glad I wasn’t racing this weekend as the legs are in poor shape having not had the chance to get in some recovery rides earlier in the week to rebuild on after the Wally Gimber. Things are shaping up again now so with some good work in the week I’m hoping to race well again at the Peter Young Memorial race, which is nice and local for me to get to for once. I hope the weather stays as good as this weekend!
