twowheelsfast

The Surrey League Revolutions stage race is the second longest you can do in Britain after the Tour of Britain itself, a Protour event. The race is held over five days in Surrey and Sussex, with each stage taking in several road circuits (hence the name “revolutions”) to keep things interesting and to make sure you end up confused at the start each day!

Stage 1- Newdigate area
This was a long opening stage of 155km held on the Rusper, Henfold Hill and Charlewood circuits. I was probably a bit too active in the first ten minutes or so, but it’s hard to contain yourself when you have good form and are itching to get up the road. An early move did escape and held on for a large part of the stage, until a chase move I was in started to reel them back. Unfortunately the bunch caught our move at the same time leaving the race all together. As we entered the finishing circuits the heavens opened, and as riders started to worry about the weather more than the race a couple of groups took the chance to get away. I was really annoyed to miss these, so on the last lap did a ten minute solo effort to try and bridge, never quite making it but at least getting some time on the bunch. Dan Staite (Python RT) took the win, and with it being the first stage, the yellow jersey.

Stage 2- Staplefield
This area is now very familiar after riding the London Dynamo race in the break and doing the Surrey League time trials. Once again an early move went, but the strong riders in the bunch could sense this might be a day to get time. With no team mates the the yellow jersey covered a lot of moves in the first half of the race, and as he tired four of us took the chance to attack, and after some hard riding caught the early move, leaving eight of us up the road. With a lead of over two minutes we were safely away, and on the final finishing circuit a few attacks went in without success. I took the chance to attack with about eight hundred metres to go, getting a small gap. I gunned it around the final bend but the legs couldn’t quite make it to the line meaning Gareth Hewitt (Team Claytan-Sabbath) and Richard Cartland (Team Corley- Cervelo) came around me, with Cartland taking the win. Third place was a good result, but once again the win eluded me! The real positive was moving up to fourth on GC, a result of the solo effort on stage one.

Stage 3a- Goodwood
This day involved two stages, the first of which was a one lap time trial of the Goodwood motor circuit. I know that on a good day I can climb for over five minutes at 450w, so aimed to try and hold 430w for this effort. I managed 422w and this was enough for another third place with Lee Tunnicliffe (Fit-For) taking the win. Being such a short TT the time gaps were seconds rather than minutes so there was no change on GC, with me still in fourth place.

Stage 3b- Goodwood
After only an hour of rest, we lined up for the 130km road stage, that involved several tough climbs in the South Downs including The Trundle and South Harting Hill. This stage starts with a few laps of the motor circuit, and sure enough the early break shot off here. On reaching the open roads Alexandre Guimaraes (Fit-For) had a mishap coming off on the first roundabout. Only minutes later disaster was to strike me as well. Just as the bunch was surging towards the bottom of the first climb I heard the dreaded staccato hiss of a rear wheel puncture, and seconds later realised it was my wheel and not the guy next to me. Luckily we had a service car and I had the wheel out in a jiffy. The next part of the change was like slow-motion (actually I think it was slow-motion) as the skewer was too loose, with the nut and spring falling off into the road. After what seemed like an eternity I was going again, having shouted to the service car to give me a tow. Just as I got going Guimaraes passed me with blood on his arms shouting to get going. No worries- I now had a service car and a rider to work with to get back on.

As we started the chase, the service car pulled in front on a sharp rise, and rather than let us get on his bumper he shot off back to the race convoy! My head sank a little, but I still felt like we would get back on. Climbing up the hill we made it around a couple of cars stuck behind the race, but on passing Glyn at the King of the Mountains line he said we were a minute back. On turning onto the false flats up to the Goodwood racecourse I rode hard, with it becoming increasingly obvious Guimaraes was in some pain and not going to contribute to the chase. At the racecourse we were given a time gap of a minute again but I was tiring from the effort, and next time up the climb we were a couple of minutes down. Both Glyn at the KoM line and my support crew of Cat and her sister Samantha got a mouthful of expletives each time they gave me a time gap!

Rather than sit up I opted to ride tempo for the rest of the stage, dropping Guimaraes in the process. The big loop out to South Harting was a mind numbing effort solo, and I was horrified to see the race ambulance looking after Mark Sussex (Wildside) who looked in bad shape flat on the road (thankfully ‘just’ a broken collarbone- speedy recovery Mark!).

On climbing South Harting Hill on my own (and on a service wheel that refused to stay in the 23 sprocket making the climb even worse) My support crew at the top said another rider had punctured and was just up the road, so a speedy descent soon brought me up to none other than Chris Mcnamara (Team Corley-Cervelo) who had been in third on GC. Chris had had even worse luck: at the point he punctured the service car was still back at the earlier crash scene, meaning a good five minute wait until he could get a change. Chris had a much more positive outlook on the days events (although obviously was still frustrated!) and we rode in together feeling philosophical about it all. At least we could now slip up the road for stage wins…

Stage 4- Alford
This was to be the longest stage of the race at 166km, although the parcours involved flatter roads around Alford, Kirdford and Dunsfold. In spite of tired legs, a big early break went clear, with some GC contenders in it. This meant a lot of chasing and high average speeds for the first couple of hours racing. At one point I got in a group away from the bunch with the yellow jersey and it took a big chase behind to pull it back. This, and some chasing from the GC riders in the bunch eventually brought the early break back. At this point, it was obvious counter-attacking would begin. I launched one, and went with another as the race behind started to split up. Then my fellow puncture victim Mcnamara launched an attack including the top three on GC and this was the move that stuck. Not content to sit back and let the stage slip away, several of us instigated a chase move, and got pretty close towards the end but failed to catch them. Dan Staite was again the winner, and I came in eleventh, not quite able to muster a sprint for the top ten!

Stage 5- Ashdown Forest
This final stage was only 120km, but to make up for the shorter length it goes up every climb Keith Butler could find in the Ashdown Forest. In fact on the Surrey League website this is advertised as “Our version of an Alpine Stage – not a flat bit of road anywhere. Sussex roads don’t go very high but they go there very quickly and far too frequently if you have tired legs.”

This was the last chance to rescue something more from the race, and it turned out Mcnamara, his team mate Richard Cartland, and John Heaton-Armstrong (Fit-for) had the same idea. My plan was to watch the Corely riders as Cartland wanted to win the King of the Mountains jersey he lost in this stage last year. On the very first incline of the day we shot off the front, taking Dan Staite with us. A few words with Staite encouraged him to return to the bunch as the four of us were well back on GC, but with him there we were doomed to fail. We started working well in a single pace line and soon pulled out to over a minute on the lumpy Ladies mile circuit.

After five laps we moved onto the steep climb from Friars Gate into Crowborough, holding a gap just over a minute and a half. After the second loop of this circuit we made the long steady climb up Kingstanding to the top of the Ashdown Forest. At this point I was feeling good, and shared the work with Cartland.

The real kick of this stage however, is the final circuit that takes in Kidd’s Hill (aka “The Wall”) three times. To be honest, although steep the climb was bearable, but not for Heaton-Armstrong who dropped off on the first ascent, leaving the three of is to work into the horrible headwind drag after the descent that I found tougher than the climb itself!

On the final lap, we had word the yellow jersey (Gareth Hewitt) and second place Chris Spence were bridging to us. On the final climb up the wall Hewitt made the junction having dropped Spence, and proceeded to yell at us to pull through. All I wanted to do was sit on and try and save some energy for the finale, but Hewitt was kind enough to point out that if I did so he would “rip me to pieces” for the stage… (see his correction below!) I did pull through a couple of times, but by now the legs were pretty well toasted.

On the final drags up to the Crowbprough finish, Mcnamara launched his attack, and although he got a gap he wasn’t pulling away. I tried one counter-attack, but Cartland was covering my every move, and to be brutally honest I was on the limit. Coming to the uphill sprint I jumped hard (as hard as you can at the end of this race anyway!) only to have Cartland come around me for the second time in the race, taking second place. Still, I was on the podium again, and happy with a strong ride on the “queen” stage. Gareth Hewitt held onto the overall lead in some style and was a deserving winner.

Final thoughts then. This is an epic race, and one in which I experienced some bad luck. I feel sure a top five on GC was well within reach, but in bike racing you need form and fortune to be on your side. With strong rides on the last two days I managed to pull back over fifteen minutes on half the field to come from the back into the top twenty on GC. I’m already thinking of next year, but there is the small matter of a wedding around the same time that may affect plans!

Thanks to team mate James for advice and support, all the organisers, NEG riders, volunteer marshals and drivers (including Stewie, Adam, Maryka, Jim and Leona from the Kingston Wheelers) and to to Cat and Samantha for passing me bottles, massaging the legs and taking the pressure on that third stage!

Today’s foray into the world of regional road bike racing was a return trip to the Sigma Sport hosted race on the Ewhurst circuit finishing up Leith Hill, the highest point in South-East England. This race last year attracted a tiny field and I had a bad day coming fifteenth out of seventeen finishers! Today was a little better with around forty or so riders signing on, with a respectable standard of 1st cat racers.

The plan was to get in an early move and drive it hard, but this failed to happen as legs were fresh and there were plenty willing to chase. Eventually I did get in a very promising move, initially of I think five riders bridging across to Ben Wilson (Solihull CC) and Stephen Dring (Team Echelon). On coming together the move failed to make much of an impression on the pack, with some sitting on and others riding less than smoothly. The result was a bit of a weird break that never felt like it was being driven.

As we were reeled back in Wilson and Dring counter attacked, with Guy Powdrill (London Dynamo) also clipping off to join them up the road. About half a lap later Harry Bulstrode (DHC) and two riders from AW Cycles initiated a bridge and Rob Enslin (AW Cycles) went to work at the front of the bunch discouraging attacks. Just as a Sigma rider I didn’t recognise was being hung out a hundred metres up the road I noticed a lull and made a big dig to get across. On looking back there was a decent gap so as I zoomed past the Sigma rider I encouraged him to jump on and the two of us went to work bridging to the other three. We made short work of this and the situation became Wilson, Dring and Powdrill still up the road, with my group of five chasing.

The move I was in was riding very smoothly, although the pace was not high enough to catch the leading trio, indeed it was something of a surprise we maintained a good gap on the bunch. With a lap to go one of the AW Cycles riders stopped pulling through. I wasn’t sure if his legs just weren’t up to it or if they were playing a tactical game, but either way I offered several bits of ‘advice’ to them to contribute.

Coming into the bottom of the climb I screamed at a marshal for the time gap and he said thirty seconds. Up a climb like Leith Hill thirty seconds is not much, especially if the guys up the road were tired. Instead of attacking I rode hard from the bottom of the climb, dropping my fellow chasers except for one of the AW Cycles riders (thankfully not the one who had been sitting on!). We caught Ben Wilson at the Coldharbour Lane junction, and then Stephen Dring with four hundred metres to go where I dropped my sole companion in the process. With two hundred metres to go I could see Guy Powdrill up ahead, but there was not enough road left to catch him in spite of one final dig.

This is the second time in two weekends I have been runner-up to Guy, and he won today with a very strong ride. The climb up Leith Hill didn’t feel as long as normal, hopefully a sign of some good form arriving. The legs and confidence are in just the right place for the upcoming Surrey League Revolutions stage race…

Stats:

RACE:
Duration: 2:52:29
Work: 2813 kJ
TSS: 249.3 (intensity factor 0.931)
Norm Power: 317
VI: 1.16
Pw:HR: 1.63%
Pa:HR: 5.54%
Distance: 113.228 km
Min Max Avg
Power: 0 1346 272 watts
Heart Rate: 99 192 168 bpm
Cadence: 31 239 97 rpm
Speed: 14.8 77.2 39.3 kph
Pace 0:47 4:03 1:32 min/km
Crank Torque: 0 143.4 26.9 N-m

Final mention goes to team mate Luke Wallis who came up the climb in 9th place looking very strong. One to watch!

This annual race is held over 135km on the Kirdford circuit south of Guildford and is unusually run on a Wednesday. This screamed out to me as a good opportunity to grab some points with a potentially smaller, weaker field and take advantage of being on school holiday. All I can say is there must have been a fair few sickies or “working from home” calls today as there was just about a full field including all of the usual suspects I see week in week out. So much for easy pickings, but nothing easily come by is worth having, right?

The race started fast and my plan was to try and get in the early break. In spite of being pretty active on or off the front nothing I was in stuck, and eventually a group did escape with your author still firmly in the bunch. I wasn’t too keen on this so made a couple of big efforts to try and bridge, one on my own to get to Stephen Dring (Team Echelon) and Kevin Knox (Dulwich Paragon) who were also up the road trying to bridge only to reach them at the point they were giving up the chase a bit. This was the pattern for the early part of the race: a few attempts to bridge all chased down.

As the laps counted down a larger chase group slipped off containing some strong riders and I was left in the bunch getting increasingly frustrated. There was a good chase at times, but not always organised and more like repeated attempts to get away that were followed; It helped keep the speed up and the riders up the road within bridgeable distance. On one fast descent there was a car stopped in the road we had to take evasive action on, and five minutes later the commissaire stopped the race (second race in a row!) to allow it to come together. The upside of this was it allowed a good look at who was up the road, and revealed they were only twenty seconds ahead.

The race was re-started with the time gap and immediately a couple of guys nailed it to get across successfully. Myself and a few others tried to do the same but it was becoming obvious legs were tiring. Not content to see the race slip up the road I dug in through the finish with three laps to go and took a couple of other guys with me. On checking back on the descent we had got a surprisingly big gap on the bunch. Four or five minutes of solid riding soon had us safely in the front group, and finally I could think about a result rather than cursing myself for a tactically poor first half of the race.

Including the ‘bridgers’ the lead group now contained some twenty or so riders, and was not working well at all. With two laps to go there was little evidence of through-and-off and the attacks started to come. Nothing got away until Dan Kogan (BMC) and Gareth Hewitt (Team Sabbath) chipped off and stayed away. Behind, in spite of numerous efforts (mostly very well marshaled by the Hewitt’s team mate) the remaining break stayed together, and mindful of my poor positioning on Sunday I went for it up the final climb into the finish, and was looking good for 5th place until an AW Cycles rider threw his bike and put me back into 6th. Up the road Hewitt had taken the win, I hope he thanked his team mate for an excellent supporting job.

Tale of the data:
135km
3hrs 16mins
41.0kph
165bpm av HR
259w av power
313w norm power
303 TSS (329 whole workout…)

To finish off, respect to Dani King of the Vision 1 team who was always near the front of the bunch and putting a lot of blokes to shame in getting involved with the action!

This past week has been a great opportunity to get all my bikes out in their native environments, as well as adding even more racing miles to the legs and edging closer to 200 BC points for the season so far. Once again a busy week needs to be dealt with in chronological order:

Tuesday 4th August- Dunsfold

A rather fortuitous glance at the Kingston Wheelers forum revealed that a couple of club mates were racing at Dunsfold on Tuesday and I could get a lift down there. As you may know the Dunsfold Aerodrome is used as the Top Gear test track, and the perimeter road we raced on included both the Hammerhead and Gambon corners although the only thing that reminds you of this are the tyre marks and painted finish line as you find yourself grovelling into a strong wind on the pan-flat circuit.

The race format was a handicap, but unlike the Thursday night road handicaps the handicapping was fairer to the scratch group meaning we caught the other groups about halfway through the race. Immediately a series of attacks began into the wind, including a couple of efforts from yours truly, and it didn’t take long for a break of about ten riders to form, working with the wind to pull away. Coming into the last two laps there was a bit of attacking, and then with half a lap to go I launched my big solo bid for the line, trying to get away into the headwind and consolidate as the road curved away to a cross-tail wind. I got a good gap and stayed on it, and looked back to see Toby Neave (Southdown Velo) bridging to me. I thought I would ease a fraction for him to get on, then recovered for half a minute on his wheel before launching again. Unfortunately the chasers had worked well to get back and we ended up reeled in with only a short distance remaining. Predictably these efforts left me a little wanting in the sprint so I had to be content with sixth place on a night where the legs felt great.

Wednesday 5th August, MTB Swinley Forest and Club 10

Rather than kick back and take it easy after a race I went with big brother Ben to Swinley Forest to check out the MTB trails. I was well impressed with the purpose built singletrack and the whole layout of the areas- like a giant playground for bikes. We even got carried away and started working on our jumping skills until I realised I was racing in the evening and didn’t really want to do it battered and bruised. This winter I may well race some of the Gorrick MTB events.

In the evening was the now customary drive out to Holmwood, just south of Dorking for the final club 10 of the season. These are a great event through the summer as they help indicate form and provide good power data. This final race was held in very fast conditions and I got a PB of 21:08 to win just ahead of resident club tester Ben Elliott. Although not super-speedy in national terms this is a lumpy course where sub 21:00 times can be counted on one hand. Those who help to run this series deserve public praise: the Kingston Phoenix for hosting, including legendary timekeeper Frank Cubis; and the Wheelers who help with road signs and the sign on (Naz, Alan, Danny and Cathy).

Saturday 8th August, Surrey League TT, Staplefield

Compared to last week conditions were much more favourable with bright sunshine, although the wind seemed to be less kind as riders were a little slower around the two rhythm breaking laps except for the winner Guy Powdrill of London Dynamo who shot around in 1:00:53. I managed second place with 1:02:17, actually a little slower than last week and a little lower on power, probably the result of my strategy of riding the hills hard and recovering on the downhills backfiring and leaving me dead for the final lap.

Sunday 9th August, SERRL Benenden

This was a 1/2/3 cat race over a shorter 90km distance. The only other short road race I’ve done this year was the Archer Spring where I would have preferred more distance to capitalise on my good endurance base. The same was true today and with no Elites a lot of the field felt they had a chance, but there was a fair bit of negative racing with some good attacks (including a couple from myself) being neutralised by riders willing to chase but not pull through.

Halfway through the race we were stopped as there was an accident ahead. It turns out a rider who had been dropped must have come off, and as the race lead car approached to effectively lap him there was a scene of a rider in the road with stopped cars looking after him. I hope the guy is OK, I heard it was bad road rash and nothing more so fingers crossed. In the bunch we stopped for a good half hour, and on restarting my legs felt a bit wooden, so didn’t attack until two laps (out of nine) to go where Matt Seaton (Rapha Condor) and Kevin Knox (Dulwich Paragon) had already got away, and Gareth Mcullough (Medway Velo) and myself bridged across on the finish climb. This didn’t last long and once again it was all brought back together.

With the race seemingly doomed to end in a bunch sprint I kept telling myself that getting a good position into the finish climb would be essential. Unfortunately fifty other riders had the same idea: everyone is a hero when they can see a bunch finish looming. I nervously worked up to about twenty riders back, but this was not enough and I got boxed in badly on the climb, even being forced onto the right hand verge at one point. Having put a dig in to get back up I then encountered a parked car on the right hand side forcing me to actually brake only hundreds of metres from the line. I gave it some beans after the car and got back to 11th place in the end, but I was cursing myself for poor positioning: I knew what I had to do but didn’t take the action required. Maybe I’m just getting soft and wanted to stay upright! Simon Lawn (Sigma Sport) took the win, which adds to an excellent season for the Sigma boys with wins for all their regional riders. Simon rode for the Kingston Wheelers for many years and his brother Tim looks after a lot of the road racing activities in the club so I was happy for him to get the result that reflected his experience in bunch finishes.

Another solid week, hopefully all the race mileage will bear fruit at the upcoming Surrey League Revolutions stage race.

Puncturing in a race is always a bummer. Even if there is a service car it’s often pretty tough to chase back on as I found last year during a stage of the Pearson Cycles Jaunts. When there is no service the game changes altogether to ” How the hell am I going to get back to HQ?”

On Thursday night I rode out to the Hungry Hill circuit where Paul Pickup demonstrated his own hunger for inflicting pain on others winning pretty easily. There were three factors that rather spoiled the evening for me. The first was a crash right beside me that took some big chunks out of my new carbon frame (at least I stayed upright…). Second was to then puncture half a lap later (the only race I’ve ever kept a saddle bag on- happy days!). Lastly was an apocalyptic thunderstorm that turned day to night and a beautiful summers evening into a scene of war like carnage. Thankfully I got a lift home after shivering in a bus stop for half an hour feeling sorry for myself.

Today was a Surrey league race for 1/2/3 cat riders, and there was only a field of forty or so riders, none of whom on paper should dominate the race. The Kingston Wheelers were represented by three of us, with Luke Wallis and Damien Breen also in the field. I had a pretty active first couple of laps, attacking a couple of times and riding on the front up the climbs to try and sort the field out a bit, however nothing would stick with the dwindling bunch chasing all moves back. With about half the race gone Andy Betts (Sigma Sport) slipped up the road with another rider (not sure who it was..), and then John Heaton-Armstrong (Fit-Fir) and Daniel Santoni (Pearson Cycles) began to bridge across. Having missed this initially the solo bridge up to them was on heading into the small climb to Outwood windmill when I dropped my chain losing about twenty seconds, thus failing to make the junction. This was frustrating and any subsequent effort to chase and bridge was hampered by a field lacking in firepower a bit.

With a lap and a half to go I once again led it up the climb into Bletchingly only to feel my rear wheel a little squidgy. It was the first time I’ve punctured on my new wheels and tubs, so it took a couple of checks and a second opinion from a rider next to me to confirm it. Luckily I had stopped near a junction where some of the boys from Dulwich Paragon were marshaling. A quick burst of CO2 and a borrowed pump later and I was safely back on my way to HQ.

Having quickly packed the bike up I walked to the finish to see a very close sprint between Betts and Santoni, with Betts just getting the throw on the line. Heaton-Armstrong rolled in for third looking pretty tired and the rest followed a minute or so later with team mate Luke getting another good top ten placing. Luke and Damien both impressed me today, and they should certainly look to get involved at the sharp end of the racing!

So, two races, two punctures. Surely that will be my bad luck out of the way for the weeks to come?

This race last year was held in similar heat, and similarly I was on the recovery trail following an illness. The differences were that last year I cramped badly up the finish climb leading to a raft of electrolyte products deployed in my back pocket this time around, and that last year it was an Elite race. This year the Elites were removed from the bill, although the field was still pretty handy with riders like Rob Hurd and continental espoir Ali Carr lining up at the start. I was joined in the race by team mates Stewie Martin and Luke Wallis who was coming off a great ride in the Pearson Jaunts. Luke being there was a real blessing as his dad Mark is a great supporter of the club at races and was able to pass up bottles in the heat. He is so organised that within seconds of crossing the finish line I found myself with fresh water and a can of coke in my hand- thanks Mark!

The debate after the race on the Staplefield circuit was whether this was one of the toughest courses around. Having raced just about everywhere in the South-East I’m inclined to agree. There are other circuits with bigger climbs (Cutmill, Chilham, Bletchingly etc) but there is something about Staplefield that is sapping. There really is nowhere to get in a rhythm with only short climbs, descents and false flats to contend with, and at the end of the race you really notice it! The word racers seem to use for this is “grippy” but I’m not sure where that comes from, answers on a postcard…

My plan for the race was to remain in the top twenty or so riders at all times, and get involved with “making the race”. Early on a move went containing Ian Paine (London Dynamo), Dan Kogan (BMC), Warrick Spence (Cyclefit) and Dan Santoni (Pearsons). Behind there was a disjointed chase with counter attacks keeping the speed up rather than a true through-and-off effort. The riders up front pulled out to about a minute at one point, however the chasing group (including myself) had got a bit more organised with some eighteen or so riders, most of whom contributed a little to the effort.

About halfway through the race we caught the leaders leaving a group of just over twenty at the head of the race, with the bunch now well out of touch behind. To keep things going several riders tried to get away including the early breakaway riders Paine and Kogan, but again they were pulled back with a couple of laps left.

Finally on the back end of the course with a lap and a half still to go Kogan again attacked up the climb into Balcombe, and London Road Race champ Andy Betts (Sigma Sport) went with him. I liked the look of this move and even though only in the little ring got some good leg speed going and managed to get a healthy hundred metres by the top of the climb. The three of us set about working together to try and pull out a lead, but the riders behind were not keen to see us go far and we were always held at around fifteen seconds for the rest of the lap. Going up the finish climb for the penultimate time I looked behind to see Rob Hurd bridging across. This brought mixed feelings, the first being that it would mean the break had a much better chance of staying away, but ultimately that if Hurd was there at the finish it would be hard to beat him. Whatever the thoughts at that point he must have worked hard to make the bridge.

The four of us continued to dangle in front of the chasers, but we stayed ‘on it’, indeed so much so that all I could do for the final lap was stop myself vomiting. I missed a couple of turns as I desperately tried to stuff gels down, but the legs were certainly starting to feel the effort. Finally we descended together towards the finish climb, and behind I could see a group of chasers. The goal was now two-fold: don’t get caught, and win the race.

I followed wheels until halfway up the climb when I made my effort- I must have jumped about a whopping five metres clear until the legs went BANG and before I knew it Hurd whizzed by at top speed, with neither Betts nor Kogan able to hold his wheel. They came around me, and Kogan looked like he was struggling, leaving me false hope for a podium, but just as I went to pass him he put a real spurt on getting a gap on me and overtaking Betts for second. I rolled in for fourth place, safe from the chasers by ten seconds.

The main lesson of the race is that even though fifteen seconds doesn’t seem like much, if you have the legs to keep going the chasers may well give up hope and leave you to it. I also learned that to win a race you have to save something after a long hard effort. I’ll keep trying for the rest of the season…

Other race reports on London Cycle Sport and from Warrick Spence

For those statistically minded, here is the data including the neutralised start: 3hrs 19mins; 131km; 39.4kph av speed; 257w av power; 320w norm power; 171bpm av HR; 295 TSS (IF 0.941)

With few events listed on the BC calendar in the South-East this weekend I decided to brave it north of the M25 to the Charlie Cains Road Race near Oxford.

As is the habit now on courses I don’t know I made sure I arrived in time to check out the circuit. This recce revealed a pretty bad road surface leaving me grimacing for my Edge wheels half the time, and a couple of climbs that looked like they would be sapping towards the end of the race. Even though it takes time, knowing a course gives me an extra bit of confidence and removes an unknown in a sport where so much is unpredictable.

The pre-entered start sheet showed a good field with a lot of riders of similar ability, and this made for a fast first hour as attack after attack went only to be chased down.

About halfway into the race a group gave the bunch the slip and pulled out to over a minute ahead. In regional racing that I have experience of there is seldom an organised chase in the bunch due to a lot of individual riders (like me!), a varying degree of standard and also at times a lack of teamwork from those in teams. Anyway, the net result is that if a move has gone and you aren’t in it the best option is to bridge in a chasing group. With something like three laps to go there was a big effort from the strong riders in the bunch that created a split up the finishing climb. I wasn’t feeling at my best but dug pretty deep to make sure I went with this move, and around ten or twelve of us got working to claw back the leaders.

We worked well to do this and soon saw the lead riders coming into view, and on catching them this created a larger group of around sixteen riders. Going into the finale of the race there was a lot of attacking and chasing, with Danny Axford (Arctic Premier) constantly trying to get away, as well as others. I made my move with about four kilometres to go but was well marked by Mark Perry (Sports Beans). If I’m honest my legs were frazzled and it wasn’t the most convincing of attacks. With two kilometres to go Axford jumped again and nobody followed, and I found myself at the front going into the final climb. I went for it up the hill but Gary Dodd (Sigma Sport) made a savage attack that I could not respond to and took Grant Bayton (Sports Beans) with him. With two hundred metres to go I was dying a death and thought the rest of the break would easily pass me but only a couple did and as I looked around there was a healthy gap behind me as I crawled into 7th place. The race was won by Dodd who had overtaken Axford into the line.

On crossing the line all I could do was find a path of grass for a couple of minutes to collapse onto, demonstrating a nice pursuiter’s cough and nearly vomiting in the process. Luckily my team mate Luke’s dad was on hand with a water bottle to bring me back to life (Luke was racing in the support race).

Overall I was happy to be in the break again, and actually pleased to get a top ten in a race where I didn’t feel at my strongest by some stretch. The best part of the day was the organiser upping the prize fund meaning 7th place got me some cash!