Last day of 2007

Had a bad nights sleep last night, and to top it off when I was asleep my mum called from New Zealand to wish us a happy New Years at 7am,
So I managed to head out at 12 noon towards richmond park, ridding a little bit quicker, legs feel strong but tired at the same time, rode 3 laps, very peaceful as hardly anyone about at all, road all wet though. I was about 13 minutes quicker than the same ride last week, although no wind at all today.
Have a annoying squeak from left pedal caused from some glop off the road between cleat and pedal body, stops if I wiggle my foot or disengage and clip back in, bizarre as it was my right pedal early in the year, but that stopped after I fell and scuffed up that pedal, have some new pedal bodies to fit and bearings, so I guess at the same time I change my cleats as well I hope to get rid of this squeak, need to be all set up for the New Year, going to record the details of my rides again, ie. keep a training diary, have done in the past but stopped the last few years as it seemed to be for me taking it to serious, but as an aid it is vital.
Will be listing target races for the years and times as well, hope to be doing some time trailing as well.
Just need to sort my body out so I can switch off at night and get a good nights sleep, better sign up with the local GP, so I can check if my body is lacking in anything, minerals etc.
Very sleepy at present, the way I feel I think I will be in bed well before midnight tonight, thats OK as I am a kiwi I can say that we are already into 2008 as it is 13 hours difference at the moment, so at 11am this morning it is 2008 in NZ. I was still in bed even then, very slack!
Happy New Years
heres to a good 2008

Steady

Well went out on friday night after I managed my 3 laps of richmond Park earlier in the day and got a little tipsy as I forgot that pubs can stay open longer than before, wondered why my wife was calling, but when I looked at the time it became apparent, 1am, made my excuses and left on my long drag of a trip across London.
Basically I wrote myself off so spent all of saturday recovering, so today i went out again to do 2 laps of the Park, nice day, a little cooler but no wind at all, still keeping it on tick over at present, feel good.
Wondering how much a 5 hour ride is going to affect me, find out in a couple of days.

Merry Xmas

Been out riding after xmas as I have had a break of two and a half weeks, mainly to do with having a cold and also social engagments etc.
Have been really run down so was prepeared to take the whole xmas break off my bike as well, managed 5 days in total, legs start getting twitchy at night, getting hot etc, so on Boxing day I headed foe Richmond park in the afternoon, took it very easy, managed 1 lap before heading back home, still that is 1.40hr .
Today I managed two laps while still keeping it as steady as possable, ended up having a slow motion race with an old man on a twin tubed Colnago, he was in the big ring and every time I got near him he would get out of the saddle for about a minute to put some distance between himself and I. Maybe all this effort to increase his pace by about 1 mph was taxing, I found it funny. tried to give him some shelter into the headwind heading towards Richmond Gate, he didn't like that, let him get on with it then after the climb from Kingston gate he seemed to take a while to recover so I just resumed at my pace which put me in front. He finally came past by the cafe, just a fraction quicker than I. Oh well. all about self control at this time of the year.
2.10hr riden today, feel good, been out to get some foodbars for the 3 laps I aim to do tomorrow. Take it one day at a time at the moment.
Will be out at a friends birthday party Friday night so not likely to be riding on Saturday, sunday I may do the surrey hills ride, we will see.
Take care out riding as the roads are very geasy!!

Remebrance sunday

I find it a struggle getting out on my bike at the moment, thats why it is good to have someone else to ride with how calls up to see if I am going out. Today I slept in till 9.30am, got a call from Sam at 10.15am from Sam saying that Mark had was driving to his place, had only just left at that point, 30 minutes later had a call saying that wasn't happening as James had phoned mark to say he was on his way to Guildford as per our orginal plans so Mark turned back to go riding with James, so it was sam and I leaving my place at 11.20am
Roads wet but the sun was shining and good tempurture, although hadn't noticed that we had a very strong tailwind on the way out of London, had abit of raod rage with some lady in a red car, saying we took up to much of the road, and this on one of the widest two lane roads in the southeast as well, a few minutes later she must have been fuming when I told her to chill as the road had been closed for the remebrance Sunday, asked the policeman and he let us through, saving us a detour through the suburbs, only takes 30 minutes to get to the country from my place, we headed over the North Downs, through Woldingham, some big fancy houses in this area, down narrow country lanes to Crowhurst then back round and home.
Nice steady pace, Sam had a puncture early on but no problem as it was a nice day out, legs felt strong while climbing, in general felt good, that is my longest ride since NZ, out for 2.40hrs. Was getting cold as we had to contend with the strong headwind and alot of the return journey is downhill.
Start of the regular bike clean as the roads were wet , so bike is getting dirty, glad to have my mudguards, Same with Sam as it stops all the crap flying of the back wheel while following.
Yesterday I went out by myself and stayed on the flat out Richmond way, set a steady pace averaging 19mph, fairly quick for this time of the year, although today was 17mph with lots of climbing, feel like my legs are building up again opposed to winding down, so thats all good.
This week I will be out riding after work as often as I can, so then I can have an easy weekend and relax and catch up with an old friend over cocktails or two.

Slowly getting back into riding again!

The last two weeks I have been fairly consistent with my riding, doing 45 minutes to an hour after work 3 times a week and doing 2 hours in the one ride on my days off work, which are Wednesday and Sunday, First 2 hour ride I was feeling strong but resisted the urge to push on and just rode at a steady 17 mph listening to my ipod and staying on the flat, still felt like along time on the bike and was tired once home but recovered very quickly.
Last wednesday was just over 2 hours and felt good all the way on a nice sunny day, again recovered enough to manage a trip to Ikea and buy a wardrobe and chest of draws, only just got them in my car even with the back seats down. Tend to have Tuesday and Thursday as easy days, just the commute to work and back, so I head out Richmond way to Twickerham then left to Kingston and back through Richmond and the south circular back to home. Managed this on thursday and Friday, just went a fraction quick on the friday so felt a little tired on the saturday.
Sunday came round and I went out with Sam at 11am and headed to Richmond park, not my initial choice but since I haven't been there much thought it would be Ok, so busy with traffic, Sam was on race bike with deep section carbon wheels and in shorts to get the last of the warm sunshine for the year, I am all kitted out for winter riding with my mudguards and lights on my training bike,
Ended up riding 1-2 mph faster than I would have liked, heart-rate was very high at times but not for very long, I was Ok for about 1 and a half hours but then I faded down to only one pace which was 16 mph, by know Sam excepted the pace, any other time of the year I would have just let Sam ride away and settle at my pace, need to stay in the comfort zone on my winter rides, otherwise I may as well start racing again.
Do enough of that throughout the summer months so feel entitled to just be rolling along at this time of the year. Want to gradually build up my two main rides of the week to 5-6 hours by March, so have plenty of time, just don't want to feel to tired doing it. When I got home this sunday I was blown to bits after 2hrs and 20 minutes of riding. After eating lunch and a shower I thought I would be sleeping but instead I made the most of a sunny day and went and topped up with supplies from Sainsbury and then decided to wash my filthy car, been parked under a pear tree while I was away in New Zealand so stained with the residue from the fruit that had rotted away on the bonnet, had to T-cut as normal polish didn't have any effect, started all this at 2.30 and finished in the dark at 5.30pm, think I was high from the fumes as well as low on energy because once inside I kept walking into the chairs and door-frames as I walked about, sat down and watched the last hour of Star Wars, Return of the Jedi and stayed watching TV until 10pm, To tired to move, had a bad nights sleep as my legs were pinging as if I had done a race anyway, had to rub some Born Muscle Relax into them to get them under control, feeling very sleepy now, have a big day tomorrow with work.
2008 product launch for Serotta bikes and our Glider frames, shall be interesting, I shall be on one of the first of it's kind from Serotta new bike frames for next year doing something I haven't done for along time but am pretty good at when I was, can't say anymore than that, except I will be going very fast on this frame! there will be a prototype that Ben Serotta has bought with him to show at the product launch.
Thats me, will try to keep more up to date reports on my winter riding, later.

back to work!!

Back in London after two and a half weeks in New Zealand in which I only rode my bike twice, enjoyed my time off the bike, so far I have been back 3 days and have been enjoying my commute to work,, does make you feel alive I feel, although air was very fresh this morning but sunny so good to be out, have to be carefull not to draw in to much cold air as my lungs are not ready yet, legs are very fresh though, need to take it easy, hopefully I will be out tomorrow riding, jetlag has caught me up, very tired.
Must leave as there is the Rugby world cup final to watch.

Far, far away

I am sitting in my parents new lounge with the sun shining on my back using my mums laptop, been in my home town since Sunday, 30 hours in total to get here from London, via L.A( security checks are extreme, retina scan and finger prints and that was just getting from the airplane to the transfer lounge as our plane refuelled).
Jet lagged, still half asleep during the day, Last night I rode out from Nelson to Richmond to compete in the First of the Star and Garter wheelers tuesday Twilight series, roads were wet as it has been raining ever since I have arrived until today which is sunny, anyway just before the race was to start I was introduced to the other competitors and gave a brief rundown of my season etc. the racing was an A and B group together starting first then C,D a few moments later, I being in the A group, once we got onto the main road the young riders started attacking hard, good to see such strong aggressive riding, I made a few strong turns but felt jadded, as the race was so short because of the lack of light it came down to a bunch sprint, I know the roads from when I lived here but the finish has been moved so had no idea were to aim for, as it was I had to close a gap to 4 riders then kept going to be passed with the line in sight by an Ex Olympic Ice skater turned cyclist. Quick chat then rode back with a fellow cyclist from my school days of racing as it got dark, last 10 minutes was proper night time, oops, no lights!
Today I have cleaned my Steel Eddy Merckx race bike, need to get a longer stem and raise the saddle 2mm and I will be all set up as my Serotta HSG carbon.
Next race is on Sunday of 42km in distance. may do a ride before hand but feel to tired and have to much to do here in the mean time.
Here in New Zealand it is very quiet and there is just so much space.

Warwick Town centre race

On sunday my wife and I drove to Warwick from London on up the M40 for me to race at 17.15, got there a good one and a half hours before the race to see the finish of the womans race and some unicycle action.
Weather was good, just very blustery which I didn't think would affect the race as the circuit is quite tight but I was proved wrong as on the only climb and we were into a block headwind which I was not physically able to power into so took shelter as much as possable during the race, this is the finish straight so had an affect in that I was in postion for the primes but had no answer when riders came past so made no real effort as it was the overall result I was after.
The race started fast, Russell Downing attacking at the end of the first lap to then find him on the ground after the first corner after running wide into the crowd barriers, strange as the rest of us were chasing and had no problem what so ever speeding round this corner even while he was picking himself up, seemed to be a few issues with people coming to grief on the corners, slowly the main bunch was getting whittled down, I was doing a good job of staying in 3-4th wheel for most of the race, allowed me to remain stress free as I was lacking any real power, still have a head cold so not done any hard rides since the sunday previous.
Eventually it was down to Kristian House(Navigators), Malcolm Elliot(Pinerallo RT), Dave Collins(Science in Sport) and a fast charging Gordon Macauley(PCA-Evans) who managed to bridge from the remanents of the bunch, so we were sorted so just got on with reducing the lap times from 1:10 to down to a constant 1:06, I wanted to attack as I felt I could go faster into the corners, just needed to lead into the first corner which meant being on the front into the wind which was my undoing as I said I had no more punch to kick into the corner to get any advantage after the climb, so had to be content in following and doing little sneaky attacks if someone went wide just to nail the gap left by them at pace and force a reaction, at one point Malcolm came up to me and asked what length cranks was I using as I seemed to be able to pedal most of the corners or get on the power earlier than everyone else, well thats what I do and do well, hence why I can keep up even while under par by gaining into and out of the corners so less work for me to do in getting back up to pace on the straights, I knew I was hanging on by the skin of my teeth but could feel the end was near, so when Gordon attacked into the wind with ten minutes left, it looked as I should chase as I was coming through for a turn anyway so I sat up as I had nothing to give so Kristian went, followed by Dave and Malcolm and me just getting back on after 3 corners, we had Gordon at 5 seconds then we slowed and he drew out to 12 seconds, so I tried to rustle things up as I thought I was feeling stronger, after 2 laps I realised that was a false feeling as I was really hanging on for dear life, eventually I could not quite hold the wheel in front thinking I would gain the distance into the next corner but it was again into that bloody headwind up to the finish line so Dave Collins attacked me in an effort to catch Malcolm and Kristian, so had two laps left of the race to try to redeem myself so stayed calm and just nailed the corners, keeping as tight a line as possable to ride the shortest distance between corners, one lap to go I was catching but not quick enough so gave it everything I had and latched back on to Daves wheel just as he caught Malcolm and Kristian going into the very last corner, but as I had no power to take on Malc or Kristian so I had to focus Dave as the others were already powering up the hill towards the finish, I made no effort to get past Dave untill 50 meters to go, in which I stayed seated and just went beyond any normal effort and past into the red zone but managed to get Dave on the line, in the end it was a close finish as you can see by having a look at the report and pics from the British Cycling website that I have copied below.
So Gordon hung on to win by 3 seconds with Kristian 2nd, Malcolm 3rd and me 4th 1 second behind. I was was in a world of pain, legs, lungs totally maxed out to then just stop because the marshalls standing blocking the circuit, phew!
All in all a good result and glad to have finished the UK season, only downside was that I was called for a random dope test but only found out after I had already been to the toilet so had to wait one and a half hours after drinking 1.5 litres of water before I had any urge to go again, so left Warwick at 9pm, my wife was not impressed at all, so home at midnight.
Next I am in France working for Mark Neep and GPM10, riding from Chamonix to Nice over 4 days, leave on Thursday.

McCauley Grabs Circuit Series Finale

TravelWise Cycle Races
Elite Circuit Race Series
Warwick, 16th September 2007
Report & Images: Richard Robotham

Podium 1st - McCauley 2nd - House 3rd Elliott

The historic town centre of Warwick was the setting for the final race in the Elite Circuit Race Series which was sponsored by TravelWise for which many of the riders had traveled down from Glasgow following the end of the Tour of Britain to compete in this last event.

McCauley and Elliott keep the pace high in the early laps

A fast pace was set from the beginning, Russell Downing led the race at the end of the first lap but crashed into the barrier as he negotiated the tight bend at the start of the second lap.

The race settled and held together lapping at a consistent pace for a further 5 laps until a crash on the back of the course bought down 10 riders including the BC National Circuit Race Champion James McCallum who continued with a large gash in his leg.

McCallum clearly suffering following the crash

This crash was the catalyst for a group of riders to break away which included Malcom Elliott (Pinarello RT), Gordon McCauley (Plowman Craven Evans Cycles RT), Warrick Spence (Cyclefit Serotta), Kristian House (Navigator Insurance) and Dave Collins (SIS - Trek).

McCauley out in front

The five leaders remained ahead of the field which had now splintered into three groups over the course, and with 27 minutes of racing elapsed the leaders were now in sight of the back of the field. It took a further two laps for the leaders to make contact with and drive through the main field.

The three riders in the chasing group Tony Gibb (Plowman Craven Evans Cycles RT) team mate Simon Gaywood and Jon Mozley (Merlin Racing Team) pushed hard working together to catch the leaders but first had to get past the bunch at the back of the field which also contained the only other rider Simon Holt (Recycling.co.uk) not to have been lapped by the leaders. Holt was working hard at the front of the bunch to stay in touch with the leaders.

House & Elliott break clear to start chasing down McCauley

With 50 minutes gone Gordon McCauley took his opportunity and jumped away from the leaders as they climbed the hill to the finish line, gaining a 5 second advantage over the rest of the leading group. With the hour fast approaching all the lapped riders were withdrawn from the race leaving only the 11 remaining unlapped riders.

McCauley was now 7 seconds ahead with 5 laps to go to his four nearest rivals and a minute ahead of the remaining six riders.

As the lap board dropped to 4 laps to go McCauley caught Gibb, Gaywood, Freeman, Mozley and Holt, and kept going and increased his lead to 12 seconds.

McCauley takes a narrow 3 second victory

With 2 laps to go and McCauley out front, Kristian House and Malcolm Elliott stepped up the pace and pulled away from Warrick Spence and Dave Collins. At the bell McCauley, was just ahead of the now lapped riders and the gap to Elliot and House was coming down fast. But McCauley held his nerve and waited for team mate Simon Gaywood to come over the line together.

Elite Men's Result:

1st Gordon McCauley - Plowman Craven Evans Cycles 1:06:33
2nd Kristian House - Navigator Insurance 1:06:36
3rd Malcolm Elliott - Pinarello RT 1:06:36
4th Warwick Spence - Cyclefit Serotta 1:06:37
5th Dave Collins (SIS - Trek) 1:06:37
6th Martin Freeman - Alpha RC Team Corley Cycles 1:06:37

London Grand Prix (TOB)

Today was the Tour of Britian prologue and associated support races held throughout the day.
I was down to race in the Elite race at 1pm, second to last counting round of the National series, I left home at 11.45 to ride the short distance to Crystal Palace, 10 minutes later and I was there.
Once pointed in the right direction to the sign on tent which happened to be three quarters of the way along the grass bank over looking the finish straight, not that obvious. With plenty of time I pinned numbers on and then went out to warm up, after 20 minutes came back to find the circuit was open to warm up on, did a few laps, going to hurt as the extra climb from the back of the stadium to were it connects with the tuesday night circuit takes alot out of your legs as it is quite steep.
My legs felt tired which is not a good thing before a race, back that up with a head cold since Wednesday I was not expecting to have much input into this race, be lucky if I could even keep up was my initial assesment.
Had to change my race number to read from the side as opossed to my pocket, although that was pretty much every rider then changing there numbers on the start line as the race was about to start, all this while calling selected riders forward to present to the spectators on the front row which happened to include me, so no stress as I was able to part the bunch and get to the front row.
The race was fast from the off but not as bad as I feared, that first part of the climb tended to peg the riders desire to attack up the rest of the climb, which allowed me to use as small a gear as I could get away with, managed to stay near the front but not do any work for a few laps until the first prime which I had a go as I was near the front, one rider had attacked up the climb and no one chased so I had a sprint with Dean Downing to bag 2nd place, a few more points for me to add to my series total, pretty much held postion but it was getting harder for me as we went on, so by the time the 2nd prime came I gave it my all and won it, but then Malacolm Elliot who had been on my wheel attacked after the sprint and took Dean Downing with him, at this point I thought that it was game over as I was stuffed and those two are very strong, so I drifted to the back of the bunch at the time when I should have been helping in the chase, but I need'nt have worried as the Merlin boys worked well and bought it all back after 3 laps.
So far no one had given it full gass on the climb and that was what I was worried about, but I guess most of the riders didn't know the climb like the locals that race every tuesday here so I was hanging on, we race quicker up here on a tuesday night but then again we have never raced this full circuit before, I know if I had had the legs I would have attacked but as I was suffering I was into following Malcolm as he was the strongest rider of the day.
The last 4 laps I had worked my way slowly back up to the top 5, on Malcolms wheel leading into the bell lap, this was it, was expecting a world of pain up the climb as I imagined the pace would be sky high, the opposite happened, I got out of the saddle as I could hear the bunch swarming behind us but what happened is every gap at the front was taken up and no one wanted the lead, which to my annoyance I scooted into the lead as I do not like breaking at moments like this, so it was down to cat and mouse tatics, I was on the right, someone attacked on the left, Malcolm reacted, I went, someone got in front of me but I had to measure my effort, round off the top of the climb there was a touch of wheels that took out 4 Rapha-Condor riders and split the bunch which left 5-6 for the sprint, I was back in 3rd wheel when the two in front eased up with 250 meters to the line so I dumped it into my normal sprint gear to blast to the line and win, but no, legs tied up as I had over geared myself simply because I had no more to give, so knew Malcolm was on my right so moved right then someone started coming past on my left so I moved slightly to the left trying to block but all that did was allow Malcolm to come by and win and me failing fast to have a quick glance back to see if I was going to get nailed, would if I didn't give it everything plus some more to hold onto 3rd place, which I did with some relief.
Upset that I didn't win but grateful that I placed well considering my condition at the moment.
Nice to be up on the podium again. Nice to see such a big crowd had gathered.
After I came home , had a bath(shower broken) and lunch then rode my mountain bike to watch the Pros ride the prologue, sat on the grass hill overlooking the straight after the climb leading into the left then right corner, been watching for 5 minutes when a rider bombed into it fully committed on his TT bike , hands on aero bars but not a good line and the front wheel let go and he crashed into the crowd barriers hard, got back up onto spare bike as all riders had there team cars following each rider with a round of applause from the crowd as he got under way again, he was shifting at the time compared to Mark Cavendish but I guess Mark nailed the climb as he won the King of the Mountains jersey, the Prolouge and the Yellow leaders jersey with his ride, great to see, all in all a great day out, very tired at the moment.
1st Malcolm Elliot
2nd Andrew Tinsley
3rd Warrick Spence

Newport Nocturne

Last night was the Newport Nocturne race held under lights, featuring a quilty field of Tour de France riders and National and World Champs, past and present.
The race was very very fast, I missed getting gridded as I couldn't get through the riders that had assemebled in front of me, every one was very jumpy and tense waiting for the start. My start was OK, made some places up then worked on getting out of trouble as in the midpack riders are outbreaking themselves, bumping into each other and just general bad riding which is dangerous as the whole circuit has steel crowd barries all round so hitting one of them you are going to hurt.
I won the first prime, more because out front was the safest place, just that the circuit was to easy in places for me to make an impact cornering and were I could was at the hairpin leading onto the cobbled climb I could rocket up that and get a gap but I would be fried along the rest of the circuit so was getting covered but no one counter attacking to keep the pace up, so lots of flat out parts to the race and lots of freewheeling stuck behind 4-5 riders as thats all it took to cover the width of the circuit in places as a rider was racing up the road, I guess the riders with teams had it covered, where I had to try and react with everything which just wore me out. legs switched off, thought of pulling out but managed to hang at the back of the bunch, have an energy gel and try to recover, so I missed the race winning move. Fair enough but we could have caught if we had put in some consistent laps, but instead you would get a favorite like Mark Cavendish make a move and everyone would chase him down then once caught just follow him even though he had given up with his attack, so the pace was up and down. A few times I thought this is it I am going down as riders clipped each other and took wild lines into the corners, the finish straight was the worst as it is not straight but more of a meanduring line that then curves to the left and quite narrow, so you would see a gap between the group and the barriers, start to move through the gap then the buch drifts across, lots of riders getting trapped like this between someones arse and the barrier. All this happening at some serious speed, I had 53x 11 spun out a couple of times, must laps in the 12, so 40 miles per hour or more.
With 5 laps to go and remotivating myself that it is not all over untill the race is over I started to pick of riders until I was up to 4th wheel coming into the last corner, had to take the inside line as what tends to happen in the last lap everyone wants to be at the front so the fastest line is the outside but you get riders ducking up the inside to then spear into the riders on a wider radius so you have everyong flicking, braking, just getting in each others way so I tend to break for the inside turn tight and power out, might be more work but I have control of my line and only have to worry about riders on my outside.
So into the finial straight I wanted to hold off as long as possable but at the same time didn't want to get swamped as it gets very full on in the sprint, in the end I just missed getting the riders wheel in front as he had started leading out for his team mate, I jumped earlier than I wanted as I could feel the bunch bearing down on me, Had Russell Downing sweep past with Simon Holt, legs were all juiced so just hanging on when I got a lift from a rider trying to go between me and the barrier, lifted my front wheel of the ground at about 30 meters to go, thought I was going down but we parted and he managed to snag my postion so I eventually had 9th place, I was grateful to have finished all in one piece with no damage to bike or me.
Fantastic ride by Malcolm Elliot as he soloed away to victory by nearly a minute on the rest of us. He is superman!!
There was a crash in the sprint, not sure who but his carbon bike was snapped in half and still on the deck 15 minutes after the race had finished so a big crash. hope he is alright.
Got home at 2am, bed at 3am

Report

Malcolm Elliott salutes the crowd after winning the Newport Nocturne. Tony Gibb was second and the last winner of the race, Chris Newton was 3rd.

What a sensational night at the Newport Nocturne it was on Saturday evening. Not only did the big crowd turn out yet again, but so did the star riders and the biggest star on the night was the ever green Malcolm Elliott. Despite being well into his forties, he ride away from the best riders in the country and put almost a minute into them during his 30 minute breakaway.

Elliott was part of an early break that included the likes of Tony Gibb and Chris Newton, both riders who have won World Championships medals and yet nothing they or anyone else could do was going to stop Elliott in what has to rank as one of the best performances in a British bike race. The minor places were taken by the riders left in the break, Tony outsprinting Chris Newton. We'll have more on the night later.

Four of the international stars brought in for the Beijing Challenge along with Simon Holt.

The Mayor of Newport waves the flag and the race is on...

Chris Newton, Peter Kennaugh, Tom Murray and Tony Gibb chase Elliott. Murray was very unlucky to puncture inside the final five laps (no laps out).

The podium riders all get in the hot seat to ensure there is a lot of beer to go round afterwards...

Geraint Thomas -- like a motorbike said Malcolm Elliot afterwards,

Elliott attacked with half the race to go and no matter what pressure they applied behind, no-one caught him again.

Sid Barras on his way to a solo victory in the Past Masters race.

Results

David Millar had to get a local bike shop to get him a bike for the race as his was still at the airport in Spain.

Beijing Challenge

1. Rob Hayles

2. David Millar

Other places to be confirmed

Rob Hayles beats his training partner David Millar for the prize in the Beijing Challenge

Elite
1. Malcolm Elliott, Pinarello RT
2. Tony Gibb, Plowman Craven @56 secs
3. Chris Newton, Recycling.co.uk
4. Gordon McCauley, Plowman Craven
5. Peter Kennaugh, Pinarello RT
6. Russell Downing, Healthnet @1.06
7. Simon Holt, Recycling.co.uk
8. Jon Mozely, Merlin
9. Warrwick Spence, Cyclefit-Serotta
10. Andy Tinsley, Bioracer
11. Simon Gaywood, Plowman Craven
12. Tom Barras, Merlin
13. Liam Holoham, Merlin
14. Will Bjergfeet, Kona
15. Ross Muir, Rapha
16. Andrew Williams, Cwncarn
17. James Moss, Inkland
18. Gary Adamson, FP Mailing
19. John Tanner, Sportscover
20. George Richardson, Kona
21. Ian Holt, Felt
22. Matt Talbot, Rapha Condor
23. Jon Kris Mason, Merlin
24. Ryan Bonser, Recycling.co.uk
25. Martin Ford, BC PM
26. James Millard, Plowman Craven RT
27. James McCullum, Plowman Craven RT
28. Mark Cavendish, T-Mobile
29. Geraint Thomas, Barloworld
30. Rob Hayles, KLR
31. Rob Partridge, Recycling.co.uk
32. Tom Diggle, Recycling.co.uk

Past Masters
1. Sid Barras, 45.44
2. Steve Jones, @14
3. Phil Wilkins, @ 17
4. Neil Martin
5. Chris Lillywhite
6. Simon Cope
7. Reg Smith
8. Simon Day
9. John McMillan
10. Les West
11. Adrian Timmis
12. Gary Coltman
13. Trevor Horton
14. Ged Dennis
15. Gordon Smith
16. Vic Barnett
17. Mike Doyle
18. Roy Causer

Pics of my Serotta Ti Max MTB

End of the season racing starts here!

Tonight was the last of the Crystal Palace tuesday League races that have been held throughout the year, although quite a few have been rained off this year which helped me in the overall series standings as I think my worst result was 3rd, won 4 and that put me 2nd overall, although it would have helped if tonights result counted as well as I won tonight in a reduced lap race. 18 laps in total, of which 12 I rode alone out in front after riding away from the bunch on the climb, I need this ride to bring me up to form again as it has been a few weeks since my last race.
I have the Newport Nocturne this Saturday, only has 4 English Tour de France riders David Miller, Bradley Wiggins, Geriant Thomas and Mark Cavandish plus all the best from the UK race scene. The following Sunday is the support race for the Tour of Britian at Crystal Palace and then on the 16th of September is the Warwick Town centre race which I won last year, So a busy finish to the years racing. All 3 are rounds of the National Elite Criterium Series, at the moment I am in 5th overall, not as good as last year.
In general I have been slack with my riding but have just done enough on my bike, over the bank holiday that meant going out at 4.30pm on the Sunday and Monday, did some steep climbs on the North downs which my legs didn't like and the yesterday did 3 hill attacks in my brief ride of 75mins, but thats all I can do as it is to late for any more as it will take the edge off, all about managing what you have, at the moment I feel I am on track, find out on Saturday night I guess.

Getting wasted

Had another night out with the boys from work, had a beer and pizza at work before heading to the same pub as last week, had a pint then moved onto our next stop which is a pub I ride past every day on the way home from work, old style original pub, very small and hot inside so after another pint we headed more into the heart of Central London, stopping once more, needed a toilet stop so went into a bar on the corner of St. Martins Lane and Port Street in Covent Garden, had a bouncer on the door, our rounds were getting more expensive the closer we got to Leicester Square.
Encountering the men employed in the washrooms to dry your hands and splash on some cologne etc, all for tips etc, scary stuff.
On to our last stop after a brief moment when I couldn't figure out what direction I was facing once in Leicester Square, just so many people about, eventually found the bar after asking a couple of coppers, revisting an old haunt from my early days in London 9 years ago.
This being the Zoo Bar, once the bouncer allowed us in after looking us over and asked Craig and I for ID. Funny as Craig is 25, Tony 30 and I 35, seven quid to get in but Craig could see that is was happening inside so we pressed on, once in we went and found a vacant spot at the bar, just happened this was also right on the dancefloor, we tried chatting but it was so loud that my voice started breaking up, found it an interesting social experiment for us as we are all in solid relationships etc, so looking on at the crowd and taking in the way people interact and loose themselves the more they drink etc.
We were on bottled beer while Craig was on Southern Comfort and coke, some drinks I can no longer take as I have over indulged in the past so the taste and memorys linger on, found it quite fun and relaxing to be out, Craig was getting worried as he had to work on saturday so we left at 11.30, Craig caught the Tube while Tony and I went back to the shop. I got home at 12.30am, was well wasted so had a shower and ate a very late dinner while drinking Nuun Isotonic drink in my race bottle, watched a movie but cannot remember what it was called or what time I finally went to bed. Kept waking up throughout the night with a dry mouth, managed to finish two bottles of energy drink by 7am in the morning.
By the time I got up at 10am I felt Ok, had breakfast then got ready to go for ride as my wife teaches between 11 and 12.30 from home so I either had to go out or stay in the bedroom, my choice and also the need to start training again, I wired up with my Ipod, drink and a food bar headed to richmond Park, very windy but weather was good, managed to tag on to two riders heading anti clockwise towards Star and Garter into the strong headwind, one rider peeled of to Richmond so I sat on the other rider, went past him but rode at a nice steady pace, did a lap then he came past and we just kept a nice sedate steady pace which was what I needed, was only planning on 2-3 laps but as I had managed to keep it steady I did 4 laps.
On the 3rd lap I had to watch some idiot cyclist try to overtake a car into a headwind and cars coming the otherway, he just sat next to the car as the speed limit in Richmond Park is 20mp/h, He came past me with his head down and on the drops, I wanted to see what sort of numpty he was so let him forget about me by letting him go for it while I rode steady, just that I rode up the climb from Kingston Gate alot faster than him so by the top I pulled right back onto his rear wheel, rode at his speed for abit then rolled past just before the descent leaving him behind, after that he caught back up but was afraid to go past even though I was doing 22 mp/h with a tailwind, not very fast in all, so let him sit on then gradually increased the pace to 30mp/h and he was gone. Getting hot at this point so slowed back to the pace as before and rolled round and then home, legs tired and muscles twitching now even while seated typing this.
So no more late nights out drinking until all my races are over and I am back from New Zealand late October. Also need to save up again to be able to afford to go out again. If we can get Phil and Jules out it would make an interesting night out.

Rolling along!

Here I am at home after another of my all conquering training rides from work to home, total distance of 6.5 miles in 23 minutes, thats all I have been doing for the last two weeks basically.
Monday and Tuesday I went north after work from Covent Garden, through Islington to Holloway across to Camden, round Regents Park, right along Marylebone road, down Sussex Gardens, cut through Hyde Park over the Serpentine on into Knightsbridge, right onto Old Brompton road, then a left back towards the river Thames to Cheyne Walk and then the Embankment, get some speed along here then south over the river at Vauxhall bridge, past the Oval Cricket grounds, take a right heading to Brixton on Brixton road, carry on past the choas outside Brixton Tube station and all the buses into Effra road then peel left to Dulwich road, at Herne Hill take Halfmoon Lane into Dulwich Village which leads into College Road, at the traffic lights I take the left which happens to be the South Circular, 5 minutes later I am home in our nice quiet flat. That ride is my normal winter survival route as it is well lit, and even with heavy traffic I can always keep moving, takes about 45 minutes. Allows me to play about with the traffic if I want as well, can normally ride faster than the traffic is flowing, so a little ducking and diving, keeps me in tune I guess, like judging gaps in traffic, still will not take that many risks.
Have a movie to watch on TV(The Wickerman) never seen this so watching tonight.

saw one of these

Today while riding home from work I saw one of these, a new Audi R8. Everytime I go riding in central london I will spot some supercar or exotic that I will admire as I ride along, pretty much seen everything being driven along the streets of london at some point, some even put there foot down to make a nice wail as they accelerate to 30mp/h or more!!!.
Well my week has been one off not doing to much riding as I have been tired. After last fridays result I thought I would do a road race on the sunday in Surrey. Part of the Surrey League series starting at Handcross. I thought I felt good and had a chance in this race, the moment we started and went up the first climb I was dropped, hung on, but wasn't to be, head and legs not willing so called it quits after 3 laps out of 5. Slightly upset but then as the rest of the day went on I relised how Knackered I was, so that sorted me out to have a mini break from training and racing until I feel strong and ready to go again, which meant that I have just been riding to work and back each day, takes me 25 minutes each way.
Today I went out after work as it is Saturday and we close at 3pm, very hot day, still feel tired but thats my own doing by deciding to have a drink after work with Craig, our mechanic. after 3 pints of Lager shandy I was borderline drunk, so lucky that we called it time at only 9.30pm, so many drunk people out and about at this time already, saw two seperate Hen night groups, dressed in playboy bunny outfits, lots of girls drinking out of beer bottles while staggering along. scary really, of course I then proceded to Work to collect my bike for the ride home, no dramas on the way home. Still after eating dinner and going to bed I had to get up and drink energy drink throughout the night to give myself a fighting chance that I would not feel ruff in the morning. Thankfully I was Ok, just a little dry in the mouth and tired. All went well at work, not as busy as it can sometimes be today, which was good.
Hence my ride to get some sunshine and see whats what, roads quiet for London at 4pm, makes for easy riding, saw the Audi R8 in Putney, add that to the Zonda F I saw in Battersea last month.
Not sure what to do tomorrow, was hoping to race but thats been canceled, so looks like a solo training ride of between 3-4 hours is on the books, see how I feel in the morning, depends a little on the weather as well, but I have my training bike with me which has full mudguards, so depends on my motivation. Next big race is the Newport Nocturne on the 1st of September. So can afford to laze about a little before picking it up again and getting some work in before then.
Regarding last night my bank gave me a call to check on my card usage as the round of drinks I bought on my card flagged up as an out of character purchase, which I guess it was, because I cannot remember the last time I was in a pub, thats good on my part, but also maybe a little sad and shows that I should get out more!

First Loser

What a nice hot day yesterday was, started by washing the car, 2nd time this has been done this year, noticed the neighbour from upstairs has been happily opening his door repeatedly into the side of my white car as there is about 20 black marks from his black Landrover, hope he has chipped the paint and his door rusts.
Aside from that I managed to convince my wife to come to South Wales by saying it is only a 3 hour drive along the M4 motorway, always forget how long it takes to get out of London itself from East Dulwich, so an hour in and just getting onto the M4.
My wife is then going on about how hot it is, 29 degrees showing on the digital display on the dashboard and why has this car not got air conditioning, does have a Bose stereo with 8 speakers and a RCA input jack to plug the monster cable to my Ipod Nano, so all not bad.
Nothing like driving with the fan on 3 with all the vents open, just means your t-shirt sticks to your back, but thats life, you move on, so if I get a car with air conditioning and maybe automatic so my wife can drive I will be sorted.
Made it to South Wales OK, traffic was very heavy but kept flowing so good, had a mild moment on the Severn Bridge trying to find enough cash to pay the Toll for the bridge on the entry to Wales, shouldn't have bought that Magnum ice cream and 2 cokes at the services with the tenner in my wallet before hand, as it was Sawako(wife) had enough coins to get the required £5.10 we needed.
Arrived at 5pm, so had plenty of time before race so went and walked round the circuit, 1km seems along way when walking, first impession was that it was very narrow, rough road surface on certain corners and twisty, actually to many parts to circuit so didn't fully understand the layout untill later while riding it. Went back to sign on and get ready, race start was for 8pm, had a few drops of rain at 6pm, had everyone looking at the sky.
I left my valve extender at home for my zipp 404's so asked a few people with deep section wheels if I could borrow there's, amazing how many wheels have them permanently fixed in place, so riders never let tyres down etc!. Anyway managed to borrow one from Dexter Gardias father, while he borrowed my 2mm allan key to adjust his sons brakes.
Felt nervous for the first time in a while, I think my body knows what is going to happen before my brain does, so to take my mind off this I went for a long warm up ride out into the country, were again I start wondering what would happen if I get a puncture out here, should remember to take mobile phone with me. 40 minutes of riding I am back at the car for the final time, take leg warmers off, splash on some Born Muscle Up lotion, has a nice orange glow to it, makes your legs look more tanned than they are and has a nice shine to it(better than Baby oil anyway) and proceeded to do some laps of the circuit before our race, once riding round felt better as the circuit had a real nice flow to it and a good racing line could be had.
Before our race could start one of the sponsors of the race had a race car blast round the circuit for two laps, popping and banging as it went round, very highly tuned car, racing slicks and all.
I had sat on the start line for 10 minutes in the attempt to keep a close postion to the front, which payed off, also was called forward anyway as one of the top ten in the series.
The race got underway and was frantic, on the first corner I went from tenth to fifth by holding a tight inside line, someone crashed into the barriers on the outside of the corner, the Merlin squad where on the front gunning the pace, everyone scrabbling for wheels, being so narrow the barriers were ever present and with one section being blind entry you where flicking the bike right then left, after the first lap I did not want to be stuck anywere in the bunch so when the pace slowed midway up the short climb leading into the paved allyway past the pubs I attacked to carry the speed through this section knowing no one else would be able to get past the slowing riders, so when I noticed I had someone on my wheel I was suprised as the gap I had got by was tight, as it was that was the move and the only one we needed as we were on our way to build up a lead that no one could match(read race report).
Thinking about the finish I have to have more faith in myself that I have got just as good a sprint as anyone else so why did I kick with 300m to go, as I gapped Simon but then he caught and kicked from my wheel which meant I was shown up again. Need to get more crafty, slow it up etc, still there are more races this year.Nice to be on the podium again spraying Champagne at the camera man, crowd to far away.
Packed up and then drove home, stopping at some motorway service area at 10:30pm, I was not hungry as my body felt close to being sick after the race, although once back in the car I was, so ate the last of Sawako's Panini. Got home at 12:45am, not bad, very tired but really hungry so heated the oven and cooked a Pizza Express pizza, body is sore as did no warm down our any stretches after so better go for an easy spin today as I am racing Tomorrow in a Surrey League race promoted by London Dynamo. My first road race since May.

Abergavenny Elite Circuit Race Report

Abergavenny Elite Circuit Series Criterium

(Taken from the British Cycling Website, edited the spelling of my name, as spelt wrong again and uncensored a quote)

August 3, 2007; Abergavenny
Report & Images by Larry Hickmott

Report

In darkness, Simon Gaywood outsprints Warrick Spence for the win at Abergavenny and strengthen his lead in the series.

British Cycling’s Elite Circuit Race Series leader, Simon Gaywood, was the winner of the Abergavenny round of the Elite Circuit Series tonight (Friday, August 3). Gaywood (Plowman Craven/Evans Cycles) and Warrick Spence (Cyclefit-Serotta) got away within a few laps of the hour long circuit race and the rest of the field never saw them again.

First to chase them was Simon Holt of the Recycling.co.uk team but with the leaders travelling as fast as the tight circuit would allow, the youngster was unable to close the gap and after a half a dozen laps on his own, was caught by the much slimmed down chase group. With sixty riders on the start sheet, within a dozen laps, that was halved and the chase group was soon only a dozen strong. Even after only a single lap, the field had split, so quick was the gas turned on.

Despite numerous attempts by riders to get away, the chase group stayed intact until the closing laps, when first Gordon McCauley and then Russell Downing attacked. It was the Healthnet rider who timed it right and although he had a race on Sunday on his mind, he managed to stay away to take the final podium place and strengthen his place in the table despite losinglose points to the leader Gaywood.

With just a few minutes to spare before the Podium presentation, we caught up with Gaywood who has not only won a round of the Premier Calendar but also three rounds of the Circuit Series so far. “I was surprised it went so early. As soon as Warrick went to the front, I thought here we go again. ‘Mr speedy round the corners’; so I latched right on the back wheel of him and looked behind and there was a gap. I saw a few guys trying to get across but it was shit or bust and I started working with Warrick.”

“I could see them trying to get across but no-one was able to manage it and we just continued to open the gap (almost lapping the field). The race for us was nice and smooth and I felt good through the corners. The first two laps I was about five back and it was a bit scary as it was hard to see where you were going not knowing the circuit to start with so there were a few dodgy moments so it was a lot nicer off the front.”

A rider well known for his ability in circuit races, Warrick Spence said afterwards: “that was good with Simon. We got into a really good groove and I wasn’t sure if there was going to be a serious chase after us but as we were working on the limit from the word go, there was no way the bunch could go any quicker than we were going round here.”

“We worked well round here and I was thinking in the race, how I am going to be able to outsprint a sprinter like Simon -- I couldn’t!” On the circuit, Warrick had this to say “it was alright, the scariest bit was the corner down here (at the end of the start/finish straight, right angle right hander). Simon had that sussed from the word go. The rest of the circuit is surprisingly flowing, really good, good fun.”

Third place getter Russell Downing spoke to us after the presentation saying “the race was good for me. Warrick and Simon went early and I got a bad start. As they were calling the top 10 in the series to the front, everyone just jumped and I probably ended up 15th back and had to take some crazy risks in the first few corners and by the time I had got to the front, it had gone.”

“Plowman did a brilliant job of marking everyone out and to be honest we (those not in Plowman!) could have done with some more guys in there as there were guys in there not attacking it. Plowman in the end only had two in there and we could have done with everyone joining together and attacking it more and not letting them (Plowman) ride at the front.”

“I was trying to attack as much as I could early on and then knew I wasn’t getting anywhere and I thought I’d save the legs and do a big one when it counted and it stuck. I was thinking of Sunday early on when I was attacking and thought I don’t want an hour of this and went and sat at the back.”

“When I was trying to get away, I was taking a few too many risks and where the twisty corners were, a couple of guys stepped out at me (from the side) and I was like, woooh. On one of my attacks, Tony drifted and I had made my mind up to go and we almost clashed on the barriers so then I thought back off because Sunday (Road Race Championship) is a big objective and want to do a good ride there”.

“I’ll be getting out there tomorrow and having a good look (at the course) and see what happens. It’s the national champs and anything can happen. You need a bit of luck like I did when I won it.”

The Get Connected business solution girls flank the top three, Warrick Spence, Simon Gaywood and Russell Downing. Also present is the Mayor of Abergavenny and Chair of Monouthshire.

Results (provisional)

Elite Race

1. Simon Gaywood, Plowman Craven/Evans Cycles
2. Warrick Spence, Cyclefit-Serotta
3. Russell Downing, Healthnet-Maxxis @44 seconds
4. Malcolm Elliott, Pinarello, @ 48 seconds
5. Tom Barras, Merlin
6. Dean Downing, Rapha Condor
7. Tom Murray, Kinesis
8. Tony Gibb, Plowman Craven/Evans Cycles
9. James Taylor, Plowman Craven/Evans Cycles
10. Simon Holt, Recycling.co.uk
11. Gordon McCauley, Plowman Craven/Evans Cycles
12. Ross Muir, Rapha Condor
13. Stephen Adams, Merlin
14. Shaun Snodden, Recycling.co.uk @51
15. Andy Tinsley, Bioracer, Omnipex @53
16. James Millard, Plowman Craven/Evans Cycles 1.03

Sutton report from London Cycle Sport website

ROAD	31 / 07 / 07

Sutton Town Centre Races 07 By lcs
Cycle racing returned to Sutton Town Centre for a day of racing on July 29 Warrick Spence takes 1st E/1/2 Chris Tune (Sigma RT) was the first to show and he soon built an early lead before he was brought back by an active chase group. Wouter Sybrandy (Agiskoviner) followed suit before he also was caught. A lead quartet of Warrick Spence (Cyclefit), Ross Muir (Rapha/Condor), Sybrandy and Daniel Santoni (Pearson Cycles) developed and built a lead over Andy Bye (Kingston Whlrs), Ian Holt (Felt), Chris Tune (Sigma RT), Dan Duguid (Sigma RT) and Gavin Ryan (London Dynamo/Cyclefit). Bye attacked and began a long chase of the leaders, and after many laps he caught and went through to take a brief lead before they responded and he was down by a minute a while later. Muir made a great effort that saw Spence lose contact for a few moments, but the group survived a number of attacks to remained together and the end the race would be settled by a sprint. At the flag Spence out sprinted Muir, Sybrandy and Santoni, whilst Bye rode to a fine fifth. Holt in turn outsprinted Tune for sixth. 1 Warrick Spence Cyclefit 2 Ross Muir Rapha/Condor 3 Wouter Sybrandy Agiskoviner 4 Daniel Santoni Pearson Cycles 5 Andy Bye Kingston Whlrs @ 1.01 6 Ian Holt Felt @ 1.19 7 Chris Tune Sigma RT 8 Dan Duguid Sigma RT 9 Gavin Ryan London Dynamo/Cyclefit 10 Guy Pearson Pearson Cycles 11 Tim Elverson VC Muedon @ 1 lap 12 Craig Stevens Ciclos Uno

What a battle

Well, I have managed to win three races in the last week, brings my yearly total to 4, same as last year, just need to keep winning, starting from this friday, as I will be in Abergavenny for a round of the National Criterium series and at present I am hovering in tenth place overall, which is not good for me, have missed 3 rounds though so can catch up a little I hope.
Legs need a massage as they feel tight after tonights race at Crystal Palace, been racing but haven't been able to do any sort of recovery ride between to loosen my legs, still managed another win tonight, this time we had a larger field and more attacking riding, maybe the sunshine encourages more people to have a go.
I sat in at the back to see if anyone would make the most of my absence by escaping the bunch, no just lots of chasing each other down, so I decided to sit on the front and hold a steady fast pace, to see if people would attack me, which they duly did but I always had a free ride back as the elastic never broke, eventually a group got away without me, let them get a reasonable lead before bridging across which I did, allowed myself a few laps to do this which meant I was able to collect a couple of riders who had been dropped and tow them back to the break, I think we had about 11 away which is to many so needed another selection, This time it came from Matt Seaton and Sam Humpherson who used the fact that we were about to lap the threes and four race and sneak away in the confusion, so I set about helping them, which meant a big effort was required to get away from the group and ride up to the two in front, when I went past Matt he went "Oh no" but got my wheel and we were the same three away as a last week, except Sam went a bit quick and on some strange racing line that meant he went off onto the grass, the next lap Sam was not to be seen, he explained he just didn't have the legs tonight so sat up to be caught by the remains of the breakaway, Matt and I had 12 laps out of the 37 left to complete, so bring on the pain as we piled on the effort to stay away, sharing the turns evenly, so when it came down to the last lap I could have attacked but went for the long windup, which to be honest is risking it all in spite of the sprint I can do when needed, just thought it would be more fair this way tonight, I still had Matt on my wheel right up to the line because as I checked he was glued to it, but my legs proved strong enough to not have to get out of the saddle, couldn't if I wanted to at that point anyway. Matt said he tried to sprint past but couldn't and that was my intention anyway, so for anyone watching it was a close finish.
The battle started when I got home as my wife had been to Blockbuster and rented two DVD's and was just about to hit play when I walked through the door, asked what she was about to watch and said can she wait while I have a quick shower, so sat down with my dinner and commenced to watch another Clint Eastwood directed film, this being Letters from Iwo Jima. I am well and truly battered know after watching that, my wife gave up over some of the scenes, but emotional or what, maybe because I was tired already it affected me more.
Anyway about to try some SIS Nocte night time recovery drink that came free with a shop copy of 220 triathlon magazine, I pilferred this as I opened the mail at work today, no doubt Jules will have me up for this as he will read this post as well, product testing is all I can say, Nighty night....

Sutton Town Centre races

Nice day out for me today, meet Sam in Herne Hill at 1:15pm and rode out to Sutton so as to watch the womans National Circuit race series and then for me to partake in the Elite invitational race at 3:45pm.
We set up outside Starbucks on the finish straight right in the middle of the shopping area, all barricaded off for the races. We watched the progress of the race while drinking coffee and eating chocolate muffins. After the finish of the womans race I went and signed on then proceded to warm up on the course, our race was only to be a very short 30 minutes plus 5 laps.
Small but good field had assembled in the sunshine so with the drop of the flag we were racing, tried to ease into it but attacks from the gun had the field stretched with one rider away already, going to be intense and that was what it proved to be. I did my best to regain the solo rider, took me longer than I hoped but it did also seperate 3 of us away from the field, so we had 4 in total away, put some digs in but actually found the circuit challenging, well OK my legs not as strong as I thought so had to ride more tactically aware.
We for the most part were keeping close tabs on each other so at times the pace dropped right back, that actually allowed a chasing rider to catch us and in the confusion I told him to ride on past as the others in the break thought he was a lapped rider regaining a lap, once they realised the chase was back on, which was not so good for said rider as we blitzted past him on the climb and he had no response at all, with 6 laps to go I attacked, thought I had done enough so when I got counter attacked I was actually dropped by my break away companions, with 3 laps left I had regained after some discomfort chasing, sat on until the last lap were again I tried just past the finish line but legs failed me so led down the hill in front, so when Ross Muir took my postion with 2 corners to go I was releaved as it is a long uphill drag to the line and I did not want to missjudge my sprint, or have to do to much, like try to get round 3 riders on such a narrow finish staight.
About opposite Starbucks I luanched into my sprint to be unchalleged to the line, gave a quick glance over my shoulder before lifting my arms into the air to savior the victory of the race. Well pleased with my form once again.
Spent the rest of the afternoon with other riders and hangers on at Starbucks, chatting in the late afternoon sun, while the last of the days races was run off.
I won a nice cut glass trophy and recieved two medals(not sure why I got two, but what the heck) and a nice small bunch of flowers that I presented to my wife once home as she was unable to come and watch today.
Had a nice easy ride back home taking about 40 minutes and then finished by doing my stretches before watching the Tour de France highlights on ITV4 at 7pm.

Crystal Palace report

Crystal Palace once again, this time I was going to win, pulled my white Rocket 7's out of their hiding place in my wardrobe this morning, nice sunny day so already had the day mapped out in my mind. During the day I needed to get my race bike cleaned up and change my tires on my zipp 404's, as well as doing all my normal work as well, all went well except for the eating food part as it got busy in the afternoon, managed to get a sandwich at 5.30pm, a little late as I was well hungry. at least I got my bike all cleaned up, find I have to clean my bike about 3 times as it is easy to smear the dirt about on my white HSG carbon Serotta. Used a new polish, brings up a very nice shine. Also polish my Zipp rims, changed the Michelin Pro grip tires I put on for the Smithfield Nocturne, very grippy tires but do cut up quickly, felt new Pro2 tires in black should be fine for the rest of the season, if it rains in a race I will adjust the tire pressure before the start.90psi in the wet, in the dry about 105psi unless it is a circuit like Hillindon and I may go to 120psi.
Anyway it took an hour to get my bike ready, so after switching my frame fit pump and filled up my drink bottle with Born energy drink I was out of the shop at 6:20pm riding to Cyrstal palace with all the commuters, oh there is some bad riders out they.
Picked up a few other riders on the way, just gentle spinning along, nice and hot for once.Plenty of riders had signed up tonight, Our race got under with 35 laps to do and me at the very back, by the end of the first lap I had moved up to 5th to see that Ben Pochee had already fled the field so I went after him, caught him in a lap and we settled into building up a lead with me trying not to do to much, after a few laps we could see that 5 riders had got away from the bunch and were trying to catch us, Ben asked if we should wait up for them, I said let them catch us as the main field was not that far behind them, it took them maybe two laps longer than they expected to bridge as it looked as if they had caught us but no one had actually made the junction so we hovered at about 5 bike lengths for a while until Sam made contact, we all worked together with me doing some strong pulls on the climb.
about half way through the race I buried it on the climb to see if we could get a smaller selection, was expecting maybe 1 or 2 riders to get dropped but managed to drop 4, so had with me Sam from London Dynamo and Matt Seaton rider for Rapha Condor, I did some hard pulls to make the break count then slowly allowed Sam and Matt set the pace, still I did the top of the climb and the headwind along the finish straight, we gradually increased our lead, and even lapped the main bunch. I was trying to set it up for Sam to win but in the end Matt had the better of Sam so I made sure Matt wasn't getting First, wasn't a sprint just a very quick windup for the line, didn't help that we caught the main bunch again while going for the line, no victory salute, just don't feel compelled to, need more emotion and bigger event to get me going.
So only my 2nd win this year, both at Crystal Palace, feel good, no more antibiotics since last friday has helped as well.
On Sunday I am racing in the E,1,2 Invitation race at the Sutton Town centre races at 15.45, there is a day of racing starting at 10am for riders under 10, then progressing up to the Elite National Reynolds/Michelin Woman's road race series at 13.45, shall be a good day out, heard that it is a short circuit with some cobbles, looking forward to it.

Big week, not!!

Made it through the week, today I went out at 9.30 with Sam, took him round the route I did last sunday, just this time my legs realy felt it, was struggling alot from Crowshurst back up Tandridge to the top of the North downs, Sam had to ease up for me, did do one big effort off the top of the downs back towards London at 32 mp/h, but that was me cooked, just followed Sams wheel untill Corkscrew Hill then we eased back and cruised over Crystal Palace hill down College road were Sam got takin out by a car 4 weeks ago to Dulwich park and the cafe in the centre, sat in the sun having a nice coffee looking at all the mums and kids on the parks trike zipping about, amazed there are not more crashes with kids on bikes, scooters, trikes and skate boards using the paths.
That is the biggest week for me since Mallorca in April, that is really scary in its self as that is only 13 hours. That a few years ago would have been the least I was doing. Oh well doing OK on the little I do.
Watched an exciting stage of the Tour today, 1st stage in the Pyrenees, good to see lots of attacking riding.
Hamilton finally had a bad day at the office, only say the end of the Grand Prix, but the weather had a big effect it seems.

Amoxicillin

Been taken these capsules 3 times a day since monday, it's a 5 day course of antibiotics for my gum where my tooth was removed on monday. Hadn't noticed anything until late yesterday when I felt more tired than normal, but that could also be the mundane task involved in doing a stock take at work. Still on the ride to Cyrstal Palace to take part in the racing on tuesday night I felt weak.
Although that in itself isn't a suprise as I can seem asleep before racers to others looking at me. My way of staying calm and saving energy until required. So moving on, the race was a normal affair with a bunch of riders letting riders attack then chase them down, then look at who was next and do it again, I felt strong so any lull in procedings I would go and up the pace again, mainly on the climb. Also for no reason I thought I would race in 53x15 all night, or untill either the finish sprint or if I felt like really lifting the pace, in the end it was only in the sprint for the line that I changed up 2 gears and found out quickley my legs were not ready, slightly annoying for me as I sort of expected to win no matter what, especially as I had felt the same all night and nearly rode away from the break away group with 3 laps to go, unfortuntally this also was the sprint for the line in the 3/4s bunch which I had just gone past when they then raggedly sprinted past bringing back my break away companions at the same time to me.
I just lacking that extra little punch,kick whatever you call it that you normally can use once in a race, ie the sprint for the line, although saying that the person in front is still in front, no excuses, so 2nd for me again.
This brings me to today, slept well last night and had a lay in to 9:30am as it was my day off work. Went to the post office, was struggling with the glare of the outdoors let alone the bright sunshine, had me squinting my eyes. When I got home at 11:00am I was wiped out so lay down fully clothed on top of the bed as I thought a brief nap would sort me out. 3 1/2 hours later and still tired I awoke, that Amoxicillin and hard exercise don't go together I guess. Managed a ride at 5:00pm of 1 1/2 hours.
Thats that, need sleep!!!

Teething Trouble

Well after my friday excursion I managed to do two days of training, first weekend that I have done any training since I was in Mallorca in April. Scary as I think alot of people expect me to be riding all the time, I can only do what I can fit in without getting overly tired so tend to ride hard then rest and repeat. Works OK for me as it dosn't take long for me to sharpen up my form.
But saying that, not doing anything longer than 1 1/2 hours in a ride tends to knot my leg muscles after a while, so good to get out on Saturday and do 3 laps of Richmond Park, again thats the first time in 5 months I have used the park to queitly get some laps in. Must admit I could'nt resist overtaking a bunch of disorganised Triathletes coming down the hill towards Robin Hood gate. I think this upset them as once there all got on the flat they all tried going flat out at once but not as a group, laughable, allowed them all to go past me then stuck it in the big ring and started winding it up nice and smoothly, just to tease anyone if they had the sense to get my wheel for an easy tow, of course no one did so I just kept going up to 35-37 miles an hour(have no computer on my race bike but know from my gearing and leg speed roughly how fast I am going). never saw them again even though I went back down to gentle pace for my last lap.
So that was Saturday, on Sunday I managed 3 1/2 hours exploring the surrey lanes, round Bletchingley, Lingford,Crowhurst,Tandridge area, came across 3 London Dynamos marshelling on the corner outside Lingford for the Southern Counties road Race champs, talked for ten minutes then rode round the course and then home, legs feel really good.
So managed to ignore my tooth for most of the weekend, gum swelling went down on sunday, but pain came back.Today I was at the dentist, and after an x-ray, the result was that the tooth had cracked below the gum line across the tooth opposed to down through the tooth, I mean, when it went on Thursday while eating a choclate hobnob it was enough to reveberate through my head.
End result is that tooth with nice route canel work had to be removed which required surgery, I said no time like the present and away we went, 1 hour later the dentist had removed my tooth, well what was left of it as far as I could see it was in 6 pieces, and stiched my gum up as he had to cut the nerves with a scapel and cut into the gum to get at the tooth. he said he wanted to leave as much bone in my mouth(nice of him) so that we can insert a screw in two weeks time, this is called an implant then six months time have it crowned, only £1400.00.
Scary thing is I have the same gap on the other side of jaw from last year, but sort of forgot to have finished, mind sort of blanked out the cost and what was involved, so by the end of the year my teeth a likely to have cost me £3000.00 (great!!!!)
No pain know, was very sore an hour after even with pain killers, also hungry.
So bring on Cystal Palace Tuesday night.

Friday the 13th.

This Blog is mainly about racing, but sometimes things happen like my journey yesterday to get to a round of the National Criterium series in Blackpool, Race start was at 8pm, So I left London at 11.30 aiming to allow 4-5 hours on the M40, M6 to get to Blackpool with time to spare in an ideal world that would be easy!
All seemed well until the rain came down just before Birmingham, got unto the M5 and then just came to a halt, by 4pm I had got onto the M6, at this point I should have been near Manchester, from then on traffic was stop, start. At this point I took an A road, in fact the A54, of course driving and map reading can not be safely done ,so I went on my inbuilt compass, which quickly meant I had no idea were I was, kept pressing on, which lead me to a big moment on a wet corner, lost the back end on my Citreon Xantia estate, not reknowed for it's handling to start with and having no power to speak off, I had a big moment of opposite lock, kept it on my side of the road which probable pleased the the 4wd coming the other way. Heart stopping, cosidering I wasn't going fast, cheap tyres on wet roads.
Managed to rejoin the motorway further up, traffic was still the same so needing the little boys room I stopped at the next services which was Charnock Richard on the M6, at this point I realised that it was not going to happan as it was 7:15pm at this point and still 55 miles to go.
Really pissed off to get this far and not race, called a few people to vent my frustration, then went and had dinner, well toasted Panini with Italian sausage and Almond Crosiant and a Cappacino for a whopping £9.60, at least it all tasted good.
At this point after 30 minutes rest I was seriously thinking of staying in a hotel, as I was knackered. In the end I could'nt face doing any driving the next day, so headed back up to the next junction in the plan I would come back on the M61 and cut across on the M62 and then join the A1 back down to London(did this the week before,took 4 hours). The moment I saw the stationary traffic on the M61 I kept going round the roundabout back the way I had come to rejoin the M6. 5 hours later I was back at home, rain was mega heavy but traffic kept flowing which was the main thing. So 13 hours after setting off, I was back were I started. What a waste of a day, when I woke up I felt I should stay at home, but I knew that would not go done well with my sponsors, so I kept on trucking, back that up that I cracked another tooth on thursday at work and know my gum is swollen beyound the tooth so cannot chew on that side.
All I can say, the race was wet, the circuit looked crap from what I could make of it on Google Earth, and the fact that lots of riders punctured and there was not the normal lap out you normally get in a criterium to affect a wheel change and not lose a lap. So not bothered in the end.Thats me all spent, cheers

Guildford Town Centre race

Last night was the Guildford Town centre race, This is the race I have won for the last two years, I tryed as hard as I could but having only just recovered from a headcold I had lost a little of my top end, legs were strong though.
This most be one of the UK's hardest circuits at only 600m and three corners you could think what could be that hard, well add in the cobbles on the High street and the narrow paved Market Street leading onto the High Street, you get no rest anywere after climbing to the start finish line to do it all again on average every 50seconds per lap.
I had a slow start for me on this circuit, about 25 place so had a bit of work to do, but I was moving up 2-3 places per lap using the 2nd corner as my passing place by running round the outside of the bunch by not braking at all.
I really felt the effort required on this course tonight. best to stay as smooth as possable, found myself in a group of 7 leading the race. Had 3 PCA Plowman Craven riders, Tony Gibb,James Millard and Gordon McCauley, Jamie Newall(Evens cycles)Ross Muir from Rapha Condor, Wouter Sybrandy (Agiskover) .
I didn't have the legs to attack like normal but was able to put some hard efforts in just in case someone wasn't paying attention and let a gap go, but that wasn't happening with ~PCA marking my everymove, in the end when Gordon attacked with 10 laps I was hoping to bridge across, but as I have said I did not have the the top end I needed to sustain such an effort, so after 3 laps chasing and holding the gap at 8 seconds I was spent, so sat up and then tagged onto the back of the group. Jamie then did a couple of fierce laps, nearly had me dropped off going up the High Street .
With 2 laps to go I made my way to the front for one fast and furious last lap in the hope no-one would attempt to get by me, but I guess racing makes people do things so I was boxed out into the 2nd corner just as we caught the bunch, well what remained a lap down or two, Tony tried to ride through them with Ross on his wheel, I let them as I turned hard left and railed up the left side of the High Street unopposed to take 2nd place, getting past all of the lapped riders in the process, Totally cooked, had to ignore the commentator to do an extra warm down lap to get my breath back.
Have to thank the orginsers and sponsors for getting this race on the calander again, thank you!
Seemed to recover quickly which is a good sign and legs feel fine today as well, all good for Fridays race in Blackpool, long drive, 5 hours or so.
Must go to bed, later.