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