The Race Reports Thread 2010

Toks

Despite crashing, 3 different races in four days, nice one Tom. :shock: I'm loving your 'never say die' fighting spirit 8)

Tom Butcher

Good efforts - sounds like you were pretty active there Tom - having a go has to be what it's about so good on you. Gatta - good try - you had a plan and tried to put it into effect. Just reading the report is it possible that riding down the outside of the bunch to get back to the front put you into trouble - maybe went too far into the red and got caught out by an acceleration ?

jibberjim

Surrey League Bletchingley 2/3 race.

I got into some trouble in the neutralized section, and was basically off the back even before we started the long downhill, where yet again I learnt my descending really sucks. Didn't have too much trouble getting back on once the road kicked up, and no real panic.

The road surface was in atrocious shape, and on the first couple of laps some of the riding was pretty scary as people were dodging cars just to be a few places higher in the field - there was a lot of fear of the hill I think. I spent this part of the race hiding at the back worrying about hitting potholes.

During this time, the Norwood Paragon and Addiscombe teams would let no-one get even the slightest gap before they shut it down.

Two laps seemed to be enough to thin out the bunch though, and I moved up. Lap 3 I crossed the finish line in the top 10, and then on the drag up on the main road so big attacks went and I went hard to join 2 Norwood Paragon and an Addiscombe guy - seemed wise after all their previous blocking. I made it and we held a reasonable gap to the long descent, but I'd done no work. However on the descent they gapped me, I'm not sure it was the 50x11 holding me back as I wasn't exactly spinning out, but I probably couldn't get the power down as quick as needed, or if it was just the line I was choosing, but it seemed to be the same.

Under the motorway I got back on the 3, but the bunch was pretty close, chased back by Pearsons. Shortly after this though 3 guys got away in a couple of moves, a dynamo, a Pearson and a Norwood Paragon. On the next lap, after a teammate had tried hard on the main road and the bunch was spread out still at the bottom of the hill, I attacked again just after the motorway, went hard, 3 minutes at 400watts, but wasn't really getting much of a gap even after 2 minutes when I'd been joined by an Addiscombe guy and we got caught pretty quick.

There were a few more attacks, and Pearson and Norwood did a good job of neutralizing them, turning up the hill for the last time, I fell off the front accidentally on the first of the uphills - not sure how or why as I was just trying to get a better position and wasn't going that hard. I did nothing with the gap I had and just rode comfortably to the top of the hill and was caught on the downhill.

Up the final climb, I was in a reasonable position on the left of the road, but as always at the finish, I was just passed, dropping quickly down to the back of the now pretty small group, before passing a number who then blew up to come in 18th. I'd climbed it with the most watts I'd managed all day, every other time up there that was enough for the front, but when it really mattered my 1 and 2 minute power really let me down. Maybe it's just mental?

Felt relatively comfortable all day, and as team-mates have said, it's a racing brain I need.

Duration:  	2:39:11 (2:39:27)
Work:      	2241 kJ
TSS:       	244.5 (intensity factor 0.96)
Norm Power:	307
Distance:  	97.749 km
Elev. Gain:   1576 m
						 Max	 Avg
	Power:       	1085	235 	watts
	Heart Rate:  	 181	153 	bpm

Toks

Another excellent report, cheers Jim. You've definitely got a much bigger engine than your average 3rd cat so it's just about racing savvy -about following the right moves; using dummy attacks, soft attacks where you just ride slightly infront of the pack in a non threatening manor (keep looking back!) and once you get slightly out of sight absolutely floor it. Maybe you should be the designated rider and fellow KW's to do some blocking when you go up the road

Also if you're finishing quite comfortably have you really burnt all you matches? Perhaps you need to attack more often. If that options not gonna work maybe lighting things up with 2/3ks to go in pursuit style? Keep racing anyway you're day will come... I see wifey got 3rd spot at Hog Hill yesterday, nice one Maryka

jibberjim

Toks wrote:

Maybe you should be the designated rider and fellow KW's to do some blocking when you go up the road

We've got lots of very strong 3rd cats (it's the higher cat riders we're short of) any one of us could stay away, no point putting all our eggs in one basket, especially a basket as unreliable as mine!

Toks wrote:

Keep racing anyway you're day will come...

Just need to wait a couple of months, then all the new year strong 3rd cats will have moved up, and the races will get easier

Toks wrote:

I see wifey got 3rd spot at Hog Hill yesterday, nice one Maryka

hopefully she'll do a race report, as I was busy racing at Bletchingley...

Toks

jibberjim wrote:

Just need to wait a couple of months, then all the new year strong 3rd cats will have moved up, and the races will get easier

Nonsense! you are one of those strong 3rd cats. As your man S.S. said - "...sort your racing brain out..." otherwise lazy, sneaky 300watt wannabees will keep robbing you of placings.

maryka

Copy-pasted from the KW news page, my mini report on the Hog Hill Spring Rumble race:

We had a great field out on Saturday, the most I've ever seen for a women's circuit race with nearly 40 starters which is about four times as many as we usually get at Hog Hill! Finally a "proper" race there in fact. We started out pretty hard, I stayed near the front and probably a bit too much on the front, but with a lot of unfamiliar faces I wasn't sure who was capable of what. I put in a little dig at about four laps in that dropped some girls and brought us down to about 18 in the front group. Then one lap after the men's race overtook us, Elise Sherwell (of Pearson's and also the Surrey League ladies team) and I put down the hammer on the bottom into the tailwind flat section and carried it all the way up the hill and that took care of all but 9 ladies.

After that, it was a steady ride for about six more laps until the final jostling for position up the last hill. I thought about taking a flyer with half a km to go, but since I had been making it easily up the hill every lap I figured I'd take my chances there instead. At the bottom on the left side I hit it hard just as Jacqui from RAF did the same from the right side. I managed to get on her wheel but could not hold it just as the Halesown girl -- who had had a lap out due to a puncture and had rejoined us just in time for five laps to go -- came around me. I held off Natalie from Twickenham for third place, a satisfactory result as I certainly wouldn't have said going into the race that was the third strongest rider!

My blog isn't dead, just hibernating... :oops: Plan is this week to wake it up with some useful posts and pics and stats! (maybe even a wedding shot or two )

gattocattivo

I did the 4th Cat race in the Eagle RC Crits at Hog Hill this afternoon. Great weather today (so no rain / ice / hurricanes to worry about for a change) and the race was just 45 minutes long, so I was feeling relatively good about this one. It was the biggest field I've raced in this year (just under 50 riders).

There were a few jittery/unsteady riders out there today wobbling around and causing a bit of braking, several people's chains came off, and I saw one guy overshoot the right hand bend after the descent (we were going into that corner much faster than normal), but fortunately there was only one crash and that was fairly low speed and only one rider went down.

Very early on someone broke away on his own, but got reeled in after a bit. A couple of riders also tried to break away once or twice, but nothing came of it. The bunch stayed together pretty much right to the end and there must have been at least 30 riders in it.

I stayed with the bunch virtually all the way, albeit most of the time towards the back. I did make an effort to move up towards the front a couple of times early on, but I nearly always sank back on the hill. With about two and a half laps to go I was at the back of the bunch and not feeling great: I didn’t fancy my chances in an uphill sprint very much. So I had the brainwave of maybe launching an attack on the hill – I figured it would be interesting to see what happened, and that the worst case would be that I would get quickly caught and passed. I started to work my way up the bunch on the left hand side to get into a decent position for the climb, but got blocked in and stuck about two thirds of the way back. Then I did my familiar sinking on the climb, so that was the end of that idea.

Just near the top of the hill there was a crash in front of me and one guy went sprawling. I avoided it, but found myself slightly off the back. I spent the whole penultimate lap chasing as hard as I could, but annoyingly staying about 3 seconds off the back. Then on the final lap the bunch just roared away from me: in the space of one lap I must have lost about 50 seconds on the winner. I caught and passed three riders on the final climb, but I think they might all have been lapped anyway. My average speed was 22.6mph, so the winner must have been about 23mph.

tomb8555

Sounds like a better race for you than last time, so well done! It's a good strategy if you find yourself slower on the hill to move near the front of the bunch so you can drift back on the hill and not be in danger.

Unlucky to get caught behind that crash. Always hard to close a gap especially on a fast part of the course (which presumably the bit after cresting the hill is - I've not raced there), and on the last lap when it's winding up there's no chance of getting back on.

Bronzie

@ GattoCattivo - I was in the 4ths race with you. I really enjoyed it, helps that I'm a bit fitter than last year and able to mix it at the pointy end rather than be falling out of the back door all the time.

Had a dig up the hill on the bell lap and drove it round the hairpin and up the slight rise before dropping down the other side (racing anti-clockwise), but all I managed to do was string it out. Put me in the red for the final climb so ended up going backwards - probably finished 25th or so. Think I need to jump away with another rider when they go if I'm ever to stand a chance of getting a good gap in a race like that.

@ JibberJim - your teammate Chris was there (who I rode with to great effect at the Northants Handicaps a few weeks back). I think he got enough points to move up to 3rd which is cool.

jibberjim

Bronzie wrote:

Think I need to jump away with another rider when they go if I'm ever to stand a chance of getting a good gap in a race like that.

Don't wait for them to go, go and wait for them to come to you, otherwise you'll be waiting forever watching people.

Bronzie wrote:

@ JibberJim - your teammate Chris was there (who I rode with to great effect at the Northants Handicaps a few weeks back). I think he got enough points to move up to 3rd which is cool.

He did indeed, both teammates in the race got the points they needed for 3rd cat, but they've not even does a club race report yet, so no idea on how

Toks

gattocattivo wrote:

So I had the brainwave of maybe launching an attack on the hill – I figured it would be interesting to see what happened, and that the worst case would be that I would get quickly caught and passed. I started to work my way up the bunch on the left hand side to get into a decent position for the climb, but got blocked in and stuck about two thirds of the way back. Then I did my familiar sinking on the climb, so that was the end of that idea.

Hey nice work, sounds like you'll definitley making progress. You may wanna consider getting a gap on the bunch before the climb so that you don't have to absolutely kill yourself on the climb. Easier send than done I'll admit. I managed to place 3rd at hog hill twice as a 3rd cat by attacking on the descent once and the just after the flat hairpin another time; I'm pretty rubbish on short steep power climbs so attacking on them normally leaves me dead for around ten minutes . Keep working at it, with increased fitness the results will soon come

Bronzie

jibberjim wrote:

Don't wait for them to go, go and wait for them to come to you, otherwise you'll be waiting forever watching people.

I did break away twice, once early on (10 mins in) and again with 10 mins to go (tried to jump across to a guy who had a few seconds on the bunch) and was hoping someone would try to get across to me but I could feel my legs going a bit so backed off.......probably need to do a bit more specific training (L6 intervals) or just HTFU - gotta learn to commit 100% sh1t or bust I think.

Toks

Chapeau Maryka! - brilliant result at Palace last night. 8) I hope we get a report and some numbers

maryka

Toks wrote:

Chapeau Maryka! - brilliant result at Palace last night. 8) I hope we get a report and some numbers

I'm trying to resurrect my blog, if I keep writing about race results elsewhere, it'll never happen!

Quick report: this was a very short race as the sun was going down and riders were still standing in line to enter when we were ready to start. As usual the E/1/2 and 3/4 races went ahead of the women's -- we always get screwed, being the last to start and the first to finish, often cut even shorter if they think we'll "interfere" with any of the men's finishes :roll: -- then we rolled off with 22 women on the line, a new Palace record I think!

I was freezing from standing around waiting to start so I hit it hard in the first lap and managed to string it out pretty good and drop some of the less confident/fit riders. In fact my max minute and 2 mins was in the first lap :oops: ... A few laps later we were down to probably ~12 riders and I attacked hard up the hill. Not sure if I even got a gap as there were some strong riders in our race and they were definitely chasing everything, but I started to tire some legs at least. Tried it again around lap 7, again, not much of a gap but lots of heavy breathing behind me! I really have to mount a camera on my seatpost so I can see what happens when I jump, at the moment I have no idea if my attacks don't stick because I don't jump away hard enough, give up too soon, or get chased down too eagerly. At least I dropped some more people with it.

So with a few laps to go and the front group down to about 6, I figured it would be a bunch sprint which didn't thrill me as we had some sprinter-types hanging on the back that I thought might steal something at the line. Also problematic was the way the men's races, particularly the 3/4 race, had broken up so badly that there was a constant stream of men overtaking us. For about 2 laps straight there was just one small group after another, leaving us to just ride around and not really do much.

We hit the bell lap and the two Pearson's riders, Elise and Mathilde had tried to cook something up. Mathilde hammered off the front around the hairpin and down the hill and Elise who was 2nd wheel let her have a tiny gap. I was 3rd wheel thinking, I gotta get around Elise! but that wasn't going to happen til the hill, I'm just too little to gain anything on people descending. We came around the bottom corner to go up the hill and I was still 3rd wheel, but then Mathilde started flagging and I saw my only chance. I jumped hard and buried myself going up the hill, just hoping that I had enough of a gap to make the sprinters have to kill themselves to catch and overtake me.

We came around the top corner and lo and behold, a dozen 3/4s all over the road pedalling like morons because they had been dropped (and likely lapped) ages ago, heading to the line. Seriously, if you've effectively stopped racing with a few laps to go, get off the @#$% track already! :evil: They were completely in our way. I had to decide quickly what to do, I ended up picking the right side, which was the long way around the bend but looked to have the most space to get by. I just floored it and hoped for the best, and managed to get the win. It was very close between me, Claire from Rapha and sprinter Emma from LD, I really think I just got lucky not getting tangled up with the guys. Frustrating for the other girls I can imagine, but then again, nobody but me did any attacking during the race, so if they wanted a better result, they should have made something happen I guess. Thankfully John Mx was there doing the judging which must have been a complete mess with us finishing in the middle of a pack of men.

So not a bad win, though with Charlie B and some others absent, it didn't really feel like an awesome one. Wish I could have done something more with my attempts to get a gap, but with such a short race maybe that was always going to be wishful thinking.

Entire workout (206 watts):
 Duration:   29:11 (29:24)
 Work:       360 kJ
 TSS:        59 (intensity factor 1.101)
 Norm Power: 259
 VI:         1.26
 Pw:HR:       2.28%
 Pa:HR:       2.07%
 Distance:   17.163 km
 Elevation Gain:     358 m
 Elevation Loss:    361 m
 Grade:      -0.0 %  (-3 m)
  Min Max Avg
 Power:        0 744 206  watts
 Heart Rate:   129 188 169  bpm
 Cadence:      30 125 96  rpm

Last lap at 1:58 and 291 AP :shock:

Toks

maryka wrote:

I'm trying to resurrect my blog, if I keep writing about race results elsewhere, it'll never happen!

Don't worry copy and paste will do the trick

maryka wrote:

As usual the E/1/2 and 3/4 races went ahead of the women's -- we always get screwed, being the last to start and the first to finish, often cut even shorter if they think we'll "interfere" with any of the men's finishes :roll: -- then we rolled off with 22 women on the line, a new Palace record I think!

Yeah you ladies definitly get a raw deal at Palace. Good turn out, I bet Maria and co were happy

maryka wrote:

I hit it hard in the first lap and managed to string it out pretty good and drop some of the less confident/fit riders.

so it was you huh? my girlfriend said one of her Club mates went 'bye byes' first time around the hairpin

maryka wrote:

In fact my max minute and 2 mins was in the first lap :oops: ...

Nice work, nearly 300Watts; a few years ago as a marshal I timed Elite Dynamo rider Warrick Spence lapping at 1min 56 during a solo break away

maryka wrote:

I really have to mount a camera on my seatpost so I can see what happens when I jump, at the moment I have no idea if my attacks don't stick because I don't jump away hard enough, give up too soon, or get chased down too eagerly. At least I dropped some more people with it.

mmm...how about a quick glance under your arm or over your shoulder?

maryka wrote:

So with a few laps to go and the front group down to about 6, I figured it would be a bunch sprint which didn't thrill me as we had some sprinter-types hanging on the back that I thought might steal something at the line.

Man I hate them sprinter types :twisted:

maryka wrote:

We came around the top corner and lo and behold, a dozen 3/4s all over the road pedalling like morons because they had been dropped (and likely lapped) ages ago, heading to the line. Seriously, if you've effectively stopped racing with a few laps to go, get off the @#$% track already! :evil:

aww poor old 3/4's

maryka wrote:

So not a bad win, though with Charlie B and some others absent, it didn't really feel like an awesome one. Wish I could have done something more with my attempts to get a gap, but with such a short race maybe that was always going to be wishful thinking.

Hey you can only beat what's out there. You've won races on the two hardest circuits in London. Good job

London Women's Race League

1 Maryka Sennema Kingston Whlrs 2 8) 8)
2 Claire Beaumont Rapha/Condor 2
3 Emma Patterson London Dynamo 2
4 Elise Sherwell Pearson Cycles 3
5 Mathilde Pauls Pearson Cycles 3
6 Emily Bagnall Kingston Whlrs 3
7 Tracy Corbett Rapha Condor 3
8 Emily Barnes Palmer Pk Velo Y
9 Anna Glowinski Mule Bar Girls 4
10 Lauren Whitmore London Dynamo 4
11 Dyanne Holland Dulwich Paragon 4
12 Emma Craddock Southdown Bikes -
13 Sabine Homrichaul Kingston Whlrs 4
14 Lydia Bolan London Dynamo 4
15 Astrid Winger London Phoenix 3/4
16 Vikki Filsell Pearson Cycles 4
17 Kate Butler Dulwich Paragon 4
18 Liz Rice London Phoenix 3
19 Bridget Malarkey Addiscombe CC 4
20 Rebecca Charlton Mulebar Girls 2
DNF Maria David Dulwich Paragon

jibberjim

Surrey League Kitsmead Lane Handicap

In the last one of these I did, I crashed in the final sprint, broke my frame, had a lot of road rash and some big thigh muscle damage. So I was a little nervous to be on the startline again.

With 3 other strong Wheelers out in the 3rd's (well one's a 2W), who can all ride at the front of a 2/3 race I thought we both had a very good chance of staying away, and a good chance of a good team result.

Keith Butler has obviously heard of my great strength so instead of setting me off with the main group of 3rd's I'm off with in a group before them populated with 3rd vets and some strong 4th's I think.

This group was pretty frustrating, as whilst it was working reasonably well, everyone else on their limit had me rather relaxed. after a lap and a half of this I asked the one strong member of the group to join me and attacked. Unfortunately whilst he was strong for the group, he wasn't quite able to do more than a single turn before dropping off. So I solo'd the rest of the lap - actually my fastest lap of the race, before noticing another group coming back to me.

This was the regular 3rds with Damien_KW and AndyEdwardster (to give their BikeRadar names) in. They were working better, but it very quickly became apparent that other than the 3 of us, and Maryka on the up hill portions, only 2 other guys could really work. Me and Damien had a couple more digs off the front trying to get a gap together, one of which was closed down by a TTer out on the Evening 10 that overlaps the course - made for some confusion when he didn't turn off!

Two laps to go, pretty sure we'd stay away from the e/1/2's and contemplating some more attacks to break the group, my Garmin mount disentegrated and decided to fly off my handlebars and over my shoulder. Narrowly missing taking out Damien's head too. I contemplated continuing to race, but not wanting to lose a Garmin, and not wanting to race with out the power data, I pulled over, picked up the garmin, and DNF'd with 2 laps to go.

And then sat back to watch Andy win, and Damien take 5th. It's a shame I wasn't still there, as I'd felt pretty easy the whole time, and could've been right up there with the rest of the team. (Maryka took the safe route out of avoiding the 4th cat sprinters) But I wasn't of course, and at least this time it was a mechanical (of sorts) rather than a racing brain failure.

Here's the stats:

Entire workout (312 watts):
	Duration:  	39:45
	Norm Power:	337
	VI:        	1.08
	Distance:  	27.343 km
						Min	Max	Avg
	Power:       	0	1021	312 	watts
	Heart Rate:  	103	176	164 	bpm
	Speed:       	0	62.9	41.3 	kph

Toks

By all accounts a great night for the Wheelers. Well done Jim 8)

gattocattivo

It's the ECCA Festival this May Day weekend, with loads of road races and time trials on the Saturday, Sunday and Monday. I entered the 25-mile time trial scheduled for today on a slow course in the middle of Essex. After about 24 hours of persistent rain they nearly cancelled the event as part of the course was flooded, but they managed to turn it into a 10-mile event instead.

The conditions were pretty bad (cold and wet and with a strong wind from the north) so there were quite a few DNSs. I got to the start and saw the bloke 11 places in front of me hadn't started yet, so I went away to continue warming up (it was far too cold to stand around for 11 minutes). I came back within 7 minutes only to find I'd missed my start: I think the bloke 11 places in front of me had a puncture and didn't actually start, so I picked the wrong person to work out my start time by. Fortunately so many had dropped out that I was able to slot into an empty slot three minutes later.

I did a 28 on this course last year (compared to a 24 on the E2 for my best time) and I beat that today with a long 27. Obviously I won't be given that time - they had me up on the results board with a long 30 (i.e. including the three minutes), but I think they'll change it so that I only get penalised 30 seconds (which is how much I missed my start slot by).

maryka

Couple of race reports on my blog with pics and videos and such.

Crystal Palace round 2
http://smaryka.blogspot.com/2010/04/cry ... ace-2.html
Short version: legs were tired from a 25 mile TT two days prior, so sat in and just kept the pace up. Attacked once for the sake of the camera mounted on my seatpost so I could watch my gap later! Sprint at the end with 3 of us jumping on the hill, but we ran into the back of the 3/4 men's main bunch (again!) and I just couldn't be arsed to risk life and limb for anything more than 3rd place. Good sprint between the 1st and 2nd though.

Bedford Ladies 2-day Stage Race
http://smaryka.blogspot.com/2010/05/bed ... day-1.html
http://smaryka.blogspot.com/2010/05/bed ... day-2.html
Short version: got my arse handed to me by Horizon Fitness, MaxGear, various junior talent team and Olympic hopefuls, and former pros. Both days were very windy which doesn't suit me much. Our TTT in stage 1 was a bit weak but didn't leave me too far down the GC, especially after finishing easily in the main bunch 1 min behind the break on stage 2, the first road race.
Second day I moved up a few spots in the GC with a strong ITT, finishing 8th overall there. Still 40 secs slower than Sarah Storey over 4 miles though! The afternoon road race was even windier than the day before, and without any long steep climbs to my advantage, I was caught out after 5 laps when Horizon upped the pace on the draggy half-mile climb, splitting the bunch into 3 (with me in the third group). Rode around with them pretty well then attacked them with 1km to go and gapped them enough to salvage 16th place on GC by a few seconds. A great race though, well-controlled by Horizon Fitness and with a super field of strong riders. Was very pleased that all my Surrey League teammates finished in the top ~50, considering 14 of 17 teams DNFed at least one rider and often two or three.

Future plans: a little break for a week or two, do some more races as training, then ramp it up again to try and peak for June/July at the Ras and the Essex Giro. 2x20s and Vo2max workouts, here I come.

jibberjim

Good post here from nic_77 on his first ever 3 races at Milton Keynes Bowl.

http://www.bikeradar.com/forum/viewtopi ... highlight=

Particularly interesting as it shows up the difference of just a few selective corners can make to how easy it is to stay with the race!

nolf

Bucs Criterium championship. Killer race.

Rain, super technical, soul destroyingly hard course (a large sharp hill every lap), no recovery time, constant fear of death, pain, crashes and losing.

Fantastic race, hope they hold it again next year.

jibberjim

Surrey League Accomodation Road Handicap.

Another Handicap, these really are the best races to do if you're a lower cat rider, they force people to work, great training, and you also (unless you stay away) get the experience of racing higher cats.

Accomodation road is a more challenging circuit than Kitsmead, particularly a very sharp corner followed by a surprisingly long and steep hill.

Keith obviously decided I did enough last time to not let me go in the 2nd group, but in the 3rd this time. I lasted half a lap in the group, it wasn't working too well, and then Jonathon Lewis of Charlotteville decided to attack up the hill, I made it on - peak 30 seconds of the race - as did my teammate Damien and a TCC guy. We worked really well for 2 1/2 laps, quickly distancing the remaining 3rds and catching the strong 4/3V/2W group. Unfortunately we caught them on a descent, and they all got on easily. They weren't that weak, but the disorganisation of now having more working meant we slowed. I still did lots more than my share of turns though - way too eager!

Lap 6 and the scratch group caught us, not actually much trouble getting on initially, but round the sharp corner and up the hill they really put the hammer down and dropped a lot, including some of the scratch group. The group was now 10, including all four of us who clipped off the 3rds which shows the strength we had I think. Unfortunately 2nd time up the hill, having only just survived the sprint out of the corner I was still near the back of the line, when one of the Sigma guys seriously attacked. It was enough to put pay to me, and I was off the back.

Still lap and a half to go, still in 10th place, I'll solo to a point! Didn't happen, a guy caught me after half a lap, we traded turns for half a lap, then he just distanced me and I crawled in in 11th place. So I remain pointless!

Powertap failed 54minutes in, so no full data, here's the 54 minutes, 20 minutes more, of which the last lap 10:30 which would've been pretty low watts.

Power data:
  Duration:   53:56
  TSS:        116.9 (intensity factor 1.14)
  Norm Power: 342
  VI:         1.1
  Distance:   35.399 km
                Min Max   Avg
  Power:        0   1085  312   watts
  Heart Rate:   85  177   167   bpm
  Speed:        6.4 61.9  39.4  kph

Homer J

Jim
Have you tried any cat 3 or 2/3 races, you are sure to get your points as you sound strong enough.

jibberjim

Homer J wrote:

Jim
Have you tried any cat 3 or 2/3 races, you are sure to get your points as you sound strong enough.

Yeah, done lots, see the reports above, I always manage to screw them up somehow... I'm pretty good at looking strong then rolling in outside the points, can do it in all sorts of races.

Toks

Another storming report, cheers Jim. That last handicap sounded like a really exciting race.

Homer J wrote:

Jim
Have you tried any cat 3 or 2/3 races, you are sure to get your points as you sound strong enough.

He's more than strong enough. I don't think he wants anyone else in his race winning picture. Those type of wins don't come very often.wink:

gattocattivo

Got a new PB today of 24.10 in a ten-mile time trial. Not really much to report about it: I rode out quite fast to the turn and then rode back a bit faster.

jibberjim

Toks wrote:

Another storming report, cheers Jim. That last handicap sounded like a really exciting race.

Was a good one, just showed that I'm not good enough to go with Gary Dodd and Andy Betts when they attack after riding over threshold for 50 minutes. Mind you, I think I knew that anyway, but I wasn't so far away as to not imagine I might be able to last a few attacks at least one day.

Toks wrote:

He's more than strong enough. I don't think he wants anyone else in his race winning picture. Those type of wins don't come very often.wink:

I'm certainly going to chase the win above accumulating points with finishes, and as my sprint is pretty poor, it'll take some work, but will likely be solo!

Toks

Crystal Palace: 3/4's May 18th

3/4s

If you didn’t know I’ll tell you. The racing weather God lives in a pokey single bedroom flat in London SE19. I haven’t really got time to get into it now but – a combination of the ‘butterfly effect’ and the fact he’s not mad keen on Tuesday evenings and possibly some other complicated stuff you wouldn’t really understand always determines whether racing at Crystal Palace is a goer or not. There; so now you know. Highbury, Angel, Elephant & Castle, Camberwell, Dulwich Village and final I’m a stones throw away from London’s very own Eiffel Tower. One swooshing descent later and I arrive in the park to find Maurice Burton’s son in a two man breakaway (Youth race) – testament to the fact, choose your parents carefully and you too can ride your bike very fast

The first lap is always a wake up call. I hit the drag at tempo and cruise towards the line on my lonesome – thankfully it’s just the warm up. I meet a wall of cyclists at least six bikes deep and manage to negotiate a little bit of real estate for myself in the second row of 3/4th riders. The commissionaire effuses about circuit filtering changes, the lap board, bell signals and keeping to your own race. He wishes the E12 riders “good luck” and 30sec later we follow.

I’m tentative and it shows. After three laps I’m in the back quarter of the bunch. The pace is manageable but inevitably it’s still hard work. I’m not sure how many of us there is but I’m constantly fighting for wheels with numbers 61 and 58 so it’s definitely a big field for Palace. Five laps in and I start to plot my route to the front. But it’s thwarted by my rather rusty bunch skills, a failure to hold wheels on both significant bends and any number of annoying thirty and forty something blokes who seem to think its big game of “Simon Says…”

We all make up the typical racing demographic of course but that’s not the complete story. Upfront tonight 15 year old, Hackney CC rider, Tao Geoghegan Hart is riding like a pro and just a few years older 54 year old vet Quentin from Mosquito Bikes is beautifully ensconced just behind the front ten places. I bet he probably negotiated the whole race on an average of 200 watts. One of my team mates Steve is also riding well – always in the top twenty places while Kieran my other club mate is chilling near the back with me. At just over the half way point things ease up a touch and I slide up into the top twenty.
“I thought we’d lost you’, muses Russell from Norwood Paragon. “Not yet”, I reply smartly pretending to concentrate. Unfortunately despite five years of racing I don’t do concentrating very well especially not in big bunches. Inevitably, bad positioning sees me return from whence I came. It’s cool! I tell you what’s really cool though, the guy in front of me on the black Pinerello Dogma and the Light weight wheels. £8000 baby!

Someone presses the accelerator on lap eighteen and I have to put in an ugly teeth gritting effort to stay in touch. A lap later I can hear Mr Dogma breathing heavily. Not so cool. I smile to myself and slide past him next to the super composed Quentin. Damn I’m very Jealous. It’s a good turn out tonight. Lots of new London Dynamo faces are peppered throughout the race; the 2nd biggest race crew are local Dulwich Paragon. In fact for a few laps I sit on a guy with the power tap wheel just for the heck of it.

Four laps to go and I brush handlebars with Mosquito bike owner Phil; we negotiate mini groups of pitiful looking dropped riders all mostly compromised by ‘threshold” shortcomings. Number fifty-eight, in a ridiculous tangerine get up, is all ‘elbows and knees’ and I annoyingly concede space to him one too many occasions for my liking. On the last lap I round him and a few others whilst emptying my anaerobic tank on the final surge up the drag. My first race of the season is thankfully over, fifteenth place I reckon.

jibberjim

Toks wrote:

On the last lap I round him and a few others whilst emptying my anaerobic tank on the final surge up the drag. My first race of the season is thankfully over, fifteenth place I reckon.

Good to see you back! Well hear your reports, I still need to get back to palace (as well as Hog Hill) to see if I can actually with a bunch.