Race Reports 2015

SPOCO Monster

Time to get a new 2015 race reports thread going?

First ever RR at Hoghill today. I learnt it helps to do more than one lap recce, and more than 10 mins warm up. Result was I was immediately dropped, woke up after 20 mins and from then just picked off others who had dropped off. Biblical weather, snowed part way through and got worse for the second race. But all good fun and will be back.

whatleytom

I'll go, my first three race reports below. From my blog at http://www.thomaswhatley.wordpress.com if anyone is interested in following.

Hillingdon 4th Cat Race – 17/01/15 - (Race 1 for me)
The circuit is a 10 mile ride from my house, so I set up a route on my Garmin and trundled off to hillingdon, being as light on the power as I could. I’d done a fast club run the week before and my legs felt the best they had in a while, so I was hoping to hold onto the bunch at least. I’ve only raced cat 4 once before, and I ended up getting dropped from the bunch a couple of laps before the end. So I just wanted to gauge fitness.
I got to the sign-on an hour early and got my number, which was stupid on my half as I ended up sat there shivering prior to the race! I busied myself with checking out all the competition and looking at the other people’s rides, there was some nice bikes there too. Eventually it was coming up to 1 o clock and all the Cat 4’s starting heading out onto the circuit. I did one quick lap to familiarise what is a fairly simple circuit. The conditions were ok bit the circuit was damp and I was nervous into the corners. There was a stiff headwind blowing onto the last corner and final straight as well, which we were told was slowing the bunch up a lot.
I pulled up to the bunch right at the back before the start and waited for the flag to drop getting pretty nervous at how I would fare at this point. We were off amongst a throng of cleats clipping in. The pace started and was a fair tempo, but I quickly realised I shouldn’t have a problem holding on, and began to settle in and feel comfortable in the bunch. I also quickly realised the last corner was a great place to close on the group if needed due to them being slowed by the wind. The first couple of laps were tentative as I was a bit nervous at the speed of some of the cornering, but it felt OK.
I was mindful only about 3 laps in that I was pretty much just hanging at the back of the bunch, and from everything I’ve read about others road racing, was that if you’re not moving forward your going backwards in the group. So I decided to try to work my way up to near the front for a bit, using the last corner as a slingshot when the group slowed, I swung round the outside, and was quickly coming up on the bunch leaders. Before I knew it I was putting in a proper effort, and was off the front. Stupidly I thought I could stay away and put in a pretty big effort, in the hope that some others would bridge across but nobody seemed to, and after a lap and a half the bunch was catching back up so I wound the effort back down and waited for the group to catch, before I quickly ended up back at the rear of the bunch. The effort felt great though, and the feeling of getting out in front of the bunch was electric, I loved it.

I decided to measure my effort a bit more across the next few laps, but ended up being more naive and attacking a few more time to no avail. The racing felt good though, and was clean, plenty of communication in the group, and nobody seemed to be riding too wildly. 5 laps to go and I still had in my head a vision of me soloing to victory. I blame idolising Tony Martin, and some of his insane solo breaks! So with one lap to go I gave it everything and got past the front of the group and round the first two corners, I was clear, but the group were chasing hard, and I was getting caught by the time the track started to pitch up slightly. By the corner complex I was back on the front, and by the last corner I was spent, and sat up. Ended up rolling across the line in 36th.
So a fun experience for my first race, and I was most pleased with the fitness level, especially knowing that I still have so much more to give in terms of besting last years peak fitness. Managed to get a mention in the post race results report, and even won a spot prize of a full bike service worth £100 or so. Awesome!
I trundled back home, happy in the knowledge that I’d left it all out on track, something which I never really got from triathlon, and the buzz and adrenalin of racing was brilliant. Looking back at my power file, I’d also made a couple of Pb’s which was great too.
The next couple of days I took some advice from the Paceline guys, and had a think about how I wanted my next race to go which was to be the following weekend. In summary, less futile attacking (a lot of last weeks was just me wanting to test myself and see my level vs the bunch) and I wanted to sit in a bit more, and observe the race, follow any attacks that look good, and potentially feature in the sprint.

Hillingdon 4th Cat Race – 24/01/2015 (Race 2 for me)
The week up to the race had been training heavy, and I’d covered around 90 miles. This was despite carrying a bit of a knee niggle, which I’d realised had been down to bad cleat position. Hopefully this wouldn’t affect the race. Conditions were better today than they had been all week. A sunny, clear but slightly windy day. I set off to Hillingdon into a headwind, and straight away my legs felt awful, totally blocked, and putting any power down felt seriously tough, and I felt lethargic. Bad news. My head wasn’t really in it as soon as I felt this, but I just kept my head down and carried onto Hillingdon. Good training riding with a bunch if nothing else I thought.
I arrived at a more sensible time, and just had enough time to sort myself before heading out onto the circuit. I’d also brought a change of base layer and jersey to change into before the start, to try to keep a bit warmer which seemed to work.
We set off and the first couple of laps the tempo felt the same as last week, the wind was blowing slightly differently though, and the bunch was fast down the back straight, but slowing climbing the small rise into the corners. I was feeling abysmal by this point and was just hoping to stay in touch of the bunch all race in tact. The riding was a lot more ragged this week, and I saw 3 separate crashes, which worried me a bit. I pretty much sat in the bunch the whole race up until we got shown the 5 to go board. I decided to use this opportunity to at least try to move up to the front a bit. My legs had started to feel a bit better by this point. I’d scoped a few places on the circuit to move up, and executed these nicely on the 5 to go lap nicely, to find myself very near the front. When suddenly I felt myself going clear, and stupidly decided to dig and give it a proper go. The watts came up and I put in a proper effort, I was way faster through the corners using what I had learnt last week, and quickly had a small gap on the bunch, I went through the 3, and 2 to go lapboards clear, but on reaching the corners the bunch had closed, so I used the opportunity to sit up and recover a bit. Which luckily worked as I was able to hold near the front of the bunch on getting caught.
We flew through the last lap board with the pace much higher. I almost got completely squeezed on the straight, and for the first time actually touched bars on both sides with two riders trying to close up, I held my ground and we started to come up the back straight. I put in a bit of a dig and made some more ground on some other riders that were now up at the front. Through the last complex of corners and I was in position to contest the sprint. I felt I launched at a good time, and didn’t appear to go backwards at least, but my legs were shot from the earlier big 8 minute effort. I sprinted across the line and was fairly sure I was at least in the top 10, so had secured some points, I hoped.
My legs were absolutely on fire with lactic acid as I rolled back to the clubhouse building. I quickly got changed and started to spin back home. My legs were completely shot by this point and I was struggling to even get over 150w. But once I again, I had to be pretty happy that I’d given it everything. Despite attacking accidentally off the front again, and too early. At least I’d hopefully salvaged something from it.
I’d smashed a couple of power pb’s notably 10 min power which was 50 watts higher than previous best, due to giving everything on my futile attack! 20 min power was also 10 watts higher than my 2015 best, but looking at the curve, this wasn’t even really a representative effort. I know when fresh now I can best that for certain.

I went much easier on training in the run up to this race, having had a really hard week the week before, and feeling so down on power in the actual race. Just a couple of rides, and intervals, no huge miles. Although, I did end up going out on the Friday, and the legs felt so good I ended up doing a lap of Richmond Park at a little below threshold which was probably slightly stupid.

Hillingdon 4th Cat Race - 31/01/15 (Race 3 for me)
I got up on Saturday and prepped as usual, despite the weather being pretty vile, 4 or so degrees and rain/sleet. Got on my bike and cycled the 10 miles or so up to Hillingdon, stupid garmin tried to direct me onto the M4, but a quick check of googlemaps had me going again and was there in plenty of time.

Was so glad I bought a change of base layers, socks and shoes when I got there as I was sodden already. Got changed and ready and headed out onto the circuit for a couple of recon laps and to try and warm up. The wind was blowing pretty strong, and for anyone who knows Hillingdon, it was blowing down the small rise up to the corners, so if you were at the front of the bunch here it would be tough. Then it would string right out down the start/finish straight with it being downwind.

We lined up at the start and off we went after the usual briefing. I’d never raced in the rain, but imagined it to be pretty grim. It was, think constant face full of spray and grit when sat in the bunch. I was soaked again after the first couple of laps, and was starting to lose the feeling in my hands. My legs felt reasonable though, although not as good as they did the day before annoyingly. I sat in the bunch for the first half, just scoping things out, where would be best to attack from, and just working on moving around the group, which I was feeling way more comfortable doing.

Did a couple of turns on the front but was keen to save my juice for the end. Managed a couple of attacks when required as well, but nothing looked too dangerous, especially with that headwind going up the hill.

Eventually the hands started to come back to me and I started feeling a bit better, just before the lap board came out. I consciously got myself in the front group, but was keen to not be taking the wind all the way up the hill each time, so let the first couple of riders come past me and cheekily sat in up the hill which seemed to work well. With 2 laps to go a couple of attacks went off but again, nothing that looked dangerous, and I helped to manage the gap to them without working too hard until we came round for the last lap. One guy had a couple of seconds on the bunch, and another was just off the front.

Again I positioned myself nicely out of the wind up the hill, and by this point the two up front were struggling into the wind. I knew I have decent power for a lap at full gas, but wanted to wait until half a lap, which took a fair bit of discipline. As we got half way up the hill I kicked hard, I was sat about fourth wheel in the group by this point, so used them to hide from the wind and slingshot past, I was out of the saddle and sprinting up the hill, I used the first and second riders slipstreams and past both before the corners, I gained a bit of breath back through the first hairpin, and then was out of the saddle and sprinting for the line clear of everyone. Quickly looked back and I seemed to have a good gap so I sat back in the saddle but kept the power as high as I could, before rounding the last corner and sprinting for the line!

In my head I was sprinting for the win, until I rounded the last corner and saw another 4th Cat rider up the road!! I rolled up to him past the line and apparently he’d been in a solo break since 25 mins in! Impressive in those conditions, although I’ve a feeling he was a talented lad, but was racing in this country for the first time.

Felt a little disappointed not to be able to win, but 2nd had meant I still had enough points to move up to 3rd Cat so I had to be happy, so I suspect my first win won’t come for some time yet, as I have no doubt in moving up a category the standard will be much higher. This allows me to enter some proper road races though, which I’m really looking forward to. I’d set myself the goal of becoming 3rd Cat within the first half of the year, so to do it in January alone after 3 races, I was pretty happy with.

Strava ride – https://www.strava.com/activities/248557859

Avgerage Power – 247w

NP – 267w

As an aside, I’ve also managed to drop 5kg since Christmas to put me at 80kg, meaning the w/kg is starting to look a bit better. Looking to ideally get down towards 75kg in the next couple of months.

iPete

whatleytom wrote:

In my head I was sprinting for the win, until I rounded the last corner and saw another 4th Cat rider up the road!! I rolled up to him past the line and apparently he’d been in a solo break since 25 mins in! Impressive in those conditions, although I’ve a feeling he was a talented lad, but was racing in this country for the first time.

Italian guy in the 5th floor kit? Wasn't sure if he had broken away or been dropped! Looked like he was blowing up but clearly held it together!

Welcome to Cat 3..

whatleytom

iPete wrote:

whatleytom wrote:

In my head I was sprinting for the win, until I rounded the last corner and saw another 4th Cat rider up the road!! I rolled up to him past the line and apparently he’d been in a solo break since 25 mins in! Impressive in those conditions, although I’ve a feeling he was a talented lad, but was racing in this country for the first time.

Italian guy in the 5th floor kit? Wasn't sure if he had broken away or been dropped! Looked like he was blowing up but clearly held it together!

Welcome to Cat 3..

Don't think he was italian, wasn't linked to a club, and was just racing in plain black castelli kit. Cheekily had a look at his strava and he made some impressive power, something like 350w for the 30 or so mins he was away.

Thanks

thomasmorris

Ludgershall Winter Series E12

From by blog: https://mozzy656.wordpress.com/2015/02/03/race-reports-ludgershall-winter-series-1-2-and-3/

7th Jan: 6th https://www.strava.com/activities/239187474

The weather was awful. Not too cold, but lots of rain, and lots of grit on the track. As I arrived I came down to watch the 4ths race, which was carnage as riders struggled to hold wheels in the spray. It was going to be a rough return to racing, that was for sure.

I came to these races with the sole intention to being attacking, get a workout, and hopefully pick up some points. Last spring I was involved in a very serious crash, where tragically a rider lost his life in the build up to a bunch sprint (one of the reasons I’m raising money for the air ambulance). Since then I’ve decided never to sit in and wait for a sprint, to get out and take on the race, even if it means failing spectacularly.

So, that’s what I tried, I attacked a few times, got brought back, the race was pretty cagey. I stayed away for about 5 minutes at one point, before being brought back once again. On the bell lap a rider jumped from behind me and I got caught in the wrong gear. I let the wheel go and five riders slipped off the front. The rider behind me was forced to close the gap, and then I went round him in the sprint, but finished 6th. I felt a bit bad after the race; it’s never good to be the one who lets the wheel go in the sprint.

Overall I was happy with my race though, I’d definitely stretched the legs and got some racing points, so both aims of the day achieved.

14th Jan: 3rd https://www.strava.com/activities/242201675

The weather this week was better, however a lot of salt had been put down and with the damp track it still wasn’t the most pleasant conditions. The aim was the same; race hard and then hopefully hang on for some points.

The start was the same as the previous week, with a few hard attacks including one I made myself. Just as I was caught by the pack a Fareham Wheelers and VC rider escaped. I gave chase with four others, however, my group included two VC riders who obviously weren’t too keen on bringing back their own rider, which made organising ourselves quite hard. I ended up doing a lot of the work but to no avail. With a couple of laps remaining the two riders off the front caught us for the lap. The bell rang and it was a sprint for the win between the lap takers, and a sprint for third between those who were lapped. There was some confusion as to who was sprinting when, but I was first to cross the line taking third overall. More points, and a good hard work out.

24th Jan: 1st https://www.strava.com/activities/245357587

This week there was no real team presence and after chasing down and making an attack in opening laps I found myself on the front in the headwind on the back straight. I slowed it right down, not wanting to tow the bunch for no reason. I saw I had a pretty good rider on my wheel, so as we turned on to the home straight with the tail wind I kicked hard, hoping the acceleration out of the corner would cause someone to drop a wheel and force a split. As I entered the first corner I took a look back and saw only one rider had come with me, George, who was sat on my wheel when I attacked. It was still quite early in the race for two people to stay away, however, we’d already opened a gap, so I encouraged George to work and continue the move.

After about 5 minutes of taking hard turns we had 45-60 seconds on the bunch and were just out of sight. However, George was starting to struggle to take turns, and eventually sat up. There was still about twenty minutes left to race, plus three laps; I was skeptical I could stay away. I was tempted to sit up and go back to the bunch with George, however, he’s a good sprinter, and with no teams I thought it was unlikely that once he’d dropped back anyone would want to tow him back to me. I’d come here to get a good workout, I’d made my move, I’d got a decent gap, and I knew if I could just make it to the last few minutes the pack would start looking at one another and start thinking about saving their legs for the sprint for second.

I turned myself inside out to hold the gap, and sure enough, as the lap boards went up to signify the imminent end of the race the pace eased behind and I started to see them in front of me as I came round to gain my lap. By this point the PNE Road Captain, Mark, was shouting at me not to lap them, as then I’d have to go round with them for another lap, so I just sat 50m off the back of the bunch, rolling round and taking in the win.

This is the second race I have won after my first ever outing in 2013. However, it felt very special to do it solo, take a lap, and in an E12 race. Granted, the circumstances were perfect for a break, with no dominant team to chase, but still, someone still has to take that opportunity, and that day it was me.

DavidJB

Mine

7th Jan : 7th - Ludgershall:

Some bastard lost the wheel in front of me and I had to close the gap...after I blew he came round me in the sprint...

haha

To be fair you did say sorry afterwards!!

napoleond

Beat my daughter today in the sprint from the road name sign to our drive. and get this, she was on a bike and I WAS ON FOOT!

I don't start racing until March. I'll be TTing though. May try and get a RR done up in Lancaster at the end of Feb.

Some good write ups here already.

jgsi

NapoleonD wrote:

Beat my daughter today in the sprint from the road name sign to our drive. and get this, she was on a bike and I WAS ON FOOT!

I don't start racing until March. I'll be TTing though. May try and get a RR done up in Lancaster at the end of Feb.

Some good write ups here already.

You are more of a fan of Salt Ayre then me!
I kick off with the Crewe Clarion 'Hilly' TT (long at 17mile) mid March then a LVRC road race on the 22nd down in Worcesterstershire... probably still ffffreezing cold.

napoleond

You doing Beacon LMTT?

jgsi

NapoleonD wrote:

You doing Beacon LMTT?

Sadly it clashes with a local TLI race that has rather tempting prize money on offer!
Moi, even won a prime last year.

napoleond

JGSI wrote:

NapoleonD wrote:

You doing Beacon LMTT?

Sadly it clashes with a local TLI race that has rather tempting prize money on offer!
Moi, even won a prime last year.

Cool! Good luck

thomasmorris

Perfs Pedal race report from the middle of the pack: https://mozzy656.wordpress.com/2015/02/09/perfs-pedal-road-race-50th-edition-race-report/

whatleytom

KW Sporting 14 TT Report from this weekend:

http://www.thomaswhatley.wordpress.com

whatleytom

Another one from me this weekend, Hillingdon Winter Series Race 9 of 9 E123, my first 3rd Cat experience :?

http://www.thomaswhatley.wordpress.com

thomasmorris

Ludgershall E123 14th February: Winter series Round 5 (i loose count with some being cancelled?)
Tough race and quick pace. Luckily I got in the only move that was allowed to get away just as the lap boards went up. Lucky timing!

https://mozzy656.wordpress.com/2015/02/16/ludgershall-winter-series-continued/

whatleytom

New blog post from my race this weekend:

Surrey League Longcross 2/3 Race

https://thomaswhatley.wordpress.com/

SPOCO Monster

Second race at Hog Hill on Saturday, 4ths again, windy day. I was feeling better, last time I was ill. I had planned to get there with plenty of time for a warm up but family got in the way and yet again I only got 10 minutes in

After last time being dropped immediately my initial aim was to just to keep in touch with the bunch, which was fine, I hung around at the back as space to move up was initially difficult. On the third lap I moved up to the back third as space started to develop, with the intention to get further up the bunch. But then a rider went down ahead of me on the first sweeping corner of the 4th lap, we all slowed to avoid and pass, and suddenly there was a bunch of us dropped. I was behind a VC Norwich rider who was pushing to get back to the bunch but in my naivety I didn't try and hold his wheel enough and he was gone, I saw on his Strava upload he did catch the bunch.

Ahead of the race I decided that if i did get dropped I would just treat it as an FTP test and push on, so I just ploughed round picking off others who had been dropped. I could see the bunch was catching me little by little on every lap, but in the last 20 minutes thought there was a large enough gap that I would get to the end. However I noticed there were two riders far ahead of the bunch catching me who turned out to be breakaway leaders, and they caught me just before 3 laps to go so i had to pull out. That was annoying that I couldn't get a near-hour of data. I ended up doing 47mins @ 266w average, 285w NP, a power PB.

So that was my second race, I've learnt a little more and more confident I can stay with the bunch next time.

imposter2.0

Did the comm ask you to pull out? I'm wondering if you could have just sat back and let the bunch catch you and hope to rejoin. As long as you don't get involved in the 'race' or any final bunch sprint, it shouldn't do any harm..

SPOCO Monster

Imposter wrote:

Did the comm ask you to pull out? I'm wondering if you could have just sat back and let the bunch catch you and hope to rejoin. As long as you don't get involved in the 'race' or any final bunch sprint, it shouldn't do any harm..

Yeah the comm did. In my inexperience I didn't think to just hang back to rejoin. Hopefully won't need to next time

Variance

My first ever race - Salt Ayre Winter Warrior series 7th March (10th out of 26) 1 point!

I know the course pretty well as I've done quite a few TT's there over the last couple of years. It's a pan flat 0.8m loop with 2 long straights.

I'd planned on arriving an hour or so before the 2.30 start to get my bike set up and give me enough time to get a proper warm up in but the traffic was bad so I only got enough time to do about 4 laps warm up. I ended up right at the back of the bunch as we were all waiting to set off and my nerves were really starting to bite, especially as I'd felt sluggish warming up and hadn't really felt great all week.

Anyway the race was 40 mins plus 3 laps so I had 3 goals - 1. Stay with the bunch for as long as possible 2. Try not to get lapped 3. Try to keep going even if I got dropped or lapped!

I've not lost as much weight as I wanted and at 93kg I was clearly the chubbiest rider there and a day before my 35th Birthday I was starting to wonder what the hell I was doing!

As we set off, the pace was ok until the first half lap was over then quickly upped to about 25mph which I was ok with but being at the back was difficult with the big changes in speed for the corners so I decided to try and move up towards the front which I found a lot easier than I thought I would. Once up near the front I found it difficult to find a wheel to follow and often found myself riding about 4 or 5 off the front but into the wind. As the race wore on I was more confident in holding my own space and started to feel better as I realised I was ok with the pace.

Then it went a bit crazy for 3 or 4 laps when a couple of guys jumped off the front and everyone decided to chase them. Then another couple went off so everyone decided to chase hard again. I was feeling the surges in my lungs and my HR was very high. I knew I couldn't handle another 20 mins at this rate. Thankfully the pace slowed slightly once people realised a break wasn't going to get away but soon after this there was actually a split but I found myself at the back of the lead group of about 7. I had put in a decent effort to hang on and was in no position to pull on the front and everyone else thought the same thing so it all came back together as the 3 to go board went up.

As we came round with the 2 to go board I felt strong and started to move up to the front before kicking and seeing if I could get away. It was a token effort really and I shouldn't have done it but hey-ho I was excited!

I let the bunch swallow me up after about 10 seconds of glory and as a result I mis-judged my speed going round a corner and ended up on the grass and nearly on the floor! I managed to keep on 2 wheels and re-joined towards the back. I thought my chances of a decent finish had gone but the pace slowed again a little as we took the flag. I found myself being able to slip up the outside quite easily as we headed down the home straight and round the last bend. There was a group of 4 or 5 off the front as the sprint opened up and I managed to pass a couple of others on my way to line for 10th place.

Overall I am very pleased with the result but I know I could have been in better positions for most of the race and should not have attacked when I did.

I'll be there again on Saturday, trying to learn from my mistakes!

Link to the ride is here

https://www.strava.com/activities/264346004

motty89

Variance wrote:

My first ever race - Salt Ayre Winter Warrior series 7th March (10th out of 26) 1 point!

I know the course pretty well as I've done quite a few TT's there over the last couple of years. It's a pan flat 0.8m loop with 2 long straights.

I'd planned on arriving an hour or so before the 2.30 start to get my bike set up and give me enough time to get a proper warm up in but the traffic was bad so I only got enough time to do about 4 laps warm up. I ended up right at the back of the bunch as we were all waiting to set off and my nerves were really starting to bite, especially as I'd felt sluggish warming up and hadn't really felt great all week.

Anyway the race was 40 mins plus 3 laps so I had 3 goals - 1. Stay with the bunch for as long as possible 2. Try not to get lapped 3. Try to keep going even if I got dropped or lapped!

I've not lost as much weight as I wanted and at 93kg I was clearly the chubbiest rider there and a day before my 35th Birthday I was starting to wonder what the hell I was doing!

As we set off, the pace was ok until the first half lap was over then quickly upped to about 25mph which I was ok with but being at the back was difficult with the big changes in speed for the corners so I decided to try and move up towards the front which I found a lot easier than I thought I would. Once up near the front I found it difficult to find a wheel to follow and often found myself riding about 4 or 5 off the front but into the wind. As the race wore on I was more confident in holding my own space and started to feel better as I realised I was ok with the pace.

Then it went a bit crazy for 3 or 4 laps when a couple of guys jumped off the front and everyone decided to chase them. Then another couple went off so everyone decided to chase hard again. I was feeling the surges in my lungs and my HR was very high. I knew I couldn't handle another 20 mins at this rate. Thankfully the pace slowed slightly once people realised a break wasn't going to get away but soon after this there was actually a split but I found myself at the back of the lead group of about 7. I had put in a decent effort to hang on and was in no position to pull on the front and everyone else thought the same thing so it all came back together as the 3 to go board went up.

As we came round with the 2 to go board I felt strong and started to move up to the front before kicking and seeing if I could get away. It was a token effort really and I shouldn't have done it but hey-ho I was excited!

I let the bunch swallow me up after about 10 seconds of glory and as a result I mis-judged my speed going round a corner and ended up on the grass and nearly on the floor! I managed to keep on 2 wheels and re-joined towards the back. I thought my chances of a decent finish had gone but the pace slowed again a little as we took the flag. I found myself being able to slip up the outside quite easily as we headed down the home straight and round the last bend. There was a group of 4 or 5 off the front as the sprint opened up and I managed to pass a couple of others on my way to line for 10th place.

Overall I am very pleased with the result but I know I could have been in better positions for most of the race and should not have attacked when I did.

I'll be there again on Saturday, trying to learn from my mistakes!

Link to the ride is here

https://www.strava.com/activities/264346004

Well done!

This was also my first crit. I was expecting a bunch finish but I have to say I found the negative tactics incredibly frustrating. I attacked 3 or 4 times and brought other people with me and then they just refuse to come through and work and everything would go back together again. Got boxed in on the final corner after following the wrong wheel which meant 6 guys in front of me escaped but i managed to get 7th.

DavidJB

Standard 4th cat race. Absolutely no clue on how to ride a breakaway.

bigmat

DavidJB wrote:

Standard 4th cat race. Absolutely no clue on how to ride a breakaway.

Same in 3rd cats - just have to keep attacking until you get the right people in the break, can be pretty frustrating though.

whatleytom

Another race report from me, Surrey League 2/3 Road Race in pretty horrible conditions this morning!

https://thomaswhatley.wordpress.com/

whatleytom

Raced at Cyclopark in a 3/4 Crit today , managed 8th for some points at least.

Great day for riding, if a touch windy here down south.

Full write up on my blog linked below if anyone fancies a read.

https://thomaswhatley.wordpress.com/

thomasmorris

James Atherton Memorial Race, 29th March, Category 2/3; hosted by Southampton Uni Road Club.

Horrible day, wet and gale force winds. I struggled a bit and ran out of legs toward the end, but with only 30 finishers you could tell the conditions took its toll on the peloton.

Andrew Williams from Cwmcarn Paragon CC won the the race around the Owslebury circuit near Winchester after a long breakaway with Lee Frost (Tri UK). I came in the bunch at 13th.

Full report in my blog: https://mozzy656.wordpress.com/2015/04/06/james-atherton-memorial-race/

whatleytom

Couple of new reports on my blog now.

Surrey League May 3 Day Stage Race - Struggled though and almost made it to the very end!

Crits at the Park at Cyclopark, bit of a disaster that one.

http://www.thomaswhatley.wordpress.com

daddy0

Here is my write up of my first race! (at the Cyclopark in Gravesend Saturday 23rd May) Enjoy!
http://bigfootcc.co.uk/2015/05/race-report-james-hawkins-race-debut/

Scoob84

Daddy0 wrote:

Here is my write up of my first race! (at the Cyclopark in Gravesend Saturday 23rd May) Enjoy!
http://bigfootcc.co.uk/2015/05/race-report-james-hawkins-race-debut/

Nice to see i got a mention in your report. That was me who got the puncture in the first lap. Some of that swearing came from me and was aimed at my bike and terrible luck. I had 3 punctures whilst setting up my bike in the car park (probably due to me over inflating my tyres and the bead coming off the rim) and then a fourth and final one on that first lap (shard of glass/flint through my rear tyre).

Well done on your 6th place! Not bad for a first race!

daddy0

Scoob84 wrote:

Daddy0 wrote:

Here is my write up of my first race! (at the Cyclopark in Gravesend Saturday 23rd May) Enjoy!
http://bigfootcc.co.uk/2015/05/race-report-james-hawkins-race-debut/

Nice to see i got a mention in your report. That was me who got the puncture in the first lap. Some of that swearing came from me and was aimed at my bike and terrible luck. I had 3 punctures whilst setting up my bike in the car park (probably due to me over inflating my tyres and the bead coming off the rim) and then a fourth and final one on that first lap (shard of glass/flint through my rear tyre).

Well done on your 6th place! Not bad for a first race!

Aw man - I was right behind you as you wobbled off the circuit, I felt so bad for you! Better luck next time.

Thanks for the well done - it looks like I'm actually getting 5th place now! Stoked! :-D

whatleytom

Daddy0 wrote:

Here is my write up of my first race! (at the Cyclopark in Gravesend Saturday 23rd May) Enjoy!
http://bigfootcc.co.uk/2015/05/race-report-james-hawkins-race-debut/

Good result for your first! From the sounds of your report good awareness of what was going on in the race as well. Something I didn't have from the off, which will surely stand you in good position for future races. You'll be up to 3rds in no time.