Club news
From the November newsletter
11 November 2009
2009 Club Hill Climb Championship – Essendon 25th Oct
The big feature of the season curtain closer was the sheer number of competitors. Quite a nice morning and the promise of the first Autumn Club Run afterwards swelled the numbers prepared to tackle the climb with a number on their back.
Alan and Sid were also in attendance with a camera to record the suffering and it was good to see Dan Northover out helping with pushing-off duties.
As usual, some riders, including past winners, were really fired up for this while others were making their excuses before the start. Eventual victor, Hugh Vivian, was definitely in the former category and was seen warming up on the hill before most of us arrived. His win was not unexpected and he took it by a fairly comfortable margin – if you can say “comfortable” when describing this event!
Gray Turnock was best of the rest and his time to the lofty water tower pushed some former winners and noted climbers down the result board.
LVRC Track Championships . Newport South Wales. Oct 31st / Nov 1st
The challenge of keeping motivation going for a hard weekend of Track racing this late in the season proved too much for some club members. They dropped out, one by one, leaving me to uphold the club’s honour on the boards of the Velodrome. I didn’t do too badly.
So there were no team events for me this year but a full programme nonetheless. The World Masters had just finished in Sydney Australia and a couple of Brits had taken titles there. Suntans and riders in Rainbow Jerseys – just the confidence booster you need!
I entered the Sprints competition this year. This was more to get me into the swing of the weekend rather than with any hope of troubling the specialist sprinters. My qualifying Flying 200 was 14.35. Not bad but well down against the others and it meant I would be drawn against one of the fastest in the next round. A predictable last place in the second round put me in the Repechage where I found my level and got second. That was the end of that but better was to come.
In previous Points Races, I had counted myself as doing well to finish and on a 250 metre track would reckon to lose a lap or two. This time I found myself constantly in the action , covering attacks, and was having no problem staying on the same lap as the leaders. OK, I wasn’t actually scoring points but I was making them work for it and there was a World Champion on the front. With about 2 laps to go, one of the breaks stuck and dangled off the front of the bunch. They were enough to mop all remaining points so I got myself clear and went after them, hoping to turn zero points (already happy with that) into at least a point or two. There was only one chance and it came a little too early but I was committed and had to go for a long one to reach them. Didn’t quite make it and one or two got past me in the last few yards anyway. I was already happy with the weekend and looking forward to the next day’s racing.
Well, I say that….my first race next day was the Individual Pursuit. I genuinely didn’t want to progress beyond the first round as I’m not sure I have two of these in my legs! There were four of us on the Track for the first round and I drew a start on the banking which is not ideal. However I got my starting effort spot on, with no reapeat of the recent BC Masters comedy start and settled down for 8 laps of horror.
The World Champ caught and passed me easily without about two to go. No surprise there and it made no difference to my private battle with the clock. This was the first time that I’d managed to spread my effort equally over the event and stay on the edge of the red instead of going too deep and having to back off. Somehow I’d finally learned how you ride these – and it was still murder! The end result was 2m 46.95s, a new PB.
Next up was the Scratch Race. I was frisky enough to take the front several times and lift the tactical pace. You never look round on the track but I was hoping it was thinning the field just a bit behind me and I was encouraged to see more than one rider take to the Track Centre as we came round. After 60 laps I didn’t have quite enough to get on terms with the sprint for final placings but picked up 5th for my efforts.
That only left the 500m TT to finish the weekend. I had no expectations for this event so I was surprised to see several times flashing up on the board that were slower than my 41.399s. Eventually I missed bronze by 0.24s and silver by 0.9s., so I was thereabouts and wondering if I could or should have pushed for those fractions of a second.
All in all, I was encouraged. Next year’s Worlds is in Portugal.
Eu não posso esperar !!!!
Winter Club Runs….. Every Sunday
They’ve started folks. The weather hasn’t stopped two or three club runs that have already taken place and Hugh and Kevin have both done sterling work in leading them round and looking after new riders and stragglers. Usual starting venue and time – 9.30 am at Potters Bar. See you there.