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Surrey League Easter Mystery Tour report

Warren reports back from the Surrey League Easter 3 Day:


Myself, David Creeggan, Jamie Newall, Craig Wilson and special guest Martin Rutherford all lined up for the start of the 3 day on an ominous looking day. The game plan was to hold back as long as possible and light the fuse with 3 laps to go as historically Milland is generally won on the final quarter of the race. The weather played a big part one minute it was raining the next hail and sleet. A large group of 20 or so riders had formed at the front of the race with the gap at nearly 3 minutes it was time to panic, 4 laps to go and a tree had fallen across the finish blocking the road completely ( a lucky escape as apparently the leaders had missed this) consequently the race was finished the next time up the hill thus ensuring none of us were in contention. I managed to clip off the front of the group to gain a meagre 4 seconds (strange as it seemed more to me) ultimately it looked like the original plan may have worked as we were starting to bring the group back, never mind at least there are still 2 stages left! In the morning event Mark Gibbs did a good ride to finish inside the top ten as far as I know there were no major instances although they would have had the same conditions weather wise.


Video footage of the Stage 1 climb on YouTube


Day 2 and I had a call from Mark Gibbs in the morning to say his race had been cancelled due to ice on the circuit, the afternoon race still went ahead but was significantly shortened to a 1.5hr blast, not really ideal but at least we could race, Craig Wilson slipped into the first significant move of the day at around half distance I managed to get across and 8 of us kept the bunch at bay for just over two laps alas it was not to be the next move went and Dave Creeggan managed to get into this one, however he was promptly spat out the back which meant we had missed out again, 4 riders managed to hold the bunch off by 10 seconds I managed to unleash my famous sprint for 7th.


Day 3 and I for one was revved up as I personally like the Lingfield course and as we had done a total of just under 90 miles in two days the legs weren’t exactly tired. Driving down to the race all seemed okay with the weather however approaching Edenbridge there were ominous signs of snow at the sides of the road. On getting to the HQ we were told the race had to be cancelled due to the weather, the morning race had gone ahead apparently at times through blizzard like conditions, again Mark Gibbs did a great ride to get another top 10 result. All in all we were all rather disappointed at a wasted weekend and lack of proper racing but the only thing to blame was the weather, maybe some time this year we may get to race in shorts!


Gibbo adds:
Stage placings of 8th & 10th for 10th overall was the best I could do in
what turned out to be a weekend of aggressive racing with the field
being split apart on both stages by ex pro Ben Wilson (stage 2 was
cancelled). The weather was lovely apart from the snow, sleet, hail
storms and icy roads.



Bournemouth storm and tempest

Jim Orr reports back from the Bournemouth weekend: Hopefully everyone survived on Sunday or are there still riders missing out there? First man to the Fleet prime was Dave Creeggan (a double after his early season victory in Fleet-Stokenchurch-Fleet) - 165 miles in 10.5 hours. First woman - Jo Munden @ 5 seconds (gutsy ride Jo.) I might run this in Jan next year to try and enjoy some sun. PS. Terry how much did you put the map on ebay for?

Results to March 17.

Over at Dunsfold this Sunday it was a pretty miserable day with plenty of cold and rain but a couple of points finishes. In the morning Gibbo missed the break of four going  when he was "getting warmed up". Six horrible laps later he'd warmed up just in time to win the uphill sprint for 5th.


In the afternoon it was again can't feel the brake levers cold and wet when lone Meudon Craig Wilson got in a second group to chase down the early break of 8. Catching  4 of them left an 8 up sprint with Craig coming in 4th for 8th overall (hopefully that's crystal clear) followed by another sprint for the seats by the HQ radiators.

Another lone Meudon rider, Mike Lancaster, made the trip to Thruxton worthwhile getting into the top 10 in 7th in the 4/J.

Meanwhile riding the Finchly RT crits at Hillingdon recently, Gianluca Capello finished a strong 4th behind winner Colin Roshier in the masters race. New member Gianluca is a first cat with a good finish. If you haven't got a good finish don't tell him in case he starts talking about Ale Jet, trains and lead-outs.

Non-Helmet Wearers be Afraid!

We've noticed a steady stream of non-helmet wearers creeping back onto the VCM training rides so here's a timely reminder of what the dreaded tarmac can do - many thanks to Simon Lawn for the extra pictures ....





The results of Simon's crash in the recent Wally Gimber road race look bad enough, but could have been so much worse had it not been for his Specialized helmet, which obviously did it's job well.




Simon said he's recovering nicely and, despite back and rib aches, aims to be on the start line for the Easter 3-day!




Not mentioning any names, but bike shop owners and part-time french residents pay particular attention.....

Results to March 10.

With a decent quality field and two away, Steve Richards opened the Meudon's 08 account with a good 4th at the MOD Chertsey on Feb 24th in the E123 handicap, closely followed by Dave Creggan in 8th.


This weekend saw a few others enter the fray with Number 10 and Phil Masters hanging in there in the 4ths at Thruxton while in the 3rds Keith was looking for a top 10 finish in the gallop when a crash put paid to his cunning plan.

In the Surrey League openers Gibbo and Summerfield rode the 3rds at Kirdford, with Gibbo chalking up his first points finish of the year in 8th. In the afternoon 2/3 Messrs Wilson, Bremner, Hulbert, Hards and Knight all missed out on the points despite constantly attacking (probably). 

If you have any reports email them in to me or Keith along with some description of what happened - exaggeration welcome.

For Vecchis' diaries - LVRC RR - June 15th

Lyndsey will be organising the Ciclisti Vecchi's LVRC event. This will be the 4th race in the Tricot series. Keep it free because with it being on the Dunsfold road circuit rather than Dunsfold Park we're going to need one or two more marshalls than last year.



For your diary - VCM Surrey League RR - 14th September

Another important date for all club members is our Surrey League promotion on the 14th of September round Cutmill. There will be a 3rds race in the morning and an E123 in the afternoon, so you can ride one and marshall the other. If you positively, absolutely, definitely can't make it you could speak to Warren (the organiser) about donating a generous prime - thanks to Andy Dilkes for that idea.