Well here we are at Goodwood for the first race of the season (2nd actually but I'm trying to forget about that bitter, rain-sodden affair at Upavon a few weeks back) and - already I feel a shudder as moments of déjà vu hit me repeatedly - I'm starting to feel depressed.
You may recognise some of these scenes yourselves.....
The car park is filling with idiots - Mr Blobby from FlashBoys RT pitches up, stereo throbbing at the legal limit, while just along from me another would-be competitor in a swamp green Laguna drives into one of the carports forgetting about his Focus Cayo on the roofrack - his bike now mangled before his 4th Cat licence has even seen the light of day.
The signing on clerk questions my status as a Surrey League member - Oh not again, I've been to just about every Surrey League race for the last 15 years, officiated at scores of them and handed over half my life's savings, yet I'm still nobody. The Goodwood track marshall lambasts me for trying to walk through an unmarked gate. On the start line I'm totally surrounded by pairs of legs sporting more hair than Susan Boyle's chin, here we go again. It's not long before the usual state of affairs establishes itself - Cervelo frames are everywhere but few of them are able to circulate around the track without swerving off in random directions without notice. No one but no one is allowed to get more than 5 yds off the front before emergency chase services emerge from the pack to dowse any embers of excitement. And there are Garmin-equipped handlebars all over the place - well I suppose route markers are usually lacking around this closed 2 mile clockwise loop that has no junctions or exit roads.
After a winter of track testing at Estoril and some expensive chassis modifications, Graham Wood's bike still refuses to corner correctly and he's grabbing for the brakes and loosing 20 meters each time the curve radius reduces below 400m. (Supertankers would have no problem though). And there is a permanent kink in the long straight, isn't there? It's not just some PlayStation-like feature that randomly materialises to take everyone by surprise, causing unexpected swerving and utter chaos.
Wait, excitement as the Commissaire's car tries to slice through the 100-up peleton - we've caught the E12 race again and the 3rd Cat riders are quickly trying to combine themselves into one huge pack - the mixed allocation of coloured numbers doesn't help. An aside...
Surely we could afford some decent numbers, after all the entry fees for the 3rds race alone must have netted well over £1300. (My wife ran a 10k the day before and her £12 entry fee secured chip timing, custom-printed race number, a race Tshirt, coffee mug (with coffee), banana, water bottle, chocolate bar, cereal bar, post-race massage - OK I lied about the massage bit but you get my point). If I think about it too much I start to feel financially mugged. What does BC do with all our money - answers on a postcard please.
Eventually a team of 4 riders, sporting some experienced ex 1st Cats, manage to exert enough pressure to springboard 2 of their team away. Squad Kapitano Markowski rides slowly on the front to remind any novices of what just happened. Nevertheless, they seem oblivious to the event that is unfolding before them. The dozen or so London Dynamestiques don't know what to do now and because they rarely communicate with one another, plan B is not forthcoming. The same holds for the massed bands of the Dulwich Alsorans. There are solo efforts to change affairs by Geoff Mulebar, 2nd Officer Cranstone and Steve Le Ferguson, but with 90 or so others saving themselves for the switchfest of the final chicane, the VC Bayeux pair ride off into the sunset.
Having read some others club's reports of the race it seems that they genuinely believe a good outcome is when the whole field "works well together" and no-one gets away - a bit like some group team time trial love-in. Have they never watched a pro race? Do they think attacking and creating breaks somehow spoils the symmetry of the whole thing?
I'm now worrying that this whole sorry escapade is going to be repeated 20 or 30 times over until I head back over to France for the Picarde Sportive in September and ride a fulfilling race again.
Or perhaps I need to dedicate some more time to training so I can escape this world of 3rd Cat misery I find myself in.
Goodwood Season Underway
4th cats too slow for Rob at Thruxton
"My first road race of the season went exactly to plan, with some good tactical advice from Craig and Warren.
The pace at the start of the 4th cat race was much slower than I expected, being used to racing mountain bikes. I had some dodgy moments in the race, nearly touching wheels with a rider who decided to cut across my front wheel, after patiently sitting in the pack decided to attack off the front just after the pit lane with two laps to go, into a headwind, when I looked back I saw that I had opened up a big gap, so I just mashed it in a big gear on the drops until the finish, crossing the line with my first road win."
Dan is 2010 National Duathlon Champion
Dan McCarthy reports from the 2010 National Duathlon Championships:
"Delighted to have the title of National Duathlon Champion for this season. The race started with a brisk 10km, with Mark Buckingham and Dave Anderson - both top quality international distance runners - leading me through 5km in a time close to 15mins. I decided to let them go and settled into a chase pack behind which helped me recover as I cruised into T1 with a deficit of 2 mins on Buckingham and 1 min to Anderson.
After a swift transition I had 2nd in my sights by the end of the road after a short narrow decent. I took the first tight corner 'crit style' knee out in order to stabilise the bike on the greasy/wet road. Shortly after I was up into 2nd. Next I was looking for Buckingham and could see him as I approached the long Avenue back into Clumber Park. I passed him exactly on the start of lap 2 and put my head down. The second lap was a bit dodgy at times with all the age group athletes taking up the road, but the lead motorcycle did a great job in clearing the 'traffic'!
By T2 I had a 3 minute lead having made up over 5 mins on the bike leg. Getting my shoes on with my hands utterly frozen (even with gloves) was so painful that I was shouting at myself to hurry up, with my heart rate at around 180 bpm at this point. I ended up banging the shoes on as I ran up the road, stopping once again to sort them out. The final run was nervy, but relaxing once I had found my rhythm. I made sure I enjoyed the home straight and ensured I picked up the pace a bit for the cameras too! To my knowledge, it was also a new course record to add to the victory.
Both Wayne Smith and Lee Piercy had good performances in 2nd and 3rd, so great to add my name to this list of former winners. I was however gutted to find that Wayne had beaten my bike split on the day by just 8 seconds for a new bike course record! If only I had taken one or two corners a bit harder.... "
Puncheur report
KB reports from the Puncheur sportive down in Sussex (for photos go to sportivephoto.com and look for some vets in Meudon kit who look like they're at death's door):
slowed at 10k when warmed a little and the sun was up to take gilets off and
by the time we got back to the group we were hitting some big stretches of
ice. Trackies Moore and Grant were able to ride through the ice whilst Col
and I waited for Barry; when we could see that he was creeping we started
the charge to catch Grant/Moore, Addison in top form big ringing it over
Ashdown forest with me stuck to his wheel. Took us a good 20k but we caught
them just before a climb then went past causing them to make an effort. I
think Granty's head went a bit then as he started to struggle but gamefuly
held on to the halfway time check. After the check, some food and despite
encouragement fom Col, Granty said go on without him we did the last 30ks
into the wind which seemed to be a head wind all the way round with Col the
strongest on the rises, till we caught Barry (where did he come from?).We
were then caught by three little 7stone kids from Prestonparkvelo who's
combined ages was less than a quarter of mine. We hung on to them, doing an
occasional turn till it split with 5k to go and only Colin could stay with
them, Bob and I gritting our teeth on a long final 2k headwind straight
watching them creep away. Ditchling was steep and seemed to go on for ever,
Colin climbed well, Bob and I crept up on our last legs and even got caught
by two girls talking to each other as they went past and we arrived cold and
exhausted at the top. Granty had gameley carried on and was not that far
down at the end. Great day out, made todays Paris-Nice stage look like a
clubrun, roll on the Spring Onion next weekend."
Ottaway's Odyssey update
and riding with other VC Meudon riders.
56yr old pro in Spain - February
Buenos dias, todo el mundo !
Although there's not much traffic on my training rides, I did get stopped earlier today and I've attached a photo showing the sort of things I have to contend with !!
Well, the winter is over and we got away very lightly (at the moment). The temperature is a pleasant 18-22 degrees and all the wild flowers are out along with the Almond blossom.
The Vuelta de Murcia starts tomorrow and I have just taken all the info off the internet for the 5 day stage. I will be riding off for 3 days to watch the action, the other 2 days Martine and I will be watching from a restaurant garden. The event looks good and will suit last years winner, Dennis Menchov. Wiggins has a few mentions in the local paper as the up and coming rider for later in the year. Armstrong returns after 5 years away – I read a report that Murcia has always been a vital early race that he prefers to ride. In his last 2 years before his retirement he had to ride Paris-Nice because it was part of the World cup races and with it being a French race he was obligated to ride. Anyway, he will have the Radio Shack A team to support him.
As in my last report the team had a problem (still unknown) and we were unable to ride the Murcia Inter Club but I might be able to ride on the 14 March in Roldan on a wild card, so fingers crossed for that one.
But there is some good news…we are going to ride the Alicante Inter Club which start in April-May. Then we ride the Masters Vuelta de Murcia but with that good news, I have had to give the Majorca trip a miss.
Adios
Martin
