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Craig helps brave Hoadley to cross Italian rapids

When map reading goes wrong.


Director: P. Wager

James, Rob and Dave at Eelmore



After the July roundup someone asked "What about James, Rob and Dave at Eelmore?"

In the E/1/2 Dave Creeggan was pretty much up against it with a full set of Felts every week combining to share out the wins and take the first six places in the overall. With Dave doing a lighter season - ie no or little road racing - 8th overall was a more than respectable result.

Meanwhile in the 3/4 the overall turned into a battle between two VC Meudon riders - James Bracey and Rob McCarthy. While Rob took the wins, James was more consistent and edged the overall capping good seasons for both.

VC Meudon on the rollers down under

Josh Vicino has recently been on a Summer/Winter sojourn to Australia, giving him the opportunity to sport the new VCM kit at his Australian club - Brunswick CC - for the Enduro Roller Derby, in Melbourne, Victoria. Here's the report and pics:

http://brunswickcyclingclub.com/post/2010/08/rain-hail-or-moon-enduro-is-always-on/

A very quick Picarde report


This year's VC Meudon representatives at the Ronde Picarde sportif on Sept 11th were Richard Radford & Martin Hulbert.

Here's Martin's report:


Results:
Martin Hulbert - Time 4hr 54min 14secs - 34th Overall and 3rd in over 50 age group. (got a cup etc. at presentation, will forward copy when I have it.)
Richard Radford - Time 5hr 24min 59secs - 157th Overall and 27th in over 50 age group
Full results for the Master (189Km) event below :
http://www.sportcommunication.info/web2010/pdf/MASTER.pdf


Ride Report.
Richard and I travelled on the Friday morning Ferry from Dover. After a scenic drive down and coffee stops en-route at Le Crotoy we picked up our race numbers and transponders at Abbeville, checked in at the F1 Hotel just up the road and rode the first 10 mile of the course out to Bellafontaine and back. Followed this with a meal in Abbeville in the evening and off to bed fairly early.

The course this year was changed from last year, the section to Alt was more or less the same, a more direct route was taken back to Abbeyville where the shorter course riders turned off. The long course riders then did a hillier loop to the south of Abbeville. Overall we thought the course was a bit harder and longer than last year, but not as windy.

Race morning weather was good and it warmed up as the day went on, reaching 24 deg by finish time. Richard had arranged race numbers for us both under 300 which meant this year we could start in the front group and not right at the back. However, differently this year, just before the start they allowed numbers over 300 to join the back of the first 300 and we then all started together. This made it quite conjested and not quite the start we had expected or hoped for.

The pattern of the race was the usual, start as fast as you can, move up as much as you can & get in the nearest group to the front as you can.
I was lucky to be able to make it to the front, avoiding the few crashes and getting back to the front group again twice after getting blocked by falling riders on the hills. I found it harder this year trying to ride with the top riders, the speed up the climbs was faster and even faster over the top into the side winds. The bunch was getting very stretched and riders continually going off the back. Richard in the meantime was not able to make it through to the front group and was riding strongly in the 2nd or 3rd group.

I stuck with the front group into Alt and back into Abbeville, after about 80-90 miles a few riders broke away when the front group slowed for a while. Then picking back up the speed for the usual flat out last 10-20 mile. I finished with this group, unknowingly been outsprinted by 2 other 50+ year olds who were in the same group. Richard stayed with his group throughout, eventually catching another group in front due to his and a few others hard work, but just loosing a few minutes at the end with cramp.

We were both very happy with our rides, Richard and myself both knocking off about 15 minutes from last year and also finishing much higher overall.

After the race we stayed another night, enjoying a nice meal and drink. For Richard this meant a long awaited Ruby Leffe

Another great Picardy weekend.

Jim rides the Jean Francois Bernard/Thursday rides

If you haven't met Jim Morris it's because he takes about 12 holidays a year. He also organises (when he's here) Thursday morning rides. These are a bit easier than Wednesday morning rides, if you would like to be included on the email list for info about these rides email us at the website or get in touch with Jim directly.

Here's his recommendation for a French sportive if you fancy a change or doing something different:

"Did the Jean Francois Bernard sportive in Corbigny, France on 29 August. Longest course 160kms but I did the 106kms. Fantastic part of France to the south west of Dijon with very quiet roads. Some flattish but mostly very lumpy with some long hills at around 5%. 192 finishers on my course with me finishing 97th and 13th in Cat E over 60. Winning time 2hrs 54m and I finished in 3hrs 35m. (Gold time for me was 4hrs 10m) I got in a good group after about 10kms of 20 or so riders which then got thinned out to about 7 at the end. The first hour was the flattish bit and went past at around 32kph but the hills then kicked and the final average was around 29kph. It was a real challenge to stay with the group because inevitably I lost ground on some of the longer hills and then had to chase hard to get back on. But a real challenge - if only I could have stayed with the main bunch which went away at the start! The race was superbly marshalled and there were lots of support cars and bikes. I can thoroughly recommend it, although it is about a seven hour drive from Calais. We had a gite for a week and had some great riding in that time including doing the part of the long route that the shorter course missed."

Horsmonden: Jason wins (twice), Les Liddiard injured

Martin Hulbert reports from the LVRC:

At the recent Horsmunden Les had an accident, it appears from initial reports that it was his collar bone. He went to Tonbridge Hospital. A youngish lady walked out from behind the lead car and infront of the 3 riders in a break, Les was the unfortunate one that came down although the lady got away with it lightly.


Race report
The ABC race was over 5 laps but was shortened to 4 after the accident and our race was stopped temporarily, the older riders passed us when we were stopped. The break that contained Les, Paul Doel & had 20 seconds when the accident happened at the end of lap1 when the race was stopped. This gap was given on the restart but they were caught in the next lap. A few more breaks were tried and unsuccessful until with just under 2 laps to go Matt Seaton went hard up the first climb, only I went with him, he went hard until he was caught by the lined out bunch half way up the second hill. The impressive bit was he attacked again immediatley and the break that formed was never caught. I made it into the break with Matt & 2 others, shortly after Ashley Holding & Jason Edwards from VCM powered across with 2 others making a total of eight in front.

These 8 contested the sprint
1) Jason Edwards (1st A Cat)
2) Paul Caton
3) Ashley Holding (2nd B cat)
4) Martin M'Cready
5) Iain Akhurst
6) Martin Hulbert (2nd C Cat)
7) Matt Seaton
8) Paul Doel

Jason also followed this up with another impressive performance at Goodwood where he won to cement his 2nd place in the overall behind James Makepiece.

Fignon in Brighton

Sorting through some old photos and found this shot I took of Laurent Fignon starting the Wincanton Classic in Brighton 1990 - just behind him are Stephen Roche and Phil Anderson - I remember watching Bugno blasting away to an impressive victory - a great day out.


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More retro.... 4 years later another VC Meudon day out, this time at the Tour when the race came to the South Downs and finished in Portsmouth - winner that day was Italian sprinter Nicola Minali. Who do you know in this picture?


>> click for larger view