Chalk chase - Sun 28th Nov - updated

Craig and Terry's chalk chase - Ronde Pittance Hill - the unofficial VC Meudon off-road champs is the 28th of November (a Sunday) leaving Seale Tea Rooms at 9:30. This is an off-road ride!

If you haven't done a chalk chase before, 'the hares' set off with a headstart and lay a trail of chalk cross country and 'the hounds' chase, the first person to catch them is the winner (or something like that).

New Spinning Class at Mint Condition

There follows a commercial message from Nick Mint:

Starts Monday 8th November at 7.30pm. Ginny (AKA Miss Whiplash) at Mint Condition is starting a new group Spinning Class for a limited pre-Christmas run of 5 weeks for £40. The class format will be 50 minutes and will make a valuable off-season alternative to the autumn/winter 'miles'. Ginny also runs a popular Pilates classes running throughout the week, so if you need some core strength and stretch get in touch. Places are limited so book now by calling Mint Condition 01420 590590 or email ginny@mintcondition.net. Mint Condition - Binsted (http://www.mintcondition.net).

Looking for an Italian training camp base?

David Freeman (ex Hastings and VC Bayeux is now running training camps from his home in Le Marche, Italy. Camps will be up and running from next March. If you want to build up a good base for your 2011 season at a competitively priced training camp have a look at www.cycletramonto.com for details.

Ashley wins Ottershaw 2

The second in the Ottershaw series toook place at the weekend, this report just in from VC Meudon's man at the race:

"It was a wet and chilly Sunday morning for round 2 of the Ottershaw series on the Staple Hill and Kitsmead circuits today with the weather prompting a slightly smaller turnout from the bumper field of last week.. Meudon had three brave riders, Jason Edwards, Ashley Holding and Ben Marks, two of whom (Ash and Ben) were in the top 10 overall courtesey of their 4th and 9th places in round 1.

A fast start saw a couple of riders losing contact on the first climb of Staple Hill and once a gap had formed the heavy rain blowing across the top of Bagshot Common meant there was no way back. A couple of laps later evergreen Paul Holdsworth attacked over the top of the climb and held the bunch off for a lap but as he was caught the decisive move went as WyndyMilla’s Alex Higham clipped off the front the same time as a a few more were spat out the back.

Higham never got more than a 30sec gap however as the race moved off the harder Staple Hill circuit onto 10 laps of Kitsmead lane it looked like he could stay away. However three riders bridged across soon followed by another two including another Wyndy Milla making a strong six man group with just 5 laps, 15 miles, to go. The bunch did not give up and was splintering and regrouping all the time as the stronger riders tried to bring the break back, all three Meudons were in the action and with just three laps left another group including last weeks winner Lewis Atkins, Cycle Kingdoms Alan Ridler, Army’s Martin Smith and Ashley powered across to the leaders in under a lap with Ash looking the strongest to make a leading group of 10.

The bunch seemed to give up now as the leaders drove on to take the bell. Colin McDermott took advantage of some nervous looking around and went down the right hand gutter with just over a kilo to go, the break continued to look at each other and as they took the final left hander into the finishing straight Colin still had a 100mtr lead….it might be a small circuit but Kitsmead lane can seem awfully long when you are dangling on your own off the front of a break of this quality; eventually the chase was on and at the 200 mtr flag it was man of the race Alex Higham who was bearing down on McDermott with Ash and Lewis on his wheel…Lewis couldn’t stay with them and as Alex went past Colin, Ash put in a huge finishing burst to take a brilliant win and put him in contention for the series with just one event left.

Full result to follow on SurreyLeague website."

Ladies (m) mtb for sale

Scott Contessa lady specific mountain bike for sale. Five years old but hardly used - knackered knees. Matt black frame hardly marked. Manitou Axel Diva fork with compression and rebound adjustments. Mainly Shimano LX but XT rear mech and Avid rim brakes. Really nice condition. £250 Jim Morris 01428 713935.

Another top continental performance from Dan

Here is Dan McCarthy's report fro the Powerman Como – Elite World Duathlon Series – 24/10/10

7th Place

"Powerman Como – the toughest event I have ever done by a long long way. I was up against one of the hardest fields on paper including 3 former World Champions and a host of other top competitors including the Italian Ironman Champion and 250 other competitors all ready to duke it out on the roads. Set in the picturesque and awe inspiring Lombardi area of Lake Como in Italy, I’d watched Phillipe Gilbert and others battle it out the previous week in horrendous rain and misty conditions. This did little to calm my nerves!

Three weeks prior to the event I was struck down with Achilles tendonitis which I managed to improve with a mass of rehab work, making the final decision to race just a week before the event. Because the course was so tough on the bike, I decided that I could still limit my losses on the runs and produce a solid performance – perhaps somewhere in the top 15. The race was made up of a 10km run, an 80km bike and 10km run. The bike course was awesome – made up of undulating terrain to the infamous climb of the ‘Nesso’ which is 13km long and ramps up at frequent 10% sections – a really nasty climb with multiple hairpins all the way up. The fun part was the 10 mile descent with approximately 20 hairpin bends via the town of Asso (the cycle clothing manufacturer).

The race day was welcomed by rain – sopping greasy roads, which take no prisoners. The plan was to start the run easy and make sure that the Achilles was not put under any major strain which meant a first 10km run in 36mins (about 4-5mins slower than usual). I came in around 5mins behind the leaders and made my way out on the bike course, overtaking people on the undulations all the way out to the major climb of the Nesso. This climb was an experience. There is little you can do to train in England for a climb like this. Even 6 max-out reps up Coombe Hill and Box Hill, which has been my diet for the past 8 weeks, did little to really prepare for this one. Up the climb I felt really strong and managed to catch the group for 10th place at the summit, making up minutes from the base of the climb. This part of the course was epic as we passed through fog line on the way up, eventually reaching 1200 metres altitude .The descent was very precarious with diesel and leaves on a few corners. This fact was placed firmly at the back of my mind as I passed another group to reach 7th place as I continued to take all sorts of risks on the downhills, eventually pulling out 2 mins on the group on the descent alone. One minor hiccup where I dropped it on the last section of bends as the road surface changed, but managed to get back on quickly with no major injuries.

The last run was ok thankfully as I managed to pull off a 7th overall. Given that a lot of the guys ahead are all professionals, I was a bit shocked to pull off such a blinder. My bike split was also 4th quickest overall, with an average speed not far short of 23mph for the very hilly course. With no injuries, perhaps a podium would have been achievable, but hindsight is a wonderful thing in sport!

Walking down the stairs at Gatwick after a short flight was absolute murder. My quads have never been this sore in my life! My appearance at the Ottershaw Surrey League is under serious review at this current time….."