Competition News

Nick Cramer rode his first "proper" road race of the season on Easter Sunday.
The race, run by Braintree Velo, consisted of 4 x 13.5 mile laps of a circuit just outside Sudbury in Suffolk. Nick likes this course but ice on the road delayed the start and gave him the "heebie jeebies"!
Self deprecating as usual, Nick reports " Did I learn from last years experience? No, it was a repeat performance and I rolled over the line 23rd out of 60 ". Most of us will be more likely to admire his determination to race at all in what passes for "spring" this year!

Tony M rode this 18 mile SPOCO TT.
It was cold but, thankfully, not raining - though the road surface was wet in places. The race was on the E20/9 course just outside Maldon. The course was rolling, twisting and with a big hill called North Hill on each lap of a 9 mile loop which was ridden twice.
Tony was hoping to go under the hour and surprised himself by managing 52:57 - so was pleased with that time. He finished 27th out of 59 finishers his first time inside the top half.
Winner was Scott Cousins in 46:05. One Mr Dowsett rode (unofficially) - no time recorded.

Brian E and  Richard C rode this event on a course near Ugley - Richard's first 25 mile TT. Many congratulations to both of them for racing in such tough conditions. Here is Richard's account of their race.
" It was a day of first's - my first 25 mile TT, my first Open event, my first 2up, and my first time on my new bike....and it was snowing!  

Tony Marriott returned to Redbridge, this time for a 4th cat. race.
Given this event was only for 4th cats he was expecting a little less haste! However, the pace was quick from start again, though he found it marginally easier than the ELV Winter Series race two weeks previously - " if you can call that finish line hill easy! ". Tony compared his Garmin data with that from the earlier race and found the speeds were comparable, so he was very pleased to finish with the bunch. He was about 24th and in a photo finish with 2 other riders.

Tony Marriott and Nick Cramer raced at Hog Hill (Redbridge Cycling Centre) on Saturday 16th in the final event of the East London Vélo "Six days of winter" series. This was a circuit race lasting an hour.

Tony led Alex by 17 seconds in the Out of Season BAR (Rest Gear 72”, Rest Gear 81” and Hill Climb time accumulated) going into the Hill Climb.
As you can see he did a PB and took 19 seconds back to win the Hill Climb and Out of Season BAR.
Good to see a large turn out hope everyone enjoyed it.
Thanks to Lorne you can see a video of your efforts .

Another still but chilly Sunday morning.  81” rest gear for people who have raced and scrubbers for non racers.
Tony managed to take back time from Alex from the first out of season event, so now all will be decided on the hill climb next week.
Valdis won the scrubbers.

This was Nick C's last race of the season and involved four laps of a 70Km circuit around Steeple, Maylandsea and Tillingham in Essex.
With one and a half laps to go he was brought down by a large group of riders crashing - his first crash all season. By the time he had picked myself up and dusted himself down the peloton was way ahead. He worked with an Ipswich rider named Adam Keer and raced on for pride crossing the finish line joint last .

Fantastic!  With a time of 1:16:46 Merv set a time that was 6 seconds faster than the club record he established 59 years ago in 1953.  This also established an East Anglian Group VTTA Age record at 79.  Meanwhile Phil clocked 1:09:12.

For the first time in many years there were two Wheelers competing in the club's "Last Chance Points Grabber" road race.

The break stayed away in the Wheelers' "Last Chance Points Grabber" road race on the Whitwell circuit on Sunday 30th September.

It was very cold on the unfashionable and undulating E1 near Newport when Merv clocked 1:27:20 in this event.  He was further hampered by a strong headwind from the turn.

Another windy afternoon saw the Steve & Paul complete the course in 1:04:16.

Two Wheelers rode in the ECCA 10 last Saturday.   It was a favourable day for a change on the Six Mile Bottom course - cool with a slight cross-wind.  Merv managed to equal his time from three years ago with a 24:26 while Phil Young did a 22:19.  

As we currently do not hold our own 25's, the Revenge Cup is incorporated into the Norlond 25 held on the A1.  On a breezy morning, Merv retained the trophy with 1:06:50.

Tony M rode the Shaftesbury CC road Race. This was a 117 km event based around a 25 km loop near Roxwell. The pace was quick from the start with 8 riders escaping and staying away till the end - 6 of these contested the final sprint.
Tony managed to finish in the second bunch in 32nd place out of 60 starters. This was his first open road race for 22 years! Ironically the 2nd placed rider this year had been racing in that earlier event. Tony was well chuffed to have finished such a long, fast race - the average speed was 25mph!

As this race was rearranged from an earlier date due to an accident on the course, more than half the entrants could not turn out due to other commitments.  However on a pleasant but breezy afternoon Peter and Merv were both able to put in an appearance and recorded 25:00 and 25:53 respectively.

On a windy day, Paul & Steve clocked 30:35

Nick Cramer rode this event . The course was just under 60 miles and involved 5½ laps that took the riders through Newport, Clavering, Rickling Green and back to Newport. Nick was on his best behaviour , "no attacking, chasing, leading or anything else that would waste energy ". He made himself stay at the back for 3½ laps, which was hard - not in effort but in self-discipline! The finish line was along a narrow lane.

An excellent turn-out of club members on a glorious sunny morning - why can't all Sundays be like this?
Tony continued in dominant form and there were solid performances from several newcomers.