Hillingdon Winter Series 2007 – Round 14 (17/02/07)
A first hand report from Gary:
"It was a good day for racing and unseasonably warm weather that greeted us for the final Winter Series Race........Jason Streather the series leader only had one rider to worry about and that was Daniel Rudd, only a few points behind and for my mind a better sprinter than Jason, so it was all to play for.... Things started with the usual Bill Butterworth attack....Bill winning the overall prize for the series most aggressive rider, however he was soon back in the bunch, then surprising to myself Daniel Rudd attacked and took another couple of riders with him.......As soon as Daniel attacked, Jason Streather's allies came to his aid, namely his brother Jamie and Alex Dowsett, this attack was soon snuffed out............with around 20 odd laps done a break of around a dozen or so riders went down the road Thames' very own Mike Inder was in the break and so unfortunately, was Daniel Rudd - queue Jamie Streather, Alex Dowsett and Paul Pickup to get on the front and drive the bunch forward, the chase was truly on and if only the escapee's had got themselves organised they may have stayed away. However, after a few laps everything was back together and the bunch settled down for a nervous gallop to the line.
With a couple to go I felt really good and decided to get up to the front, on the last lap coming down the back straight I found myself near the front of the bunch, the speed dropped as no one wanted to lead the race in, with that a Pearsons cycles rider shot off the front, I decided to follow, caught and passed him, I then looked back as I worked hard round the last corner before the finishing straight and saw that sprinting wonderkid Michael Wilmot had my wheel, a quick look down at the computer and my heart rate was ten beats off of max and the speed was 36MPH, a couple of riders jumped off the train and sped past me, I sat up happy that I had lead the race in for half a lap, just as I pulled over to the left all hell broke loose in front of me and riders began spilling all over the road, I managed to avoid some poor unfortunates head by inches and ended up taking the cyclo cross route for a few metres before re-joining and crossing the line in 17th place........my relief at missing the crash was short lived as I later learned that Ian and Mike had both gone down..........
Overall a most enjoyable Winter Series.......I think the format needs tinkering with though, in the form of perhaps a 3/4 race just to reduce the numbers and make it safer........."
Gary said " With the season looming I just wanted a safe ride and hard work-out. The bunch size meant the finishing straight was a dodgy affair to negotiate, every lap I was on and off the brakes and watching the odd idiot dive up the inside only to run out of tarmac causing riders to break violently and in one case crash........Not happy with the riding in the middle of the bunch I decided to ride further up at one point I even managed to ride off the front with Bill Butterworth and a rider from St Ives CC, we managed to hang out there for half a lap but never really got going..........Glad I negotiated the finish in one piece........."
Ian said " Personally, I went to this race to have a fast hard ride with some efforts off the front if need be, but my main goal was to stay out of trouble. I was riding well within myself and feel rather comfortable. I decided that I would stay out the mix for the bunch sprint and then found myself in about 12th to 15th place coming into the sprint so then changed my game plan to have a go at a top ten finish. Usually when you are in the top 20 you are out of the trouble so an all out effort was given. Unfortunately due to a couple of front riders clipping each other in the final stages of the sprint and they went down which caused a domino effect which in turn took other riders down. I went down too resulting in pulled muscles in my back and bruising to my left knee. I dusted myself down and rode slowly around the track to assess the damage of myself and thought I got away lightly. When back at the tea hut I noticed that I had a crack on the top tube of the frame, then realized I had written my bike off. Not so lucky then. Well I guess I had not broken anything so still lucky."
Mike said "I thought I was clear of any trouble with 200m to go, but there you go. I was on a good wheel and things were ramping up nicely ... luckily the bike wasn't damaged too much - but has some nasty scratches. I was away with 10 to go, but we had Danny Rudd - so it was always going to be brought back. In fact Alex Dowsett led the bunch up to us - very impressive as we weren't exactly hanging around. The format needs to be reviewed, that's for sure"
Hillingdon Winter Series 2007 – Round 13 (10/02/07)
A first hand report from Ian Lowe:
"Only one Thames Velo rider at the race today - me!. Mike Inder was away on family duties for the weekend and Gary who intended to race was nowhere to be seen. Just as I was going to warm up a friendly face appeared, that of Andy Fowkes who had come down to the circuit to watch. Thanks Andy.
Well, during the warm up it was apparent that there was going to be a lot of fun and fireworks as six Elite category PCA riders turned up for the race. As the event got under way the first of the many attacks happened immediately with one of the PCA riders going off the front at great speed followed by 7 or 8 other riders. After nearly a lap the PCA rider sat up and the bunch came back together again. Soon another PCA rider shot off the front followed again by a flurry of riders trying to get onto the break and yet again he too sat up after a lap. This soon became the pattern and guess what - after about 6 attempts no one followed the next PCA rider who did this as we had all learnt our lesson. As he came back another PCA rider decide he would have a go but this time he was followed by Alex Dowsett and these 2 started to ride away. Paul Pickup must have decided that this was a move worth making as he jumped across with great ease without anyone following him. These 3 put their heads down and rode away.
There was a lot of play making and further attempts to get other PCA riders off the front and soon a group of 8 riders broke clear. I personally thought they were away and that was the points all taken.
But no, this was not going to happen as 2 other PCA riders brought the bunch back together leaving the 3 up front and away. Soon they lapped the field and rode comfortably in the group to the finish. The PCA team had planned to lead out their rider for the win with Alex Dowsett taking second place. Paul Pickup stayed out of the sprint and was happy with a third place. The rest of the bunch sprinted for the points left and I planned to stay out of trouble by placing myself in the bunch near the rear. I was happy with my ride as I did plenty of work thoughout the race going with some of the breaks which was good for my speed training.
Average speed for the race was 41.7 kph."
Hillingdon Winter Series 2007 – Round 12 (03/02/07)
A combination of the fair weather and the oncoming season proper, a bumper turnout of around 70 riders lined up for the 12th round of the 14 race series of winter racing at the cycling circuit in Hayes, Middx.
For Thames Velo this week were Mike Inder and Gary Bullock, the latter returning from a two week break.
The race started with a few early attacks but it soon became clear that as there was so little wind and so many riders – and consequently a high speed, anything that stayed away was going to have to go some to succeed.
Despite numerous efforts from the stronger riders it came down to a bunch sprint, with Mike paced well and Gary also in the mix. However, in a very nervous gallop, Mike came close to touching wheels with another rider and so backed off, coming in 28th, with Gary placing 41st. Both were glad to survive the race intact.
This was by far the fastest of the races so far, with an average speed of just over 27 mph.
Mike said: “I didn’t feel too confident early on with quite a twitchy bunch of riders so stayed up front in the first 20 or so riders to keep out of trouble. I had a good lead out at the end but a rider in front died with about 200m to go and it was all I could do to avoid riding into him.”
Gary said:”After a few weeks out of the racing, my tactics were to keep out of trouble and look for any moves. The pace felt very high and the quality of the riding from some was very poor – riders not holding their line etc. I was glad to stay upright!.”