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Club News, Racing and Adventures...2009


Longue league Cyclo X at Redbridge 29-11-09

  1. Sunday 29th of November, the 10th round of the London Cyclo Cross league at Redbridge,
    Photos of Roger Horsby in action
    2. Here are the photos>>>

Autumn Club Run from Green Street Green 15/11/09

  1. G9 = PC, Kev, Lee, JD, Chris's D and T, Daren, Dave H (m'bike), M Lee and JD went for a steady one Others, medium paced around Castle Hill/Claygate loop Er, a bit nippier back, thanks to CT and CD Thanks to DH for bringing his handy camera - photos on web

Autumn Club Run from Green Street Green 18/10/09

  1. Good turnout today, despite near freezing conditions at the start (my car showed -0.5 degrees c going through shade near Badgers Mount). We split into two groups, one going for a consistent heart rate/ training effort (Bill and 5 (?) others), the other looking to mix things up a bit. In the latter, Dan C, Laurence, Hugh, Shaun and I did a 54 mile loop via Dormansland and Penshurst with “special hill detour” at Cowden courtesy of Dan. This seemed to involve a sprint hill climb for some reason! Shaun mixed his ride with a series of impressive sprints. Final average at just under 18.5 mph, with my own heart rate all over the place. We (almost literally) bumped into G2 on departing the café at Penshurst. Great weather in the end, and a really fun ride, back at the G by 1pm.

The New Forest Rattler Sportive 23/08/09

  1. A rapid one day tour of the New Forest Sunday 23rd August The Avanti “crew” consisted of Ian Soper, Bob Graves, Danny Hardstone and myself.

  2. Entry was restricted to just 300 riders, over 2 routes, 47 or 78 miles. We all opted for the 78 mile longer route, which took us on a circular tour of the New Forest, anticlockwise, from west to east, passing close to Butlers Hard, then sweeping north, under the A31 finally weaving back to the start. It was very well organised, with 2 feeding stops, plus nice young ladies to feed us soup at the finish !. Much of the route was either flat, or undulating, which made for a fast paced ride. The New forest, not surprisingly has quite a few trees, but it also has some very big areas of exposed moorland.

  3. We started early, 8.45 am, which was a good move. The weather was just about perfect, with sunshine and blue skies. There was very little road traffic, however as the day wore on, the wind strength increased, making the last few sections of exposed moorland harder work !. Danny, fresh from his London Edinburgh trip led the way, and helped pull our average up to just over 17 mph for the ride. The new Forest ponies are world famous. They “hang around” either on, or close to the roads, hoping to be fed, and it took some quick decision making to work out which way to weave past them. Foals, cows, calves, and donkeys were also hazards that had to be overcome, as well as a short, nasty 25% climb called Blissford Hill about 3 miles before the end of the ride.

  4. The options were simple 1) attack 2) attack, but risk falling off half way up if you stop, or 3) walk. We heard that a few people did actually fall. Ian, Danny and Bob bravely took option (1) whilst I decided on (3). It was nearly as fast to walk as cycle !. All of us achieved the Silver standard certificate, which required a completion in under 5 hours. Danny and Ian completed in 4 hours 50 min, Bob and myself in 4 hours 52 minutes. This was a sportive well worth doing. The New Forecast is a great place to ride, and hopefully we will get the chance to go again. Steve Riley

Club run to Rye 08-08-09

  1. Sunday G1 Club Runners= Hugh, Roy, Chris M, Chris D, Dan C, M Brisk bash down, taking in PC riding the event and DH Photographing at SERRL.

  2. On the way The pack rocketed passed us up a long drag, where we were watching as if it wasn't there!

  3. Rye was soon reached at 19.5 av tried new coffee shop . Very nice espresso doppio and muffin ! Equally rapid return to Yalding, where 19.5 again Then steady for home, very pleased to get a Rye PB of 19.1 av ! Thanks entirely to A Team of Dan, Hugh, Chris M and Chris D

Weekend Racing, SERRL Kenardington 26-07-09

    What a races was a bit worried about the distance on this one as I've not ridden the bike at race pace for this distance before.

    Paul assured me it was an easy one and really shouldn't be too hard to stick it out...

    Before I knew it the race was off, the pace went up, I stayed in amongst the wheels for the first 2 Laps, rattleing along the bunch did not seem to ease up for any of the long drags or tougher parts of the course.

    Paul was doing a fantastic job of moving up the field prior to the lumps and eased himself over them each time conserving maximum energy along the way. At about half way round the 3rd lap 5 riders had formed a small group about 100m off the front of the bunch, so I did the honourable thing and jumped across the gap to the group only to find no one wanted to contribute to the effort or do any work to keep the group away, so back into the bunch we went.

    The following lap another group of 4 riders had formed, this time Paul trying to jion them after forming an alliance with 2 others to bridge across, but this too was sucked back after a couple of minutes just at the base of one of those little lumps. Seeing that Paul a little red in his face I gave him a kick up the backside reminding him that this was supposed to be an easy race!

    The pace then eased a little vfopr a while, we both had a picnic, as you do whilst waiting for the final lap!!

    Paul being very sporting tried towing me up to the front, but just before we got there a car came head on the other way forcing Paul to shoot forward back into the Bunch leaving myself to back off and duck back into the bunch several places behind leaving me boxed in at around 30th place.

    The final turning was taken and the pace was back up, I could see the right hand side of the road filled with cars and a caravan so there was no way to move up near the front. One riders foot slipped out from his pedal in the middle of the bunch causing a massive slowdown. Paul did really well finishing 4th.. However if there was a prize for good team mate he would have won that one as well..

    Lee S

Marjorca; Sun, Sea, cycling, and Sunsets.

  1. From a Holiday training camp Steve Riley writes about his time in Majorca earlier this year

    Adventures in Majorca 2009

Fowlmead Country Park 18 07 09 2009

  1. A good day for the Avanti boys, 2nd for Lee, 7th for Bill and 9th for me.

    I didn't get into a good enough position and got blocked out by a rider in front who had a mechanical but otherwise a good race.

    A lot of wobblers out today, they seem to love this circuit there's always crashes there. About 5 went down, I was just to the side of them and so luckily just missed the action again, one rider grabbed my bike by accident when going down and i nearly copped it.

    Well don All

ParaOlympic Progress @ Fowlmead Country Park 18 07 09

  1. A Few of us stayed back to see Shaun ride in the next event at Fowlmead Counfry Park Circuit, we I believe he finished third in his event, he seemed to be riding strong and looked very smooth in the saddle. Well done Shaun. I good day all round.

National Disabled Track Champs 05-07-09

  1. Hi Everyone,
     

    I got a bronze in the pursuit at the National Disabled Track Champs on Sunday behind two Paralympics medal winners, Russ White and Jody Cundy in front of me. It wasn't my best performance, but there are still loads more to come! The kilo didn't go quite as well, but there are loads technical of things that I can fix with that. Next scheduled stop is at Fowlmead on the 18/07 then I'm off to Italy (near Milan) the weekend after for a road race and TT over there and in between of few 'normal' races.

    1 Russ WHITE Forzacycles LC1 4000 4.59.876 - 4.37.706 - 92.607

    2 Jody CUNDY Tredz CC LC2 4000 5.07.180 - 4.43.555 - 90.405

    3 Shaun McKEOWN GS Avanti CP3 3000 4.11.727 - 3.36.875 - 86.155

    Shaun

     

Time Trial Championship points

  1. Position
    		 Avanti Championship Results on Handicap
    1
    		 Dave Bettinson;
    21.42
    20
    2
    		 Jo McRae
    21.55
    19
    3
    		 Paul Allen
    22.08
    18
    4
    		 Andy Cater
    23.08
    17
    5
    		 Lee Staples
    23.12
    16
    6
    		 Kevin Grimshaw
    23.31
    15
    7
    		 Tony Day
    24.09
    14
    8
    		 Ian Soper
    DNF
    1

Hillingdon Circuit Racing 30/06/09

  1. Not so many riders this week. Quiet a small bunch. So I thought today is the day I’ll have ago at getting some points.

    The race started of slow to begin with, when suddenly someone went off the front with 2 others. They stayed out for a while. As I decided to sit in the wheels at the back of the bunch to begin with I thought it was time to stretch my legs and get involved at the front. I picked my speed to get to the front for 50 yards then swung back in to return to the back of the group again, this picked up the tempo.

    We caught the brake away group, where the bunch slowed down another attempt of 3 guys to ride off the front again. I felt it would be better to stay at the back knowing we would catch this guy’s before the finish.

    3 laps to go, they were still out in front by quite a bit, thinking we are not going to catch them.

    2 laps to go, we were getting faster until the last lap to go we caught them. I was still sitting in the wheels at the back ready to sprint, the bunch got tight up together heading down the back straight, everyone wanting to get to the front of the bunch before the sprint started. Taking the last corner for the home straight, I clicked into a harder gear and started my sprint, through the bunch I passed many riders going through opening gaps of fading riders.

    Yes I got to the front in time for a top 10 place. I came 9th.

    1 point, my account is open! Better than nothing I guess, good race.

    Dan C

Time Trialing First Avanti under the hour

  1. Andrew Ferry ventured up to East Anglian VTTA, Geri Lang Memorial 25, E2/25, 20th June 2009.

    Managed to get a reserve spot on this highly oversubscribed event. I know what you are thinking. How could I possible enter a Vets event as I am surly not a day over 25………….well amazingly I am indeed over 40. The only reason I only got a reserve place was due to my a qualifying time in a previous 25 Mile event. 

    Managed a 59.07, not sure where that puts me overal in the event, but I'm happy.

    Andrew F

Surry, Goodwood Gallops 21 06 09...

  1. The first 3 laps I was just hiding in the bunch staying out of trouble and as far away from the wind as possible warming up. Breaks on 1, 2, 3 ride kept on trying to jump off the front but not amounting to much.

    On the 4th Lap a group of 5 riders had got a good 2-300 metres on the bunch so on the far side I jumped off into the wind to bridge the Gap. Took 3/4 of Lap to bridge heart in mouth at 186 and with the group still have a good 300 metres clear it was looking good but 3 of them gave up and that was that..

    Sat in again not really doing much but did my share in helping chased down a couple of break when the bunch looked to slow up. 

    On the final lap was third in line with 2 away going into the 2nd to last bend. Couple of sprint trains flew pass me on the outside and inside of me at the last bend I managed to hold my position in the bend when my front wheel touched with another riders back wheel as he cut in front from my left, so let him through and slotted in behind him. He was not going fast enough so I jumped pass him only to have to hit the breaks to avoid going into the back of another rider.

    In the madness of the sprint I think I cross the line in 9th or 10th place, will have to wait for the official results to come out...

    Lee S

G1 Ride, The longest day

  1. 11 out on Le Longest Day =  CD, CM, PD, LS, Jim, Hugh, Max, AC, DC, Jamie, M
    With LS and DC towing us along nicely (well done boys), Ashdown soon reached
    Nice stop outside Duddleswell cafe, plenty of exspresso and gateaux being put away.
    Back via Edenbridge and Crockham Hill, ouch...
    68m at 17.7 av - great ride !

    Michael F.

Alpin Adventure weekend 13 06 09 to 14 06 09

  1. While most of the Avanti were having "fun" in Wales, I had my first experience of Alpine climbs.

  2. I had a long planed crack at the Megeve-Mont Blanc, which has about 2,500 riders. The full route is 148km with just under 4,000m of climbing. I landed up doing the 115km course with about 3,000m of climbs. There were no flat bits! I did OK on the first three big climbs (565m climb to Col de Aravis, 845m climb up to Col de la Fry and 400m back up to the other side of Aravis). Found the descents scary though. However, the heat by midday was a nightmare (mid 30's C), and no matter how many times I've been up and down Toys Hill (!), nothing could prepare me for Col de le Saisses.

  3. Over 700m of steep climbing with no shade, and about two thirds of the way up I lost it. Cramps, overheating, feeling sick,with added contact lens problems. I missed the cut off for the final 30km at the top of the climb to add to my misery.........but that was the last thing I was thinking of! Great event though. Some roads closed, lots of people cheering, brilliant scenery. I'd recommend it to any one who'd like a go at this sort of thing (I'm told it's a lot easier than the Marmotte, which must be a complete killer on this experience). I'm doing it again next year, and have some friends based in the area which makes logistics a lot easier.

    Chris

Wales, Dragon Ride sporive 14/06/09

  1. "So tired I don't think I could have had found my way back to the hotel by myself!"

    Set off at a blistering pace with Paul, Andy, Toby, Kev and Jo. Tried to stay with them on the first climb, which was a massive mistake. Got dropped 100m from the top with my heart rate shooting off into outer space and not re-entering earth orbit until about 60 miles in. Scary stuff. Never experienced that before and I really suffered.

    Anyway finally settled into my own rhythm quite nicely for the second half of the ride, which was my own private hell on earth. But actually my suffering was nothing compared to some of these guys falling off their bikes and being sick at the road side. I have utmost respect for anybody who completes this ride. Its a tough one.

    The final ascent up the Bwlch, was a tough one as you could see the climb stretching out in front of you for miles quite literally all completely open no shade at all.. Laurence patted me on the back as he flew past! 

    Met up with all the other guys at the end. A welcome sight as I was so tired I don't think I could have had found my way back to the hotel by myself.

    We all chilled in the sun with a few beers and our stories of the ride, then had a top curry. Nice.

    Weather was fantastic. Had a great time (the suffering is all part and parcel of it) Hotel was very handily located. Well done Paul for sorting it.

    Definitely do it again next year

    Adie


    "A grave schoolboy error!"

    I managed to finish it in 7h18 and suffered tremendously for the last 50k; headaches, wanting to puke, morale at rock-bottom low (what the fxxk was that last climb about - a local told me after it was 12 miles long!). On reflection I realized I wasn't suffering from the bonk but from severe dehydration. A grave schoolboy error; I carried on drinking the isotonic stuff when I should have stuck to just plain water after 3 hours of riding. Despite drinking loads my body became increasingly dehydrated - the body continues to tell me so today! Worth the pain? Darn right. Do it again next year? Probably; sucker for punishment.

    Jeremy D

    Postition Name Time
    120k – (843 finishers)
    97 Mark Cope 05:13:46
    98 Nigel Franklin 05:14:06
    161  Tony Day 05:27:48
         
    180k – (1638 finishers)
    203 Toby Robert Lamb 06:46:57
    213  Paul Thomas Callaghan 06:47:56
    287 Laurence Stock 06:56:01
    320 Jeremy Bishop; 06:59:02
    388 James Nightingale 07:06:23
    443 Paul John Dewis 07:10:40
    479 Kevin Grimshaw 07:13:14
    480 Jo McRae 07:13:22
    598 Andrew Ferry 07:24:32
    796 Andrew Laing 07:41:35
    825 Adrian John Crothall 07:44:32

     

SERRL Road Race 06-06-09 Fowlmead Country Park Circuit

  1. Highs & Lows of racing .

    32 miles an hour from the off with 1st cat riders

    After my Race licence had been upgraded to a 2nd cat licence I started with the 1st and 2nd cat riders for the first time today at Fowlmead Country Park racing circuit, the pace was quick, but I was pretty comfortable. It took us 17 minutes to catch the tail end of the 3/4s ahead of us. I pulled alongside Paul D glanced left to say hi, looked forward again and ran out of road. Doh!

    Not sure whether it was the wind, lapse of concentration or what but I ended up off the road at 32mph. All I could do was hold onto the handlebar and try to float over the rubbish which I did pretty well at. At one point I even thought I was going to make it but then promptly hit a lump of concrete the size of a breeze block and went over the handlebars(only 18mph by then though). After sitting for 10 seconds to evaluate the damage I got back on the bike again and headed back to the start finish area to get a bit of medical treatment. Just scratches I'm pleased to say.

    My bike has two punctures, two tyres need chucking, rear wheel needs re-aligning but apart from that seems to be okay. Luckily no damage to the frame. And now I've got a good excuse to buy some new wheels ! Jeremy Photos click here ...

Castle Ride Sportive in Kent 17-05-09

  1. Well done to Action Medical Research for putting on a great show Plenty of feedstops, good signage and m'bike marshals Lots of groups of varying abilities to chug along with

    MY RIDE..... Passed AC riding down to the start Set off solo from Riding Lane at about 0815 Passed lots, mainly leisure types, on my way to Exedown Exedown is always a struggle for me, and no exception this time A group of 6, er, whizzed past me here Not really poss to work in a group as too much singletrack with all sorts in the middle Never seen so many punctures and a couple of spills too in the mud

    Caught up with Dan C and Chris D at Rochester feed Filled bottles and away, Dan C going well up Borstal So far so good, then the heavens opened and not pleasant at all At Hollingbourne it was still chucking down, and not a break in the sky So, thinking the rain was here for the day, I turned for home

    30 mins later, after Maidstone, the sun, er, came out, but I wasn't having any of it Mereworth, Hadlow and back to Tonbridge, in a headwind 65m at 16.5 av ...
    Mike F

    I had wondered what happened Dan! I waited a while at the Headcorn food stop then decided to carry on into the wind! They sent us down another series of very small, badly surfaced roads...........and finally I punctured as well. The last 30km into Tonbridge was OK, with wind largely behind and better roads. Rained again at the finish. I did 6hrs 15m on the bike, but more with stops, punctures etc. Now enjoying a beer at home. I’m new to Avanti, but hope to meet some of you on club runs.
    Chris D

    Got to the Castle at 8a.m. Could only find Andy c and a few G2 types. We waited until 8.30a.m and then set off Started out very fast and ate up the miles all the way to the first feed station at Rochester. Andy had a puncture as did many other people. We set off into howling winds and pouring rain. It pretty much stayed like that for the rest of the day. I needed a long day in the saddle and I certainly got one! Nice route. Well organised. Shame about the weather.
    Adie

Goodwood, Surrey League Circuit racing

  1. Hi all, Cat3 race at Goodwood today.

  2. Heavy rain and hail moved on before our race started, so we thought we were in for nice conditions. A short while into it got colder and very windy which made life difficult in places. A few breakaway attempts were made early on with a couple of them being chased down by myself and Jeremy.

  3. As it was clear that those following us were not going to put in as much effort as we were on our separate attempts we both snuck back into the pack to get away from the wind. While both of us were sitting in the pack and with a handful of laps to go approx 8 riders broke away and the rest of the riders on the front did nothing, so they ended up staying away. I did more than I really wanted to so ended up blowing up with about 500m to go and soft tapped in after the main group.

  4. I must start doing more than just my Sunday ride. 40 miles at an average speed of 24mph and a max speed of 32mph, not bad given the strong winds. Bill

    Andy L and I went down to Goodwood for the 4th cat race on Sunday morning, the weather started off well but just after signing on the heavens opened! We all got to the start line and it was chucking it down and the wind was really strong.

  5. Started on the dot at 9.30 with no sign of the weather changing, we were going along quite well with a hell of a lot of water on the track. After about 2 1/2 laps it started to hail, that mixed with the wind was not nice. During this there was a small split in the group and as usual I was in the wrong group!!

  6. After a few laps people were droping out quite quicky, we were soaked through. With about 4 laps to go I was on my own enjoying the change in weather the sun had came out. I slowed down and waited for the main bunch to catch me up, and when I re-joined the bunch it was nice to be back, the riding seemed so much easer. I Stayed with them and went on to complete the last lap, on my own why they were warming down.

  7. Really nice track and will be back, leasons learnt again....Tony D

On the road again to Rye Harbour and Back 10-05-09

  1. Rye Harbour 11 budding members loved the last trip to Rye went again

  2. LS, Tony, Bill, AC, PD, Kev, Jo, Shaun, Hugh, PC, Mike. Clubrun style mostly, with the occasional bit of lineout, heads down on flat fast sections. Soon arrived at Rye. Teas and buns alround then a brisk pace along the canal road back to Appledore then steady to Yaulding, with Kev chugging along at the front in the sun. Quick stop at Yalding Tap then home 107m at 18.2 av.

6th May Eventing 10 - Promoted by Bexley CC

  1. Julian, Andy L and myself had a go at the bexley 10 this evening. Pretty windy at the start line but once you got going wasnt as bad as expected. Julian posted a 23:40ish and was pretty pleased. I got a 25:22. Sorry dont know what Andy got but he was my minute man and I didnt catch him ( well actually he wasnt even within my sights at the end). Probably a 25 or maybe slow 24 then ??
    Jeremey B...

SERRL Sunday Benenden Kent, May the 4th 2009

  1. Paul C and myself went to Benenden yesterday. Exactly the same course that made us suffer last year but with luck this year better results.


  2. We started same as usual and not much was happening. The odd rider went off the front at which point the pack slowed down to let them fry before engulfing them a lap later.
    This was how it went until about half distance to go one of the VC Elan guys (who eventually won) went off the front and stayed away. A few minutes later a couple more people realised it was a good move and went and joined him. The pack gave up again and slowed down to a crawl.


  3. Last lap came around and with about 3 miles to go the pace really picked up as someone must have caught sight of the leaders. Luckily by this time both Paul and I were already in position near the front, although without managing to do any work at all? This continued until the final corner when the main field bunched up around a tight left hander. We both managed to stay out of trouble and Paul just went at a comfortable pace up the foot of the climb and somehow found himself in a comfy position with a couple riders around him but a gap behind. At this point I was a few places behind just jumping from one persons back wheel to another. As the road started to flatten a bit I started sprinting and only one other rider held my wheel. As I got in view of where I thought the finish was I realised I'd got it wrong (again), and decided it would be better to ease off rather than drag the other guys up to the line. We rounded another slight corner there was the finish  flag plus two other breakaway riders just ahead. The guy behind me didn't have anything left luckily; I sprinted for the line but couldn’t make up the ground on the leaders. 
    I finished 3rd winning the bunch sprint. PC came 9th pretty cool.
    Jeremey B...

Cycle Kingdom Cicuit series - 29/04/09- cat 3/4

  1. 29-04-09
    Decided to go to this place again this afternoon in preference to doing the Bexley CC TT .

  2. Early on there was a prime after 20 minutes which resulted in the pace going up and our group catching the main bunch of E/1/2's. We all slowed down, except for 6 who were hidden by the bunch and got away. We didnt know they had gone for another 20 minutes !

  3. Tried a new tactic tonight of going for the sprint from the last corner at 500 metres from the line, and seeing who could hold my wheel. only 1 rider as it turned out. unfortunately I went too early' he easily passed me with a few others before the line on the line. Think I got 11th but maybe the line judges will feel generous and give me a point for 10th.

  4. Jeremy

Evening Tens @ Twety fives get under way for summer season

  1. 22-04-09
    Julian and I where down at the Catford Open 10 TT (Q10/19), with the rest of the pointy hats. Both knocked in 23:40's and beat all the Catford boys. So a good day out I recon. I think Julian's doing a 25 tomorrow. I am going into work for some rest, I am knackered.

    Q25/8 Open 25 – Challock 19-04-09
    This was my first Open of the year and also my first 25 ever. So I was just a little nervous to say the least. The start was delays due to the foggy and wet conditions, but I still found myself hammering down Molash hill, which I have never rode down before, in dense fog. It is very steep and has a far few S bends, but this all help to get my heart rate up to 90% with little effort. Anyway ended up with a 1:03:31 which I was more than happy with considering the time a year and conditions. Big field of over 100 starters, not sure of my finishing position yet, but VC Elan took the first five places. This will probably will be my fastest time this year knowing me. Here are a few stats for fellow sad people:- (I can provide Garmin graphs if you are interested)

    Time = 1:03:31
    Ave speed = 23.7 mph
    Ave HR = 163 (88%)
    Max HR = 170 (90%) .....Andrew F

Bill

Adie

Nick

Alex G

Andrew

Paul C

Tony

Lee

 

Ian
 

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