S. L. Kingston Wheelers RC 2/3 Race

Ignore the blatant London Dynamo slant, Stuart Spies pretty much hits all the right notes in terms of sentiment with a brilliantly witty report...

Ok so a bit of a race report from Dunsfold...because we actually have something to report!

Turning up to the start of the 2,3 at Dunsfold was a pretty intimidating affair, I think knowing the legs were iffy and the Prebble, Hurd factor were on the start sheet was reason enough but I just felt there were way too many serious looking candidates rolling around. Five hundred inGear guys were layering on the secret potions and DHC seemed to have a full compliment of shouldn't-you-be-a-first-cat cats stretching and eyeballing everyone that walked in.

The race set off at what I thought was a pretty upbeat nuetralised section, I was in the big ring flat out! Anyway after getting black flagged and told off by the Com for white line crossing we got down to the business of racing....oh wait first we got the crashing out the way, three riders down and flat spots for everyone else...Lord this is lap 1!?

Lap 2, Simmonds decided this was all too sketchy for a tester and headed off up the road with a geriatric inGear rider on his wheel. I was yelling at Cam for various reasons and clearly had a bit too much testosterone going through the system when I jumped on the wheel of a DHC rider who shot off up the road, Cam followed along with a dulwich chap and before I knew it we had a pretty serious gap...oh shit!

Pain and suffering and Stuart swearing at Cam, swearing at DHC and basically everything and everyone that we went passed, DHC was huffing and puffing and we soon realised that maybe this little fella was not meant to BE the break merely set things up for Mr Hurd...you may know him from such films as 'I won the Gimber' After a lifetime we caught Rich and the little inGear chap and coach Simmonds set about trying to whip the recruits into shape.

Clearly Dulwich, inGear and DHC didn't need to do too much but it would have been nice if they did something! In fairness Dulwich was actually working but I was still yelling at DHC, Dulwich was yelling at me, Rich was the soothing calm and Cam was being shouted at by everyone. That said Cam was listening and not decimating himself on every turn, nothing like having your very own breakaway coach on board to maintain order!

The gap grew to 3minutes, thanks in no small part to the boys in blue controlling the bunch and Rob Hurds new buddy for life Dave Streule, who was all over the Hurds moves like a bad rash! Nice one guys!

With three to go I was missing turns, mis-firing and couldn't even swear at DHC anymore?? Rich and Cam put the boot in and shat us out in no mans land dragging the poor Dulwich rider along for the only to crucify him somewhere around 1 to go I think. I found out what three minutes feels like as I waited and waited for the bunch. When they finally arrived I needed a push from Toks just to find a wheel to cling to...pure misery! I must be honest the brain shut off at this point, I could make out Dave, Torkel and Jason up front and somewhere in the middle Matt B and Tony Smedleys new bike!

The bunch was starting to get organised and it was looking worrying for Rich and Cam, a few guys were jumping off the front and the gap was down to about a minute on the final lap. We entered the final sweeps and that bastard bitch of a hill for the finish and as I crawled to the line I decided if we hadn't won the race I'd kill someone...thankfully.......wait for it........Dynamo 1,2!!

Yeah baby, Cam, Rich we salute you! A very well deserved win for Cam and a stupidly big effort from Rich for second, testers, you gotta love em!

Beyond Mountain Bikes: Hillingdon 2,3,4 Race

Unlike Tuesday evenings with the big boys - 2,3,4's races are generally steady-eddie affairs. The sprinkling of 2nd cats and strong 3rd's can't quite deliver the goods so these races aren't the seamless speed procession that Elite and 1st cat riders make them. Nevertheless the challenge for non sprinters such as your truly remains. How the heck do you get a good placing or shock horror bag a win?

Today's lovely spring afternoon meant an impressive 97 riders on the start line. If you've read reports from me before you'll know too many riders create concentration problems so it wasn't till the 20th of the 35 laps that I made my way into the top 15positions. Things had been non eventful up until that point. The big Pole, Rafal Radiej got clear for a couple of laps and a Stuart Spears (London Dynamo) and a couple of Finchley RT boys also got lively but alas there were no meaningful liaisons. The promotors tried to energise the bunch by making preems available every 10 laps. However, without a threatening headwind and Hillingdon being a showground for flatlanders this race had 'bunch finish with possible crash written all over it'

With 13 laps to go I made a bid for freedom and was joined half a lap later by another dude. We took turns briefly before a guy from Team Quest joined us. We were all hovered up by the bunch on lap 10 and I took a breather I saw Mark Wilmot (Team Quest) just get pipped for the final preem. I couldn't quite get away again for a few laps because it was quite difficult getting back up front. Not helped by a few riders whose bunch skills were a bit rusty to say the least.

Finally on lap 6 Brian Taylor (VCL)and a couple of others pulled clear of the bunch and held us at a few seconds. Two laps later I jumped away on the drag and bridged up to Brian. I gave him a look -implication being, do you fancy 10 mins + @ around 350watts? I'm guessing he preferred not to join me so away I went. A quick glance back a lap later and things were looking promising - bunch not insight and know one chasing. Hmmm! Hold that thought. With 2 and half laps to go I could see Stuart Spears from London Dynamo coming across. I thought about easing up but didn't SS caught me a lap later and the bunch caught me just before the bell. Game over for me. More good training and YES the vibes are good!

Arsenal - Eastcote - Arsenal

Yesterday evening should've been a night in with Kylie (Turbo Trainer) but then I remembered that one of my clients couldn't receive emails so I decided to deliver their report by hand. A cold but brisk 36 mile round trip ensued at 10pm. Being that it was very late at night some cars seemed to misjudge my approaching speed at junctions so on a occasions I had to squeeze the life out of both brakes. Some of those 'I'm feeling fitter' vibes began to appear. Hmmm! Surrey League 2/3 RR this Sunday and Hillingdon Crit this Saturday will hopefully confirm that the vibes are good.

Arsenal - Luton - Arsenal

Yet another chance to get some miles in but it nearly never happened. Having had a weekend off it was tempting to take a third day off the bike. Why? Well once I've had a significant break from training (yes even two days) I seem to walk a tight rope of - "more time off" or "ride hard an test ya fitness". After fighting off the -sofa-is-nice demons I got out to Regent Park on Monday evening and rode hard for an hour.

This set me up nicely for my 4 hour round trip to Luton on Tuesday Morning. As I said before all the sections along the A1081 which were free of roundabouts and traffics were hit as hard as I could manage. In a masochistic sense I even enjoyed getting slightly giddy from the pain of suffering between St Albans and Harpenden.

Spotlight on...Michelle Le Brun

Name:
Michelle Le Brun

Club:
Addiscombe CC


How long have you been racing?:
For just over a year. I started at the Imperial Racing Team Winter Races at Hillingdon with the 4th Cat men last year. I then tried my hand at a 100k mens 3rd and 4ths road race and then thankfully moved on to the womens races for the rest of 2008

What types of races do you do?
Mostly circuit and road racing. Though I would love to give track a go, as I think I may have a decent sprint on me that has as yet been undiscovered.

Where do you race?
Last year was mostly in the South East plus I did some European sportives and British sportives. This year though, I will need to do more travelling around the UK if I am to achieve my main goal.


Describe a typical training session:
I have just come off the phase of my training which has seen the largest time block at about 20 hours a week. During this period I was regularly doing three sessions a day. Session one would be doing an hour low HR on the rollers first thing in the morning (I never saw 6am so many times before). Then in my lunch break I would go out for about an hour and a half in total, fitting in half an hour of phosphate sprints in the middle. This means doing 10 seconds of full on eyeballs out sprinting with about 3 minutes rest in between. In the evening I may have done a big gear session for an hour on the turbo, using increasingly hard gears for 4 minute blocks with a specified break in between.

What are your goals this year?
To get my 1st Cat licence. To get quick enough to ride in the ACC Training Group ride on our club run on a Saturday morning.

What have been your best races so far?
There have been two. Coming first in my first ever women's road race and going from 4th Cat to 3rd Cat in one heady hour; also coming 4th in the Regionals in May 2008, whilst racing with some really strong SE women. One of the best things I did last year was La Marmotte sportive in the French Alps, getting a gold medal.

Surrey League Festival RC 2/3 Road Race

With slightly sore legs from Saturday's Hog Hill adventure I arrived at the HQ and was immediately buoyed by the fact my mate George Brent (Addiscombe CC) had won the morning 3rd cat race. I most certainly wouldn't be winning the 2/3 race but if I finished with the bunch it would be good training. The race got away at a good but not too hectic pace neverthess however after 20 minutes a fellow 2nd cat who has already amassed 78 points in the winter series began riding backwards. Oh dear!

We were on gently rolling 12 mile course and were racing just short of 6 laps.
I spent most of my time in the back half of the bunch which after a three laps and horrendous headwinds had split. The rain came down and so did the number of riders. I was a little tentative not having done many 70 mile rides but managed to get the legs working well in the final 3rd of the race. By this point it was too late to make any difference on the top 20 placings; and my efforts to organise a chase just ended with myself and Simon from Dulwich Paragon tiring ourselves out and getting dropped off from the final 10 man group with around 4 miles to go. When your completely shattered, soaking wet and freezing cold 2nd from last place doesn't tend to matter. Bring on the next race :-)

Hog Hill: San Fairy Ann CC Crits 2

Dudes you missed it. Some of South East's top 1st and Elite cat riders - Sigma Sport, Wayne Coombs, J.H-A + Fit For were handing out reality checks to newbie 2nd cats at Hog Hill last Saturday. I received mine on lap five. You know its gonna be one of those races when you start burning matches just to stay in touch on your second lap. There after you're recovery at the top of the Hoggenburg is continually compromised so the "the-get-ready-to-be-dropped-clock" starts ticking.

A slightly dicey moment between female Pro Leda Cox and another rider on the 4th lap bought me a stay of excecution (as we all sprinted around her) but who was I fooling. Another attack just before the climb again on the 5th and I'd burnt my final match so inevitably I had to say goodbye to the "bad guys"... A comfortable small ring spin up the climb and I went into solo training mode. Two laps later I caught up with Cosmo from Dulwich Paragon and we began a two-up. The John Heaton-Armstrong lead break lapped us about fifteen minutes later and John was kind enough to shout "Go Addiscombe" as he cruised by with consumate ease. With 13 laps gone we were finally caught by the main bunch and I jumped on simply for more bunch practise before ducking out on the 20th lap. Hmmm! its nice to be back racing;-)