From Exeter Wheelers Cycling Club
In the spirit of keeping racing results organised - we've started to round up monthly results once more.
This months points scorers are:
George Pym
26/05/2012 Scorpion CS Stage Circuit Races
7th place in Stage 1
6th place in Stage 2
20/05/2012 South West Regional Road Race Championships(Juniors)
WIN!
13/05/2012 National Junior Only National Junior Men's Road Race Championships(1/2/3/4)
4th place
Steven Birch
23/05/2012 Regional B Cornish Series Race 4(3/4)
WIN!
13/05/2012 MTB National B Fully Sussed Summer Race Series Round 3 (inc. South West Champs)(Sport Male)
2nd place
Nick Helsing
05/05/2012 Regional C+ Cornish Series Race 2(4th Cat only)
4th place
John Nye
17/05/2012 Regional B Team Tor 2000 Circuit Series - Event 2(3rd Cat Only) 9th place
Big thanks (and congratulations) to George Pym for the following race report from the National Junior Mens Road Race 12/May/2012 - He finished an amazing 4th after 111km of racing against some fierce competition.
So, as it's still fresh in my mind, I thought I'd better get down a race report.
The 73 mile course can be split up into three major lumps. The first of which goes up onto the Brecon Beacons (about a 25 minute climb), the second is a beauty of a climb that comes out of Talgarth (about 10 minutes) and the last climb of the day comes out of Abergavenny and goes all the way up to Brynmawr and is about 4 miles at 6% - not exactly steep but will certainly determine the men from the boys!
Within the first 3 miles of racing two groups of six/seven went up the road. No joke - within five minutes the had a two minute lead on us and within about 15 minutes the gap was almost out to four minutes! It was ridiculous. Absolutely nobody wanted to take it up on the front and with as all of the big teams had a rider in the break – why should they? Well, we were promptly instructed by the chief comm. that the nationals were not a team event and were in fact an individual race. He even went as far as to say that if nobody wanted to take up the reins then he would stop the breaks and start the race from scratch – he got some funny looks from the riders (and when he drove off some pretty funny words as well).
Anyway, I’d ridden the course a couple of weeks before hand and knew that four minutes coming into the first climb was nothing and that if a break were to form going up there then we would be sure to catch the riders in front. That’s almost exactly what happened. A break of six riders went almost from the bottom of the climb (myself included) and I knew that with the guys in it that we would do some damage (ex. nat champ + three other GB riders). We caught first group ahead just after the crest, which then made for a group of 13. Only 7 more riders were up the road at this point and a group of 13 vs. a group of 7, if working well, should always make the catch. Luckily everyone was keen put in their turns and, incidentally, we caught them just after the crest of the second major climb.
At this point it was clear that this group was going to stay away as the peloton was making no ground on us and we were all working nicely, even if there were a few guys just sitting on. They looked like choppers anyway…
Up until the last climb there were constant attacks, with everyone trying to get away. Nothing seemed to be getting any distance until the last 2k before the climb where a group of two guys made a gap. Then another two. And then another two. Sh!t. Not me then. With six of the strongest guys up the road putting in some big efforts into a relentless headwind and nobody willing to work, I thought that was race over. Looking back I should have put in a move here and tried to bridge but it was a hard situation as there weren’t many guys left in my group that were strong enough to match the horse power up front. Conscious of everyone sitting on my wheel and the fact that they were reluctant to help (or couldn’t help?), me and another dude were just keeping the pace rolling. The last climb was the place to try and bridge and was now my only option.
As we entered the last climb we could just about see the group of six up ahead. They looked to have about a minute on us. Not good. By this point I was certain that I was just racing for 7th place. Even after 500m, my group of around 12 had been whittled down to 4 but we still weren’t making considerable ground. Weirdly though I wasn’t hurting that much – I was definitely in control. Conscious of that, I decided that I was going to try as hard as I can to drop the three other guys. Unfortunately I wasn’t able to but what it did do was bring me right back in contention of the race!
The group of six were only 20 seconds up now and as with the other two climbs, we bridged the gap right on the crest! Only difference was that this time there was no decent after to recover but a kilometre false flat section right to the finish line. I’ll be honest; at this point I was absolutely spent and almost 100% empty. I was praying that the guys in front would just all sit up and look at each other and let me rest for a bit but, of course, that wasn’t to be. Some bastard nailed it all the way to the finish line in a vain hope that he would ride everyone off of his wheel. Yep. If Cancellara can’t do it in San Remo…
250m to go Sam Lowe put in an awesome effort and came over the line about 15m ahead of everyone else. Hats off – that was impressive and a well-deserved win. In my drooling state I somehow managed to sprint for fourth place. I was, and still am, absolutely ecstatic.
