Team Saxo Bank

Usual day at work today - coffee and croissant, bit of a chat, sift through emails ... meet Jens Voigt, Nicki Sorensen and Bobby Julich. The company I work for, Sungard, is now a minor sponsor of Team Saxo Bank and today these three were doing the rounds of the office. There was a Q&A session for an hour, then they signed caps and bottles, and let us drool over a couple of team-issue Specialized bikes. Nice blokes, relaxed, funny. Voigt is 38 and still racing, Sorensen only 3 years younger, while Julich retired last year and is now a directeur sportif. The team's main aim of the season is to see Andy Schleck win the Tour, with Frank Schleck and Fabian Cancellara the other big guns capable of winning major races. Other snippets of information - they do 30,000km a year, have resting heart rates under 40, about 5% body fat, favourite climb is Alpe d'Huez.

Also met a new colleague, a fomer world class 5k runner, who last year rode End to End in 4 days (just six months after taking up cycling). This year he's attempting Edinburgh to London in 24 hours.

Eastbourne Weekend 27th/28th March 2010

30 or so riders met up at a sunny Dorking railway station last Saturday morning for the annual SWRC training weekend ride to the coast, and then returning the following day. Some had planned to ride only as far as the lunch stop while a few were going to ride all the way to Eastbourne and then drive home.
The first to leave Dorking were there C group lead by Mariana Packman on a route set by her husband, A group leader, Mark. The rest of us headed south, on what was a typical route to Danehill via Turners hill & Sharpthorne.

Once there we all tucked into plates of food, myself having the house special, a quite delicious chicken & leek pie. I don’t know if this is training as we had only ridden a couple of hours. The C group arrived as we were getting ready to leave having taken a slightly longer route to the lunch stop. After lunch the roads become a lot more interesting as we never get down this far in our normal rides. After Uckfield we stuck in the lanes that skirted around fields, and through quaint villages like Ripe & Berwick, as we neared the South Downs.

As we hit the main road at West Dean with 10 miles to go, it was the usual tear-up to be first rider into Eastbourne. Paul Gadd & Ken Dolman attacked early while me and Cliff held back to see how they got on. Turning right in East Dean and onto the road that goes up to Beachy head myself and Ken had a 30 second lead over Cliff which I kept all the way to the top and then down into Eastbourne, and our hotel for the weekend.
We received a warm welcome from the staff at the 4 star Cavendish hotel which is why we are back there for the 4th year running. And what could be better than spending the rest of the drizzly afternoon sat in front of the TV with Vicky Pendleton et al who were riding the world track championships in Copenhagen.

Sunday morning arrived and we all got together on the hotel steps for our customary photo. Both groups set off together, along the seafront and the rows of bungalows towards the Pevency levels, an area of marshy fields drained by a series of canals with lots of reeds skirting the lanes that run through it.

Here the cross wind made us behave like we were riding in the Belgium Ardennes, taking up the whole road as we formed echelons. Then it was onto the hills and I don’t quite remember this many but it was hard all the way to the lunch stop at the lama farm, Wynch Cross, smack bang in the middle of the Ashdown forest.

After lunch we were back on familiar roads heading back over Turners hill and along the same roads we had ridden the day before. The group began to splinter as riders began to tyre and soon we were all riding at our own paces back to meet Mercedes who was waiting with our bags in Dorking.
Thanks must go to Ted for organising the trip and to Mercedes for transporting our bags.

Double pain

This weekend I once again did a double header of races. On Saturday, I was again at Hoghill. And just like last week it was a day of showers, heavy rain and a bit of sunshine. This was an E123 Nat B race and I was feeling strong after having had a day off work to train on Wednesday. Of course a bunch went off the front - 5 of them got away and we were happy to let them go, so it was a race for 6th place. I saw two strong guys go up Hoghill just as we had 5 laps (out of 30, ouch) to go, I dug deep and went with them as I recognised one of the guys from races I did last year and knew he was a strong 1st cat. As I was going down the hill just after the start/finish, which is a fast left hander, I punctured on the bend, I managed to correct the bike and stay upright but found myself heading straight onto the mountain bike course. That was it, race over, you aren't allowed any wheel changes within the last 5 laps, so £20 entry fee! 120 miles of travelling, plus the cost of the Dartford crossing - all in all an expensive day out for little reward.

On Sunday, I was entered in the Dengie Marsh Hell of the East event www.dengiemarshestour.com I've been looking forward to this for ages, debating what wheels and tyres to use and basically thinking about it non-stop. Thankfully the day was dry - I can't imagine what it would have been like if it had rained. The wind however was unrelenting. I made the mistake at the start from thinking that everyone would ease themselves into the race because of the distance, but no, we hadn't even got to the circuit - which was 8 laps of 8 miles and I was already redlining and hanging on for dear life. It wasn't long before I was distanced from the main group, I was never to see them again. But I wasn't the only one, and the rest of the day was spent catching up to stragglers, forming little groups, dropping people and basically digging very hard to simply finish. There was mud, there was rough stuff, there were potholes and there was the wind - great challenge and my legs are killing me today. I finished (along with many others we were directed off a lap early - so only 77miles), I didn't puncture (conti 4000s's) and my bike is in one piece. I thought I was top 25 but I see 29th on the BCF site so I'll go with that. Great ride and I'll be back next year with the added bonus of experience. By the way, the top 20 consisted of 10 Elites, seven 1st cats, two 2nd cats and one third cat, so it was a tough field.

C Group 27th March – Barns Green and Major Road Rash

For those unable to make it to Eastbourne there was a C group ride to Barns Green organised by Paul & Linda, and for the wiry ‘grimpeurs’ - Roger Jackaman organised a three hour leg and heart rate bender, aka, Uppers & Downers. An offer of just joining in on the downhill bits got short shrift from Roger. So my best option was sticking with the C Group. The day’s C group riders included – Paul & Linda, Bob & Maggie, Steve, Paul Milnes, John Major, Tony, Eric, and myself. We are all aspiring A group riders but our bodies have not yet answered the call.

The outward bound route was via Effingham, Abinger Hammer, Holmbury St Mary, Forest Green, Walliswood, and Rudgwick.

All went well, including the steady climb and decent of Whitedown, till calamity struck on a downhill section near Rudgwick. John, on his new carbon framed Scott bike, came crashing down after his front wheel hit a piece of wood lying in the road, and slid along, finally settling in the centre of the road as a tangled heap of Scott and John. Fortunately there was no oncoming traffic and the following traffic stopped safely as members of the C group stopped to pick John up. Apart From some nasty road rash (see illustrations) plus the need for some new SWRC kit for the sake of decency if nothing else (we don’t want to be banned form all the tea stops in Surrey/Sussex) John was OK. All joking apart – John was a brave man and after Bob and Paul sorted out his bike and pronounced it safe to ride we then continued to the Barns Green café stop by the lake.

Steve puts in a bid for a slightly damaged Scott roadbike











Steve has selected his mode of transport for the return ride




John explains all as we wait for the food to arrive.



After the usual C group tea room feast (referred to in the training manual as ‘carbohydrate loading’) of beans on toast, butter toasted teacakes etc., mugs of tea/coffee it was back on the road for the return run. By now, John’s bumps, bruises and muscle stiffness were causing problems so he wisely called up the back-up service (the wife) to come and collect him.

For the rest, there was a steady ride back via, Rusper, Newdigate , Dorking, and Leatherhead. Showers were threatening, so there were stops to put rain tops on and stops to remove them. Bob got a puncture just before Dorking and Maggie stayed back but advised the rest to carry on. I had a final total of 77 miles once I reached Kingston. Notwithstanding John’s tumble it was a great ride, and we all hope John’s cuts and bruises soon clear up.

A5 Ranger 'Hilly' - Season Opener

Start of a new season began for me on Saturday with the A5 Rangers CC Hilly 30.8 (15.3 for one lap) on the A5 and roads around Towcester to Daventry. The weather had been wet all day with heavy and frequent showers and the wind got up giving every rider a tough race and I was drenched a couple of times and the roads already treacherous form a bad winter were running with water. I'd ridden this event twice before but still managed to loose my way to the start and end up doing a 10 mile loop thus getting to the timekeeper 10 minutes late for my allotted position. Not to worry, I went off in the auspicious No 50 slot (J Woodburn DNS) but in the midst of the 'one lappers' I was fine for the first of my circuits (40:36) but from here I was solo as most of the marshalls had made an early exit and I was left to plough a second furrow around the lap On mi'todd
30 mile quite a long way for a TT opener and I would be lieing if i said my concentration did not waver on the second lap, as I got soaked again the sun came out briefly as I crested Weedon (Bec) hill for the final time in bottom gear (39 x 21 - Note to self, put a lower bottom gear on for Leicester RC/Melton Hilly) and plugged away into the wind I was getting cold by the time I crossed the line for the last time (42:54)
Matt Bottrill (Team i-ride) was the winner 1:11:48 (35:46) from James Perkins (Zenith) 1:14:28 and James Cambridge (Team i-ride) 1:14:43 the one lapper Jon Shubert (Verulam) 38:17 from Sam Barker (Planet X) 38:58

Up hill and into the wind - Bottom gear

Winner Bottrill

2nd Perkins


Sarah Brooke Photography

It's going to be a long season

With my main aim this season my 1st Cat license, which requires 200 BCF points, I've been doing quite a lot of racing already. Although I've found myself mixing it up in the sprints at the end of races, I've been only picking up the scraps on offer after the breakaway and the sprinters have had their turn. My most recent results had been a 10th at Hillingdon - so a single point, and 14th at Hog Hill (a couple of weeks ago), so just a couple of pints there.

This weekend saw me again at Redbridge, and as Alan's already pointed out, I was again sprinting for scraps - 10th place so again only a single point. I was quite happy though as I'm not too confident descending in the wet, and we were hitting over 65km's an hour on the downhills.

Sunday saw me out at Thruxton which is a fast racing circuit. This was an E12 race and there was a decent field assembled. Points were on offer down to 15th spot and after looking at the amount of E's and 1st's racing, I thought a top 15 would be a fair result. A group of 5 got away early on - mostly E's, and they worked well for the entire race - they were helped by some good blocking from their teammates in the main group. With 8 of the 14 laps completed, myself and a chap from AW cycles rode of the front and worked liked dogs til the end, it was a case of just burying ourselves and hoping that by working together we could stay away. The bunch almost had us with a couple of laps to go, but we were quite committed and ode well up the hill into the wind hoping they would be looking around at each other. Coming up the hill for the last time, I was sure we were going to finish ahead of the bunch, but there was one guy who seemed to have found something special and as I approched the finish he just managed to pip me, the chap I'd been away with finished just ahead of me, although I'd done a lot of work in hte last hill just to try and make sure we didn't get caught. Anyhow, 8th was a pleasing result - 8 more points. I'm now on 67 points, so only 133 to go!

This weekend I'm doing the Hell of the East - Dengie Marshes tour - sounds fun (not) - 85 miles with only 7miles on B roads - the rest is farm tracks and private roads. It's a Nat B event and mostly E's and 1st's so I'll be pleased just to complete it in one piece. (Still not decided which wheels to use - definitely not a day for carbon rims). I might ride at Hog Hill on Saturday again - I feel if I can get into a break there I'll be able to stay away.

retail psycho (therapy)

A week ago I had the pleasure of spending saturday shopping in central London ( to buy one of my teenage daughters her birthday presents-the emphasis being on the plural). If you have not spent a day recently similarly engaged I can heartily recommend it - suddenly you might find your mind wandering and the thought of riding in sub-zero temperatures or in a deluge quite pleasant mental diversion.

I

attatch a few photos that I thought you mind find slightly more interesting than the interior of Top Shop.

I had never been in Cyclefit before and you would have to know it is there to believe from the outside it is a bike shop.Having gained entry and I am pleased to say it is free to enter ,at least on the occasion I was there, there are some very interesting toys to look at -and if you don the kid gloves they hand you -touch very gently.

Nick

SERRL - Hog Hill - Redbridge circuit

Five SWRC members raced at the Redbridge circuit today, most for the first time. In the 3rd/4th race Dave, Matt, Andy & Simon rode while Paul rode the 1st/ 2nd category race.


Dave hasn't had much luck so far this year and failed to finish again when he got a puncture.
Simon, did the best ride of the day finishing in the main bunch. sprinting in to 15th place

Andy and Matt plugged away in the drizzle to finish a few laps down.
Paul rode strongly and nearly got away towards the end but was pulled back by the bunch. He sprinted in with the bunch.

First Day of Spring for the Spring Onion...

We arrived in the Leatherhead Leisure Centre car park at 0830 in the sunshine and at 6 degrees it was warmer than it had been recently. The course for the day was 100Km over Leith Hill to Wisborough Green, Bedham Hill and then back to the bottom of the Coombe Bottom climb and then downhill back to Leatherhead. The weather promised to be a sunny 11 dgrees but with a west-north-west wind.

On the start list for SWRC was Richard Gordon, Bobby Mason, Ken Dolman, Paul Gadd, Toby Conant, Lawerence Clark, Joseph Frend, Constant Busch, Roger Leary, Anthony Frend, Peter Dewis, Gordon Beveridge, Alan Brunsden, Paul Hart, Steve McCormack, John Mcghee and Peter Wright.

I had promised my brother I would give him a 20 min head start, so I had a short wait at the start killing time:Unfortunately the temptation to go out like a steam train was too great for me, and I chased after my brother all the way to Wisborough Green averaging 19.5 mph. The Bedham Hill climb followed by that west-north-west wind soon slowed me down a bit. However, before I knew it we were approaching Hascombe Hill, Blackheath and then Coombe bottom. I flew down the descent and into Leatherhead Leisure Centre (adhering to the 'no right turn'). At the finish the familiar smiling face of Alan Parkinson to greet us and give us our finish time. I was lucky enough to pick-up joint fastest completion time.

As always with club events, the smooth running is only achieved with the help of club members and here they are at the start:

Well done to all who completed the ride.

Spring Chicken Road Race

Simon Howard rode the Spring Chicken Road Race organised by the Hemel Hempstead CC this weekend.

Here's what he thought of it.

Spring chicken went well.1st 15 /20 miles controlled my impulses 2 go hard, as a 3/4 man break went early.then had a go at the front a few times. pace felt comfortable.with 1 lap to go pace picked up .Numerous breaks developed to catch the break away, I kept on the ball and stayed with them.caught break with about 6/7 miles 2 go.felt strong, pace still comfortable. final sprint i went about 20/30 metres to early and started to blow with about 25 metres to go. cost me 3-5 places.finished 11th 80 /90 3rd / 4th cat all together started .one place of the money prizes. Really enjoyed the race.top 15 get points I've been told so not a complete loss. BC covered events theres a bit on the web site. cheers simon.

http://new.britishcycling.org.uk/road/article/roa20100313-Roy-Thame-Cup-and-Spring-Chicken-RRs-0

Newport Track Weekender

A few of the riders in the club plus a few guests were able to enjoy another of Roger's track introduction/training weekends at the Newport Velodrome (Felodrom for all you students of the Welsh language) over this last weekend, two 3 hours sessions to get the blood pumping and a bit of much needed speed in the legs for the anticipated coming season. Only a few made the trip for single sessions and the midday start on Sunday allow 'boarders' a lie in and a leisurely breakfast or as in my case brief tour of the docks and a saunter around the car boot adjacent to the track.

I was travelling down from Leicester with a track novice Dan who I'd taken out on a track bike the week before to blood him in the dark art of the fixed wheel but he had plenty to take on board with the other 'newbies' while the more experienced of us were (re)familiarising ourselves with the track and working up a head of steam in a series of exercises from our usual coach Chris. We all managed to avoid any slip ups although brother Alan was certain his tyres were dodgy and gripped by the fear that gravity was going to make an example of him but with any banked track if you begin to doubt basic science and try to unpick the forces which keeps us all glued to the surface of the earth we would all be flat on our backs on the floor.

One thing we could all be thankful for was a warm and dry environment to have a bit of a workout as these conditions have been in short supply so far this year and although it was blue sky outside it was still cold with a bitter wind off the sea.
The Saturday session was fairly low key with the Kent Police Cycling Club 'Kettling' any member of the string who got out of line after initially taking some criticism for interfering with the rental bikes pedals and tyre pressures.
Experienced riders alternated with the 'virgins' of mixed ability and it was obvious that the four best students would be in with the 'big boys' once they got their confidence and on the Sunday they were in the line with the rest of us doing team pursuit drill and a flying 200m from a string which had the heart pumping and the legs shaking (a bit) We clocked up 30 miles on Saturday and over 40 miles on Sunday and it was soon time to be packing away and heading back

Roger claimed to be injured




Black - So much more slimming!

Tactical Nightmare….

On March 7th I made the very short journey to Alfold for the Festival RC round of the Cat 3 Surrey League. We rolled at 0930 when it was just above freezing, the plan was just over 4.5 laps (12.5 mile per lap) of racing giving us about 60 miles at speed.

On the last club ride, Alan Parkinson gave me lots of good advice for riding the Surrey – if only I had listened to him! With 4 laps to go (50 miles) I found myself alone between the breakaway and the main pack, so I opted to wait for another breakaway from the pack to join me and we worked as a four for a while before being swallowed back up.

My legs began to burn with 1.5 laps to go and I hit the gels and decided to sit in the pack more and do less work near the front. I feared I had over-cooked it and wondered if my legs would recover. I thought this was paying off well until I suddenly realised I was the last rider! I was desperate not to get dropped…

We hit the bell, and I was still close to the back of the pack, but the pace was back up. A couple of small breaks came and went but I started to feel normal with about 0.5 a lap to go (just in time!). I was sure I had nothing for the sprint, but about a mile from the finish I caught the undulation of the surrey roads just right and overtook half the pack in one move. 1K to go and I was poised ready for the finish, but the massive sprint I was expecting never came, and instead I found a little left in my legs (must have been the sprinting for the signs on the club runs!) and pushed for the line managing to get my wheel across 4th! Race distance was 60 miles at an average of 23.0 mph (something I could only dream off without the pack to draft!). I was delighted with the result as this was my first ‘Road’ race coming off the much shorter ‘Circuit’ races at Hillingdon. I was also very pleased to see that the race passed without any accidents.

I guess I’ll be riding a few more Surrey Leagues this year then, but next is the Spring Onion!!

Hilly Fifty

For once the frost and ice had been on the day before the day we get to ride .So a fine calm,dry bright day for the Hilly 50. This year we even had the benefit of about 5 marshals ,which I reckon worked out at about 40 p each which I reckon is a very fair return.Though Mark Williams at the end was sure that food was also included -ever a man to get his money's worth.

Here is Mark at the end trying to work out why it is called the Hilly 50 .While Dave ,who had taken the day off riding to get some pictures of Vero competing in the Ball Breaker ( run the 8 miles loop of Box Hill and Mickleham,ride it 3 times and then run it again -no thanks) giving another meaning to expression "going commando"

Mark W and I rode out from Wandsworth to arrive at 10.10 with Niall and Andy having already left ,but Trevor ,Ralph and Richard Hignett waiting for us -and Trev mending a puncture .Whether the latter was a precondition of the former we diplomatically did not ask.We had a good run round with no more punctures .Ralph shot off in very impressive form while the rest of us stuck together till we caught Ralph above Shere when Richard joined him and Trevor pulled his version of the Parkinson Camera Trick and had a pee stop which suited Mark and me fine.

Here is Vero who had a great result and came 4th even though she did not match her best time in this very hard event,so "winning" a refund of her prize money and a very fine gilet which sadly I did not manage to capture being worn by Niall who was frozen having dressed for Mallorca not Mid-Surrey.

Kingston Wheelers were out in force.You can spot Jake and Gary Dodd here -both of whom are looking forward to Mallorca.Gary asked is this chap Simon Howard coming as I hear he is very strong and I will have to watch him. I agreed and said I thought Simon might give Gary a hard time this year and Gary better get in serious training.

Nick A

Rain....What rain.

It looks like this driver was testing their car to see if it works underwater.

Fill that hole.org.uk

February’s survey shows we are divided between logging onto CTC’s site http://www.fillthathole.org.uk/ to report potholes and doing nothing. Looking at their website it shows SURREY is league leader when it comes to reporting, with over twice as many as 2nd spot HAMPSHIRE. This could mean we have the worst roads in the country or are the most diligent at logging on.
So if you are one of those who answered never then don’t delay and log on today.
http://www.fillthathole.org.uk/

Tiffins of Petworth

Richard smiling happily at the thought of all the treats behind him.One of the best tea shoppes we visit -and as Alan says -where we always receive a genuinely warm welcome.

Unfortunately the sponge cake brought him out in a strange rash.......

Nick

Rain, punctures, crash. Not a great day.

Saturdays A group ride didn’t start very promising. It was already raining as Sabin Nick & I rode out from Wandsworth to the car park at Cobham. With last weekend being either too icy or too wet there was a full car park of eager SWRC members ready for a ride. I was quite prepared to turn around early on and not stop if the rain had got any heavier but after crossing the Downs things cleared up and we all stuck to out planned destination of Petworth tearoom. Even when we had our first puncture of the day we weren’t too bothered about getting cold hanging around as the temperature was a balmy 8 degrees.

What I didn’t like was being the second rider to puncture only a few miles from the tearoom and I told the rest to go on and I’d meet them there. Mark & Richard hung around to help. We were soon on the way but were stopping only a moment later as around the next corner we caught the other helping Sabin to fix his puncture.

We did eventually reach Petworth and all piled into the tearoom where the proprietor had reserved us a couple of tables after an earlier call from the Spaniard. I must say we get a very warm welcome at this establishment and we all left completely satisfied with the food & drink we had consumed.

Soon after starting the return leg I lost touch with the group after dropping my Garmin GPS, I think after not making sure it was properly clicked into the holding bracket, the first time I have managed this in 2 years. The Garmin survived the knock but the bike didn’t as I was about to have my second puncture of the day. And this is another thing I need to do for next time. Take 2 inner tubes in the winter as with only one I had to mend both inner tubes with glue & patches, while the rest of the group hung around waiting. Sorry guys.
Another few miles and we were all back in the swing of thing only to be halted by another puncture from yours truly. It’s at this point that you need to remind yourself to change that tyre when you get home and apologise to everyone again about what an idiot you are trying to use summer tyres in the middle of winter with all that grit / potholes strewn across the roads. Being so annoyed with myself seemed to spur me on a bit and soon after I was tearing up the climb up to Holmbury hill with Trevor the only one able to hang on to my wheel.

This did not last though and I was soon hanging off the back of the group and by Coombe bottom we were all heading off in different directions.
Me, Sabin & Mark Packman choosing Staple lane instead of negotiating the road works at Effingham Railway Bridge. Unfortunately just as the C group had encountered flooded road we too had to cross these sections along the lower end of Plough Lane which is where Mark too a tumble, loosing his front wheel in a submerged pothole. I returned to find him dazed but otherwise Ok with his crash hat taking the brunt of the impact and had cracked. However on closer inspection we found his lovely new carbon Bianchi had folded just behind the head tube, it was a complete right off.