Road Racing 2008
May 13, 2008 - In Gear Quickvit RT - Surrey League Dunsfold Park Series #3 - E/1/2/3/4 - 33 miles
Phil Trumps a few 'Top Guns'
Phil Watkins was very happy riding in a great Tuesday evening race with a field including the likes of Richard Prebble, Christian Yates and the McNamara twins from Wildside RT. He reports, modestly,that he was pleased with 7th in final sprint from a field of 85 finishers.
Pos Name Club/Team Cat Time Prime Points
1 Jamie Newall VC Meudon 2 1:16:30 18
2 Simon McNamara Wildside RT 1
3 Steve Calland Norwood Paragon CC 1
4 Jason Edwards Wildside RT 1 14
5 Shaun Smart Southdown Velo 3V
6 Paul Thatcher Brighton Mitre 2V 3
7 Philip Watkins Old Portlians CC 3V
8 Benjamin MacLand VC Meudon 2V
9 Gareth Dickinson agiskoviner.com 3
10 A Comben Metropolitain Police CC 3
Old Ports Chersty SRRL event 10th May
The weather was probably too good! This meant we had what, I'm told, is a record entry of probably in the region of nearly 200 riders over the 4 events that were put on. Iain has already said how much money we made on the food but I would like to say what a great effort team Hawthorn did on the food, it really made a difference to many of the riders as it isn't the norm to have catering put on at Chertsey as we were basically in a portacabin, I didn't see any of the racing it was pretty warm in there all day......thank you Iain and Julie for organising all that. Also thanks to Iain's friend Jeremy for helping on the line, I think he was doing the lap board and judging and holding a camcorder for the 4ths race. We had Iain, Andy and Stuart starting the 4ths but after a starting lap that had them stretched out Stuart punctured(having already punctured before the race), although this was not the plan it was fortunate for me that Stuart came straight back to the portacabin to see me buckling under 2 lines of 3rd cats signing on plus 1 line of E/1/2, if only we could have taken the entry fees for the Old Ports our club funds would have been bulging. So Stuart and I did the signing on and we sold more food at the same time.....while Iain and Andy raced round. I believe Iain was in contention coming out of the last bend and up the straight but drifted back in the sprint, getting there though, Andy was unlucky to ship his chain but was there at the end so the progress continues for both.
Once finished Iain and Andy then helped out with the judging etc of the 3rds and the E/1/2.
Due to many regular Old Ports being otherwise engaged, there were, unfortunately not too many of us available at the races. This makes the briliant outcome on such a fine day remarkable and we must royally thank those who did attend to help!!
May 8, 2008 - 34th Nomads - Surrey League Handicap Series #2 - E/1/2/3/4 - 32 miles
While the Crowhurst Time trial was taking place I went to the Surrey league Handicap at South Nutfield. I don't want to take numbers away from Crowhurst but anyone wanting to get some bunch riding in should check the calendar, some are a long way away but others are fairly close(Of course you can always do Palace or Dunsfold tuesday then Crowhurst thursday). I ended up in the 5th group of the 6 that went but we were soon joined by the scratch group including Gary Dodd. We had to work hard to catch the front group, only managing it with 2 or 3 miles to go, I tried to stay with Gary Dodd on the final climb and was 2nd at the top before the descent to the finish line at the M23 bridge, my legs were left on the climb and 4 came past but I was happy to get 6th.
Phil
Pos Name Club/Team Cat Time
1 Joshua Cunningham Bayeux Landscapes 4J 1:23:00
2 Gary Dodd Sigma Sport RT EV
3 Andrew Davies Fit-For 2
4 Mike Hawkins Norwood Paragon CC 2
5 Daniele Santoni Pearson Cycles 1
6 Philip Watkins Old Portlians CC 2V
7 Guy Powdrill London Dynamo 2
8 Stuart Chamberlayne Addiscombe CC 2J
9 Steve Atkinson GS Stella 2V
10 Nigel Carpenter Norwood Paragon CC 2V
May 4, 2008 - Surrey League/Farnborough & Camberley - Cutmill - 3rds - 52 miles
Phil Watkins reports:
Cutmill has not been a favourite course of mine the last few years but sunday went okay. The course has a really tough uphill finish on a pretty uneven road which makes it even tougher. The race was 6 laps with not many attempts to get away being allowed much freedom. There is one really tight corner where you have to climb out of it straight away, made worse by having a lot of loose gravel, one rider fell and he could have only been doing about 5 mph at the time.
I got as close as I could to the front for the sprint and held on for 6th which I was fairly pleased with, not being too far off the front guys. As you can see below there were 69 riders on the line .
Phil.
Pos Name Club/Team Cat
52 riders finished, top 10 below:
1 Philip Glowinski VC de Londres 3
2 Chris Ansell Team Corridori 3
3 Robert Bordi Beyond Mountain Bikes 3J
4 Richard Hoult London Dynamo 3
5 David Wilson Charlotteville CC 3
6 Philip Watkins Old Portlians CC 3V
7 Mark Gibbs VC Meudon 3V
8 Andy Duff Swindon RC 3
9 Gavin Morton Godalming Cycles RT 3
10 David White Private Member 3
Phil Watkins makes it back to Second Cat! - Well done Phil!!
Sunday 20th April - Phil Watkins reports:
This was supposed to be the Archer Grand Prix with it's supporting race but after the cancellation the organisers worked with the Twickenham to put on the 2 Surrey League races. This meant a lot of riders who don't normally do Surrey league turned up, the queue of reserves waiting to see if they got a ride was quite long and there was a full field. There were some strong riders there which made it difficult to get away, with 3 to go there were 3 riders up the road and I tried to get across with 2 others but we couldn't bridge the gap before the bunch caught us and then the 3 in front were swept up as well with just over 1 lap to go. Coming to the finish it was important to get fairly close to the front because it was still a big bunch all wanting to get up there, I probably got too close allowing riders to come off my wheel but I managed to get 4th in the sprint. This gives me 8 points which takes me up to the 40 needed for 2nd cat. It's taken 7 road races to get the 40 points which has been a satisfying start to the season.
Chertsey Surrey League Road racesApril 12th
Stuart reports:
Yet another Win for Phil Watkins!
The 3rd Cats race
saw a little worse of the weather with a hail storm during the race. Phil spent most of the time as usual at the front of the bunch and was in a break as they passed on the bell. A lone rider was seen coming into the home straight ahead of the others and looked more than strong enough to hold off the chase to take yet another win. Well done Phil.
The 4th Cats Race
3 Old Ports competed in this 15 lap parade. Iain, Andy and myself rode and it was predominently dry but with the 2008 customary head wind down the home straight. It was not the weather for a break away but we are still learning and it would appear that you sit in the bunch for 15 laps and try to sprint out the finish. Each time we entered the home straight the whole bunch applied their brakes and it would appear nobody wanted to do any work, so my naivety mean't I did much of the pacing again. Iain looked quite strong and Andy made a little break away on the final lap before the hills but soon got caught. I passed Iain down the home straight but got caught in a bad position and only managed to finish 9th.
Frozen, Soaked and 11th - Phil braves the elements again
Phil reports on the Milland Hill stage of the SRRL Easter 3 day
I had entered the 3 day Surrey League for 3rd cats and rode on the Saturday at Milland Hill. The weather was atrocious for the 9:30 start and I had as many layers on as I felt I could still ride in. I got in a break on the first lap which looked really promising, 7 of us went away and for the most part were working well on the tough circuit. Milland Hill, as it suggests, is not easy 7 times up a 25% climb which forced me into 39X23 each lap(wanting but not having a lower gear). The break got caught with just over a lap to go, pretty deflating really after a lot of effort. It was really gusty and the miles told for the last lap, the winner went away on his own with nobody able to react, the last climb was tough and I finished in 11th, I can't say satisfied but I was only interested in getting into dry clothes and warm after the finish. Not the best finish position but a tough day......
Sunday's event was cancelled due to ice on the course and I skipped monday's as well, opting to go out training and get caught in a blizzard instead!!!
Phil
Soaked and 7th
Phil Watkins reports on the Dunsfold Surrey League event on 16th March:
T'was the worst weather I have ridden in all year and if I hadn't entered a race I would have stayed indoors, rain the whole race, mud on the road in places which covered my glasses and meant I couldn't see plus it was very windy as well for the 50 mile+ race.Amazingly 57 riders started in the pouring rain. There was some early attacking which got pulled back like last week so I thought it would take till the final miles for a break to get away, I then missed the break that went after a couple of laps of the 8. I tried to bridge the gap but each time got pulled back by the bunch, With 2 laps remaining there were 2 riders ahead chasing the break of 3 and I decided to solo across to them, it took a whole 6 mile lap to join and I thought the 3 of us had enough to keep the bunch behind, we worked together but one guy started struggling and the bunch came back and was on us as we left the course for the final climb and then sprint from the top. I couldn't believe all the effort was coming to nothing so just gave it everything on the climb and then the last 200m from the top to the line, only 3 got by and I ended up 7th. So I ended up 7th in a Road Race but I had also done quite a bit of Time Trialling training as well.......
I looked like I had just done a muddy cyclo cross, soaked through and very cold, I'm hoping Easter isn't like this!
Phil has mixed weekend racing
Phil Watkins reports:
Saturday 8th March 2/3 Cat Crowhurst - an off day!
It was a horrible day, wet and windy, but 72 riders started, quite a few for the circuit and the conditions. It was fast as the 2 hrs 12 min for 56 miles shows. A break of 4 was away but still in view on the last lap when 5 riders tried to bridge across, I missed the initial move and got caught in no mans land chasing, getting swept up by the bunch. I was with the bunch coming round to the finish for the 10th place sprint but didn't have the legs after the chase. It was a fast race and good training.
Sunday 9th March 3rds Kirdford - 4th!!...thats better
The morning race had slightly better weather than saturday afternoon, 51 riders started for the 58 miles, more than for the 2/3 yesterday. Nothing got away for the first half of the race but then with about 25 miles to go 4 riders were going clear and I managed to bridge across with 3 others. We soon started working well to stay away the 7 then became 6. One rider, who I later found out was Ben Wilson, looked very easy and he attacked with 10 miles to go taking Roger Smith VC Etoile with him, I couldn't get on so leaving me with the 4 remaining riders. We worked together and managed to stay clear of the bunch, my legs were feeling the 100 plus miles of racing by the finish but I was still going okay. I got beaten by Geoff Lulham of Evans RT at the finish but 4th was pleasing. The bunch were behind us at the line although the finish result doesn't show any gap.
Iain Hawthorn reports on his, post holiday, MOD Chertsy Road race - 24 February
After spending a week training hard by not riding and over-eating in the south of France, I decided to live up to my over ambitious return to hard training and continue the club current excellent reputation at the MoD Chertsey circuit's Cat 4 road race this morning.
Over 70 riders, 20+ from London Dynamo all working to a cunning plan made for a tough sprint/fight/bunch up/slow down/speed up 'usual' Cat 4 effort and I managed to come a very creditable 3rd or 5th.....from last.I wasn't actually doing too bad, ending up in a small breakaway but quickly being caught with 3 laps to go and then finding myself about 10/15 back with half a lap to go.
Unfortunately I totally blew on the small climb, having absolutely nothing left in me to hold the position.So, more, much more, training needed and well done to Phil, Stuart and Andy for today. Regrettably I shall have to keep trying!!!!!
17 February
Phil Wins at Chersty!!!
The season has been officially launched!
Phil Watkins in action in the Surrey league 1/2/3/E race, at MOD Chertsy circuit, excelled with a WIN! in a sprint finish which saw a rider come a cropper. See the dramatic finish and crash in video here
Andy 'Liability Green and Stuart 'Willie' Hourigan tasted their debut road race action in the 3/4 cat race and finishing well up the bunch after doing most of the work.