Race updates for December

2nd on Podium - South of England Champs
Cyclocross Image: grahamrobins.ne

Its proving hard to keep up with race updates. The mood has top take me before I blog and I'm in the mood now so time to get it all out in one hit.

Last week I went up to Hillingdon Cycle Circuit near Heathrow to ride the last round of the central Cyclo Cross League. This was a bit of a random event for me as it is out of area, but it was a Cat B event which meant more national ranking points for a good placing. As you can see from the results I was second overall in a mixed race  of Senior and Veterans (and only 36secs behind Darren Barclay). I won the vet classification though so got max points, sending me up to 19th in the national Rankings. That'll help my gridding position at the National Champs on the 8th Jan in Derby.

Central CycloCross League - Hillingdon Cycle Circuit
Twickenham CC -  Senior result
56 Finishers

Pos Rider Club / Sponsor Cat No Laps Race Time Lap 1 Lap 2 Lap 3 Lap 4 Lap 5 Lap 6 Lap 7
1 Darren Barclay Arctic Premier RT S 10 7 57:45 06:22 08:28 08:31 08:30 08:41 08:35 08:38
2 Sean Williams Wightlink /Offshore V 49 7 58:21 06:25 08:27 08:40 08:45 08:46 08:42 08:36
3 Paul Sheers Private Member S 15 7 58:40 06:38 08:48 08:42 08:35 08:39 08:40 08:38
4 Nick Onslow Pedal On.CO.UK S 2 7 59:12 06:13 08:40 08:52 08:54 08:47 08:54 08:52
5 Matthew Webber London Phoenix S 23 7 59:48 06:46 08:41 08:39 08:40 08:38 09:42 08:42
6 Wouter Sybrandy Sigma Sport S 19 7 59:59 06:37 08:46 08:52 08:57 08:52 08:59 08:56
7 Jared Spier Cycle Oxford S 8 7 1:00:28 06:23 08:45 08:56 09:01 09:13 09:08 09:02
8 Pete Smith Endura Thule MI Racing V 55 7 1:01:01 06:36 09:06 09:02 09:09 09:08 09:03 08:57
9 Konrad Manning Rapha Condor V 63 7 1:01:08 06:54 09:02 09:03 09:08 09:06 08:59 08:56
10 Ben Summer  J 82 7 1:01:46 06:41 09:02 08:58 09:06 09:18 09:14 09:27

South of england Champs
Cyclocross Image: grahamrobins.net

Two weeks ago was the South of England Championships at Bicton Arena in Devon. This was a great race and excellent venue. As I had predicted (in my head) it was a bit of a scrap between myself, Keith Sheridan, Steve Davies and Luke Cowley. In a mixed race of Vet 40+ and Vet50+  three of rode together off the front for a couple of laps before Luke Cowley joined us from out front in his Junior event that had gone off two minutes before our race. This meant four of us working together which helped us to extend our advantage over Andy Shaw who was chasing hard at about 15seconds. I have to admit that I was struggling to hang onto the pace, and around the midway point it all blew up. Keith broke clear leaving Steve and Luke to chase, and I dropped off a few bike lengths and had to work really hard to get back on. Andy seemed to have slipped back a little further so it made things a little more straightforward. With a lap to go I made contact with Steve and Luke, Keith was about ten seconds off the front and for a moment I felt I may be able to close him down; jumping into second I launched a bit of an attack and managed to drop the other two. It was too much though and they soon brought me back and passed me on the Derby Bank coming into the final section. The finish straight lacked any sprint excitement as Keith rolled across the line as winner, closely followed by Steve Davies, then Luke, then me; all within 15 seconds. Although I was fourth in the combined race, I actually got second Vet 40+. Davies won the Vet 50+ and Luke the Junior event.


Veterans
35 Finishers
1 Keith Sheridan Corinium CC
2 Steven Davies Team Endura-Thule-24/7-Kinesis
3 Sean Williams Wightlink/Offshore Race Team
4 Andrew Shaw Raleigh Racing Team
5 Dave McMullen Evans Cycles Race Team
6 Tim Carpenter Team Empella Cyclo-Cross.Com
7 Antony Green GA Cycles
8 Timothy Fey
9 Peter Dawe Southfork Racing.co.uk
10 Gary Allan GA Cycles

Current Veteran National Rankings (212 riders)

Rank Rider Club Name Region Points
1 Matthew Denby www.zepnat.com RT/Kuota/GSG 260
2 Philip Roach Coventry Road Club 257
3 Darren Atkins Coventry Road Club 252
4 Steven Davies Team Endura-Thule-24/7-Kinesis 232
5 Noel Clough Fietsen Tempo 229
6 Jonathan Watson Charge Bikes 227
7 Gary Lingard Cycling Club Hackney 220
8 Dan Cook Peak Road Club 210
9 Chris Young Team JD Cycles Ilkley 205
10 Kevin Knox Dulwich Paragon CC 172
11 Mike Young Pedalsport Cycling Club 162
12 Tim Carpenter Team Empella Cyclo-Cross.Com 149
13 Keith Sheridan Corinium CC 142
14 Pete Middleton www.zepnat.com RT/Kuota/GSG 137
15 Gary McCrae Team Leslie Bike Shop 130
16 Dave McMullen Evans Cycles Race Team 121
17 Michael Bell London Fire Brigade CC 119
18 Konrad Manning Cyclefit RT 118
19 Sean Williams Wightlink/Offshore RT 117
20 Nicholas Craig Team Scott UK 112

It's a Vampire Weekend!

Parkhurst Forest, Isle of Wight -  earlier today

The daylight seems to have been a bit of a problem for me this weekend, I've ventured outside for all of about thirty minutes just to play in the snow on the cross bike, but really I'm supposed to be racing up in Reading. Instead I'm back indoors listening to Vampire Weekend (which is never a bad thing) and typing this. Two mornings in a row, getting out of bed had been an issue and hiding in the dark under the duvet has been preferable. I think the office Christmas party on Friday night may have had something do do with my malaise, but if I'm honest, I don't really like the snow, apart form when I'm riding in it.

There's been a flurry outside now for nearly an hour and I'm thinking that I made right decision not to race, the journey back may not have been much fun. But I still can't help thinking what the race would have been like. It'll be over now and I'll be refreshing pages all afternoon looking for results and pics for a race that may have really shaken things up. I fully expect Keith Sheridan to have made it there as I think he's quite close to the venue. If he did race, then we will now be on an equal amount of races, and unless he messed up big time, his advantage over me could be six or more points which means I will have a hard time in the last two events trying to win the overall. That's racing though, and why I do it! Wouldn't be any fun if it was too easy.

Both of us are still a race off the league leaders  as we have done fewer events, but after the next race on 2nd Jan everyone will  be on a  level, and it looks likely that Keith and I will be at the top, along with Junior Luke Cowley. The three of us have been head to head all season, and Luke must have already wrapped up the junior overall, but that won't stop him trying to make the remaining races even harder for me, so I suppose it's not surprising that the season will likely end as it started. Which one of us will have a better finish to what has been a great season is anyones guess, but if I have anymore weekends like this one; I would hold your bets for now. :0)