All Terrain Cycles Ride in Peace Road Team 2016 season kicks off ….

 

Well that was a busy weekend of racing! Obviously the biggest and most important event on the sporting calender anywhere in the world on Saturday was the Cafe Race from Keighley to Gargrave(!!!) and I’m pleased to report that All Terrain took first and second, with Edward McParland taking the win with myself in second. Alex Barusevicus was close behind in 6th nearly managing to make it a clean sweep for us but he was just overcome in the last few metres by Billy Harding and Alfie Moses.

 

On to some proper racing on Sunday, and Edward McParland Matthew Bulmer and myself were all in action in the Jim Rogers Memorial E123 Road Race. I rode this race last year and it was on a pan flat circuit near the coast and I enthusiastically encouraged Matthew Bulmer to enter it as we are both riders that are built for fast flat courses. However, shortly after entering we were informed that the race had changed circuits and was now on the VERY hilly Dolphinholme circuit with around 7000 feet of climbing over the 77 mile, 6 lap course including a short section of 25%…. Eeek!!! Just suited to a pair of mountain goats like myself and Matt!

First time up the long steady climb to the finish line and the race split to pieces with Tom Stewart (Madison Genesis) and a number of Pedal Heaven riders including James Gullen and Jack Pullar forcing the pace on the front. Ed was right to the fore of the pack and only just missed out on being in the first break to go away, and myself and Matt were hanging on for dear life as the splits started to open the bunch. I managed to position myself on a decent wheel and just hung on to the chasing pack as we crested the summit, and Matt was chasing hard just off the back, regaining contact halfway round the lap. Next time up the climb and the three of us positioned ourselves near the front of the group, but some poor riding from another rider saw him cut across in front of Ed forcing him to come to a stop and unclip, taking him out the back of the group in the process. Matt’s efforts from chasing over the previous half a lap came back to haunt him, and I tried my best to hang on to Ian Wilkinsons wheel as he decimated the group behind…. with about 250 metres to the top of the hill I had to let his wheel go, just as Ed came belting back past me, but too late to rejoin the front chasing group! By this point the peloton was blown to bits, with no more than about 10 riders at a time, and a leading break of about 5, and 10 chasers behind them. Eds group of 10 was the next group on the road and myself chasing hard and Matt just a short way behind me.
Down the other side and the super slippery Giant Propel and aero deep section wheels came into their own as I caught Ed’s group, as they chased to try and get back. Matt was caught in no mans land, with one other rider for company, and for a while they held the gap to our group, but with the other rider sitting on Matts wheel and refusing to do any work it was always going to be a mission impossible to get back on. Luckily for me the pace steadied in our group and the next few laps saw us working to try and close the gap, which meant the pace was hard but steady up the climbs. The race Commisaires then decided to pull us out a lap early, (I wasnt complaining!) and so with just shy of 70 miles and 6200ft of climbing on the clock we made our way up the climb for the final time with a handful of placings still available for the first few few in our group over the line. Once again Ed got the better of me in a sprint, (just as he had done on Saturday!) and we finished just inside the top twenty, although we are still waiting for the final results from the officials!

All in all it was a tough day, but with a bit better luck on that second climb Ed would have made one of the front groups, and Matt and myself got a good workout ahead of our first ‘Regional A’ RR next week at the BBM event, (I’m assured that this one is REALLY on a flat circuit!!) Ed tells me he’s off skiing this week…. I’m off to do a bit of sprint training while he’s got his guard down!!

The results sheet on VeloUK has got me down as 20th, but I know for a fact that Ed was one place in front of me and he’s not on the result sheet…. at all, in fact, were you even there Ed, I dont remember seeing you at the finish!

 

A week later and we are back for more !

After a some hard racing under our belts last weekend, Matthew Bulmer and myself were joined this weekend by Chris Emsley for the cat 2/3/4 BBM Revolution Road Race over at Pollington. Having grovelled around after the Elite riders last weekend myself and Matt were hoping for a good result this weekend, and Chris has been showing some good form in the recent reliabilitys so was also looking to test his legs in his first RR of the year. The race started well enough, with us covering the early moves and then after 5 laps of a 9 lap race a break of 10 went up the road with Chris safely in the move. With all the pre race favourites in the break, it was clear that this was going to be the winning break, so after half a lap and the break gaining around thirty seconds, I jumped clear of the dawdling peloton. I was soon joined by Matt and the two of us rode full gas for a good lap and a half getting to within about 100 metres of the leaders at one point, before they started pulling away from us again. We were infuriatingly close to closing the gap, but we had to accept that it wasnt to be, and as the break moved to around a minute clear of us we were caught by the chasing bunch.

With the break working well together, Team ATC hopes were firmly pinned on Chris. In the final gallop for the line, Tom Murray took the win, with Jake Tanner and Jack Cutsforth rounding out the podium. Unfortunately for Chris the efforts of his first race of the season came back to haunt him, and he was forced to limp over the line with one foot unclipped in 10th place after cramping up on the last lap!

In an interesting and rather unusual development the main group soon found itself stuck behind a horse and trap with two vehicles blocking the road behind it, and we came to a virtual standstill until they were forced off the road by a passing ambulance. By this point we were two and a half minutes down on the break, but with points still available on the line, Matt threw caution to the wind with a last lap attack, and was only reeled in with about 1km to go. I hung on for the inevitable bunch sprint in which I was 3rd. Not all bad, but not the results we were hoping for.

There was also a good showing from ATC riders at the usual cafe race on Saturday with Alex Barusevicus and Ben Wood breaking away early on. As we turned into Hetton Ben got baulked by a car and was caught, and i put in a dig over the Angel going clear with Matthew Bulmer, Alex Barusevicus and Billy Harding. The four of us then stayed clear all the way to the Gargrave, and with the line approaching we all started thinking that Billy Harding was going to do a “Stannard” on us……. but I’m pleased to say team ATC are better than Etixx Quickstep (Fact!), and I duly beat him in the sprint by a wheel length, with Alex in 3rd.