North Bucks Road Club Hardriders

A new event for the team - new rider Richard Wood was our sole representative yesterday at this local early season lung-opener.

a  big effort up Church Lane

Two laps of a 10 mile circuit including the climb of Church Lane in Bow Brickhill mean some judicious dosing of effort is called for. As the course record holder, Richard was well placed to do just that, but he had to settle for second place to long-time training partner and ex TMG-er Doug Coleman of CC Luton.

Doug came in with 50:25 with Richard at 51:08. Richard Golding of Equipe Velo was just over a minute back at 52:17

"I'm not too unhappy with that," was Richard's conclusion. "I'm really just getting into some serious training, so there's room for progress."

Luke on the Podium at Sid Latchford TT

A bit parky this morning. And a bit slippery too, not in an aerodynamic way,  rather in a don't-overcook-the-corner kind of way.

keeping it aero, even on the Beacon Hairpin - Luke

Six starters who we're pleased to say, all turned up in spite of the dreary conditions to face a couple of local landmark climbs.

Now it's a TT so there's not a lot of race action to report on, but new rider Richard Wood did his best to pep up the occasion. Turning out on his road bike and cornering on the Dagnall Roundabout F1 - style, he also managed to escape the attention of the timekeeper at the finish. 

In a manner not especially familiar to team long-termers, he was absolutely honest about his finish time which left him just off the prizes, beaten by Roy Chamberlain and strangely netted him a spot prize.

Team performance of the day though belonged to Luke Clarke who came in 3rd behind the Arctic-Tacx duo of Mike Broadwith and Danny Axford. No shame in being beaten by those two.

Special mention also for Darren Powell. Two years ago he did 1:01:37 . Like many of us, he's not exactly approaching the 'sweet spot' of athletic performance [in other words he's over the hill] but today... 3 minutes faster. Serious progress: "I'm looking forward to this season," he admitted. He'll get over it.

Un jour sans / giorno di no for Ross. Very rare for him to have an off day, but he just couldn't get his engine going. A 55:31 was not a happy time for him but he did at least keep going.

Mike Parker's first appearance for the team went off without a hitch, except for the missed skinsuit handover at the start and the fact that his team helmet won't fit his exceedingly large bonce. Early days.

1 Michael Broadwith Arctic Tacx RT 50:43
2 Danny Axford Arctic Tacx RT 51:31
3 Luke Clarke TMG Horizon CT 52:24
4 Paul Lewis Arctic Tacx RT 52:40

12 Richard Wood TMG Horizon CT 55:23 *Road Bike

16 Ross Clarke TMG Horizon CT 55:31

24 John Lacey Hemel Hempstead CC 57:48

28 Darren Powell TMG Horizon CT 58:24

40 Christian Olley TMG Horizon CT 1:00:21
41 Michael Parker TMG Horizon CT 1:00:36

TT Win for Paul

A great start to the 2016 season with another win today: Paul won his age category at the Chippenham Wheelers 24.5 hilly in Wiltshire. 

A time of 1:01:00 over a lamentably lumpy route including a nasty climb up to Wootton Bassett, he seems to be timing his form nicely for the spring races

Win for Neil at the Baines Racing LVRC Road Race

Here we are again then, curtain up on the new season. A chilly start for Neil who was our solo representative at the Baines Race earlier today. 

A lovely quiet circuit with enough crosswinds and undulations to make it tactically demanding as well as athletically demanding, the situation was spiced up at the sight of a slight coating of ice on some roadside puddles early on, but thankfully the roads themselves were clear.

Early races generally have a touch more excitement than the average, and the tension was evident here from the off, particularly between the two major teams in the race of Equipe Velo and CC Luton.

An early escape from Stewart Wilson of Beeston was allowed to stay away for over 3 of the 6 laps while the bunch fought over the remains, but after the catch was made, things hotted up with several counter moves.

With no team mates, Neil was left to try and pick the right move: "There's a fair bit of luck involved," he said. He did manage to string together a number of efforts though to improve his odds.

The winning move went with one and a half laps to go. Led by Phil Rayner of Welland Valley, Roy Chamberlain of Corley Cycles was quick to latch on and Neil followed: "I was thinking oh go on - one more effort then," he recalls. 

Attack pace ensued, with Jez Honour of Equipe trying to follow the threat. Within 500m, Honour was distanced and Neil was in the winning break. Unfortunately, he was dropped by the other two with 2km to go after doing a long pull on the front. "I wasn't over the moon about that," he continues. He was left to grunt all the way to the finish solo, but he dug deep and held off the rampaging bunch by about 8 seconds to take 3rd place and a Category 'A' win.

6th March 2016 Baines Racing RR Results
Race 1 ABC		Cat
Winner	Phil Rayner	C
2	Roy Chamberlain	C
3	Neill Wass	A
4	Alek Hornshaw	B
5	Andy Lowe	B
6	Richard Edwards	C
7	John Hardwick	B
8	Mark Booth	C
9	Richard Golding	B
10	Glen McMenamin	A
11	Crispin Doyle	A
12	Os Assem	B
13	James Fox	A
14	Karl Mossley	C
15	Simon Moss	A
16	Graham Dolby	C
17	Peter Morell	B
18	Alan Galloway	C
19	Richard Parrish	A
20	Stewart Wilson	B
21	Carl Sheppard	A
22	Jez Honor	B
Race DE
Winner	Rob O'Connor	D
2	Costa Pierides	D
3	Ralf Keeler	D
4	Allan Vallance	D
5	Mick Bath	D
6	Ken Bradbury	E
7	Vic Davis	E
8	Carmelo Luggeri	D
9	Pete Smith	D
10	Rob Marcus	D
11	Nicholas Coe	D
12	Martin Plumb	D
13	Ian Cowan	D
14	Tony Jones	D
15	Dave Terry	E
Race FGH
Winner	Martin Hackley	F
2	Dave Woods	F
3	Bill Cotton	F
4	John Ginley	G
5	Jeff Hathaway	F
6	Clare Simon	Lady E
7	Peter Jeans	F
8	John Duckett	F
9	John Buxton	F
10	Bill Rains	G
11	Paul Shoobridge	F