Reading Cycling Club press report, week ending Sunday 26 April 2009

The Reading CC Spring Road Races plus tons of other action.

Reading CC Spring Road Races

David Sinclair (Team GWR) was a worthy winner of the awcycles.co.uk /
Reading Cycling Club Spring Road Race for Elite, 1st and 2nd -category
riders, held at Woodcote on Sunday. Sinclair outsprinted his breakaway
companions in a dramatic finish. In the supporting 3rd, 4th and Junior
event, Crispin Doyle (Swindon RC) staged a solo break on Lap 3 of 4, and
held a lead of over a minute all the way to the finish.
The races nearly had to be cancelled at the last minute as Reading CC
organiser Colin Bates discovered that Southern Gas were digging up the
course at the foot of Flint Hill, Goring, and temporary traffic lights
were in place. "A last-minute course change is every organiser's
nightmare" reported Bates. He was able to arrange a route diversion by
using Catsbrain Hill to bypass Goring but had to find a new site for the
finish. "I am extremely grateful to Alistair Grant at Upper Cadleys Farm
for allowing us to use their yard for car parking. This enabled us to
lay on a sprint finish on the lower slopes of the climb." Spectators at
the finish were treated to a panoramic view of the South Oxfordshire
countryside.
The main race consisted of six laps of the re-routed circuit for a total
distance of 65 miles. The bright sunshine brought out a large number of
additional riders entering on the line, and 70 riders took to the road
at 09:45, a quality entry including teams from Corley Cycles, PCA, Velo
Club Montpellier and a strong contingent from the British Cycling
Olympic Development Program (ODP). The initial lap of the race was run
off at a fast pace with speeds reaching 45mph on the main descent. There
were numerous attacks but no-one gained more than a few metres.
On the third lap an attack stuck when young riders Sandy King
(Twickenham CC) and Jon Mould (Agiskoviner) forced a 10 second gap.
Before the end of the fourth lap, the two leading riders were joined by
six other riders including Dave Sinclair. Coming in to the final lap,
the leading eight riders had built up a lead of over two minutes from
what was left of the chasing peloton. Into the final kilometre, Sinclair
opened his sprint early and quickly gained 4 bike lengths holding the
gap to the line. "I attacked on the third lap to see who was strong,"
Sinclair said, "then four or five of us got away. We started to work
together but nearly got caught just before the intermediate sprint on
lap 4. Then after that we worked really hard, and there were lots of
attacks on the final lap".
In the supporting race for 3rd category, 4th category and junior riders,
the strong headwind through North Stoke & South Stoke made riders wary
of making a move. Though riders were getting shed from the back on the
long climb, a bunch sprint finish looked the most likely outcome until
on the third lap, Crispin Doyle (Swindon RC) managed to get away without
anyone spotting him. His team mates then did a good job of marshalling
the front of the peloton, breaking up and disrupting the chase. Crispin
got his head down opened up a gap of 1min 10secs which he didn't ever
look like losing, a solo break of about 20 miles.
After the race Doyle and Sinclair praised the organisers for putting on
an excellent event. Bates added his thanks to the 30 or so volunteer
roadside safety marshalls led by Stephen Bale, the car escort drivers
and other helpers that gave their time to make this major local event a
big success, and to Andy Wilkins of AW Cycles for his contributions to
the prize fund.

Reading's Simon Notley reports from inside the bunch: "I spent the
first lap and a half battling through a tightly packed and twitchy bunch
with the intention of jumping on a breakaway. But it was extremely
windy and almost impossible to force a break even on the narrow road
towards Catsbrain Hill. A Swindon RC rider slipped away but the only
people who noticed were his teammates who came to the front on the main
road section to prevent the bunch from building up any speed. A faster
final lap was not enough to reel in the lone winner and I found that the
previous two laps of riding in the wind had sapped my legs leaving me
unable to contest the sprint for second place." He added: "The course
change was a huge success. The scenery was beautiful and the oil-seed
rape that lined the narrow roads could easily have been the sunflowers
of Northern France! Thanks to everyone who put so much effort in to
making it a great race. 'Proper' road racing is so much more enjoyable
than circuit racing or time trialling. Anyone who goes to the effort of
promoting road racing is doing a huge service to the sport."

Note: Additional reporting by Graham Robins.

Brief results, E/1/2/:
1. David Sinclair GWR Team/3Vi/Swindon Cycles/Spiuk/High5
2. Jonathan Pain Velo Club Montpellier
3. Jonathan Mould agiskoviner Junior
19 Robert King Reading CC

Brief results, 3/4/J:
1 Crispin Doyle Swindon RC
2 Roger Browne Beeline Bicycles RT
3 Clive Jarvis Cycle Club Basingstoke
23 Simon Notley Reading CC
53 Joe Harris Reading CC

Wayne's World
Super-racer Wayne Thomas's competitive week started with Tuesday evening
at Hillingdon circuit. "Elite rider Tony Gibb of Plowman Craven-Madison
turned up with three team mates and everyone knew that it would be a
quick race. In the rip roaring race the high paced surges caused some
pain and I was well pleased with a mid-bunch finish."
At Hillingdon again on Wednesday, Thomas was joined by Fred Hale and
John Snead for the veterans race: "To my amazement I found myself in a
first lap breakaway of five riders. Normal service was resumed a lap
later. Super veteran Colin Roshier broke way with just four laps to go
for an excellent win. On age-related formula myself and Hale were third
in our respective categories."
On Saturday Thomas was to be found at the Milton Keynes Bowl. "I
travelled there through heavy rain, more in good faith than anything
else, but I eventually committed to the race. The circuit was very wet
and filthy with tree debris. Several strong riders coped well with the
conditions, with regular hard digs. Don Parry, Team Corley eventually
broke away for a well earned win. I was disappointed to fade in the
bunch sprint and came seventh. After the finish, bikes and riders looked
as though they had ridden a muddy Paris-Roubaix!"

Time Trialling

Newbury RC '10'
Lucinda Seymour finished as 5th Lady with a time of 25:29 in this
Newbury RC event. National Champion Julia Shaw was fastest lady with
23:12. "I was pleased because the strength of the side wind on Saturday
made me err on the side of caution. The National 10 is being held on
this course on 24th May so it was a good chance to ride the course under
race conditions." Stephen Bale was Reading's male representative and his
18th place put him ahead of some fancied riders. He too found the side
winds challenging.

Selected results:
1 Jimmy Wright Preston Wheelers 20:38
18 Stephen Bale Reading CC 23:06
47 Lucinda Seymour Reading CC 25:29
51 Steve Fleming Reading CC 26:02
76 Dave Gaida Reading CC 31:47

Bath Road Club hilly 50km
Nick English and Rod MacFadyen rode the Bath Road Club's classic hilly
event over two laps of the Bucklebury course on a bright but cool
morning. English: "The entry was small but high quality, probably not
helped by the clash with the road race. Being a hilly and technical
course the effort was much more variable than a typical time trial, and
there were a few corners where you would touch your brakes and then
think that you slowed too much. I maybe just faded a little at the end."
MacFadyen added: "A tough but memorable event. Pleasingly, I did my best
time for this course."

1= Ray Hughes, Clarence Wheelers, 1:15:45
1= james Boyman, In Gear Quickvit, 1.15:45
6. Nick English, Reading CC, 1.20:07
11. Rod MacFadyen, Reading CC, 1.25:29

Maidenhead & District Fifield '10'
Thea Warwick rode for Reading in Maidenhead's club event on the Fifield
course, riding to a very credible 29:43 on her road bike without
specific aerodymanic adaptations.

Reading CC Waltham St Lawrence '10'
Stephen Bale confirmed recent form by flying round this two-lap course
to win by a clear margin.
1 Stephen Bale 23:09
2 Stephen Millward 23:54
3 Julian Fairley 24:22
4 Hamish Floyd 24:34
5 Simon Notley 24:38
6 Simon Markham 24:44
7 Rod Macfadyen 25:01
8 Greg Woodford 25:10
9 Steve Fleming 25:43
10 Brian Bingham 25:46
11 Roly Chuter 25:58
12 Joe Harris 26:06
13 John Wann 26:15
14 Graham Patterson 26:46
15 Stuck Bell 26:50
16 Dean Preston 26:57
17 Ian Marco 27:02
18 Gary Henwood 27:32
19 Tim Harris 27:37
20 Ian Lomas 27:38
21 Warren Davies 27:42
22 Joanna Wells 28:08
23 John Ella 28:16
24 Choc Harris 28:38
25 Kate Hunt 28:39
26 Dean Bond 29:08
27 David Rasmussen 29:30
28 Peter Stocker 29:57
29 Nick Bradbury 31:48

Sportives
Graham Ide was among those riding the White Horse Challenge at the
weekend. It uses a 150km route through Wiltshire, Berkshire and
Oxfordshire that includes 1400 metres of climbing. "A good ride and well
organised. I went out a little too quickly early on and paid for it
later. Lovely warm day but headwinds made it hard going. There were some
great views but they were reached by hard climbs. I finished in 5hrs 47
mins which is a silver standard ride so I was very happy with that."

Sunday Clubrun
All groups leave Reading Market Place at 9am on Sundays.

Roderick MacFadyen
Reading Cycling Club

Photo caption: Simon Notley fronts the 3/4/J bunch on Catsbrain Hill
Photo credit: Paul Ohsan Ellis

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