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| TL - It's been friendly |
A bit late to do a review of last year but it's been languishing in my drafts waiting for a few of the Best all Rounder results. It was my 11th full season of racing, I've been racing longer as a Veteran than I did as a Schoolboy/Junior and Senior in the 70's and into the 80's.
With the opening of the Derby indoor Velodrome I had the opportunity to race through the winter for the first time, its was a new adventure trying to sustain my fitness in the winter months. It all started well as I had the form from the World Masters to carry me through to Xmas but then a long break (Velodrome a Multi use venue so used for the Panto!) and this meant many hours beavering away on the turbo to sustain a bit of fitness for the New Season mid January and not putting weight on (always my weakness)
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| Devil and Panto Season - He's behind you! |
When we did reconvene it was not as bad as I anticipated although as the ten weeks progressed I could feel my age as the youngsters got to grips with early season training camps and I hung onto their coat tails. I managed a decent few placings before Xmas but after results were thin on the ground and I had to be content with thin pickings as the eager youngsters trashed my old legs and poor recovery
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| Derby 'A' - 2015 Result |
On the whole its been good, after a frantic few weeks and a fair few crashes as riders got used to racing (many had only just passed their accreditation and never raced before) things calmed down a bit as the message that it was 'Track League' and nothing much at stake but plenty to lose.
The standard of racing has been very high with four groups
A - Experienced
B - Less fit and riders moving up from
C - New to Track and
D - The only Women's TL in the country.
Riders just had to find there level (which was largely self determined) and there was a bit of swapping around as the most oversubscribed (B's) had some searching for a ride and a reserves policy was brought in. I had trouble getting a ride in the A's some weeks as riders had 'block booked' entry at the start of the season and the FCFS policy worked against riders who could only enter a week or two in advance. I'm sure these things will be sorted out in advance.
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| Charlotte Parnham Winner Sam Westwell and Julie Scales |
I rode in the A's and had to compete with riders a third my age, these are the future stars and are fast and fearless so I tried not to get too involved in the mass finishes. I resolved to clip off with a few to go or stick with the leaders as the race disintegrated and get my points through attrition rather than mixing it in the sprints. I was largely successful in as the evenings went on and I was able to read the racing and pick my opportunity
So the organisers and volunteer helpers who had never been involved with TR before got used to the format and jobs necessary to get through 16 races an evening, It was always a pretty late finish (10pm). Some of the final races were commuted if accidents took up time or the 'whips' did not rule with a rod of iron (carbon these days) And after all the chat and the analysis I was usually the last out the building (getting my bag locked in on the final evening!)
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| Derby TL Winners - and A's - Perrett (Headnor Cl)- Lowe (Raleigh GAC) - Minting (Neon Velo) |
Just a round-up of the TT season, I had my region VTTA dinner and PP in January and won the Local Nottingham & East Midlands BAR for the 4th time in a row also taking 11th in the National BAR (down from 7th the last three years) but I also took the local Hermes '100' and the Joe Bains '30' for the first time for my Club Record 1:03:16
We were mourning the recent passing of Joe Summerlin who had done so much work in the region (and nationally) on the VTTA, BC and CTT front including drug testing. It was Joe who always handed you over to the testers who turned up on spec and did not know the riders and Joe made it his job to know everybody. On this issue there was much musing as three riders were caught and banned for various drug related incidents during the season so even on the domestic level (whatever the rights or the reasons) riders are still doping and still being caught
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| National VTTA 3 Distance BAR 11th |
The only other highlights 12th National VTTA '25' on the Uber fast R25/13 in S Wales where the fifty percent of the field that started got drenched 54:15 and 15th in the National VTTA '50' on the A3 Liphook course nr Petersfield 1:49:56
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| VTTA Nat '50' - Winners |
The only CTT National I rode was the National '10'
on my local Wolvey course, going back two minutes on the previous year (like everybody else) I was 81st (up two places) overall but 2nd in the 50-55 age group missing the win by 14 seconds
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The Beacon Hilly '39' is one of the CTT 'Classic' Series, I'm not riding them all but I like to ride one or two a season to get a feel for the riders I'm up against in the National TT events. Always keenly contested and on hard or hilly courses so not really my thing but it fits into my training program. I was shocked to find it was nine years since I'd last ridden, the first year was in the pouring rain and I ran off the road at one point and could not get inside two hours, the next year I used my road bike and was caught by the eventual winner Gethin Butler going up one of the climbs on his aero's (in the saddle!) Now I never raced against him in his prime but he was impressive even in this brief reunion, as a boy I remember seeing Gethin sitting with his sister Alison swinging his legs on his grandads cycle shop counter (Allin Cycles) while his parents went shopping in nearby Croydon but that was back in the 70's
