Ike Saul Road Race - Sun 1st July

ERRL Ike Saul Memorial Race 1st July 2007 2/3/4

From Ian Coles

Trevor Burke and myself represented North Road at Cambridge CC’s road race held at Bourn. The course was rolling but was made tougher by a gusty wind and an extra lap being added to make the distance nearly 80 miles.

The first lap was uneventful with the majority of the pack wary of the conditions but going into the 2nd lap this all changed with the pace picking up and a succession of attacks going off the front. Luckily I had moved forward from my usual rear of the peleton position and with Trevor we managed to instigate a small chase group of 6 riders that soon grew when we caught another group. There were 2 riders up ahead and our group of around 15 worked well to stay well ahead of the bunch and to try and catch the leaders.

Trevor always looked more comfortable than myself and I started feeling pretty rough as I had never raced at this level and distance before. The gap between us and the leaders did not diminish and after 60 miles ‘The man with the hammer’ finally hit me when a gap formed on one of the descents and I couldn’t close it.

On the final lap Trevor was riding well and following the wheels up ahead, and with the chase group now splintering he rode strongly to bridge some gaps and take an excellent 8th place. I soloed some of the last lap and sat in on a group coming through to finish 32nd at over 9 minutes down. It was a tough day as only 45 riders out of the 70 starters finished and the groups were well spread over the whole circuit by the end.

Ian Coles