LVRC Dunton - Sun 3rd June

Report from Nick Harris

For an old boy the loss of Eastway at the end of last season was something of a blow and even though I renewed my LVRC licence this year it was beginning to seem like a waste of money.  But no! Galloping over the horizon to the rescue came the not the four horsemen of the apocalypse but the men from Ciclos Uno who have  organised a programme of Sunday racing for the over 40s, just like old times.
 
Those of you who have already raced at Dunton might want to skip this paragraph but those who haven't may be interested to learn that it's part of the Ford Motor Company's test facility just off the Southend Road past the Halfway House pub.  The circuit is basically a sort of dumbbell shape with the home and back straights separated only by a white line (it's a pretty wide road at this point so any head-on collisions are pretty unlikely).  The ends are gently banked but not enough to worry anybody nervous about riding the track - and I write as one who couldn't quite bring himself to tackle half a lap of the Roubaix banking.  The end before you enter the home straight includes a deceptively tough climb, made harder today by a headwind.  Changing facilities are basic (the car) and there are warnings of dire punishments for those caught not using the toilets provided.
 
As is my habit I arrived ridiculously early but by 10 am about 30 youngsters and a dozen or so olduns had assembled for their hour plus five laps.  I felt the race was dominated by the aforementioned headwind blowing down the back straight  which also made the going tough up the hill - pretty rapid down the home straight though - 50*11 for those with compacts.  Although a number of small breaks formed they were all brought back which made for a somewhat stop start race.  Possibly the tailwind home straight was too fast to get away and the headwind in the back straight meant that for many finding a wheel to shelter behind became the main priority.  In retrospect I probably did a bit more work on the front than I should have done and when four got away coming into the home straight with about four laps to go I lacked the legs to go with them and finished midway down the field in the bunch sprint.
 
All in all though I'm glad I went and fully intend to give it another go soon
 
So long as there is the demand the races will be run throughout the summer.  Details can be found on www.londoncyclesport.com and probably other websites as well.