Pro Cycle Hire RR 17th June 2012

Colin Bailey and I entered this daunting 97 mile elite road race on a new circuit near Saffron Walden. Pro team representation was from the likes of IG Sigma Sport, Node4- Giordana  and Metaltek Scott. It’s not often that I arrive at an HQ and park next to Malcolm Elliott. The neutralised section was very long at about eight miles and the course was unknown to most of the riders. Once we got going it was clear that it was going to be a nervous first few laps. It was windy, the roads were narrow and in bad condition and the field of about 70 riders didn’t fit the space very easily.

A small break went very early and once we got to the tailwind section we were spinning out a 53/12 gear in pursuit. The first left hand corner was a near disaster; there was no noticeable signage, the lead cars were out of site, and there was no marshal showing the way. Most of the front of the bunch went straight on, some went left and four riders went onto the tarmac. We soft pedalled for a mile until everyone was back together, but then the race was stopped. One of the lead cars had gone the wrong way as well. I was happy to get a rest, but this was a false blessing as when we got moving again it was fast and my legs were not processing the lactic very well.

I wasn’t very sure how many were away, but I was aware that Node4’s Marcin Bialoblocki and two teammates were in the break. When the break had two minutes lead Wouter Sybrandy and two others from IG Sigma went to the front and picked up the pace. This was about with one hour gone and it was very painful. They dragged us round for an hour and I was close to being dropped on two occasions. This was when we were in a single line in crosswinds and I was not the only one suffering. The break was brought back to one minute, but then the chasers sat up. The break, that I found out to be six riders, eventually went to four minutes clear.

During the last two hours the pace was fast and steady, but there were at least three more crashes. I am not sure why as you would expect the quality of riding to be good, but it wasn’t. One guy went down very heavily in a pot hole, brought down three others and was hospitalised; one guy clipped a wheel and went into the verge at over 30 mph; lastly, going through the bell, a rider took a bottle from his helper and just fell over right in front of me. This was very annoying as I came to a stop and had to chase back on.

With five miles to go I foolishly thought that I was feeling quite good. I tried to get into a couple of moves off the front as I thought that it was going to go hard sooner or later and I may as well be at the front. I should have saved my sprinting legs. It bunched up with a mile to go and as we arrived at the 1 kilometre board the lead outs started. I tried to stay with the pace, but immediately started cramping up and had to spin as small gear to the line.

I finished just behind Colin and even though we were not in the top 20, we were relatively pleased that we had coped with the distance and the pace. The field had some of the best riders in the country and with 111 miles on the clock by the time we had got back to the HQ, it was the longest road race I have ever done.

Full result

1st Marcin Bialoblocki NODE4 - Giordana Racing - 100miles 3 hours 54mins

2nd Mike Northey NODE4 - Giordana Racing @3secs

3rd Matt Cronshaw NODE4 - Giordana Racing @20secs

4th Matthew Jones Team Corley Cycles/Blue @3mins

5th Alex Higham - Felt RT Colbornes Same time

6th Ashley Cox - Spirit Racing @3mins 2secs

7th Liam Stones - Team Corley Cycles/Blue @5mins 45secs

8th Pete Williams - NODE4 - Giordana Racing @5min 46secs

9th Dominic Schils - Wielerteam Van Eyck Sport Same time

10th Dean Shannon - Twenty3C Orbea st

11th Owen Lake - Cambridge Cycling Club st

12th Taylor Johnston - Team Der Ver st

13th Andrew Hastings - Metaltek Scott st

14th Jason Gurney - www.twenty3c.co.uk st 

15th Adam French - Rapha Condor CC st

16th Wouter Sybrandy - Team IG Sigma Sport st

17th Roy Chamberlain - Team Corley Cycles/Blue st

18th Tim Butt - Maldon and District CC st

19th Pete Wager - Felt RT Colbornes st

20th Richard Cartland - Team Corley Cycles st

21st Nick Baker - Zappi's Pro Cycling st

22nd Malcolm Smith - St Ives CC st

23rd Gray Turnock - Finsbury Park st

24th Edward Ashby - BC Private Member st

25th Joe Giggins - Pro Cycle Hire UK Racing Team st

26th Andy Lyons - Twenty3C Orbea st

27th Simon Fox - Vicious Velo st 

28th Liam Gentry - Strada Sport st

29th Richard Da Silva - Stevenage CC st

30th Mark Baines - Spirit Racing st

31st Andrew Griffiths - Team IG Sigma Sport st

32nd Russell Falder - Cycle Premier Kovert st

33rd Peter Hargreaves - Strada Sport st

34th Daniel Kogan - Twenty3C Orbea st

35th Clem Berril - Twenty3C Orbea st

36th James Fox - CC Luton st

37th Mike Jackson - CC Luton st

38th Oliver Davies - Planet X st 

39th Oliver Rossi - Rapha Condor Sharp st

40th Will Jenkins - Spirit Racing st

41st Douglas Coleman - CC Luton st

42nd Lee Desborough - St Ives CC st

43rd Colin Bailey - North Road CC st

44th Frank Rawlins - North Road CC st

45th John Heaton-Armstrong - Felt RT Colbornes st

46th Jamie Caldwell - Cycle Premier Kovert st

47th Ian Franklin - Pro Cycle Hire UK Racing Team st

48th Chris Spence - Felt RT Colbornes st

49th Ian Knight - Team Corley Cycles/Blue st

50th Michael Smith Team Corley Cycles/Blue st

66 starters.