Colin Bailey 2nd - Ike Saul Spring RR - 70 mile - 2/3/4

Three in the top 20 in the Ike Saul Spring RR - 70 mile - 2/3/4

Link to photos from the event here

Ike Saul Spring RR - 70 mile - 2/3/4

We had a good showing of North Road riders for the Ike Saul Spring Road Race on Sunday 9th March. Frank Rawlins, David Vaughan, Shaun Rouse, Paul McGrath and I all started in the pleasantly mild and dry conditions which made a difference from what we were used to at this time of year.


After a short neutralised section the race got under way and I moved with another 2 riders off the front to try and start the first move of the day. After a couple of turns on the front I could feel my rear wheel squirming around and I thought I'd punctured already. After puncturing in the Crest the week before I thought surely this can't happen again. There was a service vehicle in this race though so the hand went up and I slowed, dropped back to the bunch and then to the back of that. I then saw a lot of other riders unsure to whether they had punctured coming to the back. This was followed by a few riders coming down on one of the corners. I stopped and checked my real wheel and the tyre was still fully inflated so I got back on and chased back to the group. There had been patches of diesel over the road and some dampness in places which was causing the problems. David Vaughan was one of the riders that came down early and also had to chase to get back on. Luckily it wasn't a long chase for me and I moved back to the front of the group through the start finish area.


Just as I'd got back to the front I saw Paul go off the front with another 2 riders. After a few seconds I followed another 2 riders across and we became the first move of 6 riders, and this was still only 3-4 miles since the start. We started to work very well straight away and had a good balance of clubs with East London Velo, Arbis Colbert, VC Norwich, Colchester Rovers and  2 of us from North Road all in the break. We gained 30 seconds quickly within the first few miles and we kept the pressure on all working hard.


The next lap through the diesel area we were cautious in the break and made sure we all got through in one piece and ramped up the pace after we were out the other side. Wayne Crombie from ELV punctured here which meant we were down to 5 in the break with just under 60 miles to go. This was going to be a long day out in front and the wind was picking up making it hard going but we had opened up a 1min 30 lead.


Behind, North Road and Arbis were marking all moves trying to impact the break and they were doing a great defensive job. David Vaughan suffered a mechanical and had to withdraw and then around half way Shaun Rouse suffered a puncture which ended his race.


Back up in the break we were still working hard, Paul dropped a bottle early through a rough section of road so was trying to ration his supplies. We had now pulled out a gap of over 2 mins so were still working efficiently. With around 30 miles to go we encountered traffic through a village and had to stop behind the lead car which cost us 20-30secs but we worked hard again after this keep the 1 min 30 sec gap.


With around and 18 miles to go the Arbis rider attacked and got a gap (we later found out that he thought that was the last lap). We held him at about 20 seconds and after a few miles of chasing him the Colchester Rovers rider lost touch with us. He too had dropped some food earlier in the race. This left 3 of us chasing and with about 8 miles to go Paul struggled to hold the wheel in a windy section and it looked like the 'hunger knock' had caught up with him. This was going to be a tough ride into the wind on his own on empty for the last 8 miles.


The VC Norwich rider and I continued to chase the Arbis rider and we caught him with about 7 miles to go. We all settled into working well together again. With about 3 miles to go the Arbis rider attacked again and we couldn't quite match his move. We held him at around 10 seconds through to the finish. He took the win, I won the sprint for 2nd and VC Norwich took 3rd.


Behind Paul was digging deep just trying to maintain any power on empty and trying to hold off the chasers. A couple of small chase groups had formed by this stage and he had got caught by a couple a few of miles out. He still managed to hold off the bunch bearing down on him on the line to finish 8th. Frank finished in 16th in the bunch sprint. A good start for North Road CC and currently sitting in 2nd position in the Eastern Road Race League team standings.

Links to photos and video.