Pointless Fun and Cunning Plans

Resplendent in my new Newbury top I took part in Hillingdon round 5 last Saturday. Hatched a cunning plan with some others to go hard from the gun. Typically it all came unhinged. We practiced riding around a bit and just as I went by the start the others got stopped. So they ended up front row of the grid and I ended up last.

From the off the pace was hard. I bust a gut to get to the front, and in fact did peak 5 mins power of season to date getting there. By the time I arrived it was a bit late and despite efforts no break materialised.

So ended in another sprint, I got chopped up and didnt figure in the results. But good news in a way was that one of guys in our group got the victory. Well deserved as he's a class rider. And overall, despite lack of points, my favourite race to date. At least felt got a workout.

Watts were interesting: 280W/301NW.

Compared to last week (when I got 7th) 204W/242NW. Goes to show, power meter only of limited use in road racing.

Official Race write up:

There were only going to be two winners in the 4th cat race; a very strong south-easterly wind (which most riders were unsure of how to combat it) and the rider 1st across the line! A £10 prime was donated by Stuart Stow (now back to racing after 15 years, originally with Feltham RC) to be fought out after 20 minutes.

It was taken by the strong man of the race, a very determined Tom Sutherland (Twickenham CC). The wind continued to play havoc with many riders caught out as gaps opened followed by the inevitable drifting backwards. Hopefully riding in these conditions should be a learning curve for these riders - stay close to the front to avoid being caught out at the back when gaps open and reduce the risk of being dropped. Finally it came down to a sprint for the line and it again went to Prime winner Tom Sutherland from Peter Hedger (Sotonia CC) and Justin Webb (London Dynamos). Tom Sutherland’s transition from rowing to cycling is now well established and with his 3rd Category licence achieved his progress in Elite racing will be watched with interest.