Conditions variable, roads potholed and flooded, but we’re back at it….
Welcome to the springtime race report!
Limited events and cancelations, club members still managed a few rides testing their winter training success.
Words: James “I’m not quite fit yet” Smee, Chris “Chilly” Hill & Nolan Rogers.
Edit: Adam Coppard.
18th April – PNECC P829/9 TT
Running the shorter course near Southwick, Larry took the opportunity to test the legs on the road bike over this 9 mile course. Despite less than ideal conditions Larry came in 2nd Overall and 1st Road bike with a blistering time of 21:49 – good signs for his season ahead!
24th April – PNECC Summer series - Mountbatten
A keen CCR quadruplet descended on the Mountbatten track for an evening of chasing in circles. The plan was hatched, team tactics understood. Adam, Sam, Chris D and Larry mixed it up in the bunch hitting counter attacks, covering each others moves, and ‘running interference’ on the bunch as someone tried to get away. A break went which was chased by Larry, spending half the race on his own closing the two up front to just miss their wheels, however staying away from the pack and holding for a great 3rd place and decent points from the first race of the season.
Where did AC, SH and CD finish? They finished, but outside of any points.
If it wasn't for those meddling kids… and older design skinsuit…
30th April – HRC – P843 TT
A dry(ish) evening had a great turn for the local evening ten. Laurence (TT bike), Harry (Road bike), Adam and Sam along with Larry and Myself paired up for a TTT entry on road bikes.
The wind was a talking point as from the start all the way to Chichester was a factor, with a tailwind from Lavant to West stoke.
Times recorded were; Harry 25:21, Laurence 24:18, Sam/Adam 25:10 and Larry/Myself 22:37 which was good enough for first place (despite Larry having to slow down for me, several times!)
30th April - Dirt Racing Series – Season 8 Final - ZWIFT
So, this week was the last week of Tuesday night racing before the summer break.
Stage 6 – 19:15 – ITT 14.7km – 2 laps of Watopia’s 2 Bridges Loop. 2 scoring intermediate sprints worth 15 points for 1st with finishing points always taking priority with 120 points for a win.
Nolan - After a somewhat disappointing first season in the DRS Moose team, I spotted an opportunity to get a decent result as the last evening included an 14.4km Individual Time Trial, even if it was a bit hilly. All the riders started at once, but drafting was disabled so each rider could easily see their position vs the other riders I warmed up well and figured if I’d keep it to around 300w and see what happened. I pushed hard at the start and found myself in first place with my pacing plan out the window, I pushed as hard as I dared and tried to take rest during the descents, eventually two riders passed me and left me third on the road. Ultimately, I was classified 4th as the rider behind me picked up the only bonus segment (in a TT!) and was promoted to 1st! Still, 4/40 was a decent result for me and as a result my Zwift FTP got put back to pretty much where it was before I went down with the cough /chest infection that has been at large recently. To summarise: I enjoyed DRS racing and look forward to doing more! Hopefully some of the improvements I’ve seen will be useful on Thursday night Zwift TTTs and even better, in real TTs on the road.
Chilly – A rather shorter race report! As my >5-minute power is rather rubbish compared to my competitors my plan was always to cruise round slowly and smash the 2 sprints to hopefully gain some points. After slightly pushing up all the short inclines and sprinting hard for both segments I finished in 46/52 riders, but once sprint points added I was in 30/52 scoring 25 out of a possible 30 points. On to the next crit style race!
Stage 7 – 19:45 – Points 18.3km – 6 laps of Glasgow Crit. 3 scoring intermediate sprints on laps 1,3 &5 but as always finish points being more heavily weighted.
Nolan – After putting in quite a shift for the first ITT I mostly managed to stay with the front pack on this race through the evil Clyde Kicker a short steep incline each lap, got dropped a few times but managed to get back on and finished in 18th position over the line 1.4 seconds behind the leader but after sprint points added which I didn’t score on I finished in 22nd overall. Averaging 2.9WKG it was another good workout to end the season to leave DIRTy Moose 8/11 overall for the season.
Things heating up in the Chilly conservatory!
Chilly – After plodding round the ITT I knew this was my time to shine. With the target of scoring in as many of the 3 segments as possible and finishing well I had my work cut out. The relatively steady pace im-between the kicker and sprints were completely ruined by the 10wkg sprints required up the kicker each lap to stay with the front. With our 6th trip up the kicker being the last chance for a split I knew I had to stick with the front. I crested the kicker near the front of the pack and saw our other DIRT rival team send 2 riders of the front to go long to the finish. I chose to sit in the pack until the last little bump to take my chance for bridging and caught both riders as we rounded the last corner. Having held 5wkg for the last 30 seconds they did not have the legs to latch on so I kept on sprinting to victory! 1st place at the finish and with some sprint points I was also 1st overall for this race. With 3 more Coyote’s in the top 9 riders we easily won Stage 7 as a team which left us 3/15 overall. See below to watch it back!
https://youtube.com/clip/UgkxNxMg3GL4-5VmOgRQYtQQ-VqelMNZPX1O?si=beJyG0oL25GvCZRQ
May forecast
Unsettled! With the disappointment of having to cancel our first Open TT of the season due to the rain, there are signs the weather might improve as the RCR Goodwood race series starts, Mountbatten racing continues with two Organisers running weekly races, and outside of the local evening 10TTs the Opens are coming thick and fast. A3crg TT series at Goodwood starts. Southern XC is running and more!
Let me know if you have raced, how it went so we can highlight the achievements and share the knowledge.