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andyedwards · Joined: 20 Sep 2009 Posts: 312

James won the 3rd cat race and what a classy win it was: strong throughout, didn't worry about the breaks that were never going to make it; kept the dangerous breaks in check; stayed out of trouble and went like a rocket in the sprint to win by a clear bike length. Pure class.

I was 9th, which was quite lucky as I got myself in a good position on the last lap, missed the crash and just hammered it to the line. It was my first race in a long, long time so pleased to get in the points.

Andrew Harvey rode well, was well placed, worked hard and finished comfortably in the bunch.

Didn't see the finish of the 4th cats, they were racing at the same time, but they seemed to have a good race and as far as I know all the KW riders who took part finished in the bunch.

THE CRASH: I have got to say I have never seen such an idiotic piece of riding. Coming up to 200m to go and two guys (Cavendish wannabes) are pushing one another, then fists start flying then one crashes into the other and then into a few other riders and there's a God almighty pile up. It was pretty bad - broken collar bone for one rider and I think at least two or three others were badly injured, possibly with more broken bones. I could see the two guys getting hot and bothered, so moved round them and as soon as I was clear I just hammered it, but others weren't so lucky. Some of the guys were taking it a bit too seriously: it's the 3rd cat crit on Hillingdon, not Milan San Remo!

But overall, great to be racing again, proud to be representing KW and pleased we've got some enthusiastic and talented riders.

SeanMoly · Joined: 08 Jun 2008 Posts: 277

I have to agree with Andy, there was a few dangerous riders there today, but thankfully we all managed to stay away from any trouble. I hope the fallen riders get better soon.
I tried a few breaks, but i think next week i'll just stay in the group.

Well done to the others, especially James for the win. I came in just behind Andy in 10th.

Roll on next week.

Well done KW.
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andyedwards · Joined: 20 Sep 2009 Posts: 312

Hi Sean - yes, sorry I missed you off. Getting the hang of getting to know one another (confused as you were in different colours). So that was 3 KW affiliated riders in the top 10.

JimLey · Joined: 20 Oct 2008 Posts: 920 Location: Kingston

Well done Felgen for winning, it was pretty clear that was likely on wednesday after riding with him then.

Sean's a KW rider really, just 'cos someone else pays his entry fees he's still one of us really!

wplatt · Posted: Sat Dec 12, 2009 21:55 Post subject:

Cheers guys for the comments! I am busy penning my report now, but Andy has written a good account already, but I will continue nonetheless
_________________
2008 Planet-X Superlight pro carbon Dura Ace
ex-felgen, ex-doctorjames, now wplatt
'the other RPCC founder member', the other James Platt for that matter, too

Keith G · Joined: 07 Nov 2006 Posts: 713 Location: Twickenham

Sean's a KW rider really, just 'cos someone else pays his entry fees he's still one of us
really!

Did he have the blue flashing light on the bike Laughing

if not he should get one people may move out of his way in the sprint

wplatt · Posted: Sat Dec 12, 2009 22:11 Post subject:

Wes · Joined: 14 Jul 2009 Posts: 210

Nice job James... Very Happy

wplatt · Posted: Sat Dec 12, 2009 22:58 Post subject:

Hillingdon 12th December

I had been thinking about this date for the whole week as I had spent the week off babysitting my son while his mum went back to work. This left me plenty of time to think about what happened in the race the week before and I was playing it over in my mind again and again.

Anyway I managed to avoid (see previous post for details)
a) Curry (no, not Adam!)
b) A very late night (thanks to Ben my son and Directeur Sportif for being a good boy and sleeping right through!)
c) Getting half pissed (I bought 96 cans of beer from Thresher in their closing down sale a few weeks ago and I did my level best to polish it off in super quick time)

So the excuse count was minimal to not put on a good showing.

Anyway all went to plan apart from forgetting my Garmin, but I remembered right away so had time to go back for it. Hopefully the one hiccup of the day. I still arrived in plenty of time, and there was no queue at sign on. One other small potential whoopsie was that I had missed a couple of shards of grit/glass from the wednesday run in my front tyre, but they came out and the tyre stayed up thank god!

On to the racing. A slow start, which remained slow for most of the race - we didn't catch the 4ths, though thats possibly because there are some very quick guys in the 4th Cat ex ironmen and triathletes who have never raced before including a guy who can do Box Hill in 5 mins 8 seconds so I am sure their race was being driven along at a fair lick. Having said that several laps were reading off on my Garmin at a rather pedestrian 2 mins 30 seconds plus though some were barely over 2 minutes especially when breaks were on or being chased.

The laps ticked off there was a north westerly blowing, not a gale but enough to notice, and I thought it would suit me being big and beefy - I sat somewhere in the teens position-wise, made Andy's acquaintance as he rolled up on my left and we chatted, but was just keeping an eye out to see who looked strong and who looked dodgy, of which I thought there were not that many strong riders, though as it would prove to be the case,t here were a few male chickens in the race and I was glad to be out of the way of all of that. In fact the strongest riders were two of my non-wheeler friends and the result reflected that. On lap 13 I got a little bored and in fact just wanted to stretch the legs so I let rip down the back straight, and opened up over a 100 metre gap (measured by retrospectoscope!). Looking back as I came up the finish straight, I saw that only one had reacted, my friend Al from Dulwich Paragon, who rides like a demon on a very unassuming bike - as they say its not the bike, its the legs that power it. It quickly became obvious that there were a hell of a lot of nervous chasers, and they had hammered it to get back at us, plus a bit of indecision on my part as I thought that 15 laps (potentially) on the front was too much for a pair and a larger group would stand a better chance of staying away. A few riders came through as our break finished and went by with a cheeky 'cheers mate' which couldn't go unanswered, so I put in a bit of effort to get on the back of it. I quickly realised the third of the three was getting gapped as he was way past his limit, so I went by him. It turned out the other two guys were shot too, and I resigned to going back to the group.

Six or so laps later a few guys went for it down the back straight, I waited to see what developed, the pack accelerated to 32mph, and the guys who were off the front extended their lead. They kept it up the finish hill and I wonderd if this was the one that might stick. I bridged across and started shouting that we had a gap and to bury it on the front - through and off. Again everyone stopped working when it came to the finish straight and it all came back together.

There were a few other half breaks, but nothing worthwhile, and the would be soloists were always going backwards as the pack swallowed them up on the home straight, a fact which could have made me come a cropper in the run in. The lap board came out, 3 laps, 2, 1 and the bell - and it all started to get a little hectic, with lots of jockeying for position. I was a bit concerned that it was getting towards being a moving roadblock at the front, as I was about 3 rows back at this point even though were approaching 35mph down the back straight. A couple tried long range efforts, in fact one had gone up the incline on the penultimate lap but never got too far away and he was getting swallowed up and going backwards at a rate of knots down the right hand side of track. As riders peeled aorund him I was left with a bit of a hairy moment as to which side to pass him. I took the outside which was a little tight, but worked nicely as it set me up with the clear track on the outside of the last bend which hadn't been reoccupied.

I let fly and quickly made up about 10-15 places and I had taken the lead by the chicane, and had good momentum, so buried it again and went for the line. I was grabbing the tips of the bars a la Cavendish and glancing down - I couldn't see any other wheels left or right, and kept going and knew I had it! We had been told that hands off the bar celebrations were going to be frowned upon, but I reflexedly made fists as I crossed the line, along with a shout or f**k yeah! Before getting some congrats from other riders. Al came second, and did hint that I cut across his line in the chicance, rather than following its curves I went straight on, which I thought was reasonable as I was clear in front at this point.

There was a crash, which I came across on the way back to the line on the warm down lap to pick up my jacket form the start. One guy with a lot of road rash but no breaks, who I took a look at in my professional capacity, but a couple of others who didnt come off so well. To hear Andy's report of how it happened actually sickens me, and I hope the perpetrators get the book thrown at them.

Anyway, I'm looking forward to the result being posted, and looking at the 15 BC points I have accrued from 2 races. In fact between us all today I think we may well rank top in the 3rd cat South East rankings as a result!

I don't know if I can keep this momentum in the series, as if I place well in the coming races, I could be a second Cat by the early new year - and then probably get murdered by the Sigma Sport riders in the E123 which I would have to move up to. Having said that I have never been this fit in my life, including semi-professional rugby days, so thats got to be good.

It was great to meet the other guys. A nice touch by both Andy's who came and said hi, and I think all the KW's got away unscathed this time to ride again another day.

*edit* p.s. Thanks Wes - when are you going to come and race!?
p.p.s. It was Andy's first race in a loong time (he can tell you just how long himself! - so to get points was tops!)
p.p.p.s. Sean Moly - sneaked in under the radar... who gets the points KW or your other claim?
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2008 Planet-X Superlight pro carbon Dura Ace
ex-felgen, ex-doctorjames, now wplatt
'the other RPCC founder member', the other James Platt for that matter, too

andyedwards · Joined: 20 Sep 2009 Posts: 312

Glad you remembered your Garmin! It was slower than last week but the fast laps were quick, didn't realise they were THAT quick. My Cat Eye was working on the warm up but not during the race, only heart rate worked and that was through the roof!

andyedwards · Joined: 20 Sep 2009 Posts: 312

@ James - 21 years since my last race (young Luke may not have even been born then). I kid you not. I did road racing quite seriously as a junior then packed up to do my A levels and go to uni and move to London, career, etc ... always kept riding, but became very infrequent until last summer when I started venturing beyond Richmond Park to Box Hill, Surrey Hills, etc. Started with KW in late September, never thought I'd race again.

Hoping to do some Surrey League races in 2010, work permitting, but the main ambition for next year is to ride La Marmotte and Etape and hopefully be in good shape to do a good time.

wplatt · Posted: Sat Dec 12, 2009 23:32 Post subject:

limited results are up on Londoncyclesport.com

http://www.londoncyclesport.com/Results/Road_Racing/Imperial_Winter_Hillingdon_Circuit_Series_2.html

@andyedwards - wow - top effort!!! My own meagre claim to laziness is doing nothing in terms of exercise for 7 years, and ballooning to 107kgs. I now weigh in at a relatively lithe 91kg (this morning at least!)
_________________
2008 Planet-X Superlight pro carbon Dura Ace
ex-felgen, ex-doctorjames, now wplatt
'the other RPCC founder member', the other James Platt for that matter, too

leona · Joined: 21 Sep 2008 Posts: 1200 Location: kingston

not that it matters in the slightest but out of interest, the guy who won the e123 isnt actually a sigma rider per se. i think he maybe just gets 10% off..certainly not a team rider.
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steve saunders · Joined: 13 Nov 2006 Posts: 633 Location: Swiss Alps

Well done James, great result!
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Andy L · Joined: 29 Jul 2005 Posts: 512 Location: Mortlake

nice one James - told you you'd go far with a sprint like that!