Results - July 2008
Thruxton Crits - July 27th 2008
A man of few words (who does all his talking with the legs!) - Gary Bullock gets an excellent 2nd place at Thruxton: "Small field, loads of attacks from me trying to break the race up, it came down to a bunch sprint and I got 2nd. I ended up attacking up the hill into the chicane and thought I had it until this kid came off my back wheel for the win."
Upavon, (Up and Down but good) - July 21st 2008
With a beautiful sunny evening and little wind it was to be a ideal conditions for racing. My plan. To ride hard and get points. 40 plus started. First lap went by without anything happening then on the second lap down the back straight into the wind, 1 rider shot off the front and so I tag on - with another rider on my wheel. Soon we dropped the 1st rider and the 2 of us were away when "clunk, clunk" as he changed gear......Then the rider behind me took off so I jumped out of the saddle and followed. Holy cow this guy was strong and I was struggling to stay with him. Then he sat up. Soon we were in the comfort of the bunch.
On the 3rd lap my strong friend went again in the same place with another rider (a strong junior I think). It took 2 laps to reel these guys in and as we were catching them down the back straight the junior seemed to give up and want to come back to the bunch leaving the other rider "Mr. Strong" going off into the distance alone. One down one to go was what the bunch were thinking.
A lap later we were still trying to catch this guy. Another lap and then another lap and then another lap...... well he was going away from us. STRONG was probably a weak word to use for this rider. IMPRESSIVELY STRONG would be a better word. Well I started to think about what was going to happen now as he had gone and it was obvious that we would not catch him. There were a lot of attempts of riders attacking and trying to go away. I was involved in a group of 7 other riders who did get away, all strong riders ourselves. But did we work together, Hell No - it was better to do all the work by ourselves...... or should I say that's what was happening.
Sometimes you just know it will never happen and for the rest of the night I spent as much time pushing the pace and trying to get something to go. My philosophy has always been to drain the petrol tank by the time you end the race. No need to have spare in the tank after the race. Well tonight I had screwed up with my keenness to race hard. Well I am human after all. This obviously was detrimental to me when it came down to the bunch sprint. I tried to go when it wound up but failed miserably. I then decided to sit-up and cruise over the line.
I certainly had had a hard work out and more importantly came out of the race enjoying it although coming away without any points. At my level I believe you need to enjoy your racing as much as having the goal of scoring points and that I did last night. Average for the race was 39.3 kph although I felt it may have been just over 40. I guess it was due to the extra work load I did. Not clever but more fun. What a Funtastic evening and pleased with my ride.
Ian Lowe
Portsmouth Crits, Mountbatten Centre - July 16th 2008
Well after a good ride on Monday at Upavon I was really up for this. Wind was light with a cloudy warm evening of racing ahead and temperature a pleasant 21 degrees. As with all these races at Portsmouth, the attacks go from the start. Within the first 4 laps there were 2 attempted attacks. I let them go and the bunch soon reeled them in. Then on lap 5 into a slight headwind, Dan from DHC floated off the front so I gunned it and called for him to jump on. We were away without anyone attempting to jump on. After 5 laps of hard work we were a half a lap up on the bunch and holding.
The rest of the DHC team were helping us stay away by making it harder for anyone to break off the front of the bunch. Tactics in a 3rd Cat race!! I know it is unheard of but it was working. Unfortunately Ian had put on weight and due to lack of fitness could not put the same hard turns in Dan was doing and I then started on that slippery slope.
Dan decided to go it alone which left me in no mans land. Then 7 riders broke off the bunch. I was trying to recover in readiness to hop on when they came past. The 7 riders were reduced to 4 before they got to me and the other 3 went back to the bunch. These guys were working well I was looking forward to hitching a lift. Soon they came up to me and on I got - but they were going like a train and I had not fully recovered. I stayed with them for 3 laps or let's say just..... by half a wheel. Well my worse nightmare happened as I lost contact and again I was in no-mans land sliding down that slippery slope towards the bunch.
3 laps later I was back in safety and took time out to recover. The 4 away plus Dan who initially went with me eventually made it back onto the bunch and now were a lap up. If only I was fitter..... slimmer..... Like in the spring I too would be a lap up.....Ho Hum.
My goal was to finish well if nothing else. So it came down to a bunch sprint with the 5 away also involved in the bunch sprint. I chose my wheel and came around the final bend in about 12th place and gaining ground. I finished either 6th or 7th in the bunch sprint which put me in about 10th, 11th or 12th overall. Hopefully 10th. Video evidence is required by Sue to do the final placings.
Dan, the rider who I initially went with at the start picked up 2nd and a good ride by him too. He has been training with the winners of the RAAM (Race Across America) and is in great form currently. He was the rider who I went off with in the spring and a third rider came over to us who eventually won that day. I picked up 2nd and Dan picked up 3rd. He has improved dramatically with his increased training and I on the other hand have gone the other way. I was pretty pleased with my race especially that I have done very little training of late, 3 times in the last 4 weeks so I guess I cannot complain.
What if ..... No not enough time for that. Average for the night 39.8 kph. A good nights racing.
Upavon Monday Crit - July 14th 2008
Ian Lowe reports: "After my terrible ride last Monday at Upavon I decided to go back to prove to myself that it was not just lack of form that caused me to fall off the bunch and spend the rest of the race grovelling at the back.
I arrived early. My mind was not strong like last week and although I felt physically stronger, I wasn't 100%. In fact I was wondering what I was doing there. After spending 1 hour and 30 mins to get there I was not going home without racing. My goal to not fall off the back of the bunch and of course do some efforts up front.
40 plus riders turned up with an overcast warm evening and a wind same direction but half as strong as last week. I noticed quite a few juniors had pitched up. I call them sprinters on 2 wheels as they tend to sit in and then let rip either on the the last lap or last 200 - 300 metres. We needed to deal with them if it was going to be a bunch sprint.
I planned to stay off the front for the first few laps. After 3 and a half laps and 2 attempted attacks another attack went I went with it. We stayed away for a lap and a bit before being caught. Better than the previous 2 attacks. Well now it was time to find out how I felt when I got back into the bunch. Another attack and the bunch responded. Great - I was able to respond quite easily too unlike last Monday. This made me feel a lot better.
Well I got involved with a couple more of attacks and chased down quite a few other attacks trying to get on but as I approached the group ahead with 1 - 3 others in tow they always sat up. Lazy gits.
We were well over half way through the race and it had all come back together when a RAF rider shot off the front, down the back straight into the head wind and no one responded. Oooops sorry but I did. When I got onto his wheel we took it in turns just the 2 of us and held the gap of about 25 secs. for the first lap.
This then opened a fraction more on lap 2 to about 35 secs. We then opened it a lot more on the 3rd lap to about 45 secs. I could not understand why no one else came over or tried to chase us down. Towards the end of the 3 lap I noticed 4 or 5 riders coming across and mentioned it to the RAF rider, he almost gave up. I then noticed it was the other race so shouted to him that we must press on.
Unfortunately the other race created the momentum for the bunch to chase and we were caught on the fourth lap just at the end of the back straight. Great..... all that hard work for nothing. Then another attack went and so did I. Even better, I recovered quickly and was able to go again. This made me feel on top of the world especially as I could not do that last week. I now believe I must had a bug or virus last week although I still do not feel 100% now.
2 laps to go and 2 riders shot off the front. Believing we would catch them the bunch let them go. We didn't and they picked up 1st and 2nd. Well done those 2 riders. I knew that in the bunch sprint the only way to break the juniors was to have a long and hard bunch sprint from way out so guess what...... I opened the pace full throttle down the back straight with the bunch lined out behind me and then pulled over to allow someone else to go which they did and the pace remained high all the way around to the bottom of the drag for the final straight to the finish line.
The sprint started to wind up about 500m out. I worked my way forward and closed down a number of riders - about 5 or 6, to finish and very close 11th to 2 other riders who finished 9th and 10th. About a half wheel length between 9th and 11th separated us.
Enjoyment deluxe. I was truly chuffed as I worked hard all night and created the perfect situation for my style of riding. Just outside the points, but that's racing.
Average speed was 37.8 kph.
Upavon, (Black Monday) - July 7th 2008
Ian Lowe reporting: "Bad day at Black Upavon.....
It took me 2 hour 45 minutes to get there. The M3 was blocked then the M4 wasblocked. Also, 2 torrential storms on the way and eventually arrived with only 25 minutes spare.
So, I did 2 laps warm up and the signs weren't good as was feeling lethargic. The wind was blowing pretty hard up the finishing straight but the weather was dry and looked like staying that way.
There were only 22 or so riders that signed on and when the race started I had a few goes. But nothing.
After about 5 laps, 3 guys clipped off the front and the bunch let them go. 2 stronger guys I was watching and have raced with before, went off to chase them down - I tried to go with them but had nothing in the legs.
Once they bridged the gap, now with 5 away - they worked well to get a bigger gap.
The bunch put the pressure on but we were not working together. I tried to get them to work and put a big effort in down the back straight into the head wind but without success.
Then they pushed the pace through the roof on the finishing straight just after my big effort and I could not hang on. A huge lesson learnt. I know I was not last at this time but nearly. With a small bunch like that there is nowhere to hide. I tailed off the group and suffered in the last laps on my own. I wanted to give up, but carried on.
I then started to recover and got stronger again. Caught one guy with 4 laps to go. Then caught another with 2 laps to go when the leaders (now only 4 away passed me).
They were flying or let's say they were going normal racing pace and I was slow.
My average for the night was a slow 32.4 kph. Something wrong. Not sure what though. I will have look under the bonnet tonight to see if there is anything obvious.
Great to see that the 4 away had a fun finish. One of the guys who was as strong as an Ox towed the other 3 around most of the time was jumped by the 2 weaker riders. One of these was a junior who sprinted away for the win and the other hung on for second place.
The guy who finished 4th said to the eventual 3rd place rider (the strong rider who towed the others around) before the finish that he would not contest for first place as he did all the work. Funny to see how the two riders who did nothing and sprinted for first and second were trying to justify why they did it etc.....
Ho hum, can't have it good all the time. Must have the bad days to appreciate the good ones and this was one of my really bad days. I mean really BAD. I have had training rides faster than this even in the same wind conditions. I struggled to get 30 kph with a tailwind up the finishing straight where I know I was getting 32 kph up there into a head wind during the winter series here earlier in the year.
We will have another go some time and get the V8 tuned better this time."
Omega Crits, Thruxton - July 6th 2008
Gary Bullock reports: "Had a very active race, well active to my standards anyway. I attacked on the first lap, was brought back, chased down an attack on the third lap then counter attacked a move on the 5th lap, brought back. As I was recovering a Hargroves Cycles guy went up the drag into the wind and was never to be seen again. He won it with half a lap to spare, uber strong - especially in that wind. Then a couple of laps from the end I tried again into the wind, again didn't last as I was chased down. Then a couple of guys went and the bunch just let them go, I was getting a bit peeved by this point as everytime I went - I got chased down and they let these guys go so near the end. So with that I got on the front and managed to get within 50 metres of the two up front at which point one of the two (Velocity rider) put in a huge turn and managed to gap himself from his breakaway companion. We never saw him again. We picked up his fading companion and the bunch was now sprinting for third.
On the last lap coming up the drag I was in an OK postion about 6th or 7th wheel and as we hit the chicane a VC ST Raphael guy just switched right in front of me and caused me to swerve violently and lose what momentum I had, as loadsa riders went past me. I started to get my momentum back and started to pass riders. I ended up getting 10th overall.....not bad but if only the sprint was another 10 metres I'm sure I would've been top 5."
Portsmouth Crits, Mountbatten Centre - July 2nd 2008
This from Ian Lowe. A top ride! "Went straight from work and arrived early. The sun was out and the track dry without a breath of wind. I felt pretty good mentally although a little tired from my previous days efforts commuting home at an average of 21 mph for 1 hour and 30 mins.
30 riders started and it was not long before the first attack happened. This was going to be a night of attacks. I jump and got onto it. There were 5 of us away but this did not last. The bunch were not having any of it as their legs were still fresh like ours. For the next 25 minutes there were about another 6 or 8 breaks all of which I was in and all these came back to the bunch. I was just thinking that this race would come down to a bunch sprint at the end and was preparing myself to recover and seek out a wheel to follow for the sprint when another attack went with 3 riders. I sat in and watched until the rider in front of me decided to go so I went with him and we chased the 3 up the road as the bunch watch us. It took us a fair while of hard work to get on terms with the 3 away. As we hooked onto the leading 3 the pace went up. The leading 4 were all tight together with myself 5th wheel and on the ragged edge with about one and a half bike lengths between me and the 4th wheel I felt the weakest there. The guy on the front was towing the 5 of us around lined out at a pace of about 25/26 mph yes by himself. I was now 2 bike lengths behind the 4th wheel and struggling. I looked ahead to see that the 4th wheel had a gap too so only 3 riders riding close together now.
This pace was breaking up the group and that would be to the benefit of the bunch. Since getting on no one had done a turn other than the guy on the front who by now I had decided was damn strong. I decided some how I needed to get around the fading 4th wheel pretty quick so dug deep and sprinted around him and straight onto the 3rd wheel. I spent the next few minutes recovering when I noticed that he too had let a gap appear. So same trick again I guess....... With my body hurting, my legs screaming it was a good thing my head was strong as all else wasn't. I did it again. Now 3rd wheel and hanging on for dear life. We were about 300m ahead of the bunch. I peeped overt my shoulder to see how far the other 2 were behind us. Gone..........Blown.......... and back in the bunch. Oh.... Ok.... so I was not the weakest then, we were all hurting I guess.
The 3 of us stayed together for a while until the front rider got bored and put the hammer down. I was on my limit and decided it would be a bad thing if I went with him. Thinking he would blow and fade I gambled that my only chance of staying away from the bunch was with the other rider behind me. As the leader moved away, we were each taking a turn on the front and resting every other turn. Unfortunately his turns were slower at 21/22 mph and my turns were at 25/26 mph. The leader had now lapped the field and join back into the bunch. The bunch was still 300m behind but not for long. They decided to reel us in, slowly but surely. They started to pull about 50m back every lap. Something in me made me think my racing colleague was holding back something for the sprint at the end. When the bunch were about 100m behind I shouted to my racing colleague to dig in deep and put some hard efforts in as we were nearing the end of the race. "Better to die trying than lose doing 90%" I said. Giving him credit he did up the pace the next lap 25/26 mph and I did 2 laps at 27/28 mph.
Well the both of us were pretty knackered now for those efforts and as I looked over my shoulder to see the damage, I noticed we had opened the gap back up to about 300m. Job Done! Now it was going to be just the 2 of us with a sprint to decide who will pick up 2nd place. On the last lap I positioned myself on his wheel and decided to drop off 2 bike lengths to wind up my sprint earlier than normal as it usually starts at full pace just before the bend. As I drew up along side him he made no effort to try to sprint after me and I went over the line about 5 seconds ahead grabbing 2nd place. Chuffed to bits I was.
We both congratulated each other for the work we did to stay away and he was really chuffed with his 3rd place too. He admitted that he had nothing left and had drained himself totally to stay way. I was wrong in thinking he was saving himself. How could I !!!!!!!
Another great evening hard work paid off at last. My body ached from head to toe - my legs screaming with pain but I then realised how hard I had worked. Soon afterwards I found out that the guy who won it was a TT specialist and does a 19 min 10 sec for a 10 mile TT!! He was by far the strongest rider there last night and very impressive too. Wish I could do what he did, tow us around lap after lap and then put the hammer down and get back onto the bunch by himself. Great work."
I clocked the average speed at 38.9 kph.