Felt Racing (UK) Team Blog

With the season drawing to a close the National TT Champs was the last big race for the three of us.

Tim and I had headed up the day before for a ride round the course, only to find part of it under water and the wind and rain didn’t make it anymore inviting. We retreated to the hotel car park where we managed to get a short turbo session in to the amusement of the other guests.

 Getting up early the next morning the rain had cleared, the wind had dropped and the course had been shortened. This didn’t make it any easier as the course was over some rough, twisty roads with a couple of nasty climbs before a long descent back to the start/ finish area.

I was off first and it seemed to take all of the first lap to get warmed up, the second lap felt much better. As I slowed after the finish line Tim was heading out to the start so between breaths I gave him  a rundown on what to expect. 

Justin was off next and, by the time I’d changed, was flying through to start his second lap. Tim followed a few minutes later whilst I headed for the village hall and a deserved tea and piece of cake!

Master A   
1 Danny Axford  Arctic Premier RT   00:30:45
2 Ben Anstie  Chippenham & District Wheelers   00:31:23
3 David Crawley  Fibrax-Wrexham RC   00:31:33
4 Peter Kench  GWR Team   00:32:06
5 Justin Hoy  Felt Racing   00:33:02
6 Patrick Brennan  a3crg   00:33:11
7 Bryce Dyer  a3crg   00:33:14
8 Mark Heath  Echelon - Spuik   00:33:22
9 Jason Streather  VC St Raphael   00:33:33
10 Mark Simmons  Team Milton Keynes   00:33:41

Master B   
1 Ben Instone  www.scientific-coaching.com   00:30:48
2 Jeff Jones  Chippenham & District Wheelers   00:31:45
3 Gary Robson  Dooleys Cycles Racing Team   00:31:53
4 Rob Lyne  Climb On Bikes RT   00:32:06
5 Jeremy Ponting  a3crg   00:32:22
6 Tim Elverson  Felt Racing   00:32:27
7 Nigel Haigh  Sportscover-Spiuk-JeJames   00:32:31
8 Simon Berogna  Velocity Bikes CC   00:32:55
9 John Wager  Felt Racing   00:33:02
10 Sean Williams  Wightlink/WightMountain RT   00:33:03

Thanks to Sarah Brooke for the photos.

www.sarahbrookephotography.co.uk

Held a few days after the Time Trial on much of the same course we faced three laps of 40km loop featuring 3 climbs per lap. The largest of these was just over 2km in length and kicked up to 11% in places, a smaller climb at the back of the circuit featured a 15% section followed by a long drag through a village and then an 80km/h descent.

Justin and I were put into seperate categories with his race starting 15 minutes before mine. With 25 Italians in my race the tone was set from the start and anything that wasn’t Italian was sat on and treated to a shrug of the shoulders. This didn’t deter the other 90 riders in the field and there was constant attacking throughout the race with groups escaping and then being pulled back.

Into the last lap 2 riders clipped off the front and held a narrow lead to the line, the bunch thundering through a mere 20 seconds later. Whilst I survived the climbs the run in proved treacherous and I was almost brought down 3 times in the last kilometere alone, combined with a broken spoke from the first lap I hoped Justin had fared better.

Justin’s race started 15 minutes before mine and was aggresive from the start. The slightly smaller field meant there were less places too hide and he was quickly on the attack and working well with a group just 30 seconds behind the leaders on the second ascent of the big climb. This only spurred them on and they rapidly extended this lead to over 2 minutes by the line. Justin’s group was pulled back and the Italians then closed everything down.

Into the last kilometre and Justin was at the front doing what he does best and he was only just pipped on the line by a crazy Brazilian who thought he had won.

 With the racing done and the time only just approaching midday it was time to fill the tanks and turn our focus to the following weeks National Time Championships……………………..

We had booked to ride the World Championships as far back as April and it was something of a shock to find the season had flown by and we were making last minute preparations. The trip across probably desrves a piece of its own, suffice to say we covered 930 miles of driving in a little over 16 hours.

After the dismal summer we have had waking up to bright blue skies was refreshing and we set off early to scout the Time Trial course for the following day.

On the face of it the course seemed to be a straight forward out and back with a small kick before the turn. Race day proved otherwise and it seemed like we had a headwind in both directions.

 With so many riders in the 8 age categories we weren’t scheduled to start until late afternoon.

 

It would be nice to have starting ramps and closed roads in the UK.

 

The officials tried their best to put Justin off, making him move his saddle back by 2cm just 10 minutes before the start. In a show of technological prowess the measuring was taken by putting the bike alongside a metal barrier and flipping a coin!!

Into the last kilometer, all I was thinking of was where to get the next Apple Strudel from! Whilst 26th and 37th were not the results we’d hoped for a rematch on the P613 next year is planned!

 

 

 

 

After nearly 8 months of riding road, mountain and individual time trial events round the country we thought it was time for a change.

Bicester Milleniums annual 4 up TTT seemed like a good place to start and we assembled a crack team of specialists! When they didn’t turn up we were left with Justin, Tim, Will and myself to show everyone just how fast the Felt DA really is. With all of us having full time jobs there was no time for any training, just a quick chat before hand and a ride round the 2.5 mile circuit, warming up was a similarly spartan affair as Tim and Justin argued over the last Jaffa Cake, Will spent 10 minutes clearing a thick layer of dust from his DA and I contemplated the aerodynamic effects of number placement.

The plan, in textbook fashion, was to start hard then move up a gear in the middle before lighting the afterburners on the last lap. Will took this a bit literally and we were up to 50km/h going into the first corner!! From that point on it was a flat out effort all the way round as we tried to keep a tight formation despite the speed and the gusting winds.

Even with the gusting winds the Sub9/ 808 combination was comfortable throughout and I found I could ride every corner on the aero bars. We finished strongly with a time of 20:31 and this in spite of me with a rapidly softening front tyre and Will with a flat back tyre.

After a quick drink and scrub up it was time to don our team tops and find out how we’d done. After a couple of minutes deciphering what was written on the results board it was announced we had won and a large pot was thrust in our direction.

The final split times showed how close it was against the composite team of Sigma Sport/ High Wycombe CC with only 2 seconds seperating us. It was definitely a fun(?) change from the usual racing we all do and we all hope that the dust free bike and shiny trophy make up for punctured rear tyre of the borrowed Felt DA!!

Another busy few weeks for me, the British Elite Triathlon Championships in Wales, the Scottish Road Race Championships and the London Triathlon one weekend after another! The Elite Championships enticed a quality international field with South African Olympic Team member and African Champion Mairi Rabie (who also rides FELT) and Flora Duffy another contender in Beijing representing Bermuda to sunny Wales. It was not quite the heat that is predicted in Beijing although the course with the challenging hill to tackle 9 times on the bike leg was certainly testing.I had a poor first lap of the swim coming out in 11th at the turn after a “ducking” during the swim start! I managed to pull this back exiting the swim in 4th place. My transition was swift however, and I headed out on the bike fairly confident. The climbing legs were not quite up to scratch and I wasn’t able to hold on to the front strong bike pack but worked well with Liz Blatchford to come into T2  in the 2nd pack. I had my best ever 10km at the end of a triathlon (36.23) running through some of the faster bikers to finish in 5th place.Scottish Road Race Championships.These were held in the Scottish Borders this year starting in Hawick. Torrential  rain poured down but in true Scottish style the race went on, at times I thought I was doing a triathlon it was just that I had to hold onto the bike during the swim leg! 5 laps of an undulating course, 46 miles in total. The women were set off with the juniors and cat 4 riders and it turned out fairly early on to be a 2 woman head to head Claire Thomas and myself had dropped the rest of the ladies early on. On the 3rd lap I had under-estimated the braking time with the surface water and came off just at a sharp left hand corner and saw Claire pedal off up the road! I got up, ignoring my road rash but with new determination, and really put the hammer down to catch up on the small group that had got away. I managed to get on although I was hanging on for the last lap. Fortunately I had recovered in time for the sprint finish along the river that was the final straight to retain my Scottish title! The London Triathlon.The London Triathlon is a huge event, the 2nd biggest sporting event in the UK after the London Marathon. It goes on for 2 days and there are junior races, age group races, relays, corporate races, charity involvement not to mention the Elite race that always bring big names. It is televised on channel 4 on the 24th August in the UK and will also appear in over 70 countries worldwide. The weather was very windy cool for London so it was a wetsuit swim. I was 2nd out of the water behind Germany’s Joelle Franzmann and got into a small pack of 4 working well on the bike. In this pack were 3 Olympians, one of whom, Julie Dibbens is current World Exterra Champion. I kept my head and didn’t get too side tracked as we passed Big Ben on the first lap of the bike but was working hard to keep the wheel of this quality front pack.Julie Dibbens having made a break on the technical roundabout section at the end of the first bike lap managed to retain her lead on the run winning the event. The German Franzmann took silver, Jodie Swallow bronze. I had a solid run to finish 5th, Andrea Whitcomb had the fastest run of the day to make up ground to take 4th spot. 6th was current World Junior Champion Kirsty McWilliams.  

After a very hard race Yesterday around the hilly (not my bag) Owslebury course I am pleased to report a medal placing.

With the race splitting after just 20miles of the 81 mile race to a group of 13 riders containing myself and Tim Elverson, quickly pulling a big lead over the bunch with help from John Wager doing a good job to control the bunch.

Looking at the different colour numbers in the front group I had 5 riders in the 30-34 age group with 8 in the 35-39 for Tim to try and beat.
With the race getting aggressive towards the end I had missed a group containing 2 of the favourites for my category I had to play cat and mouse with one other for the final place on the podium, with lots of attacks on the last 3 miles my legs were really feeling it in the sprint to the line cramp in both legs but managing to kick past for 10th in the race and 3rd in category.

Mean while birthday boy Tim managed to ride into 8th place and 6th in category and some sore legs in the process.

Read more the full report on British Cycling

Hi Kerry here again,Just back from Antequerra, Spain on the 2nd of the pre-olympic heat camps. First was in Austin, Texas and second in Spain. Both extremely hot and ideal for mimicking the conditions in Beijing. Austin the home of legend Lance Armstrong has been taken over by Felt bikes it would seem, I even saw an 8 year old boy riding around on a very cute little Felt bike I would have taken a picture but I didn’t have my camera! Anyway I was cooking away and enjoying the hospitality of the Texans and only sorry it was just for a week when I had to return to the cold Scottish summer…The training was put to good use and I was 6th in a sprint race in Beauvais, France racing for my French Team Poissy. The conditions were slightly less welcoming than Austin! It was however just a quick weekend stop before flying on down to Spain with the British Team. Fortunately Spain again offered 44 degree highs and some good sessions were put into play there too followed by ice baths and hand/feet cooling during very hot sessions.The next couple of weeks for me will comprise the British Triathlon Champs, Scottish Road Race Cycling Championships, (hoping to defend my title here) and  the London Triathlon.

Val di Sole , Italy.

With school exams over, I was able to concentrate a bit more on cycling before heading to Italy for the world mountain bike championships.

We arrived at our hotel on Saturday evening, to get some good time on the course the next day in preparation for my race on the Wednesday morning.

The course was very different to the usual British ones, with the first climb short but steep at 22%! There were 3 main climbs, the last one not as steep as the others, but part of it following a stream in the middle of a field meant it was still pretty hard. The descents were also really good, in the woods with lots of rocks and roots, giving loads of opportunity to make up time in the race (if you had a clear run!)

After riding in the sun on Sunday, the Monday and Tuesday didn’t feel quite so much like being in the ‘Val di Sole’, with rain changing the course from being nicely dry and rideable to deep in mud. My race was in the morning, so even though Wednesday was bright and hot, the mud hadn’t dried up until after my race, leaving the descents and last climb slippy and challenging!

I was gridded on the front row and got off well from the line, but was quickly fighting for position up the grass and with the first descent being single track had to do a bit of pushing around as people piled up on it. After one lap I was in a group of 5 in 8th – 13th position, and by the last lap I was in 9th/10th with Sanne Cant, who’s got 5th in Cyclo cross elite World Cups, so no surprise that she got past me on the last climb! but with a risky manoeuvre I overtook her on the descent and got clear to the finish line coming 9th, 12 seconds behind 7th.

Canada is an amazing place, the British team were in Victoria based in the Commonwealth Games Village from 1994 which is now student residencies for Victoria university for the week prior to the race. The weather was fairly British or cold and wet but the scenery was stunning! We had team tactics for this race to try to gain the 3rd slot for GB and had a pre-race plan to achieve this. We had to also rely on the French and Austrian  girls not performing in order for us to achieve this goal. We were almost able to achieve this and in the process gained a British World Champion in Helen Tucker but unfortunately Olympic champion from Athens - Kate Allen had a fantastic race too and got Austria the 3rd slot so we didn’t achieve our main goal.My final position was 3oth. 

Madrid world cup was our Olympic selection race. It was not typical hot weather for Spain but rather wet and cold! This meant a wetsuit swim as the water temperature had dipped to below 20 degrees!I had a great start winning the swim prime and was first out of transition onto the tough bike course, 8 laps with a big climb on each lap. A small lead group of 6 had formed and I was in it so was delighted. The pace was on from the start - Daniella Ryf from the Swiss team already had her Olympic spot and was on her F1 and seemed to be effortlessly powering not only on the hill but on the back stretch with the tail wind and even on the flat I was struggling to push past her. 2007 world champion and 3 time European champion Vanessa Fernandes was also in this group along with 2 of the other British girls Helen Tucker and Hollie Avil so it was full on. I was really looking forward to the tough bike but the girls were just too strong after my effort in the swim and I slipped back to the chase pack after 2 ascents of the climb! I sat in for a few laps then felt stronger and made a few efforts towards the end of the bike but didn’t manage to get a gap or close on the lead group. Jodie Swallow was in my pack as was Liz Blatchford and the other Brit to make the criteria for the selection race was Andrea Whitcombe  but she was in the pack behind so I knew I had to run my socks off!I had a relatively good run and finished 15th, the 3rd Brit but a little frustrated I didn’t hold on to that first pack on the bike!Top 8 was automatic selection and with Helen’s 2nd and Hollie’s 4th place they took the 2 slots.The reserve positions were given to Liz Blatchford and myself with a possibility we could get a 3rd spot with points  gained at the World Championships in Vancover .