Felt Colbornes Team

This is not so much a post about the race but the extended mission we undertook just to make it to the startline on time.

The story begins with Justin almost losing the van down one of the many man size craters currently plaguing Hampshires roads, putting the faint hiss down to his taste in music he picked Lee up and made it a further 20 miles before being faced with a very flat tyre. The provided inflation kit failed to make any difference so it was time to call in rider/ sponsor  Tim to help out. Tim kindly dropped everything and headed over to remove the wheel, take it back to for a replacement tyre and return to the van.

Whilst this excitement was happening I’d been dropped at the services in Didcot and was still waiting for a lift. When it became clear that it would be sometime before that would happen I had to ride home with no lights, a full kit bag, a wheel bag and track pump on unlit roads and a brand new pair of tubs!

Justin finally made it to mine for 12:30 and we rolled into the hotel at 3:15am for a very welcome 4hrs sleep. Breakfast was a very quick affair before jumping in the van and heading out to the start of the Eddie Soens. This is a very prestigious race with many fine winners over the years.

We were immediately in the thick of the action trying to get into moves with some of the biggest teams in the UK.

Unknown to us the Juniors had made contact with the Elite group and despite numerous attacks they couldn’t be shaken. It was not for lack of trying as the average speed for the 80km race was over 50km/h!

With the finish looming and many unaware they were sprinting for very minor placings all the big teams moved forwards in the hope of placing their sprinters in pole position. Lee made the most of this work to drift between the various trains to pop out of the final corner in the top 10 and finishing a highly respectable 4th.

With the new team bikes arriving just before our looming trip to Gran Canaria a little try out was called for to make sure everything was working.

Ian, Justin and myself made the trip down to a damp and windy Portsmouth track and from the gun set about stamping our authority onto the race. First Ian made the break of 3, I jumped across a lap later and Justin, in his usual relaxed way, decided it was more fun up front and joined us 4 laps later.

We had lapped the field with just 25 minutes of racing completed and continued to press all the way to the end. Ian clipped off the front in a small group forcing rival teams to chase and allow Justin and I a breather before the pace lifted in the last few laps.

First, second and fourth was a great result that owed as much to team work as a fantastically fast new bike.

The team bikes this year are based around the AR1 frameset with a full SRAM Force groupset. This is finished off with a Ritchey WCS stem, Zipp SL handlebars, Zipp bottle cages and a Devox carbon saddle. In this picture I’m running the wheels from last seasons Felt DA, a massive 1080 rear and 808 front running Zipp Tangente 23mm tubs.

Looks out for pics of my brothers pimped out AR1 complete with Vuma Quad crankset, coming soon from sunny GC.

john

With our mid week World Champs suspended for the next 3 weeks we’re having to look further afield for places to conquer. Justin winning on Monday at Upavon, the 4th Felt win in a row there now, the pressure was on.

A quick browse on the British Cycling site and I’d found my target, an hour plus 5 laps round the MK Bowl. The last time I rode this a couple of years ago I had a really hard time so I bided my time until the last few laps when i started cranking up the pressure. Into the last lap and the chase to the lone leader stalled as no one wanted to close the last 100m. As everyone looked around I took my chance and hit the afterburners, catching and then dropping the lone leader to come in well clear of the field.

I’ve not got any pictures from last night but thought I’d include one taken a couple of weeks ago at Thruxton. It’s an ideal place to use the wheels from my Felt DA although the deep rumble makes a surprise attack a bit tricky.

 With the new Felt DA’s finally arriving in the country I’ve manged to get around to doing a few time trials. Setting up before the National 10 was fun with the bike arriving on the wednesday before and then being stripped and rebuilt with the awesome SRAM Red groupset.

I managed just warm up prior to the Nationals with a 21:57 in a local club event. A bit more “adjusting” to get the seat further back to try and get close to my position from last  and I was ready.

On the day I didn’t really find a good rythm and recorded a relatively slow 22:02 nearly 2 1/2 minutes behind the winner, Michael Hutchinson.

The National 25 took place a couple of weeks later and was to be my first 25 since last August. I cruised round with a leisurely 55:35 in fairly windy conditions.

Hopefully with a few more time trials in the coming weeks and a laid back seatpost instead of the “triathlon” seatpost supplied I’ll be able to finally clock a 19 minute 10 this year.

Coming just 24 hours after getting back from Gran Canaria was always going to be a tough challenge for Warren, Justin and myself. After being delayed whilst the last of the ice melted Justin was one of the first to test his legs on the long and draggy Forestside climb. As a previous winner of this event he was never going to be given much leeway and was soon brought back.

 After another couple of laps of constant attacking I went clear over the top of the climb, when this was pulled back on the run in to Rowlands Castle I went again and stayed away to the bottom of the main climb. At this point I was thankful of Justin’s push to get me back up to speed, a hollow eyed stare was all I could manage by way of a thank you.

The field threatened to split many times in the next few laps and it was only the intervention of a group of horses with 5km to go that finally worked. Whilst some chose to attack at this point a horse running alongside the bunch and then throwing it’s rider was enough to see us watching the race disappear up the road. Perhaps not the finish we expected but we live to fight another day!

Our race programme up to April now includes:

 1st March – Severn Bridge Road Race – sponsored by Saddleback so expect a good showing here.

 8th March – Jock Wadley Memorial Road Race

14th March – Spring Chicken Road Race – one of my favourite courses and to be used for the National TT in September.

15th March -Wally Gimber Road Race – A South East Classic with a great course.

22nd March – High Wycombe CC Road Race

29th March – Peter Young Memorial Road Race

5th April – Cycle Kingdom Classic

All photos courtesy of Graham Robins (www.grahamrobins.net)

With such bad weather back in the UK it has been a perfect time to accumulate some (more) warm weather miles with the team. It was also a great oppurtunity to try out our new Felt F3SL bikes, Castelli clothing, Zipp wheels, bars and stems and super stiff Bont shoes. The demanding terrain made for some great rides with long twisting climbs and some really fast descents, a perfect testing ground for the new kit.

The evenings were spent planning our season, full details to follow shortly. In the meantime Warren, Justin and myself are looking forward to the traditional UK season opener at Perfs. Fingers crossed that the weather improves enough for it to go ahead.

It may only be January and the weather is less than perfect but we couldn’t resist a chance to race the new team bikes. It was also a chance for new recruit Warren to show off the Felt colours as part of a stronger line up for 2009.

With the temperature hovering around freezing point I attacked hard from the gun and took one rider with me. Whilst this did help me warm up, I didn’t think for a second that we’d still be clear at the end. Behind the field splintered, reformed and splintered again under pressure from several riders, all of these moves were covered by Justin and Warren as they protected my lead.

 At the halfway point Justin got to within 150m of us but a few hard laps later the gap had balloned out to nearly 2 minutes. Coming into the last few laps I was planning to leave it to a sprint and preserve what remaining energy I had left. When Simon made his move inside the last 1km I struggled to hold his wheel and bit by bit dropped away up the final drag to the finish.

Justin easily won the sprint for 3rd and Warren came in shortly afterwards. The new bikes perormed flawlessly having been tested, in my case, for a quick lap of the circuit before the race. I’ll upload a few pictures from our Gran Canaria training camp, the bikes may not need the sun to look good but we need all the help we can get! 

It’s been a while since my last post and contrary to popular belief I’ve been training hard for next seasons racing. After a deserved two week break at the start of October I’ve been gradually building up the base miles in preparation for the new season.

The opportunity to spend a week in Lanzarote was one I couldn’t refuse and held the added advantage of preventing the usual Christmas bingeing. The sun was shining when we landed and it wasn’t long before the bikes were prepared and we were out for a couple of hours on Christmas day……. in shorts!!

We were staying at Club La Santa on the northern shores of the island and was a slightly strange experience returning after my last trip some 16 years previously. The facilities for any sport are fantastic and the pictures throughout the Sports Bar are testament to the quality of the athletes who have trained here before.

During the course of the week I managed to clock a shade under 600km, the majority of it alone just watching the power figures and hoping the wind would drop for just a few minutes. Only one day was interupted by rain and gave me a chance to get some rest after 5 consecutive days of riding.

The only organised group ride of the trip was fairly sedate until we hit the hills when a couple of young whippets decided it would be a good idea to start attacking. My powerfile at the end was proof of the pain my legs felt and included my highest 5min peak power for 6 months – 380W and a 5s peak power of 1310W.

With the season almost upon we are all heading to Gran Canaria for some serious riding in the mountains and bedding our new bikes in. Look for a report soon on our new steeds.

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……………………..