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.

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! 

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!!

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

Sunday 9th March

Justin and John took on 40+ riders at the Omega Thruxton circuit race with a flurry of attacks from the start before Justin jumped across to a group of 6 after 4 of the 14 laps. Justin knowing (John would be doing a good job of slowing the bunch) this was ‘the move’ got stuck in with the others pulling away from the bunch not missing a move as the taste of the win was strong. Coming into the finish Justin launched himself from 300meters out showed the others just how fast Zipp wheels on a Felt can go taking the victory by 3 bike lengths and a flying V salute.

Saturday 8th March

Wet and windy weekend for road boys Justin, Tim & John. Saturday they took on the Roy Thame Cup around the wet lanes north of Oxford, Tim and Justin both managing to get into the 2nd group on the road riding hard to pull back the front group unfortunately without enough riders to catch the front group of 8, they had to settle for 9th and 13th respectively and John coming in 20th.

Tim (left) Justin(right) Loving the Felt f2 pro’s and Zipp wheels but not the weather!