a3crg Hard Riders 10 mile TT, 27 Feb 2016 - Report
Three Sotonia riders (James Peckham, Phil Wilks and Ed Slot) took on the a3crg Hard Riders 10 mile time trial on Saturday 27th February on the rolling p886 course with strong tailwind out and a blustery headwind for the return uphill drag. The attraction for many in this edition was that the course will be used in August for the National Ten (Men's) and quite a few riders wanted to test out the course which runs between Rake and the Ramshill roundabout at Petersfield.
Ed Slot was the early starter in the road bike category, Finishing just outside top ten in 11th with a time of 27.03.
In the TT bike classification, Phil Wilks overcame difficulties with loose cleats to finish 16th:
[quote color="#666666"]It was a classically well run a3crg event with results up on the projector by the time you get back to HQ. The course was unusual - undulating but generally downhill for the first half and then back up for the second half. I did quite a lot of free wheeling with a tailwind down the main hill. Strava says I hit 43.8mph. I have had a new pair of cleats on my shelf for a couple of months but haven't bothered putting them on. I've learned my lesson as I came unclipped on the steepest section of the course when I was grinding it out of the saddle. I don't know how much time this cost me but due to the gradient I almost came to a halt. Still pleased with my result though.[/quote]
James was top Sotonia rider in 11th place: [quote color="#666666"]It seemed I was either at 34mph or 14mph! I managed to miss out on top ten by two seconds to finish joint 11th. A good test for the national 10, should nail that in the summer![/quote]
With a strong team this year, Sotonia could be in with a good shout at some team prizes. Its going to be a corking season!
Full results are here
Wessex Cyclocross season finale at Tidworth
The 15th and final round of the cyclocross season was held once again at the Army Barracks at Tidworth at the end of January. Featuring a great course for spectators with most of the action visible from the higher ground on the undulating, hilly venue. The start was on playing fields, a long straight leading onto a short, sharp climb that headed into a twisting technical wooded section, zig-zagging round tight turns in the trees that had riders down to walking pace as they tip-toed round the slippery corners. Then a hard effort out round the edge of the fields before the return leg along a mud rutted track with a deep ditch at either end and a long drag up to the main hill. Finally, sweeping down a tarmac section to the bottom of the hill once more, leaving a long set of stone steps to run up before remounting and a final sprint to the line.
Frantic calculations were being made all round as riders looked to improve positions in the final league standings. Tom Budden was sitting in 4th position in the seniors, just three points off 3rd. Phil Connell and Jez Hart were also close together in the v40s in 21st and 25th place. So with everything still to play for, we lined up for one last battle.
Four Sotonia seniors raced (Tom Budden, Niels Langhout, Matteo Ichino and David Baxter) Tom got a good front row start and the top six riders were quickly away from the rest of the field. Sam Allen (Pedalon) led once again but the big surprise was 19 year old Paul Double of VC Venta in only his second ever cross race, slowly closing the gap to Allen. Behind, Tom swapped places with Ryan Smith (Moore Fitness) before finally getting the better of the two to finish in 4th. His closest opponent in the league, Joe Hickerton (Eden Veranda) was 6th, meaning Tom settled for 4th in the league by a margin of just one point! Still an incredible achievement and possibly the highest senior finish in club history. Matteo had a good race in 18th; David wasn’t so lucky, retiring with a bent rear mech in the sticky conditions.
The final V40 showdown
Preceding the seniors, Phil and Jez did their share in the V40s of churning up the grass as the morning drizzle stopped and the mud started to dry… meaning more likely to stick to the bikes.
Jez recalls his race:
[quote align="center" color="#999999"]The first corner is important in cross. Everyone wants to get through before traffic builds up and there’s a moment, a couple of seconds after the guys at the front brake hard from 20-25 mph when you wonder if today’s the day someone dive-bombs inside. Sure enough, while already rubbing shoulders with the guy next to me, I found someone trying to nestle into my armpit as brakes squealed to take that first corner. Luckily, he had second thoughts and everyone stayed upright. Things were a little less sketchy after that as Phil and I got down to the serious business of Cross Team Time Trial. As usual we swapped places several times in the first couple of laps, dodging a rider decking it on the second deep ditch. But by lap three, the tough hill was starting to force a gap and I pushed ahead. Phil wasn’t done though and he put in a hot pursuit on the flat and downhill sections, hampered at this point by half a field worth of mud on his bike. Into the last lap in a group of three, I hit the steps on the heels of a Zappis rider, at the top I was first back in the pedals and took the sprint for 22nd place. Phil was 26th about 30 seconds back. In the v50s, John Phillips enjoyed his race with good finish to the season in 25th.[/quote]
So that’s it for another year. Our best season yet with Tom and our senior ‘A’ team 3rd place in the rankings and 8th team in the V40s with just two riders for most of the season.
Thanks to Tobie Charlton for his heroics in the pits, John Phillips for supplying an almost endless supply of delicious sausage rolls and super fan, Dave Crocker for all his support! And above all, thanks to the 24 Sotonia cyclocross riders of all ages who helped make this season so great.
Final Wessex League tables are here
Thrilling cross season climax at Abingdon
It was another quality new Wessex course at Abingdon on Sunday, run by Take 3 Tri that definitely had its fair share of mishaps for riders. There were drier, warmer conditions than recent weeks foul weather but the Cross Gods were in no mood to take the day off.
The fast but bumpy ground normally used as a 4x4 driving range led to plenty of punctures. Much of the course had a stony base below a layer of grass and slippy clay-like mud that either pulled you back or spat you out sideways, then long tarmac runway straights into a head wind (an airfield is always going to be windy!) with barriers and a spiral at the end of the lap before the final tarmac straight to the finish. Power-hungry technical conditions meant you had to ride hard throughout whilst leaning all over the bike to balance and stay upright.
Top three for Tom Budden
Saving the best until last, the senior race served up a fantastic result for Sotonia with Tom Budden finally reaching the podium, taking second place after a season of great results that have been creeping ever higher.
Matteo Ichino and David Baxter also had a great races, finishing with PBs 15th and 19th. Special mention to Tobie Charlton, who punctured after just 150 metres and ran the next four laps before Niels Langhout (retired with a broken bike) lent him a wheel to finish the race.
Tom described the action:
[quote align="center" color="#999999"]"I was with Joe Hickerton (Eden Veranda) for most of the race, taking turns in front. Each lap there was a little gap getting bigger behind us - a couple of Pedal On guys (Jamie Norfolk and Chris Minter) and Graham Rogerson of Cotswold. Then with 2-3 laps to go, I got a bit of a gap and maybe finished 15 to 20 seconds ahead. The course really suited me! There were long bumpy sections with a slippery muddy top surface so it was all about getting a the power down smoothly. Lots of people with pinch punctures - maybe down to the bumpy and rocky stuff under the mud. Unfortunately they didn't do a podium as there was some problem with timing system... the one race I get in the top three!"[/quote]
Tobie Charlton was typically upbeat about his race:
[quote align="center" color="#999999"]"Tom had the added bonus of lapping me twice (I punctured in the first 150 metres) so with no pit bike, I did get to cheer him on a couple of times. I ran to 40 minutes then blagged a wheel off Niels Langhout, nearly rolled the tub, came back to the pits for more air and also punctured the front on the last lap... its all about those points!!!"[/quote]
In the other races, young Max Darnton took 20th in the U12s. In the v40s, Phil Connell and Jez Hart featured and after a fast first lap, things started to heat up. Phil slipped off first on a slick corner, dropping his chain and for the next three laps Jez led Phil by around 10 seconds. The cross Gods were back on lap four as they ensured Jez made a detailed inspection of a bramble bush on one of the muddy banks when his front wheel slid out. He was nicely scratched up after that and Phil's group caught him shortly after. On the next lap, a Beeline rider in the group got it all wrong and took both Sotonia riders down on another muddy banking. Phil untangled first and got a gap while Jez had course tape and another bike to free himself from first. Thankfully, that was it for excitement, Phil finishing 24th with Jez a pretty beat up 30th. John Phillips was the sole Sotonia v50 rider had another good race to finish 24th.
Next week we're off to Tidworth Army Barracks for the final race of the season - should be a cracker for spectators and riders alike!
Full results are here
Graham Robins' photo gallery is here
Wessex Cyclocross Round 13, Fareham, 17 Jan 2016
A second visit to Fairthorne Manor this season for Wessex Cyclocross brought a dip in temperature and a change of course, which was run in the opposite direction to previous visits. Grass meadows and two wooded sections were the order of the day - the hillside woods featuring plenty of deep, sloppy mud that forced riders off their bikes to run for much of it. It was a bitterly cold and wet day but that didn't deter a large field for the under 12s featuring three young Sotonia riders - Ben Darnton in 20th place followed by George Connell (43rd) and Louis Kirk (45th).
Vets races
In the v40 race, Phil Connell and Jez Hart resumed their weekly battle. Starting from the second row, both got good starts and were in the top 20 approaching the woods for the first time. They spent the race swapping places before Phil gained a small gap when Jez pitted with two laps to go. In the final sprint, Phil held on to finish 18th a couple of bike lengths ahead of Jez in 19th (we're pretty sure they weren't holding back judging by the pics!). In the v50s, John Phillips was also having a good race until a puncture with over a lap to go, forced him to run the remainder, finishing in 28th place.
Womens race
Phil Wilks reports: "Around 20 started the women's race, with Gemma Wilks representing Sotonia gridded on the second row in 11th position. I was on pit duty. She soon began picking off those ahead of her, although dropping her Garmin while swapping bikes on the second lap cost her about 20 seconds and two places which she then had to make up again. On the final lap she managed to dig deep and pass Elise Sherwell from Blazing Saddles Cycles to finish in an excellent 7th place, a personal best and her first finish in the top 10.
Senior race
The seniors race saw Tom Budden, Tobie Charlton, Phil Godfrey, David Baxter and me line up next to take on the mud. Tom is having a great season and was gridded on the front row again in third place, with Tobie on the second row and me just behind. Tobie seemed to relish the long running section through the woods, and I could hear him up ahead having a pleasant chat with the riders around him on the first lap whilst they were all gasping for breath. After the woods I managed to get past Tobie and was surprised to see the front of the field and Tom not too far ahead (usually by the end of the first lap he would be a distant speck). I was able to move up the field by a place or two each lap, and it entered my mind that I could be on for a good placing. Despite falling off once and having an unplanned encounter with a tree, Tom had an excellent race and finished in 4th. I was ecstatic with 10th place which was a personal best. Tobie Charlton was 22nd, Phil Godfrey 27th, and David Baxter was forced to retire with a mechanical.
Tom Budden commented afterwards:
[quote align="center" color="#999999"]"I'm really bruised up after that - going over the handlebars, hitting a tree and all the running with the crank digging in your back... all good fun though! Two more races to go!"[/quote]
Tom is currently an amazing third place in Wessex league seniors and the Sotonia senior 'A Team' are also third in the team standings It was also great to see the hard work continued even when our riders weren't racing as they got stuck in to helping out in the pits for each other - brilliant team effort!
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Road season rolls out at Odd Down Circuit
This Saturday saw Sotonia riders head to Bath for a first taste of 2016 road racing - club racer, James Peckham reports on the early season action:
"It seemed strange to be rocking up to a race in mid January, particularly on such a cold winters day, but this was the 4th round of the Odd Down Winter series. There were 4th cat and women's races earlier in the afternoon, with the final race of the day a 2/3 crit. The course is a purpose built technical circuit on the top of Odd Down, while cold it was unusually calm. Talking to other riders the wind usually plays its part in making the race hard. There was a good field of about 35 with some strong 2nd cats and a large local contingent of Bath and Bristol riders. Sotonia was represented by Andy Mackay, Ben Scott-Munden and myself. Other local riders of note were Jamie Franklin (Venta), James Champken (St Raphael) and Jed Weber (Andover).
The race started hard, Bath Uni riders making themselves prominent near the front. After 10/15 mins things slowed down slightly as we assessed the damage, a lot of riders already pinged off the back of the group. After about 20 minutes I realised one of the dropped riders was actually the leader, he had 20 secs on us half way round. I found out later that Liam Bromiley (Bath Uni) had done this and won in the previous two races! I stayed alert during the race keeping position and watching riders I thought were dangerous (clearly didn't do this well enough!). Andy and Ben were comfortable in the group, with Andy moving to the front a couple of times to keep the hurt on. A fast course with no natural obstacles meant the race was quick with a 26mph average, but it felt quite comfortable to keep with the group. With 4 to go things picked up again and I put in a few digs to move up and follow surges. With a big effort on the penultimate lap I was quite well positioned in the top ten. Round the last two corners I was on the outside which as the longer way round wasn't ideal and in the final corner I was caught behind a slowing rider causing me to check my sprint. Opening up again I was too far back for top 5, but got up to speed and held 7th place in the bunch. This was 8th overall. Andy finished 12th, just behind and Ben finished with the group after a quite literally eyeballs out effort.
I'm pleased with how the race went, considering I was racing with 2nd cats and after a heavy block of training. Glad the winter training looks like its working! I've got a light week ahead of me before a return to Odd Down next weekend, then looking ahead to Perfs Pedal race and some sporting TTs at the end of February. I'd recommend getting to Odd Down to get early season racing in, it's a good circuit with proper changing facilities, showers and a café!"
Crabwood Cross weathers the storm at Southampton
Some would describe "classic cross" conditions conditions with talk of shoes lost in muddy fields, throwing bikes across rivers and scaling four bar fences. There wasn't so much of that last weekend at Southampton Sports Centre for the Geoff Shergold Memorial Wessex Cyclocross, but it was unanimously agreed that these were the worst conditions at Southampton for many years… still, I'm sure Geoff was looking down and smiling to himself!
One of the best ways to warm-up for a cross race is to pre-ride the course, thereby getting a feel for the conditions and what lines to take in technical sections. But with enough mud to leave you caked head to foot before the race even started, not this time! Many used a nearby road or saved their energy for the onslaught ahead.
With very heavy rain and gale force winds, the youth and v50 races faced the brunt of the weather gods. Riders also had to contend with inches of thick, energy sapping, wet mud with streaming torrents of rainwater washing down the hillside creating the odd paddling pool here and there. The uphill start straight led to a mass wheel spin with mud thrown into many an eye as the riders sped towards the woods at the top of the course. Once there, most dismounted and pushed their way through the deep, sticky stuff before a brief descent then up again on a path through the waterlogged bmx pump track. Then it was up and down on the course that featured very little flat terrain and descents that still required effort if you didn't want to grind to a halt.
Sotonia's first brave riders were young George Connell and Louis Kirk in the U12s. In the V50s we had John Phillips (PB and 20th place) and in the women's race Gemma Wilks gave it her best (11th place woman).
In the v40s we had Phil Connell and Jez Hart with Phil in 19th place, faring better in the heavy conditions that suited a time-trialler.
The final seniors race saw the weather do a dramatic u-turn with sun, blue skies and little wind. The mud was still looking for more victims though and Sotonia had three - Tom Budden, Phil Wilks and Tobie Charlton. Tom again rode to a top ten in 7th place, followed by Phil with a PB for 12th and Tobie 16th.
[quote align="center" color="#999999"]Phil Wilks described his race: "I think that last lap was the hardest effort I've ever done. 8 minutes at 189bpm after 45 mins at threshold!"[/quote]
A big thanks to Crabwood for putting on the event in testing conditions and to all our riders, supporters and pit crew who got nearly as muddy as the racers!
There's a week's break now before the next round of the Wessex Cyclocross at Fairthorne Manor, Botley on January 17th - hopefully it won't take that long to get the bikes and kit clean!
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Sotonia Youth Coaching 2015 Review
2015 was an important year for Sotonia's Youth Group. After many years with few juniors in the Club, big leaps forward have been made in coaching and under-16 participation. Our coaches Phil Connell and Jez Hart achieved their Level 2 British Cycling coaching badges for the club in February. They have since coached around 25 youngsters aged between 5 and 16 to develop the core bike skills (on and off-road) for safe and fast bike riding, aimed at getting them to try racing. We are very proud to say that a dozen of our juniors have raced criteriums and cyclocross in their first year with us - thank you to all our juniors for their enthusiasm and support this year!
Family fun rides
The Family Fun Rides also continued in 2015 once a month throughout the spring and summer with good turnouts for all the rides held on trails in the New Forest. The Christmas fun ride last week in particular had a fantastic turnout - attracting over 50 riders! We look forward to more family rides in 2016 from Easter onwards.
2016 plans
In 2016 we'd like to grow our Youth Group further and hopefully get more potential coaches and family ride helpers involved, so if you think you can help and would like to know more, please feel free to get in touch! With the cyclocross season drawing to a close in February, we will be moving our coaching focus back to the road for the spring from March and hope to move our road sessions to a larger venue with a view to go-ride racing so watch this space! :)
Reindeer at 2015's last youth coaching session
Our last youth cyclocross coaching session of the year, held before Christmas in mid December was a LOT of fun! Focusing on group ride skills for our session, what better way than getting our juniors to dress as reindeer and practice for Santa's big sleigh pull on Christmas Eve?
We'd like to thank you all our juniors (and reindeer) for their enthusiasm and support this year - here's to a great 2016!
"53 Years of Cyclo-Climbing" - Clubroom Slide Show 19.1.2016
At the Clubroom on Tuesday, 19th January 2016, a slide show not to be missed! Bob Damper has toured in many parts of the world and recorded climbs both famous and not-so-famous on film and slide. Starts at 8.15pm - come and join us.
Wessex Cyclocross League Round 11, Fareham, 13 Dec 2015
It was another ridiculously warm day for December 2015 this Sunday for the first of two Fareham Wheeler’s events at Fairthorne Manor, Botley for a well-liked, technical but tough course. The ground was mostly well drained featuring grippy grass meadows with some extremely boggy exceptions and a hillside wooded section full of sloppy mud on the fairly long 1.4 mile course that meant a lot of action in the pits for bike changes.
In the senior race, Tom Budden started on the front row of the grid but was beset by problems with a slow clip-in before powering back to 7th place when disaster struck on lap two and a broken mech put him out of the race. This left Tobie Charlton as top Sotonia senior (in a season’s PB of 18th place) who relished the extended technical running sections. Phil Godfrey was 27th, Ben Scott-Munden 31st and Niels Langhout 33rd. In the V40 race, Jez Hart finished 22nd in his best result of the season so far after a tangle with the course tape denied a top 20 place. The V50 race featured John Phillips (26th and another season’s PB) and Simon Fitzjohn (35th).
For the womens race, Gemma Wilks returned to action with 12th place overall and 7th senior woman, and our most successful rider of the day - well done Gemma!
We fielded two of our juniors in the U12 race - George Connell and Loius Kirk who were closely matched throughout, George eventually coming out the better of the two.
Thanks to everyone who came to support and help in the pits to keep riders going. Next race is Crabwood CC’s Geoff Shergold Memorial Cross at Southampton Sports Centre on January 3rd, so Merry Christmas and see you in the New Year!
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