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2nd Club TT
There was a good turnout at Loxwood Sports Club HQ this morning in mild, calm conditions for the 2nd VCGH club TT of the year. 18 VCGH riders - including our biggest female turnout so far of 3 riders - plus a couple more from local clubs brought the total to 20 riders. The TT was won in an impressive 22:57 by Farnham Road Club's Sam Orbell, with our own Jon Hughes close behind with 23:07 and Rupert Dickinson at 24:09. For Sam and Jon, this was their first experience of the G10/45! Our 3 ladies did a fantastic job at their first official time trial, shaving off between 30 seconds and 2 and a half minutes from their training session around the course a couple of weeks ago. First lady home was Ali Walters in a fantastic 33:44. Great effort to everyone and thanks as always to the very dedicated team of volunteers who sacrifice their lie-ins to keep the course safe for the riders: Pusher-offer: Matt Hurst Marshals: Nathan Hoy, Chris Eaton, Pete Phipps, Peter Davies, Rob Wheeler Finish timekeeper: Brian Waters HQ coffee & cakes: Linda Hoy, Sara Horner Please put 13th June in your diaries. Full results here. NB: The only downside was that one of our riders' cars appears to have been keyed while in the carpark at the HQ so please be vigilant with your belongings. |
1st 2015 VCGH Club TT
Our first TT of the year was run on 11th April on a modified G10/45 course due to a complete roadwork blockage on the approach to Plaistow. There was just enough time to map an alternative course via Foxbridge Lane finishing beyond Kirdford before the Loxwood Sports Club opened it's HQ doors at 07:15. 16 riders graced us with their cycling skills on a morning which started dry but with a brisk cold wind and light rain later in the morning. First rider home was VC St Raphael's Seb Hall in an excellent 24:48, with Charlotteville's Natalie White first lady in 28:11. First VCGHer was Chris Parker in 26:37 after a week of sleepless new-baby nights! Thanks enormously to volunteers Mark Burgin, Brian Waters, Matt Hurst, Nathan Hoy, Jackie Fieldus, Sam Park, Mark Pritchard, Sara Horner, Lara O'Keeffe, Ade and Tom Cockle and Linda Hoy for sacrificing their lie-ins to help out. Exceptional cakes from Linda Hoy and Sara Horner. Full results here. Looking forward to see how the season progresses. Put 16th May in your diaries. |
Will Wins @ Hillingdon
 Race Report (www.imperialracingteam.com): "The funny thing about racing is that it’s often not so much amusing as plain barmy! Saturday’s race felt similar to the previous week – similar bright sunny but cold conditions – and no obvious stand out, straight from the crate winner. This seems to be the only logical reason for the ending – yes, there were a few breaks Steve Golla (High Wycombe RT), previous winner Graham Crow (Twickenham CC) – but these were soon snuffed out. Jerzy Kuzminski (London Bicycle Workshop) snuck away with Jonnie Blackman (Panagua CC) and it was as they were caught that one of last week’s breakaway riders Will Ranoe (VCGH) powered off and created a gap; this was clearly a popular move as he was cheered from the sidelines. Tom Sefton (RP Racing Team) got tantalisingly close to Ranoe in the last kilometre but couldn’t quite get there; the palpable excitement of this super win was then proceeded by total chaos for the last 50 metres – we rarely mention crashes in these reports: mainly to protect the innocent, but in this case the ensuing deluge of photo’s, video footage and social media comment make it unavoidable. Riders were everywhere, on the ground, off the ground, going through the photo finish backwards and several preferring the less obvious targets of the Scott easi-up, first aider Barry Hollis and coach Nigel Job! When the dust settled everyone pretty much walked away - kit and bikes were damaged – but that’s racing." |
30mph
Steve Williamson broke the 30mph / 20 minute barrier for the first time on Sunday 12th October on VC10s open 10 TT on the F11/10 course at Tring, coming 3rd (after Nick English from AW Cycles and Justin Layne from CC AShwell) in a time of 19:54. The time trial had been postponed from late August due to bad weather conditions. This adds to an already impressive year which includes a 3rd place in the VTTA National Champs, a 3rd in the Cat 3 field at the Duo Normand and PBs in all distances (1:53:13 on the H50/8 and 51:57 on the H25/8). Just the RTTC National Championship still to go. Good luck Steve! |
Final 2014 VCGH Club 10
The 21 riders who made it to the final 2014 VCGH time trial on Saturday were greeted with dry roads, warm(ish) weather and the usual fantastic Linda Hoy post-race cakes. It's been a very rewarding experience running the TT series and I'm actually a bit sad the season's over for the year. The big highlight has been watching people give it a go for the first time ever, some because they're new to cycling and others because they haven't been tempted by dual carriageway courses but were willing to give this quiet rural course a go. Of course the series wouldn't have been possible without the amazing support given by the dedicated volunteer crew. Huge thanks go out to the following people who've helped me throughout the season: Marco Burgin Brian Waters Roger & Linda Hoy Matt Hurst Roger Scott & Suzie Humphry Nathan Hoy Rob Wheeler Peter Davies Will Ranoe Collette Patto Julia Gerhold Elliot Brown Chris Harrison Shirley Parker Chris Eaton Pete Ross Alastair Blowers Adrian Waddy Pete Phipps (I hope I haven't forgotten anyone) The results for the final TT are now online here showing Steve Williamson's impressive form with a 22:54, followed in 2nd place by VC St Raphael's Simon Berogna in 23:29, and in 3rd with a 24:01 by Rupert Dickinson who has won 4 out of 6 of our TTs in his first year of time-trialing. Kudos to those VCGH newbies who have had a crack at TT for the first time, especially Matt Hurst, Rob Wheeler, Chris Eaton and Chris Mott, who show varying degrees of number obsession already, and who I fully expect to be back next year showing us all how to do it! And thanks in general to all the riders who've shown support for the series, even in the horrendous conditions we experienced for the July edition. If you're interested, here's an overview of all of the results throughout the season on one sheet. See you next year! Lara |
Steve 3rd at the VTTA Championship 25
Steve Williamson achieved a podium spot at the Cambridgeshire-based Veteran Time Trial Association National 25 mile Championship on Sunday 24th August with a blistering time of 52:25, less than 2.5 minutes behind the leader Rob Pears. A fantastic highlight in a year which has seen Steve set some pretty unbeatable PBs. Congrats Steve. |
Olympic Velodrome Event
On Thursday 29th May the lucky winners of the VCGH lottery - Graham Hemmings, Duncan Rodgers, Adrian Waddy - and Will Ranoe who earned his place courtesy of the first VCGH TT, visited the Olympic Velodrome for the second of two club track session which had been organised by Collette. For those of us who had never visited the Olympic Park the adventure started before we even arrived, walking in with views of Aneesh Kapoor's Helter Skelter sculpture and the Olympic Stadium before arriving at the 'Pringle' - the velodrome itself. As someone who had visited Calshot several times previously I was struck by the size of the place - the building itself as well as the full-size 250m track.
 track sessions before and those that had not, with all the VCGHers falling into the former category. Once we had completed the first exercise of slowly working up the lines and back down over 10 mins our group was progressed quickly each visit to the track - so much so that all were grateful for the 10 min break and briefing on the next session whilst the other group was out on track.The track itself was surprising - I was expecting it to be less intimidating than 2/3 sized Calshot with correspondingly steep bends. However, it turns out that at 47 degrees the Olympic Velodrome has the steepest banking in the country. Particularly when up high there is a great incentive not to dawdle and risk slipping down!
After a number of exercises including through and off, we finished with an 'off the front' exercise. At more than 100m longer than Calshot, making it all the way round to the unforgiving peloton proved more challenging for some than others - so much so that your correspondent took the executive decision to hitch a high speed ride on Will's wheel the second time round!  All thoroughly enjoyed themselves and would recommend anyone from the club to give it a go - it was a great adventure. Many thanks to Collette for organising another triumph of a VCGH outing. See you all on a club ride soon. Adrian Waddy |
VCGH TT 2 of 6
Another perfect morning for a time trial last Saturday 17th May, and a few degrees warmer than for the April edition. We had 13 riders sign up this time around, with 4 on TT bikes and everyone else running road kit. A big welcome to new VCGH members Rupert Dickinson (who won with a blistering time of 24:47), Warren Applegate and James Gower who came out to test their mettle on the 10 mile sporting course. The biggest issue was contending with the road crew preparing the stretch of road outside the Plaistow village store for resurfacing. It was slightly worrying to see the truck turn up 15 mins before the TT was due to start, and there were conflicting signs warning of road closures either that morning or on Monday. In the end though, it was just the last few riders who had to deal with mouthfuls of dust from the road sweeping lorry as they squeezed through before the roadworks started in earnest (the women's regional road race due to ride over the same circuit 5 hours later must have had more difficulty as the road was completely closed by then). Thanks once again to an amazing team of volunteers for showing up early and manning the junctions and the HQ. The races couldn't run and wouldn't be half as friendly without your help. And thanks to those of you that came out to support us by racing. Would love to see more of you at the next race which runs on 14th June, so tell your mates and their mates and theirs. Lara road@vcgh.co.uk |
VCGH TT 1 of 6
On a chilly sunny morning in mid-April, several VCGHers and a small handful of riders from other clubs were to be seen zooming around the G10/45 circuit around Plaistow / Kirdford. The reason was the first VCGH Time Trial which was running from the HQ at Loxwood Sports Association that morning.
In all we had 17 riders with one DNF (puncture) which wasn't bad for a first event on an out-of-the-way rural course. We have a maximum of 30 riders slated for each event, so hope the event will gather momentum as the season progresses.
Thanks enormously to all those club members who sacrificed a lie-in to come and help with the organisation, and to those who showed their support by coming to race our own club event.
The TTs will be run once a month over the same course through the summer. There are more details here.
Results for the first event can be found here.
See you next time!
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VC Venta Cyclocross, 15th Dec
Awesome job by the 3 VCGHers who braved the rain and mud at Sparsholt Agricultural College near Winchester for VC Venta's cyclocross race on 15th December. Full results below. Ben Baxter's race report here.
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