Committee Alan McLean Posted June 22, 2008 Committee Report Share Posted June 22, 2008 Four JWCC in the TLI race round Cumbrae today. Kerry, Kenny ("I never race") Mac, Mike Ferguson and me. The others had already done the TT in the morning and, after cycling from Paisley, Mike had done almost 50 miles before the race. The rain held off and we were on pretty good dry roads for a route clockwise round the top of the island, five laps over the wee hill in the middle, and an anticlockwise lap back down the west side to finish in Millport. I hoped the big national vets race at Eaglesham (race report please Paul) would have cleared some of the opposition but there were loads of fit folk at registration. We lined up at the world famous Ritz Cafe, the car led us through the Millport suburbs, and we were off. I started fast in a wee group of four for a couple of miles. I felt pretty good until Hugh Jamieson and Jim Cusick wound up the pace and flashed past, showing us what a proper break looked like. After that the race was for third place as the two of them headed off in the direction of Arrochar. They were followed by a very strong Kelso Wheeler who sat in no-mans land for the next three laps. The hill is only 50m high but was real pain fest. It was almost big-ringable, but with little steepenings which really hurt. Five climbs meant five episodes of barely controlled, tongue-hanging out, legs-on-fire-why-don't-we-all-just-relax, nausea. For me anyway. About twenty of us bunched up in a disorganised rabble on the flat, it was pretty clear that none of us were strong enough to ride off the front like the first three. By the second climb Kerry had got bored. She stamped hard and spectacularly split the pack. Twenty guys tried to hang on. I just followed a wheel. I think we dropped Kenny and Mike then. We were down to about twelve on the next lap up the east coast road. Having broken the pack Kerry then organised a decent chase. She is not only a world class triathlete but a real road racer. " Get on that wheel. Close that gap". Lots of encouraging shouts. Through and off, just below the red line, but always a minute behind the lead duo. The Kelso guy was eventually reeled in. The bunch eventually dropped to nine but we weren't quite smooth enough despite Ms. Lang's shouts. Two Nightingale guys were prominent doing loads of work with Inverclyde Velo and Ayrodynamic folk. Some There was a pre-sprint lull at end of the last descent, until someone pointed out that the finish was still seven miles away and we should really get away from the chasing groups so up went the pace again. A couple of canny guys saved energy at the back, I knew they were waiting for the sprint but it was lovely fast riding at the sharp end when the two lines were working well. We had a couple of digs in the last mile to try and stretch the bunch but ended with a proper group sprint to the finish. I can't sprint so no big TLI prizes for me. Full results on TLI. Provisional results Winner Hugh Jamieson 2nd Jim Cusick 7th Alan McLean JWCC @1.35 8th and 1st lady Kerry Lang JWCC@st 15th Kenny MacDonald JWCC ?time 19th Mike FergusonJWCC ?time (having done 82 miles by end!) Splendid day. Kerry gets red jersey for most aggressive rider and an MBA for best organisational skills If it had been hillier she would have ripped the whole bunch apart and joined the grownups for a podium finish. Real class. Excellent prize giving with silly speeches. Most arresting image: long line of riders with rucksacks heading back to ferry on quiet roads through meadows, in the warm. Alan Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Committee Alan McLean Posted June 22, 2008 Author Committee Report Share Posted June 22, 2008 er..drizzle. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Kenny MacDonald Posted June 22, 2008 Members Report Share Posted June 22, 2008 TT report a wet morning for the time triallists result 1st junior and 5th. overall James MacD 2nd. cat a-b Martin Mullholland 3rd. cat c-d Mike Ferguson 2nd juvenile Greg Balden 3rd. juvenile Lewis Mullholland Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Kenny MacDonald Posted June 23, 2008 Members Report Share Posted June 23, 2008 Just a few follow up points :- First 4 miles were ran off at a quick but not excessive pace ( unfortunately it was too quick for Mike and a few others),no real concerted effort was tried to bridge the gap to the escapees. First 2 laps were fairly easy on the climb with no attacks , on 3rd. lap I told Kerry to attack up climb to shed the deadweight ( including myself) who were just sitting in. Kerry was by far the strongest rider in the bunch and was constantly harrassing people to come through and work . She did attack splitting the group and it reformed into a reasonable working group and a small group ( no prizes for guessing which one I was in ) Both groups worked away for next 2 laps and came in to line all intact. I had signed up to do B race along with Ian Loughran as a tribute to big Roabbie , unfortunately following some disputes regarding who should be in what group it was decided to run as 1 group. That led to an extra lap and some younger fitter riders making life tough after first 2 laps. First race for me in 9 years and not best idea considering I had only done 2 confined APRs as a warm up last month. Still enjoyed the experience and wont rule out another go next year , only if I can get some training in before event ps Alan will win one of these events when he learns some craft and race tactics. He has all the tools and components , just needs the plans to put them into practice Plus if Kerry goes full time into cycling then the current British squad will have to start looking over their shoulders. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
2023 Subscriptions P McDonald Posted June 23, 2008 2023 Subscriptions Report Share Posted June 23, 2008 Glad youse all had a good day out at Millport - I'm guessing you got pretty wet similar to those riding at Eaglesham. The Masters race this year had riders from Portsmouth, Derby, "Callum Gough" zone and various other over border places ! Was pretty agressive on first 18 mile lap with numerous attacks and breaks forming but none lasting more than a mile or two. Lap 2 the field blew apart then came together but 5 escaped in a break. This stayed away till the end. Back in the bunch the attacks and reforms continued through lap 3 and right up till the last 2 mile drag. There were maybe 20 or so left in the bunch. When the sprint up the hill started my legs stopped and I came in at the tail of the bunch. Brilliant race again won by Brian Pool. Only other results I know at this stage as I headed off sharp to Ayr was John Kermode 6th (1st from bunch), Chris Thompson 7th and Steve McEwen (back from Holland for 2 days) just behind me with similar leg seizure problems ! PMcD Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Committee Alan McLean Posted June 23, 2008 Author Committee Report Share Posted June 23, 2008 Paul Good report. Excellent work to hold onto a big international (inc. English) bunch. We were dry, dry, dry as a very dry thing. TLI had arranged a two hour gap in the rain. I can't believe Kenny hasn't raced for a while. Brilliant work from him and Mike. I suspect secret training camps at altitude, bike courier work and porridge. While I was retching on the first three climbs oor Ken was happily whirring away alongside. It took a professional, international class triathlete, KL, to finally get away from him and the second bunch on the climb. javascript:emoticon(':shock:') A Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
2023 Subscriptions P McDonald Posted June 23, 2008 2023 Subscriptions Report Share Posted June 23, 2008 Eaglesham was certainly not dry - obviously because it was not a TLI race. Some very high quality photo's on the BCF web site - however you'll get wet just looking at them ! Still drying out PMcD Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Kenny MacDonald Posted June 24, 2008 Members Report Share Posted June 24, 2008 Some nice fotos of oor Paul on BC site, check out Falkirk website for fotos of Cumbrae RR. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Committee Alan McLean Posted June 24, 2008 Author Committee Report Share Posted June 24, 2008 Kenny Thanks for link to photos on http://pbpb.fotopic.net/p51411307.html. Thanks also to Fawkirk lensman. Thank your lucky stars you don't race because there is a guy in JWCC kit, looking a lot like you, who seems pretty much in contention on the climbs Looks like he'd rip your legs off.Any relation? A Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Committee Alan McLean Posted June 24, 2008 Author Committee Report Share Posted June 24, 2008 Edit: sorry, link to single photo doesn't work. For Kenny's fashion portfolio try http://pbpb.fotopic.net/c1532805_25.html Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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