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There was a good turn out for the club run this morning on a bright but breezy day. We headed towards the cafe in Hemsley via White Horse Bank and Riveaux, and Bernard navigated the way home on some new roads (for me) via Old Malton and Bossal.

How did the road racing guys get on at Thurcroft?

On Saturday I rode the Stone Wheelers 25. It was PB's galore on a fast day on a fast course. I improved my PB by over 3 minutes to clock 56:56.
It was good to finally achieve my goal for the season!

I participated at Thurcroft, I punctured on the start line before the race got underway and then only lasted for about half of the race before getting blown out the back on the drag upto the finish. So not a good day for me.

Rode the thurcroft RR along with Andy J, Paul M and Paul B- Felt the pace was quite high though there was a strong headwind up the finishing straight. A group of 4 i think got away in the first couple of laps and steadily increased the gap on the bunch. There were quite a few other attacks from the bunch throughout the race but none really stuck until the front of the bunch split with about 5 or 6 laps to go. I managed to get up to a group of four and was then dropped from these and chased after them for a couple of laps before catching them with a mile or so to go and finished 3rd in this group for 15th place. A point scored! Paul B had quite a few goes at getting away and am not sure where he finished.

Didn't have it physically or mentally today which is a pity as its a course I've done ok on in previous years. A pity also for the Clifton entourage we had all taken along as they had to witness our efforts every 5 mins for the 25 laps I at least was counting down!
Last one for me - I feel the club runs beckoning.
Paul B climbed off - the 6 points he required were all ready up the road and I doubt he needed the miles!
Well done to Matt for perseverence on a tough day.

Just spotted another win for Kit per the BC website, this time in the elite CDNW Road Race League Event 15 - Clayton Velo - Bashall Eaves Long. See http://www.britishcycling.org.uk/web/si ... sultspp=40

Let's have all the details, Kit, and well done!

That puts Kit on 292 points, which isn't too shabby. (it's nearly 300 more than I ever got).

I make it 3 more Clifton riders at 2nd cat (incl Matt who is still a junior), 1 3rd cat and 1 with some 4th cat points. This must be even better than last season.

We were away seeing some friends in Macclesfield. Got a great, and guided, 3 hour ride in on Sunday morning. Out along the Dane valley (loads of climbing) and back up the Cheshire plain.

Like Nick says, I won at Bashall Eaves. The usual early attack put me in a group of five, three of whom were tailed off on successive climbs. We remaining two shared the workload until the final short climb with 1k to go. James Williamson's attack served only to put him on the front, and I sprinted past him at 300m to go with a strong tailwind. Our lead of two minutes had been reduced to 18 seconds by the end - we'd both been conserving energy on the last lap despite the increasingly worrying time checks given to us by the commissaire but it turned out well in the end.

For those who might be interested my points tally stands at 489 for the season, 444 of which have been national points. My current 1st cat ranking is 322 points, accounting for the points required to move up from 2nd to 1st cat. This leaves me with the dilemma of whether to keep racing in the hope of scoring enough points for an elite licence, or stopping now (as I'd planned) and ending on a high. I'll probably stop now and ask for an elite licence next year anyway, because of the number of national points I've received.

Not the best of weekends - went to visit my folks, taking in a West Midlands League 'cross event on the Sunday. Fell off on a warm-up lap due to shoes not engaging in pedals properly and hurt my right wrist; managed 2 laps of the actual race, but my hand was in agony (using the r/h brake lever was a bit of an ordeal), added to which the continuing shoe trouble meant I fell further and further behind the rest of the field with every dismount/remount. Called it a day and headed home for the Sunday roast. Nothing pencilled in until late October now, so plenty of time for recovery and equipment tweaks before my next race. Currently strapped up with a tubular bandage thingy, which made typing all this reasonably comfortable and straightforward!

Dave