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The six-race Tockwith spring series looms close, with the first event on Tuesday 10th May. Various reminders:-

- If you want to enter the whole series and be eligible for series points (which count towards overall cash prizes awarded after the last race) then get entries in PDQ - closing date is officailly Sunday but there's a bit of leeway. There's a team prize, and there will be women's prizes. Details are on the BC race calendar - fifty quid for six races advance series entry, or ten quid per race EOL.

- The 4ths-only race is Regional C+ and the 2/3/4 is Regional A - so both have BC points on offer.

- We're one of the six clubs sharing the admin of the series. I've dealt with all our input up to now but we need a few bodies on Tues 17th May, which is the event we're responsible for. I've got a couple of volunteers already, but need a couple more please - just to deal with signing on and sorting out start/finish stuff.

- If anyone knows where our lap bell, chequered flag and race numbers are, let me know please!!

- We need a new lap board making - a simple A-board with a couple of hooks and a set of numbers; we'll need it for the Tockwith event, plus our road races and who knows what else. Anyone with some carpentry skills fancy making one? I'm sure the club can cover materials costs...

- The whole thing gets repeated with a summer circuit series kicking off on 28th June - same pre-entry arrangements apply, so get entries in early. We're down to organise the second in that series too (5th July, but with the possibility of swapping to do the first in the series on 28th June instead) so advance offers of help would be much welcomed.

Good effort boys!

Four of us out in the 4ths-only race - Reuben doing his first ever race, Toby having a good ride in the bunch, Tim and me - and as the sun sank and we headed back home Tom was circulating briskly and safely in the bunch of the 2/3/4 race!

Tim was clearly in need of some exercise and he did a number of digs off the front accompanied by verbal encouragement for everyone to get a move on. I played a lower-key game believing (wrongly as it turned out) that if I kept out of trouble and near the front as much as possible I ought to stand a chance of some points. I was nicely sat in the front ten as we shot past the two laps to go board but it all went a bit belly-up after that, with my lack of top-end speed and willingness to elbow my way through the bunch once again consigned me to watch the sprint from behind. Good fun though, in a strange kind of way, though watching each lap's quota of riders taking to the dirt outside the final bend was disconcerting.

Interestingly the race ran off at almost exactly the same speed (25.2mph) as the series opener last year, but at considerably higher power (a whisker under 280W for the 44mins) despite my keeping out of the breeze where possible. Thanks for the pics, Tullio!

Yes Phil i was feeling a bit jumpy last night.!Good photos Tullio thanks.I cant really think of another way of riding these just as you said to "stir things up"!Quite enjoyed it but if i want any points i will have to think again about my strategy.Well done Toby and Rubens .

...trouble posting...

Last night was Clifton's turn to organise the event - many thanks to Billy, Dave C, Cam and my daughter Hannah for spending the evening making sure all went smoothly. Which it did - with the exception of a minor blip with the BC camera at the finish of the 4ths race. Good racing and over a hundred riders between the two races. Tim, Reuben, Simon and Andy Myers were flying the Clifton colours - reports awaited....

Great fun last night. Felt a little apprehensive as I haven't done much over the last couple of weeks - but was surprised by being able to keep up with the pace without blowing. Even managed to have a little, if rather futile attempt at a breakaway with Tim for 1/2 a lap. The group was tightly bunched for the entire distance. Felt I had the legs to give it a go - but not sure how to navigate my way through a bunch travelling at that speed - maybe next time I will try to get into a better position with 2 to go. If you haven't had a go at racing - these are great events. Hopefully will be there next week - depending on work commitments.

Thoroughly enjoyed my second race last night. After planning to just see how it went, I found myself at the front of the bunch with one lap to go. I discovered that I would then become the springboard for everyone else! So will think a bit more about tactics next time.

Having seen Tim in action twice, I am convinced he could do very well in these if he could control his urge to up the pace of the bunch for 20 out of 24 laps! Team tactics required next time for us all.

Many thanks to all from Clifton involved with organisation last night.

I arrived around 6:35 not knowing where to go/what to do, but seemed to manage to blend in by copying what everyone else was doing Managed to get myself signed on and then I pinned my first ever number on my back... in the wrong place! A couple of BC guys straightened it out and were very helpful in giving me a bit of advice for when I would inevitably get shelled out of the back.

Fortunately that moment never came. The race began steady and I positioned myself on the inside of the circuit to gain maximum shelter from the wind. Half way around the first lap the pace picked up. It took a few laps for me to become confident in the bunch, cornering at such a speed with so many other bikes around me and remembering to shout when I was coming past people.

The speed through the final corner onto the start/finish straight was quite slow due to the radius and the fact that everyone had to squash into it at once.. every lap we sprinted quite quickly out of the corner only to bunch up and slow right down half way down the straight. I found the sprinting out quite hard work - something I definitely need to work on.

The race was definitely a challenge but within the last couple of laps I still felt like I had something left so I wanted to get as far towards the front as I could, but unfortunately got boxed in and remained mid-pack for the sprint.

I went to Tockwith thinking I would get dropped within the first couple of laps, so I was very happy to get through the full 25 lap race and to still have something left in the legs at the end was extremely suprising.

Overall, I really enjoyed my first race and it made me realise what I need to work on and improve with my fitness. I can't wait to have another go! Shame I didn't get a photo of my first race attempt though. Need to buy myself a Clifton CC jersey as well I think.

Garmin stats: http://connect.garmin.com/activity/86303823

Thanks to all involved in organising the event

Almost makes me want to go up there and have a race.
I like the way Tim races, proper having a go, and the results will come I'm sure of that.
I think the way to race these crits especially if it's windy, is to have a real go early on and try force a selection, I know it's easier said than done but if 3 or 4 of you can give it full beans on the front in a side wind and get everyone in the gutter you might just get a small group off the front. Got to be better than giving the sprinters an armchair ride to the finish.
On the other hand if you've got a gallop in the legs..

Some photos now on the News page - slightly fuzzy but my daughter's terrified gibbering when she got near that final corner was unsettling me....

The link to veloriders which I mention in News is worth a look - it's full-scale warfare on there!

Phil, can't find the Veloriders link you mentioned, please can you add to this forum?

Here ya go...

http://www.veloriders.co.uk/phpBB2/viewforum.php?f=4

That is fairly heated stuff!

In case you haven't seen them - there's about 50 photos from Tuesday's race on Neil Hendry's facebook page - see

http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set= ... .583618678

Quite a few of Tim out at the front... my style of trying to find an easy ride to the finish has kept me out of the shot. I think there's a couple of Reuben.

Simon