VC Bayeux Landscapes RR - Horsmonden
Round 7 of the point's series saw Paul Smitherman and Mark Simpson competing
on the hilly course around Horsmonden. This is a lumpy circuit with 3
significant climbs and a long drag up to the start/finish. Heavy rain had
clearly by the start time and the sun was shining and the roads were dry.
Both riders kept close to the front but up the first climb Andrew Bates made
a move together with Neil Archibald and neither was caught. On the 2nd lap
Paul tried his hand at getting away but was caught after the third climb. At
the catch, Mark tried his hand at escaping but again the bunch chased him
down.  On the climb up to the bell lap, Mark made his final big effort to
escape and gave it everything. He managed to stay away for half a lap but
with the bunch knowing that big points were up for grabs they were having
none of it. Up the drag for the last time saw a bunch sprint, filling the
road, Paul got 3rd in his age and Mark got 10th in his.
Mark

LVRC Region 9 Road Race Championships - Blackmore, Essex

There was a good turn out for this event with 65 riders in our race. The
usual jostling for position on roll out resulted in a near miss for a guy
just in front of me, who was on the wrong side of the road and almost
collided with a 4x4!
I managed to get to the front when the flag was pulled and admit to being a
bit apprehensive at the six laps (56 miles) that lay ahead of me.
There were a couple of attacks on the first lap but no one stayed away, at
one point the race slowed so I decided to have a dig. Glancing over my
shoulder four of us, including Andy Meilak were in a breakaway, we continued
at pace but on the back section Meilak attacked up one of the small climbs
and I found myself back in the bunch at the front!
(Mark said afterwards he thought 'Paul what the **** are you doing?' and at
that point I wasn't entirely sure!).
A lap later as we turned into the horrible head wind on the finish straight,
the lead group had dropped two guys, they were about half a mile ahead, at
that point to my right, a guy came past having a go to get across, I jumped
on his wheel got into a low gear (cheers Gareth) and we worked well to
bridge the gap. At this point I was knackered and still had 4 laps to go!
The next lap saw our group swell to 11 strong riders working hard through
and off.
Mark and Paul did a great job slowing the main bunch down but getting
endless abuse for their efforts. The main bunch was pulled at the bell lap,
as they were 5 minutes behind our group, (a mistake by the organisers saw
Mark and Paul's great efforts cut short).
The pace then went up again, I was hanging in there and felt okay, but as we
turned into the headwind on the home straight 1 mile to go, a further push
by 5 other guys saw my legs say NO!
I decided to sit in and go for a sprint at the end, with 200yrds to go I
managed to do this and finished 9th overall.

Paul Smitherman

Ps: more of our 'senior' (you know who you are!) team mates required please.

---

Ciclos Uno summer series - Dunton - 27th July

Paul S, Paul D and Mark, travelled once more into Essex to take part in the
Ciclos Uno summer series. The banked circuit is becoming familiar ground, as
is the hour plus 5 lap format. The weather was glorious with a blue sky and
a slight breeze. The pace was quick from the start with constant attacks.
Mark got into two - 4 man breaks but on both occasions the bunch chased them
down. Paul S won a prime and collected £5 for his efforts with Mark right on
his shoulder to make it a Medway 1 & 2. With 5 to go the Velo's dictated the
pace on the front and chased down solo attacks. With half a lap to go the
bunch were tightly packed waiting for the sprint. Although the three Velo's
were near the front coming out of the last turn the pack managed to
surrounded us and with fading riders blocking our paths we had to settle for
a mid bunch finish. A slightly disappointing end to a very good race.

Paul S finished highest in 14th

Stan, Paul D and Mark travelled into Essex to take part in the latest round
of the Ciclos Uno summer series. This was raced on the 2 mile, Ford Motors,
banked circuit and consisted of an hour & 15 minutes plus 5 laps. From the
off Andrew Meilak and three others jumped but no one responded, so they
stayed away. The rest of us stayed together with no one willing to work
together and try to pull them back.  With 5 laps to go I attacked the climb
and managed to get away but the strong wind meant that the back straight was
really tough and so I decided to regroup and wait a couple of laps. I stayed
near the front and got together with some other like-minded riders and with
150m metres to go we wound the speed up. Thankfully this deterred most of
the others and left the final sprint to half a dozen or so riders and I
managed to get 4th. Paul finished comfortably in the bunch and Stan also
finished his race.

A pretty good session for all of us.

Mark Simpson


Another Sunday, another race.

Stan, Paul D, Paul S & Mark travelled to Fowlmead to compete in the LVRC -
VC Deal Criterium Championships. The weather was sunny but the wind was very
strong and those who know the course know that if the wind blows it can be
very tough.
Stan and Paul D rode the early race and found the pace really hard but put
up a good fight. Paul S & Mark rode in the fairly small A&B race which
included a couple of Cat 1 riders so they knew that it was going to be fast.
Within 4 laps Andy Meilak made a move and split the bunch. Paul & Mark were
in the 2nd group and worked well together along with most of the others
riders who each took their turn on the front. The strong wind played a large
part in the proceedings and no one was able to get clear. Mark was able to
win the only Prime of the race by being cleverly led out by Paul (cheers
mate the wine was lovely). With 5 laps to go the race got cagey and a couple
of riders tried to jump but were pulled back which meant a sprint for the
line. This was won by a rider who rarely got on the front!
All in all a good race in really tough conditions - more team mates please!

Mark Simpson

LVRC - Dunton 15th June

Paul & I took part in another 1hr + 5 lap race at Dunton. The first few laps
were fairly steady and in trying to win a "prime" I managed to get a break
with 3 other riders. Paul dutifully stayed in the bunch and did his utmost
to keep the chasers at bay. After a few laps it got tougher and each turn
took a bit more out of my legs. Eventually 3 other riders joined us but by
now I was missing turns and suffering. I decided to ease up and get back in
the bunch and try to help Paul.
Unfortunately only a handful of riders wanted to do any work and the rest
were happy to sit on wheels. This meant that the break stayed clear with
only one rider dropping back to join us. This provoked some choice words
from the workers and with 1 lap to go Paul decided to jump and go for glory.
I made my way to the front and disrupted the chase. Paul didn't catch the
front group but soloed to cross the line in 6th. I was happy to sprint with
the bunch but had little left and finished mid group.
I blame Paris Roubaix for sapping our legs!

Mark Simpson

The 25th Giles Ree Memorial Road Race

2nd ever cat 1,2,3 race and it wasn't going to be fun. Lots of prize money managed to bring out a real quality field including the South East Divisional Road Race champ Gary Dodd. The race start was delayed by about 20 mins which was a real pain but never mind. Finally the race started, neautralized for half a lap until we reached the finish line, then that was it the pace went mental to the top of climb but thankfully I hung in, then the pace settled at around the 26mph mark. I knew that to hang in I would need to stay in the top 15 riders so I moved towards the front. I managed to position myself where I wanted to be until we reached a sharp corner with a curb along the side when one of the other riders, who he was I have no idea, decided to cut me up round the bend, I tounched the curb and just stayed on then still he was pushing me across, with no more room I decided to sit up round the corner which nearly cought the rider by surprise and we hooked handle bars (some how we both stayed upright) then just down the road yet again he moved across where the was no room and tried to barge me out of his way, by this point I wasn't happy and gave him a few words of visdom, something like watch what your doing but not as polite. After that I never saw him again. After 3 laps of the rather lumpy 9.2 mile circuit I was alreay feeling tired. Just after the finish line on the climb there was a big attack in which 8 riders got away. A couple of miles into the lap the pace was full on as we were trying to catch the break. This completely cracked a lot of the riders in the group including me and one of the Plowman Craven riders who was dropped completelya I knew that I needed to just try and hang in and move forward so on the next climb upto the HQ I gave it everything and positioned myself in the top 20 riders in the main bunch. I stayed in the bunch for the next lap until the 5th where I was dropped on the climb after the finish line, the commisaire passed me I gave it everything to try and catch up on the climb and managed to keep the rear of the bunch insight, knowing that I couldn't catch up on the climb I tried to conserve some energy for the descent. As I got to the top of the climb the first aid vehicle passed me but I could still see the main group, I took the left had bend as hard as I could nearly cliping the curb along the outside. I was about 200 metres from the back of the field as we hit the descent. The team van which was neuatral service for the day pulled up by the side on its way past shouting encouragement, as it came through I sprinted onto its bumper as we were doing around 50 down the hill, not a reccomended I dea as I couldn't see through or round it. I was only 50 metres of the group now so I gave it all I could to go past the team van, where I hit something in the middle of the road which lead to all my gels falling out of my pocket. After going round the van I than went rount the first aid and commisaire and back into the field. There were a few shocked faces as I moved into the group. I manage to hang in for yet another lap but was suffering. Then as we turned onto the 1st lap of the finishing circuit we came to a painful steep climb where I blew up and was dropped again but had nothing to chase with this time. I cruised round for this lap then pulled out.

I managed to hang in for 60 miles which was better than I expected but the climb after the finish on the 9.2 mile course took it out of me every lap, this was because the king of hill points were at the top.

I decided to watch the finsh where Gary Dodd took 4th in the end and Paul Delahunty of London Dynamo won the sprint and race by a good 5 seconds

Cameron

LVRC Finsbury Park RR - Blackmore
Mark Simpson & Paul Smitherman travelled to Essex to compete in a 56 mile
vets race. A full field started on a rather damp morning and Paul quickly
made his way to the front of the pack. The pace was high but steady and Paul
was working well on the front taking his turn. Unfortunately on lap 3 Mark
punctured and although he managed to borrow a wheel, his race was over. Paul
continued to work hard on the front, chasing down numerous attacks. Four
riders did get a one-minute break but were pulled back on the last lap,
which meant a mass sprint. Paul had obviously surprised a few riders with
his consistent strength throughout the race and at the 1 kilometre mark was
completely and deliberately blocked in (that's racing for you Paul). He
finished nicely in the bunch and although disappointed with his position, he
rode a sterling race.

SERRL Race 12 Kenardington
3 velos signed on for the 50mile 3rds and 4th race at the undulating Kenardinton circuit me (Jayson), Karl and Rob Holyoake. After a disappointing race there 2wks before and crashing out of the stage race on the bank holiday I was determined to put in a good ride. As soon as the flag dropped I went for it and was joined by another rider, I really pushed it and up the first climb was joined by Mark from odl we rode for a lap with the other guy hanging on then up that hill again we dropped him and was joined by Joe from the fairies. Two other riders got across and we pulled out a minute gap with a lap to go the gap was down to 30seconde but we held off for a five up sprint. I was in second wheel behind Joe he jumped and I went after him and went straight through which turned out to be to early and 3 riders went past me and I took 4th, mark took the win with matt of Gemini in 2nd and Joe in 3rd. Karl and Rob took a nice sit in ride for the race and managed to mess up the sprint Rob hit the front from a long way out and forced a gap Karl came off his wheel to early and the bunch came streaming off his wheel. Cam was riding for in gear and took13th in the bunch sprint.
If 50miles riding at 25mph wasn’t enough Karl and I decided to keep going and ride home. Joined by Barnet and Paul Buckley we pottered home Karl riding quite strong having been sat in all race and me absolutely mullered. Up Lenham hill I died hitting the 25 before even getting to the steep part. Getting home a nice hard 80miles preparation for Roubaix.

Jayson
Surrey League road race at MOD Chertsey.

4th Cats only, we started off and I stayed well out of trouble as I have witnessed these 4th cat races before.
I found the pace very easy going and spent a lot of time on the outside in the wind a bit and keeping out the way.
The race was pretty uneventful, many attacks but they amount to nothing.
Once four riders got away for about 1/2 lap, and I thought that it might work, I jumped across really easily and overtook the riders to do a turn, 200 yds later I had rode away from them. I thought about going solo, but did not think I had quite enough.
Eventually we come to the last lap. There was a lot of panic in some riders on this lap, and I was concerned about a crash, but we got round OK.
I found myself in the middle of the pack (about 40/50 riders) and decided to use the short hill on the course to blast to the front. Unfortunately I 'blasted' too much and launched off the front. Having little choice I started to give a bit it some gas and lead everyone round onto the very long finish straight.
With about 600 yds to go another rider decided to start sprinting and dragged another round me, much better, I was now in 3rd place.
With 300 yds to go, the early sprinters were blown and another started out wide. I thought, this is it, I'll have to go now.
I started sprinting and everyone swung onto my wheel, I'm a good sprinter and with 50 left no one had come round me, then 1 rider edged along side and my tanks were already well and truly opened so nothing more to give, I didn't lunge and this may have cost me the win as it went to the video for the finish and I was second.
Still I get my 3rd cat license as it puts me on 10 points, so well worth the effort.

Another win for Gareth McCulllough.
Soloing to Victory at Frant on the 11th May 2008.

Les Ingram Elite Road Race 27/4/08

Ivan and Gareth travelled to surrey on Sunday to compete in the 80 Mile Elite men’s road race held on an extremely hard and hilly circuit. This type of terrain was best suited to the Velo boys who have been showing excellent consistency thus far this season. The race was full on from the gun, Gareth managing to get away with four riders in the initial ¾ miles of the event and stayed away the entire day. After completing one lap at approx 30 mph average a group of 10 came across and then a 3rd group latched on later on lap two which contained Ivan. This group was to stay clear in different formations and breakaways until lap 5, where Gareth managed to go clear on the main climb with two other riders with another rider going later in the lap. Gareth soon realised that he was joined by riders who had strong representation in the chasing group, therefore had a realistic chance of staying clear. On the final climb Gareth tried to go clear alone however his companions where still riding strong and was brought back. So it came to a sprint with Delahaunghty winning from Gareth . In the sprint from the Chasing group Ivan led out and held of the chasers right to the line in an excellent show of strength at the end of such a gruelling race to get 6th place respectively.
More points for the Velo in the team classification.
Gareth and Ivan are leading the standing in the individual rider classification in the South East

LVRC Tricote jersey series race 1 at Henford hill.

Andy said make it hurt - and it did! Stan Franklin & Mark Simpson travelled
to Leigh nr Dorking to compete in the first of eight races in the Tricote
jersey series.
Having missed the break in the two previous races I decided to be nearer the
front and be closer to the action. From the gun the pace was really high and
I stayed with the lead group over the first lap and up a nasty 17% climb and
crossed the line in a small break. Sadly the pace was too intense and I knew
that I could not sustain it for 54 miles so I eased up and got back into the
bunch and then suffered for half a lap just recovering. The pace remained
high with riders lined out for most of the 7 laps and the climb seemed to
get steeper each time. On the penultimate lap we caught the break and I knew
that it would be a mass sprint. The finish was on a brow of the hill and I
managed to gain a few places and finished in the top 20.
Stan's race was equally as fast and he lost touch with the bunch but carried
on to finish in a small group.

26th April 08 Betteshanger
Gareth and Ivan finally talked me into getting on my race bike to have a go at the SERRL event at Betteshanger, both events for 3/4 and 1/2 cats were run concurrently so we had a large contingent of 7 lined up at the start.

A break went on the first lap of the 1hr plus 5 lap event and soon built up a lead of about 30 seconds, we had not managed to get anyone into this 5 man group, but worked hard to keep the gap from getting too big. Gareth and Ivan were clearly marked men, but they persisted in having digs off the front, each time they were chased down by the bunch, also very active at the front were Jayson and Rob Holyoake who both spent spells off the front trying to get across. After about 45 minutes Ivan and Jayson managed to force a small gap and as soon as the next rider attacked Gareth and I tagged on for the ride, when the gap came down to about 10 seconds we attacked and linked up, soon we had a good working group which made rapid progress towards the leaders, joining them with less than two laps to go. Gareth kindly led out the sprint for me although I just seemed to stall and was beaten convincingly by Alex Paton of VC Deal. The final result was 1/2 cats Rob Kennison 2nd, Gareth 3rd, Ivan 5th. 3/4 cats 3rd Jayson. Rob Holyoake, Karl Smith and Cameron Carthew all finished well to the fore in the bunch sprint which followed the break home.

South East Club / Team Rankings
1	Medway VC	108
2	London Dynamo/Cyclefit	82
3	Kingston Whls CC	75
4	Norwood Paragon CC	58
5	www.agiskoviner.com	55
6	VC Meudon	48
7	Dulwich Paragon CC	44
8	Sigma Sport.co.uk	39
9	Citihub/Cycles Dauphin	37
10	Old Portlians CC	33
11	In Gear Cycling Development Squad	28
12	Addiscombe CC	25
13	VC Etoile	24
14	Trisportnews.com	23
15	Brighton Mitre CC	21
16	Downland Cycles	19
17	Colour-Tech RT	18
18	Festival RC	17
19	VC Londres	16
20	Velo Club Elan/Harry Perry Cycles	15
21	Marin UK	14
21	GS Stella	14
23	San Fairy Ann CC	13
24	Evans Cycles Race Team	10
24	Kent Cycles Road Club	10
24	London Phoenix CC	10
27	GS Invicta Eye Level Optical	7
28	Wild Side Road Team	6
29	Team Torq	5
29	Gemini BC	5
29	VC Deal	5
32	Bayeux Landscapes	4
33	Sussex Nomads CC	3
33	Godalming Cycles RT	3
35	Southdown Velo	2
36	De Laune CC	1