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By Paul on August 31, 2011

It’s a quiet time of year now in cycling club land but we can’t have a story dated 24th July on the homepage in September. So here’s a quick round-up of what happened since then…

Beverley Town Centre support criterium, 29th July

It was carnage. Discussion and links to pics etc. here and here.

East Yorkshire Road Race League, final event 5th August

Excellent last race of the series saw a superb 2nd from Paul Rymer with Droppy hot on his heels at 6th, then Paul W at 13th, Rob 21st and Rich C 30th. All of this meant there were four of us in the prizes for the series, with Paul R top at 7th and netting best junior. Full write up, stats etc. courtesy of Hull Thursday here. Great series this year – and looking forward to the 2012 league!

Devastating victory for Team VC Beverley at the York Town Centre Criterium, 21st August

Well OK, it was in the Brompton race, one lap each in a four-man relay. And, yeah, alright, it turned out all the opposition were ‘fun’ teams rather than the cycling clubs we’d expected. So it was a bit of a pushover but a good laugh too as we barrelled round in shirts and ties. Next year a more serious Brompton challenge could be in the offing…

Excellent TT times, especially for Droppy

See the forum for good Goodmanham and ‘proper’ TT stats for Droppy, who is enjoying a late-season burst of enthusiasm while the rest of us start getting fat.

 

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VC Beverley summer road race result

By Paul on July 28, 2011

Excellent race on Sunday 24th July, on a course that seems to be popular with riders. We look forward to running the event again next year. Chapeau to all riders and helpers.

A substantial break got away about half way through the event and stayed away to the finish on this quick course, building a 2-minute lead on the bunch. Ben Ives from We Love Mountains took the win with Pete Fielding-Smith from Richardsons hot on his heels. VC Beverley’s Paul Rymer took 10th. Results are clickable from the BC events page here.

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VC Beverley Summer Road Race 24th July

By Paul on July 17, 2011

Please note that race HQ is North Newbald Village Hall. Also there will be no club run this Sunday. Race programmes can be downloaded here.

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Prize for Paul R at the Clifton CC Road Race

By Paul on July 11, 2011

Paul Rymer crossed the line 20th on Sunday’s Clifton CC Road Race, winning a prize for the first 4th cat to finish.

It’s an excellent achievement over 6 laps of the tough Newbald course, and with a strong field containing plenty of Cat 2 riders. Shack took the win, in what sounded like a hard-fought closing couple of laps.

Nothing but mechanical ignominy for me though – my saddle came loose early in the race (I’d swapped it earlier on discovering the usual one had cracked. I thought to have tightened the bolts enough, but obviously not). I tried to keep going, riding ‘on the rivet’ all the time, but it eventually came too loose to be either safe or rideable and I had to abandon the five-man grupetto I’d been going round with.

After I’d handed the race numbers back, I rode back up the hill, saddle-less, en route to South Cave, and hooked up with a small group who were still racing. As we got to the top, the lad at the back sat up abruptly, said “F*cking road racing”, with feeling, and packed in. I’ve never been present at the precise moment of someone abandoning before, and could certainly relate to it.

If anyone sees an extremely rare Reynolds seatpost clamp bolt+nut  twinkling in the roadside on the Newbald circuit, please let me know.

 

 

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Etton 7th July race photo gallery

By Paul on July 8, 2011

David got his camera out while marshalling on Thursday 7th and got some great shots of VC Beverley riders. He has the hi-res images if you want ‘em.

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Boggle Hole 2011

By Paul on July 4, 2011

Our annual road trip is rescheduled for 8th October 2011. Details on the forum.

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Tockwith report

By Paul on June 30, 2011

Young Paul has written up an account of his first outing in the Tockwith race series. Read on…

I arrived at the circuit to find nice racing conditions. Not windy, not rainy and thankfully not anywhere near as hot as Sunday and Monday. The only strange thing was that at signing on we found that we would be racing clockwise round the circuit rather than the usual anti-clockwise direction. It was strange having to turn right all the time but I got used to it.

After a bit of warm up I got myself to the start line somewhere towards the front of the bunch. However as we got started I threw away that advantage as I found myself struggling to clip in and this resulted in me near the back.

There was a lot of attacking from corner one. This resulted in people being dropped from the start which was not good for me being at the back and finding myself constantly chasing on to get back to bunch.  I did this for about 4 laps and then finally got myself in the middle of the bunch where I could get a bit of rest after the hard start.

As the race went on I was just drifting up and down the bunch but not doing much. There were lots of attacks off the front of the bunch but more often than not it was only one rider at a time and they only stayed away for at most one lap.

It got to 5 laps to go and I found myself at the back of the bunch and I knew that I needed to be further up if I was going to have any chance of a decent result.  Over  the next couple of laps I managed to work my way up to about tenth but then with three laps to go someone in front of decided to continue pedalling whilst cornering and they clipped their pedal on the ground. Thankfully he stayed on but this caused me to slow right down and I found myself at the back again with only two laps to go.

It was back to square one so I just had to ride hard to try and get up into a decent sprinting position. As we approached the last corner I had managed to get into an ok position but it was less than ideal having about 30 riders ahead of me. I managed to find a bit of space and came across the line in 14th.

Overall I was pleased with my result but I was definitely left thinking that I could have done so much better. The average race speed was 26.5 mph. If anyone wants to do these they are every Tuesday for the next 6 weeks, you just turn up and get signed on. If anyone is up for going next week could you let me know if you could offer a lift as will not be able to make it if I can’t get a lift.

Paul Rymer

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Rain and pain in Burton Fleming

By Paul on June 24, 2011

Bit of an eventful race as crashes and torrential rain made it a very Belgian evening at Round 5 of the East Yorkshire Road Race League.

No matter how much we willed them to go away, the big looming clouds over the beginnings of N. Yorkshire were going to rain on our parade big time at this race. It was the first time any of us had raced round this circuit and having recce’d it at the weekend we felt it was going to be a bit of a grind. Group 2 seemed extra large this evening, containing Droppy,  Andy Naylor and Rich Cutsforth from VC Beverley, with Rob, Paul Rymer and me in group 3. We set off working pretty well as a group, as usual, and very quickly the spots of rain turned to a real firehose downpour. It wasn’t long before we passed a group of around 8 riders at the roadside who had clearly had a bit of an incident – turned out later that both Droppy and Andy got taken out in a crash caused, it’s assumed, by a bit of erratic riding (it was a dead straight road) just ahead of them.

We carried on piling round and as always, I felt like climbing off about 1/3 of the way round before having a word with myself and getting my head down. The rain had caused huge puddles to form in the dips and had made the course’s many corners nice and slick – one of them caught out a rider (Brid, I think) who’ll be ordering a new pair of bibshorts today. We reeled in riders from group 1 and shelled-out members of group 2, then on the  uphill section of the final lap were ourselves caught by groups 4 and 5, steaming through in their usual haughty fashion.

Shack punctured as he came through, so we thought that was the last we’d see of him… and then in the closing 1/2 lap, after we’d all caught the remnants of group 2, I adopted a ‘watch and learn’ policy, marking a certain senior experienced rider in the front group. A bad gear choice out of a corner and I lost about six bike lengths –  had to give myself an even stronger talking-to to get back on. Then it was everyone jockeying around at 30+mph for the last 1k or so, Rob and Paul R both looking strong as we headed into the village.

It was a proper bunch sprint – or at least it felt like one – then a sense of palpable relief as we could all get off and start working out just how far advanced the hypothermia was. Big shout to Brid cc for the tea and cakes, which were very welcome indeed.

As for our two fallers, Droppy was limping but is hopefully OK pre-Marmotte – but Andy was holding his arm in the way cyclists with bust collarbones do. He’s back for an x-ray today so hopefully whatever’s happened will mend quickly. Get well soon!

And as for the results…  Shack got the win.  Turns out team-mate and VCB member Gary Trees made the ultimate sacrifice, donating his wheel and abandoning the race so Dave could get back on and then kick everyone’s arse in the closing metres. Massive respect to Gary for that selfless display – the very essence of ‘super-domestique’ behaviour.

Rob 7th (opening his account – chapeau), Paul W 12th, Paul R 22nd (all @ same time), Rich C 39th. Full results and official write up here.

Good effort to everyone – and get well soon Droppy and Andy!

 

 

 

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Limber race report

By Paul on June 16, 2011

Rob, the three Pauls, Gary K and guest star ‘The Shack’ headed south for a border raid into Lincolnshire to ride the Limber round of the Lincs TLI league. The comedy started as soon as we pulled into the race HQ car park and were repeatedly ‘directed’ where to park by a chap in his hi viz invincibility vest.

The signing on was in the village hall of the rather lovely Brockleby estate. The joviality continued with the fairly laid back approach behind the desk to group allocation. In the end Rob, Paul W and Gary plumping for group 3B. I think Paul R went in the one above and Paul D in the one below.

There also seemed to be much confusion as to where the race started with half the field opting for a village hall in Limber and the other half for the start line a bit further down the road. In the end it was sorted out though. We dutifully lined up and names were read out school teacher style. Group one  which contained about 20 riders set off. Then another group which contained maybe a few more. Time gaps seemed to be worked out on the basis that when everyone was present, you could set off, which was rather novel. Then it was the turn of ‘Class 3B’. The giggles came to an abrupt end when it became apparent this group would contain a whopping seven (!) riders.

This quickly became 5 after about half a lap. In the end it was decided that a conservative ride round and wait for the chasing hordes would be our best option rather than wasting ourselves trying to stay away.  In the end we stayed away for about a lap and a half and then as planned joined in with the faster group when it arrived.

In the end it turned out to be a good ride round a good ‘big ring’ course. We caught the group up ahead in the dying moments of the race and then it all kicked off. ‘The Shack’ got the win and Paul Rymer came a brilliant 4th. The rest rolled in with the bunch. (Mostly toward the front  of it, says Paul W).

Then it was back to the race HQ for tea and cake. Something sadly missing for the East Yorkshire League and then a drive back in the rain.

Rob

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Klaus leaving bash 14th July

By Paul on June 16, 2011

The mighty German rouleur is heading for Bavaria in mid-July. He will be much missed in VC Beverley club runs and chaingangs, and his departure deserves a good send-off.

Beer and curry on 14th July is the plan, venue and timing to be announced.

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