It's been a busy few weeks since our last website post with some big podium placings at home and abroad across various disciplines.
Road
Winter is on it's way, which means it's hill climb season and the team have been knocking out podium performances on the local scene. Gillingham Wheeler's recently did a double Bulbarrow hill climb event and the team were out in force with Phil Cole, Tony Revell, Sam Humphrey, Dani Humphrey and Naomi Shinkins riding. The first ascent was from Woolland with steep gradients of up to 20% and the second ascent was from Stoke Wake, which was a bit more forgiving. Final results were 2nd for Tony, 3rd for Sam, 2nd female for Dani and 3rd for Naomi who was doing it as part of a 100 mile ride with 5 ascents of Bulbarrow in total that day. Tony and Sam also finished 1st team with the help of overall winner, Alex Wellburn.
Zak Snell has also been smashing out the hills climbs at the local club events with 2 wins from 2 starts! The first win was on the Portland hill climb and was part of a 100 mile training ride for Zak and only 5 seconds off the course record. Zak also claimed the win on the Creech hill climb last week. We suspect there'll be a few more course record attempts from Zak over the next few weeks given hill climbing plays to his strengths so well!
Bob Ford completed the last of the LVRC races recently with the National Hill Climb champs promoted by Andover Wheelers and the Dulwich CC road race at Bletchingley. Bob was first F Cat at the hill climb, making him national champion and was 2nd F cat in the road race. In Bob's own words:
"This was the final event in the LECOL/Arcadian series giving me 2nd overall. The race was over 4 laps of a 10 mile hilly course with a 1 km steep climb at the end of each lap, the series leader beat me again in the final 100 metres. A big thank you to David at next level endurance coaching, Luke at Bournefit and Bournemouth Cycleworks team and sponsors for helping me get these results throughout a long season. Not forgetting Rich who organised almost everything and pushed me to achieve more than I thought possible".
Finally for our road racers Tony Revell, Zak Snell, Christian Knapton and Bill Hayes all rode the Portmore Classic Cat 3/4 road race at the weekend. Tony worked hard to pull back the break a few times and an attempt off the front of the pack on the final lap to catch the solo breakaway rider in front wasn't to be. Despite the valiant attempt, Tony rolled in with the pack and it was Zak Snell who claimed the best result for the team with 4th in the bunch sprint. A massive well done to Christian and Billy also, who both due to injury haven't been able to race all season. Great to see them back racing and staying with the peloton to roll in with the pack.
Time Trial
Jamie Whitcher has also continued his streak of stellar performances this year clocking an outstanding 19.25 (10 mile PB) at the Julian Jenkinson Memorial TT. Jamie was on Julian's bike and wanted to perform to his best and that he did with 9th overall from 130 riders, chapeau Jamie! And the following week Jamie was racing the National Youth 10 mile Champs. A slower course with lots of turns on the Croft Motor Circuit, Jamie clocked 21.21 claiming 1st 15 year ld and 3rd overall.
Track
Jamie Whitcher also recently raced the Dave Creasy Madison Youth Event at the Lee Valley Velodrome. He and his team mate, Oli, had a great day with 2nd in the Madison, 3rd in the elimination, 2nd in the Win Out race and 2nd in the Ploegkoers race. All the podium finishes gave them a brilliant 2nd overall for the day!
Off Road
Stephen Corbyn raced the Welsh CX round 1 at Tredegar Park. It was a tough course in warm weather with leg breaking ascents and technical descents. It was flat out from the gun finished a very respectable 24th, just 2mins down on the winner.
Sam and Dani Humphrey have just returned from Spain after some brilliant performances at the Catalonia 4 day mountain bike race. A race report from Sam is on it's way but as a summary Sam finished 4th in the GC for his category with a some great performances, including a 3rd place finish in stage 2. Dani had a great result with 8th in the GC climbing her way through the placings throughout the race.
Finally for the off roaders, Tony Revell raced the Off Camber XC event the day after his hard efforts at the Portmore Classic. In Tony's own words:
"It was another day of action packed racing. But today I felt a little more at home on my awesome Trek Top Fuel XC bike and back racing one of my favourite courses at Inside Park for round 1 of the Offcamber XC winter series. After yesterday’s road race efforts the legs were feeling a little heavy this morning, then seeing Phil Pearce and James Horton turn up I knew it was going to be a fast paced 2hour MTB Race! As always I decided the best plan was to attack as I went hard up the first long climb. That effort was answered by Phil as he got ahead as we entered the slippery root covered single track. Hanging on to his wheel until a gap formed up a climb towards the end of the first lap and from then on i settled into a smooth rhythm enjoying the fast drying trails but didn’t have the edge to get back so spent the race in a lonely 2nd. Just to keep me on my toes I managed to tear my front tyre beyond repair on the last lap leaving me to run the remainder of the lap to finish 2nd overall. Certainly felt the tyre wasn’t the only thing deflated after a busy but great fun weekend in the saddle! Congrats to Phil and James who raced and made the podium both days! Great to see everyone. Thanks to the @offcamber.cycles crew for putting the event together and remember fellow riders and racers it is important to support your local races or as the saying goes “ don’t use it, you will lose it!" The next round will be November 3rd... see you all there. Thanks as always for the continued support from all my sponsors"
Triathlon
Naomi Shinkins also took to the sunnier climes of Spain to race the Hispaman Xtreme Triathlon. This was Naomi's 'A' race with the main goal of qualifying for the Xtreme Tri world championship race to be held as part of the legendary Norseman Xtreme Tri race in Norway 2020. And that she did! In Naomi's own words:
"What an epic day on an epic course! We started the 3.8km swim in the dark and continued while the sun rose. I was 2nd lady out of the water with the 1st lady 10 mins ahead. The next lady wasn't too far behind and over took me early on the bike and was the eventual female winner. There was some work to do to get my Norseman slot but I stuck to my plan and thought worst case I can probably run my way into 2nd place if I couldn't close the gap on the bike. Head down and making my way through the 180km bike course with 3500m ascent, I clawed the time back to catch the first lady out of the water at 140km. We had the most amazing ascents and descents and my Trek Speed Concept proved perfect for the job at hand especially with the climbing set up the guys at Cycleworks had sorted for me (huge thanks guys!). 2nd lady off the bike with a 10 min gap. Then the run, 42km, 2000m ascent and descent on some pretty rough trails and the second half in the dark. Wouldn't have got through it without my crew and needless to say after 16 hours and 42mins I was glad to see the finish line and secure my world championship qualifying slot!"
All these great results are not possible without the fantastic support we get from our sponsors, Manuel Builders, Gibbs and Dandy Bournemouth, Hill & Son Ford Service, IW Price & Partners, AJN Electrical and in8 Creative Design. And of course our title sponsors Ford Civil Engineering, Vitec Ceilings and Partitions Ltd and Bournemouth Cycleworks, who provide many our riders top quality Trek speed machines and Bontrager equipment across all disciplines to race on.
