View From Inside the Race

CCH Primavera Circuit Series 2017 - 4 

27.05.17 - Cat 4 race

Primavera 4 and the Category 4 race starts to heat up...

This was my second race this season, the first being the third race of the series a fortnight ago. I was a bag of nerves before that race a couple of weeks ago, but today I was relaxed and calm yet focussed. Matt Hardcastle and I had decided, in one of our many pre-race chats/post-race post-mortems, to try and stay among the first four riders. This way we could stay out of trouble (being in the middle of the bunch in a cat 4 race can be a very twitchy experience given some of the novice riders!) and try and instigate the chase down of any breakaways. A two man break succeeded in the previous race because no one wanted to commit to a chase; who would? 

Breakaways never work at the Velopark right?

The sprint finish saw the riders spread out a bit.

With a moderately strong westerly giving the usual headwind on the finishing straight, the race got underway, clean clip-in at the start, and Matt and I succeeded in staying among the first few riders for almost its entirety. My legs felt fine and going into the wind I was feeling strong and cornering well. I’ve always liked the handful of little ramps on the Velopark circuit, although small you can see the effect they have on riders towards the end of a race. There were a few attempted breaks, but we successfully reeled them in. One that sticks in mind, that we can’t take credit for catching, was a rider that tore past everyone just after the bridge dip only to dramatically strike his pedal on the tarmac on the sharp left hander. He was lucky to stay upright. Perhaps a few too many turns in the wind took their toll, picking the wrong wheel and being bumped onto the grass on the penultimate lap didn’t help, but by the third to last corner I was getting swamped by riders. I got my head down and tried to claw back some places, but it was too late. 

Fnan Afewyk finishing in 6th place for CCH

Rob Tutt finishing just outside the points in 13th for CCH - after showing a lot on the front of the race 

Matthew Hardcastle finishing in 24th place for CCH - along with Rob he spent most of the race at the front end.

Thirteenth overall, just outside the points and back home in time to watch the FA Cup Final. There’s always the next race…

Thanks to all CCH volunteers over the last few weeks - 

Rob  Tutt.

CCH		Primavera Circuit Series 4 27/5/17	Results
		4th Cat Only
Position		Name	Club
1		John Mitchell	Cambridge CC
2		Christopher Richmond	-
3		Hazar Emre Tez	Islington Cycling Club
4		Giles Harvey	-
5		Adelos Gheistides	-
6		Fnan Afewyk	Cycling Club Hackney
7		Rob Briogens	San Fairy Ann CC
8		Ian Dawson	Gemini BC
9		Anthony Attwood	San Fairy Ann CC
10		Darren Franks	Cranks
11		George Martin	Woolwich CC
12		Paul Cundy	PMR@Toachim House
13		Rob Tutt	Cycling Club Hackney
24		Matthew Hardcastle	Cycling Club Hackney

Click here for full results for all races in round 4 along with a photo gallery - the results and loads of photos form across the series can be found here on our website.