Where: Holt/Farndon When: today 20th August 2017 conditions: Cool to warm
There were three riders from the Weaver Valley who competed in the National Road Race championships today Kevin underhill in the e/d/f race and John keen and Tony Booth in the c/d race.
After 56 miles of racing for Kevin I think he came in the top 10 provisionally which is a fantastic achievement.
In the 67 miles c/d race Johns and mine it started off after a few miles in a comical fashion as when we got to the Wrexham industrial estate roundabout 10 riders from the front went straight ahead and everyone else went to the right – we started to question our selves were we going the right way? and as we started to overhear the marshals shouting at the other 10 riders your going the wrong way! we breathed a sigh of relief! we could of put the hammer down but we did the gentlemanly thing and waited for them.
After lap one there was a break of one then three riders! then after many attacks! another break of about 12 riders who followed them and this seemed to be a gap of about 30 seconds between them. By this time our bunch contained about 20 riders who for about 30 miles doing through and off at average speeds in excess of 28mph were trying to catch them! they were constantly in our view but we just couldn’t get to them! John keen was constantly pressing at the front and looked in great condition since he hadn’t ridden for a week or two!
With a couple of laps to go! you could see people missing turns on the through and off and then on the bell lap me and three others in our reduced bunch of 14 managed to create a gap of about 300 to 400 yards and hoping? we would not get caught we pressed on! but unfortunately we got caught after half a lap. Ultimately as we approached the finish! a hill before the roundabout I pressed ahead on my own and created a gap of about 100 yards but got caught again.
With 300 yards to go 5 of us went for the finish but it turned out to be a phantom finish with loads of people cheering at that point. little did we know it was another 150 yards up a steep ramp! John and a number of other riders passed us and we practically had to do a standing start! to get going again for the last 150 yards! That will teach me!
From what we’ve heard provisionally the second bunch were 25 seconds behind the small first bunch. and our reduced bunch of about 14 were about one minute off the second bunch!
Individual places are usually indicated via TLI WEBSITE in a few days time! but John slightly finished ahead me in the second bunch of 14
There were no crashes in our race and apart from one pothole it’s a great course for racing on!
Apart from one small hiccup the organisers and the marshals did a fantastic job and many thanks to them!
Get your bets on for John Keen for Weaver valley road race!