By Shelley Childs
Well, that was wet!
Five of us travelled to far away Dorset for what we hoped would be four days of sunshine and evening BBQ’s mixed with some tough racing, enjoying the summers days and nights over a long weekend. How wrong we were with regards to the weather as it rained almost continuously, although thanks to Jade and his family we really landed on our feet in terms of accomodation and general hospitality thanks to a lovely stay at Jade’s grandparents former home in deepest Dorset.
Gruff takes a prime sprint
The hily prologue set the tone for what would be ahead. The lasting image of the stage will be poor Gruff (who was 2nd man off) ‘warming up’ on a turbo in 90 degree sheet rain no less than three times as the organisers pondered about cancelling the stage due to the fog. The rest of us waited in the cars as we were off later on. The stage was first postponed 30 mins and so off Gruff went again, soaking wet by now only to be told that the stage was put off another 15 minutes. By the time he went off, he was cold and the 30mph gusts hit you like a wall just seconds after starting. The stage was shortened due to the fog and so it was a rolling 3 mile affair with a nasty sting at the end, apart from nobody really knew where the finish line was.
A random car had been placed near a hedge which confused me (doesn’t take much) and Murdo, to the point that Murdo didnt even cross the line and so had to do the whole thing again to ensure he was able to continue the race. The evergreen Danny posted a very good time (11th), whereas Gruff and I were not happy as the whole thing felt supertough, as if riding in glue. Jade also commented on the severity of the course but it turned out we were not alone. Despite being caught for a minute over the three miles (!) at which point I wondered what the hell I had let myself in for, I managed 46th out of the 100, convinced that 98th place had my name on it. Gruff and Jade made it into the top 40 whilst Murdo pulled it out of the bag and came in 7th and so assumed the role of team leader.
Stage 2 comprised of a 65 odd mile road race over 6 laps of a fairly flat circuit, by Welsh course standards, and with green jersey and yellow jersey point/time bonuses to the first three across the line on every lap, the race turned into six consecutive road races which made it a bit more exciting. Gruff grabbed the first two sprints to gain 10 seconds and 10 pomts in the green jersey competition. Things were going fairly well as I managed to take the third sprint of the day to claw back some time. Unfortunatley we had two problems at this point. The race went ballistic after the third sprint and Jade, who had been in a two man break for almost the entire lap, had just been caught and was shelled at this point. Gruff had also disappeared from the bunch. The remaning three assusmed he was up the road in the new breakaway, alas he wasn’t as he had punctured and lost over 7 minutes by the end of the day.
Murdo was also involved in a few breaks but the stage was taken by a two man break who had gained a lead of almost a minute. In the sprint for 3rd place I found some good lines and came 4th in the gallop for 6th place on the day, very pleasing indeed.
After this stage, Murdo and Danny were still high on GC so not all was lost.
Stage three on the Sunday was probably the wettest of all, with sitting water all over the road and a nasty climb that had to be ridden seven times in this gruelling 77 miler.
The descents were frantic, thanks to the zillions of grit particles that managed to lodge themselves in all our eyes as the day went on, thanks to the spray from wheel in front. All the riders look like miners after this one. It was Murdo’s turn to suffer some bad luck as he crashed on a tricky descent on lap two and despite chasing hard for a lap, was unable to get back to the peleton.
With some of the best second cat riders from the south of England in attendance, this was a hard race with strong teams from Cannondale, London Dynamo, Swindon RC and ‘Revo Racing’ to name a few.
The climb took its toll on the field and only 46 riders were able to keep up with the bunch, thankfully the Ystwyth train were all present and correct apart from Murdo at this point.
With three laps to go, three lots of two riders chipped off the front without the bunch giving much notice as there was still over 30 miles left of racing. However, eventual the race winner and also the defending champion were involved and their lead grew. Despite a frantic penultimate lap that even made hair and teeth hurt, they were never seen again and fought out the win over a minute ahead. The bunch came home at the summit of the climb with myself in 16th, Gruff 25th, Jade 26th & Danny 28th, all with the same time.
That night we dined out with Murdo’s former teammates – East LondonVelo and chatted about the race and the weather amongst other things, they made us feel guilty as it turned out that they were camping!
The final stage was a 60 mile affair, on a flatter course than the previous day. There were some heavy legs amongst the riders but the pace remained at an average of 25mph all day. This was the day that the conteders for GC tried to wressle the yellow jersey off the back of holder Sam Gardner. There were some lulls in pace but when the next attack came, it was back up the 30mph and some handlebar chewing hoping the guy in front woudn’t leave a gap that you’d have to close yourself. Murdo, Gruff and Jade all showed at the front, whilst Danny played his part in setting the pace towards the end of the race, and nobody managed to get away, meaning that it came down to a huge bunch gallop which was won by Tim Allen with Ystwyth’s Jade Wilmot getting a great 7th place on the day.
The race was full of excitement and a good level of riding, with hardly any crashes despite the bad weather. The race format was also popular with the riders and we hope to attend again next year!
Final GC for Ystwyth CC were – Danny Thorogood (13th and first ever BC points!), Shelley (24th), Gruff (32nd), Jade (43rd) & Murdo (47th). No doubt Gruff & Murdo would have been higher if they hadn’t suffered misfortune)
Final GC
Race report
http://www.britishcycling.org.uk/road/article/roa20100824-Report–WXCRL-Dorset-Tour-2010-0
Stage and Final GC results
http://www.entryweb.co.uk/givefile.asp?id=145
