After a weekend away from the road racing circuit, the Hull Thursday Racing Team were back in action for the Out of the Saddle Spring Road Race at Braithwell on Sunday, 27th April. Rocking up was another top squad which included Matthew Johnson, Will Thomas, myself and the man in form of late, Danny Posnett.

The course was a slightly longer version of one used previously and was completely new to me. Unlike the previous version, where you ended up doing about 15 laps on a relatively featureless course, this new route would take us through two villages and up a number of hills, one of which came after a sharp right-hander thus killing your speed at the bottom. I was excited about the inclusion of the hills but I was a little unsure about riding through two villages in the middle of a 60 rider field.

The race itself had to be split into two races due to the high number of entrants. Our guys were in race 1 and started bang on 10am. Race 2 was to start 8 minutes behind and I was concerned that they might catch us depending on how we rode. The conditions though were pretty much spot on, with just a light easterly breeze and bright skies above us.

We were to be neutralised through the first village of Braithwell and got going properly once we came out onto the open road just beyond the village. In no time at all the pace was raised as riders tried to break away. With this being a 2/3/4 category rider race the pace was fast, very fast. So much so we had a break of what I thought was 15 riders getting away almost straight away, which in fact turned out to be 10.

 

Upon exiting the final corner of the lap, we were greeted with a rider on the floor who had come off out of sight. He lay right across the road almost seemingly trying to take riders down with him which required avoiding action from us all. Unfortunately, this put us right on the back foot and there were riders trying to take advantage of this, and the crosswinds, by attacking hard out of the corner. There were now a number of gaps in the long line of the bunch, all of which required some pulling back with the head of the pack now hitting top speed. I’d ended up with Will a bit too far at the back and only just made it back on, gasping for air all the while. Will also made it back with Danny a bit further up safe in the wheels. Unfortunately for Matt, he wasn’t quite able to make it and ended up being distanced.

 

Onto lap 2 and there was now something of a crowd evolving in the middle of the village of Braithwell. It felt quite surreal as it was the kind of crowd you’d expect to see at races like the Lincoln GP or the Tour of Britain. It helped spur me on, even if the majority of them were cheering for some guy called John.

 

Lap 2 was somewhat of a easier lap on the legs but it was far more dangerous. The wind on the back straight was causing the bunch to cross the white line on to the wrong side of the road, all illegal of course. There were also a number of cars coming the other way and at one point we had a rider in front of me pleading with the rider on his left to ‘move in, move in’ as the car came perilously close. The rider on the left knew that in doing so he’d lose his position and have his face in the wind. Unfortunately, when you’re on the limit all sense disappears from a riders mind and the rider on the right was far from happy. I thought they’d end up having a 25mph punch up at one point. Fortunately, after a number of expletives thrown at each other, they calmed down and got on with the racing.

 

By this point the racing had calmed down, or rather the pace had a bit, there were still attacks being thrown around. I ended up attacking half-heartedly after gaining a gap on the exit of one of the corners. I could see a secondary bunch ahead of me but with the headwind in my face I felt it wasn’t right to keep with it with over half the race left to go. I slotted back in the bunch and decided to wait for another opportunity.

 

That opportunity came a bit later on when a group of about 5/6 got away but I wasn’t the HTRC rider to feature. Danny, who has been in great form in training recently, was the man to attack and bridge to the group on his own. Unfortunately we’d now got to the point where our bunch was to chase anything that moved. Shame they didn’t act like that on lap one as the race for first was long gone with the leading group over a minute ahead by lap 3.

 

We had a few digs over the next couple of laps and tried a canny tactic by getting all 3 of us to the front then easing off Will’s back wheel so he had a gap without having to put in a sprint to get away. We let 2 then 3 and eventually 4 riders bridge across. By the time the 5th came through we felt we had to chase it as the group was getting too big.

 

Our next move was on lap 6, when Danny and I attacked in unison up the drag out of Braithwell. Yet again we were closed down so we decided to sit back in the bunch. I think by this point Hull Thursday had attacked about 10 times but nothing had quite stuck. We eventually decided to just do some through-and-off for a portion of the lap. My thoughts in doing this was to keep at the front more than anything but it also gave Danny a helping hand as there weren’t too many riders willing to share the work.

 

Onto the last lap, and unfortunately we’d lost Will who was suffering with the hills and the crosswind. That left just me and Danny as we went past the line for the penultimate time. The crowd were now in full voice in the village and the bunch had been whittled down to about 30. Just after we’d crested the main hill on the course for the final time an attack came from Steve Guymer (Clay Cross RT) and another rider from Doncaster Wheelers. I’d seen them go and tried to catch them up. I got about halfway but I just couldn’t close the last 100 metres. Not to worry I thought, as the points had been sealed by the break up front. However, I was somewhat wrong, as Steve had managed to seal 10th and get inside the points. I was certain there was at least 15 ahead but I was clearly wrong.

 

This left the final few points to be decided by a bunch sprint which was far from my strong point. Danny on the other hand is quite the speedster when the fast twitch fibres come to the fore during a sprint. However he ended up on the front a bit too early and ended up finishing around the 20th place mark. Still a very good result.

 

As for me, I’d decided to take it easy on the last stretch thinking the race for points was over and wasn’t worth the risk of sprinting. I was proved right to a certain extent when a Ilkley rider came tumbling down after connecting with another rider. Fortunately they where at the back so no one else was affected and I was allowed to cross the line a few metres behind the bunch for about a 35th place.

 

Overall a relatively pleasing ride with lots of aggression on show by all of us. I was a little disappointed to miss out on the points and realise I may need to assess my tactics for future races and ensure if a break away goes on the first lap we have a HTRC rider in there.

 

Next weekend is perhaps set to be the hardest race of the calendar with the Ilkely 2 day stage race east of Harrogate for some of us. We also have a squad on hand to take on the Cystic Fibrosis race on the Sunday who will hopefully come away with some decent results.

 

Result – Out of the Saddle Road Race 1
(thanks Julie from www.velouk.net)

 

1. Matthew Williams Chevin Cycles
2. Edward Pickard Beeston road club
3. Ryan Pike high On Bikes
4. Nicholas Jepson Beeston road club
5. Paul Allen Dinnington road club
6. Andrew Shaw Out of the Saddle CC
7. Mark Westwood LCRC
8. Frank Pilkington Bill Nickson Cycles RT
9. David Morris Harrogate Nova RT
10. Steven Guymer Clay Cross RT
11. Rob Watkinson Doncaster Whs
12. Jason Burrell Bourne Whs
13. Andrew Marsh Dinnington RC
14. Lee Allen Beeston RC
15. Mark Wakeling Beeston RC

 

Superb photos of the Out of the Saddle Spring Road Race from Craig Zadoroznyj

Mark Walker
HTRC RR Secretary