…Or Not

No confirmation from anywhere official but the rumour is that, due to commitments elsewhere, the league will now not be happening.

Don’t watch this space.

Coming Soon, The Wessex League 2011

Watch this space: http://www.entryweb.co.uk/

No idea what, where or when but SOMETHING will DEFINATELY be happening.

No more details, except that, what ever it is, it won’t be at Barnsfield.

BJW 50 mile Reliability Trial

This Sunday (7th Nov) sees the first of the Bournemouth Jubilee Wheelers reliability trials, this one starting in Merley at 9am and running over fifty miles.

If you’ve never done one before then it’s like a sportive but at a fraction of the cost – £1 if you’re a member, a little more if you’re not. There are three start times, the main group at 9am, a faster group at 9.15 and the fastest group, that will very likely include a rider for a pro-tour team and several of the Wessex League big hitters, leaving at 9.30. A route map is available.

Meet at Merley Community Center, Harrier Drive, Merley (near to the Barley Mow pub) and make sure you get their with a few minutes time to sign on. Bring a puncture kit and a waterproof jacket and stick around for the tea and bacon butties afterwards.

There are further reliability trials later in the winter. Full details here.

A Chat With League Winner Andy Rivett

This year’s Wessex Cycle Racing League was won by VC St Raphael rider Andy Rivett, but the season long win came down to a sprint finish on the last race in which Andy took the overall honours by less than the width of a tyre. Andy had started the season on the DHC team but when that was forced to close, Andy was taken in by Mick Waite’s long established club team.

Andy has been prominent on the local road scene for many years and he said of that time int he season “I needed a quality team and VC St Raphael is the best around”. The team has some class riders to push him on and he also has his “guru” Mike Anderson to keep him honest, along with team boss Mick who puts his heart and soul into the sport year after year.

Andy lives in Bishopstoke (Southampton), a place where he has now firmly set his roots. “I love it around here with it being central to everything I need”. There is plenty of good riding here, the New Forest is not far away and it’s only a short hop to London.” Andy works in Basingstoke as an Occupational Therapist, and travelling to work is a 55 mile commute which Andy use’s for training. The time on the bike is used well and is not just a slog to and from work.

Andy can regularly be found training in the New Forest with friends and training partners Jules and Julia (current men’s and women’s BBAR champions). “They push me on a bit, although as a roadie, I like to turn the screw a bit as we climb, although they certainly give me pay back on the flatter roads“.

Although Andy calls himself a roadie and revels in the big hilly events, he can also turn his hand to most disciplines’ within the sport. Andy is also an accomplished track rider and does enjoy Time trials. Andy’s showed his versatility by winning the National University Team Time Trial championship and more recently winning the RAAM 4 man team (Race across America).

Turning his attention to this season, Andy said the Wessex League is a “real boom to local cycling” and said that the work that Don and Mark (Standhaft) do is “EPIC”. “They have real passion for the sport and during times when organisers are pushing more towards circuit races, it’s great to see ‘Road ‘ racing being given a real push.”

Andy had a steady Wessex League picking up points at several events but the real push came towards the end of season. After winning a stage of the Tour of Dorset and finishing fourth overall, he went on to win the Autumn Road race and finished the season strong with a 4th and 5th in the last two races. Andy was pushed all the way to the title by his good friend Rowland Tilly from the Ride team. Before the last race, the Sotonia Heath race in the New Forest, the two riders even found time to embark on a little ‘wresting match’ before the action started.

The eventual overall win was taken on a very windy event where Andy only needed to finish ahead of Rowland to take the title. Andy set off fast from the gun hoping he’d (Rowland) would miss the break but to no avail as the pair finished together on the line after a super big sprint. The organisers had a difficult task of splitting them on the line and although the decision was awarded to Andy, it took the race organisers, the rest of the day to analyse the photos on the finish line to be 100% sure.

Now the season has finished, Andy has bigger things to look forward to as he and his wife Kim are expecting their first child, “the most exciting prospect ahead” he says. Andy will be racing next season but with the new arrival, not as much. He does promise however that he will be back to “hurt a few legs” but for now, Andy is looking forward a good rest, a ‘couple’ of beers and a change to his diet (eating cake).

Andy’s team manager Mick Waite added “Andy has had a superb season with some good results, including winning the season long W.C.R.L. overall. We were fortunate, despite other offers, to get Andy back in the team mid-season. As well as being a 1st category road rider, Andy rides some time trials, especially hilly ones; this fits in well with the team. Having achieved 14th in the National Team Rankings and 1st in British Cycling South Regional Rankings, in 2010, the team is looking forward to 2011 and Andy will be very much part of the team” says Mick.

Photo and interview Graham Robins

An evening with Garmin-Cervélo’s Daniel Lloyd

On Monday 8th November at the Hotel Collingwood, Bournemouth professional cyclist Daniel Lloyd (Garmin-Cervélo) will be on hand to answer questions from guests, sign autographs and enjoy a social evening all hosted by the Bournemouth Arrow CC.

Entry to the evening is £5, with proceeds going to the £26,000 budget required to purchase all the necessary and essential items (hire bikes, starting gates, lap boards, etc) to successfully run the Bournemouth Cycling Centre (www.bournemouth.cc) located at Slades Farm in 2011.

With a world class cyclist in the area, beginners through to regional based riders could well rub shoulders with Lloyd on the track next year when he will be able to use the track as part of his preparation for some of the world’s biggest races such as the Tour de France, Giro D’Italia, Tour of Britain and the Paris-Roubaix.

But Lloyd is also looking forward to the opening of the track for reasons much closer to home. “I have an 8 year old son who loves his cycling, so it will be a great place for him to channel his energy and also to learn some important skills on the bike. It’s going to be a great facility for all local cyclists, where they will have a safe environment to ride, race and learn.”

A hot topic will no doubt be Lloyd’s use of power measuring devices in the last 3 years, and a representative from Paligap will be on hand to answer questions about the Saris PowerTap that Lloyd and his team mates will be using in 2011.

Lloyd will of course be riding for the World champion Thor Hushovd, a prospect Lloyd is looking forward to. “It is going to be a huge team and one of the strongest in the world. I think everybody is going to be training hard this winter; we are all going to have to just to make it onto the classics team for the cobbled races! It is nice that there is a group of us going over from Cervélo but I’m also looking forward to integrating with the great riders that Garmin already have.”

The evening starts at 7pm, with a licensed bar available for those who wish to toast the successful completion of the track in 2011.

Hotel Collingwood (www.hotel-collingwood.co.uk) is at 11-13 Priory Rd, Bournemouth. BH2 5DF

Copied and pasted from Andy Storey’s post on theBournemouth Jubilee Wheelers forum.

Downton 2 dayer

Again, not one of ours – although keeping chummy with the TLI is probably a good move right now – but still an excellent race and in need of entries. The race is over 2 days and based out of Downton leisure center on the A338 between Fordingbridge and Salisbury. Saturday sees a short hill climb followed by a short road race. Sunday sees a 25 mile time trial on a course that could probably be described as ‘challenging’. There is a buffet on the Saturday after the race, or at least there was the last time I did it.

Further details are here or email the man himself at rukglenntli@googlemail.com

The Commonwealth Games

Keeping with the international flavour, Wessex League competitor Ann Bowditch will be riding at the Commonwealth Games, which start in Dehli this weekend.

Representing Guernsey, Ann was using the Autumn Road Race as part of her build up program. Hopefully, she’ll be giving us the full details of her exploits in a few weeks time.

In the meantime, you can follow her on twitter here: http://twitter.com/Bowditchfit,
Or visit the blog: http://www.blog.bowditchfit.com/

After 1,821kms it came down to 1mm

So after 20 events, 23 races and 1,821kms it came down to this.

(pic1, Graham’s finish line photo – Roland Tilley – left, Andy Rivett – right)

After gathering all the evidence I could hardly split them. I’ve replayed the video, slowed it down frame by frame and seen Graham’s High Res photo’s, imported them into Photoshop messed around and tried to measure distances and it was so still to close to call, virtually impossible.

As the bunch hurtled towards the line it looked like Roland Tilley (Team Ride) was going to take it but Andy Rivett (VC St Rapheal) was clawing his way back from the opposite side of the road. Andy needed to beat Roly into 5th place to take the overall 2010 WXCRL championship, before the race only 2 points had separated them. This was the tightest of finales.

As this picture shows, taken a moment before they hit the line, the two top riders of the year could hardy be separated.

(pic2, This is how close it was, can you split them? I zoomed right down so I could see the pixels and measured the shortest distances to the line. I’m not kidding but it was something ridiculously close like .3 of a pixel. The two wheels were virtually identically level at this point in time)

The video (normally good enough to split the riders) wasn’t any clearer…

(pic3, This clip is a still frame from the video)

(pic4, This pic shows Andy was travelling slightly faster the Roly, so if he was identically level in pic1, about 30cm before the line then he must have been a fraction further on when the wheel actually hit the line)

On this evidence I have given Andy the verdict. It’s as close as it could ever be and has prompted us to update our rules because both riders ended up finishing level on points in this year’s final WXCRL table (Note: These new rules and removal of non-members have yet to be applied to the entire table).

1st New Rule; If two riders are equal on points the winner will be the rider with the most wins.
2nd New Rule; If both riders have same number of wins, the winner will be the highest number of second places, and so on.

So there you have it. Andy Rivett with 154 points is our new 2010 champion thanks to his wins on stage 2 of the Dorset Tour and the Autumn Road Race last week. Andy’s late season form has seen him pick up 76 WXCRL points in the 3 events an excellent effort brought about from his super ride in the Dorset Tour in late August.

Mr. consistent, Roland Tilley, has to settle for 2nd after his 4th place last year. Roly having not ridden the Dorset Tour this year has amassed even more points than his 2009 tally (124), an impressive achievement, especially after not competing in our flagship 3 day.

So there you have it, Andy wins the Ray Price Memorial Cup for one year – well done Andy!

Rumble On The Heath

The final league race to the year came to an action-packed conclusion, as Thomas Knowlton of organizing club Sotonia took the win in the third of the Heath Road Race events. Two minutes further back, Andy Rivett of VC St Raphael took the final overall points lead from season long rival Roland Tilley by a matter of centimeters.

After yesterday’s hot sunshine, the weather returned to its more usual autumnal fare, with overcast skies and a strong wind whipping over the open heathland. Rivals Andy Rivett of Velo Club St Raphael and Roland Tilley of Ride Team were eyeballing each other, as both went into the event separated by a total of two points. Andy had the advantage of numbers, with his club turning out in force but Roland was a hard rider and not likely to give up without a fight.

(photo Gordon Skillen)

A further 46 riders signed on – none too impressive for this time of year and before the race, Don issued a stern warning to the riders to stick to the correct side of the road at all times. The Police had been… shall we say not wholly helpful in the run up to this event and any riders riding like idiots might well have scuppered any future runnings of this event. However we are pleased to say that the race went smoothly, so WELL DONE to all off you. Seriously.

As the first lap got under way, the bunch seemed happy to sit and wait for something to happen. A few digs were made. Rob Edgell of Somer Valley CC made his first of many attacks up the rise to the start/finish line but the strong headwind along that road was not of a friend of the solo breakaway. Another attempt was made out of the final turn on the same lap, as Stephen Bradbury (AW Cycles.co.uk), Tom Knowlton (Sotonia) and Richard Rumbleow (GA Cycles) broke away. A few lengths back, David Curtiss and Philip Peters (Cannondale Racing) chased and, behind them the bunch was being blown apart. Tom Knowlton continued driving on, shedding his co-escapees. Others followed in the shape of Jay Eastwood (VC St Raphael), Michael Leech (Tor 2000) Rob Edgell (Somer Valley CC) and the sole survivor of the previous gap’s break Stephen Bradbury. They had by now a gap big enough to have the rest of the race worried but the bunch was either unwilling or unable to mount too much of a chase.

Soon enough, Tom Knowlton had been joined by the breakaway and together they pushed their advantage out to a minute. Stephen Bradbury fell off the back of the leading group while Richard Horton of Bournemouth Jubilee Wheelers and Philip Peters of Cannondale attempted to bridge across. They, too, suffered in the headwind on the long drag and the now 4 man breakaway went into the final lap well clear of the chasers. Tom Knowlton made his final move on the hill to the automobile museum. He was on his own for the last half of the lap and soloed to the win 45 seconds clear of the rest of the break. Of the remaining three riders, Jay Eastwood (VC St Raphael) sprinted to second place with Michael Leech (Tor 2000) third and Rob Edgell fourth.

All eyes now turned up the road to where, two minutes behind Tom Knowlton, Roland Tilley (Ride Team) went for a long sprint up the rise to the finish line.

“I could see someone coming to my left.” He said afterwards. “I had no idea that it was Andy. They say he won by a wheel but it was a lot closer than that.”

It was. Andy Rivett (VC St Raphael) had chased hard after Roland who had looked most likely to take the sprint until Andy threw his bike at the line Mark Cavendish style.

“I tried to get in a few early moves to make Roly work for it.” Andy said. “With the wind it would’ve been quite easy to get on the wrong side of a break in the bunch. A few guys were trying to make a go and I’d let them get a bit of a gap and then bridge it but Roly pegged me every time. By the end I thought I was finished but obviously I had half a wheel left in me.”

Or, as we mentioned earlier, even less than that. With their placings (fifth and sixth), they moved to an equal points total but Andy’s two wins gave him the edge on count back. Full listings are here. Full race results are here, or will be soon. In all the excitement no one was really looking at who came seventh. But don’t worry its all on video so all your hard work will not have been in vain.

And that, we are afraid to say, concludes the 2010 Wessex League. We’ll be back in 2011, bigger, better and with a few surprises for you lucky, lucky people. Meanwhile, this website will be trundling on over the winter, finding stuff to write about.

So… see you all soon.

All photos Graham Robins except where indicated.

Bournemouth Arrow Road Race 18/09/10

Richard Horton managed one better than his second place last week with a solo breakaway win in this Saturday’s Bournemouth Arrow Road Race.

Organising club Bournemouth Arrow had done well mustering a full quota of marshals and were rewarded with some wonderful late summer weather. Entries were disappointing, with only 24 riders signing on but then a race on the same course in the wind and rain in March will be fully subscribed while a race on a bright, sunny day in September will struggle for entries.

Even those that turned up were complaining of burnout. Roland Tilley (Ride UK), who is fighting for the league overall with Andy Rivett (VC Raphael) was still suffering from the mountain bike championships last weekend. Many others were suffering stiff legs and took a while to get going, as the field rolled out for the first lap.

Eamonn Deane (Bournemouth Jubilee Wheelers) was not one of them. He attacked on the hill out of Horton village along with Robert Cranstone (Royal Navy and Royal Marines CA). However the field had other ideas and they were soon caught. An attack by Roland Tilley (Ride) on the next lap received the same treatment – there was no way Andy Rivett was letting him out of his sight.

On lap three, Eamonn tried again, attacking on the hill and taking Matthew Connor of Banjo Cycles with him. For a while it looked like they were away, pulling out a minutes gap but a concerted effort by a group of six riders riding through-and-off on the front of the bunch slowly dragged them back over the course of the next two laps. A third group, meanwhile, was happily sitting in at this stage in proceedings but more on them later.

If there were prizes awarded for attacking then Eamonn Deane would have been the easy winner for, no sooner had he and Matthew Connor been caught then he went away again, spending a further lap riding about 5 seconds ahead of the bunch.

He was caught on the penultimate lap and at this moment his clubmate Richard Horton made his move. The 18yr old Bournemouth Jubilee rider had been quietly hiding in the bunch, experimenting with his new tactic of not attacking repeatedly. He made his move with a lap and a half to go and had pulled out a full minutes lead.

Behind him, the bunch were more concerned with each other. Roland Tilley did a lot of chasing. Eamonn Deane, understandably, didn’t and Richard remained over a minute up as he turned into the finishing straight. He was delighted to take the win, having found some good form in the late season and was suddenly confronted with the question of how to get to tomorrow’s race in the New Forest to continue his winning streak.

A minute later, Tom Marshall of Chippenham and District Wheelers took second place a few lengths ahead of the chasing pack, with James Jones of Beeline leading in the bunch sprint in third. Andy Rivett (VC St Raphael) came in fourth with Jon Marchini of OUCC splittling Andy from his arch rival Roland Tilley of Ride UK. Chris Roxburugh of Tor 2000 was seventh, inspired by his ride to Glastonbury to see the Tour of Britain, while Shane Pope of Swindon RC was eighth. Grant Grant (were assuming that’s not a typo, its how it was written on his licence) was ninth and Neil Wass of Anders TMG Horizon was tenth.

Full results are here.

Now the series move on to Appelmore in the New Forest for tomorrow’s third WXCRL Sotonia Heath Road Race, where Roland Tilley and Andy Rivett will have their final battle for the overall. Its tight and there has already been a lot of trash-talking, so it should be a belter. Entry details are here but it closes at midnight so you ought really to get a shuffty on if you’re going to enter.