Hog Hill Circuit Racing
Transcription
Hog Hill Circuit Racing
July 2011 No 27 Hog Hill Circuit Racing Pmb photo’s Yes it’s me at the front but not for long! Ed. Steve Kay wins ‘Most Aggressive Rider’ award 1 Chiltern Hundred Organizer Eddie Spriggs Pmb photo’s What they said:The Chiltern 100 was tough, the wind seemed to be against you the whole day and when Gavin Bench's chain snapped 45m in I lost him and Matt Pumo and then spent the rest of the day with no one to work with. Another well run event, big thanks to all those who pitched in Steve Kay Just Brilliant! Even the hills.... Lucy Cuppleditch Results page 16 2 EDITORIAL In This Issue 4 Special Club Run Day 5 Fancy going Round in Circles Dave Reid 7 Ride 4a Reason 8 Coach’s Corner Rachel McKay 10 Nutrition for Cycling Rachel McKay 12 Following a Wheel Dave Korson 13 At the Club room 14 VCC Riders Abroad 16 Chiltern Hundred Results 17 Welcome to New Members 18 Caton’s Blog 20 21 Andy’s Quiz Andy McLennan VCC Racing at Hog Hill I t is right that as a club we put something back into the sport we all love. With this in mind VCC, through the endeavours of the organizers and helpers of these promotions, were once again able to provide for members as well as for the sport at large, so many major events. Hog Hill started the season, a new venture into circuit racing which so many club members enjoyed, followed by the Chiltern Hundred Sportive organized by Eddie Spriggs in conjunction with the Amersham Road CC; now a classic and attracting over 1400 entries. Next came Ride 4a Reason the club’s promotion to encourage families and those not yet committed to club cycling to have a go and maybe become more involved in the sport, organized by Dave Yorke. It is through this event that the club has attracted many new members. Later this month the club will promote its annual Open 25 mile time trial, the 49th consecutive year VCC has promoted the event in support of our sport. Congratulations to new member Shu Pillinger who did so well in the Deloitte Ride Across Britain being placed 38th overall out of 600 and 3rd woman. (p6) Read about Shu’s experience in the October edition of VN or come to the clubroom to hear her in person, date to be announced. David Korson Verulam News is the official newsletter of the Verulam Cycling Club Editors: David & Val Korson Sale’s Farm, Grove Lane, Whelpley Hill, Chesham, Bucks . HP5 3QQ Tel: 01442 831716 E-mail: info@davidkorson.demon.co.uk 3 Verulam Special Club Run Day 8th May T here was a pleasant surprise for riders on this run, as the club treated everyone to free tea and cake. The pub at High Cross put on a delightful spread of cakes and scones with jam and cream aka Cream Tea. Everybody was fully appreciative on hearing the news that the club was treating them. The spread at The White Horse Pub High Cross New group formed- Rapido’s Due to popular demand the new group led by Dave Reid has started with a good turnout. This is not a cushy ride and is expected to go quite a bit faster than Mods+ and only a little slower than the Fast group, so be aware before you join this group. This makes six groups on Sunday runs. We also need a volunteer to start a group to go a little faster than the Sociables, possible name for the group ‘The Steadies’. Speed 13-14 mph. Anyone interested contact Dave Korson tel:01442 831716 email info@davidkorson.demon.co.uk 4 Fancy going round and round in circles W hile playing dodge the pothole on a Sunday club run can be fun for the first mile or so, don't you long for a ride along a stretch of smooth traffic free tarmac? Did your competitive spirit get roused by the club's recent excursion to Hog Hill and didn’t you wish to explore the outer limits of your athletic ability on a bike again? Well fulfill both ambitions by joining a club trip to the velodrome at the Gosling Sports Park, Welwyn Garden City. The track at Gosling is an open air, fully banked circuit of 460m. It was fully resurfaced approx. 5 years ago. With enough notice, Welwyn Wheelers Cycle Club would be prepared to act as our hosts and could provide coaches and track bikes. Welwyn have 40+ track bikes that range from those with 650 sized wheels suitable for children through to bikes with 60cm frames which might just be large enough for our club president! A session on a Saturday from 11:30 through to 1:30 would work best for our hosts. If you are interested (and have not replied to the posting on the forum on the club website) please contact:- David Reid (01727 752882, david_reid@ntlworld.com) and we’ll get the ball rolling. 84th Annual Club Dinner Dance and Prize Giving at Harpenden Golf Club Saturday 19th November 2011 6.30pm for 7.00pm Don’t miss this evening, it is always a sellout so book early as tickets are limited. Why not book a table for your group Tickets: £ 30.00 available from 1st September: ticket sales close 31st October (Cheques to be made payable to Verulam Cycling Club) From: David Korson e-mail info@davidkorson.demon.co.uk Tel 01442 831716 5 Latest News and Results 12thJune 2011: Report from Richard Marriot: The Verulam CC 50 trio of Steve Kay, Richard Marriott and Graham Pepperdine were in action again in the Finsbury Park 50 on the F1/50. Steve Kay came in quickest at 2:02:27, Richard Marriott clocked 2:03:22 (a personal best) and Graham Pepperdine came in at 2:09:19, also a personal best. Conditions for early starters were good, with very little wind but, as is often the case, later starters were blessed with a brisk southwesterly breeze. I didn't stay for all the results but when I left Ian Cammish, the Time Lord, was winning with a time of 1:44:56. I don't expect him to have been beaten (doesn't he get bored with winning?) 26thJune2011: Many congratulations go to Shu Pillinger having just completed the Deloitte Ride Across Britain, John O'Groats to Land's End, 958 miles over 9 days, crossing the line in 69h 05m 22s. Shu reported: Although it wasn't a race - try telling that to some very competitive people - I was placed 3rd woman, 38th overall, out of over 600 participants. 1st was Sarah Storey, Olympic gold medalist in individual pursuit and road time trial. I was raising money for ParalympicsGB (many of the cycle team were riding with us) and a small charity called Magic Breakfast, so if any club members would like to, any donations are welcome on my fundraising site http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/Shu-JoGLE ADDIKTION CYCLES.COM 97-101 Victoria Street, St. Albans, AL1 3TJ Tel: 01727 858841 Cannondale - Trek - Whyte - Turner - Ridgeback Friendly and impartial advice Everything from pro bikes to kids bikes - custom bike and wheel builds Comprehensive clothing section 10% CLUB DISCOUNT 6 Peters Green Feed Station Lindsay Bayles &Andrew Rice man the feed station Jason Birch & Conor Photo’s Andrew Rice 7 Coach’s Corner A regular feature from our Club Coach Rachel McKay ABCC Coach B y now you should be well into your season, whatever kind of events you do, be it Audax or sportives, time trials, road racing or track. Some club members are also enthusiastic off-roaders with its mix of allday enduros, XC and downhill racing. There are also a fair few riders off to Spain and France for epic multi-day events like the Raid Pyrenees The key points to remember, whatever you do, are: either the lowest priority and done as part of your training, so you won’t taper or do anything special, or of medium priority where you’ll have a 3-day mini-taper and some specific goals. 1) Prioritise your events. The most important (no more than two per year) require you to target and peak for specifically. In the 8 weeks before you should be concentrating on speed and power, tapering on the endurance and recovering fully. Crucially you should have a 1-2 week taper for the event as it’s better to go in undercooked than overdone. 2) All other events will be of lower priority. This means 8 3) For the lower priority events the goals should be process based. This means how you do things e.g. riding at a particular level of effort. For your target event you will have outcome based goals e.g. complete in a certain time. It’s crucial that these are SMART: specific, measurable, achievable, relevant and timely. 4) To go faster you need to work on your speed and power. A great way is to do a session of sprint intervals. My two fa- vourite sessions are “Triple T” and “Overload Cruise intervals”. For “Triple T”, do a set of six repeats of 45 seconds at your 25 mile time trial pace (bottom of one 4) followed by 15 seconds at your 10 mile time trial pace (top of Zone 4). After each set, spin gently in bottom gear for 3 minutes. Do up to 5 sets per session, once a week. For “Overload Cruise intervals” do a set of 5 minutes at your 10 mile time trial pace followed by 10 minutes at your 25 mile time trial pace followed by 3 minutes gentle spinning. Repeat each set up to 5 times. Again one session per week. 5) For people doing ultra-endurance events such as 200km+ Audaxes, the longer sportives, 12 or 24 hour time trials or multi-day events (the Raids) then you need to keep up the endurance work in the 8 week peak period. The best way to achieve this is to do back-toback endurance rides so that you aren’t fully recovered for the second day’s ride. 9 6) Eat and drink properly. Correct fuelling both off and on the bike are crucial to you getting though the training and the events successfully. This means plenty of quality carbohydrate and enough protein daily. Multiply your bodyweight in kg by 1.5 and this is the amount, in grams, of both carbohydrate and protein you need every day. Watch out for refined sugar and animal based (saturated) fat. Finally drink 2 litres of plain water every day. If you do all that then you should be well on the way to achieving your goals. Nutrition for Cycling, or “Eat to Win” Part 2 by Rachel McKay Sports& Remedial Massage Therapist, Bowen Therapist, ABCC Coach, Reiki Teacher CNHC Registered, ISRM, BTPA, ABCC, UK Reiki Federation Daily Eating A good well balanced diet should give you enough carbohydrate, fat, protein, vitamins and minerals without the need for supplements. Divide your dinner plate into thirds, one each for carbohydrate, protein and fruit & vegetables. Limit yourself to 10% fat per meal. Stick to unrefined and whole grain starches (rice, pasta, potatoes, bread); avoid simple sugars and refined foods. Stick to fish (both oily and non-oily) and poultry and avoid too much fatty red meat. Steam, microwave or stir-fry vegetables to retain nutrients. Think “traffic lights” to get a good nutrient balance on your plate. Drink 1.5-2 litres of plain water a day and avoid too many cups of tea and coffee. Supplements A good quality multi-vitamin and mineral ensures that you are getting all the micro-nutrients you need, especially when training hard or racing. Well-regarded brands include Pharmaton, Solgar and Higher Na10 ture. If your urine is bright orange or yellow after taking a multi-vit then you’re not absorbing it very well. Cyclists, with the exception of track sprinters (and in other rare circumstances), do not need to take protein supplements. You get enough from your food – roughly 1.5 grams per kg bodyweight. Creatine can help, especially if your body does not produce enough of its own naturally. There is a specific regime you follow of loading, maintenance and rest covering a cycle of eight weeks. For the loading phase: 1 dessert spoon Creatine taken with 1 pint of water, 5 times daily, 7 days. For the maintenance phase: 1 dessert spoon Creatine taken with 1 pint of water, once daily, 4-6 weeks. Have a 2 week rest phase where you take no Creatine at all. It is essential that you drink plenty of water when taking Creatine, at least 2 litres per day. Do not take with fruit juice. It’s also best taken with protein, for example as part of your recovery milk shake immediately after exercise. Carbohydrate loading can help especially for events lasting more than two hours with prolonged high intensity. Simply follow a normal taper process: reduce the volume of training by up to 90% while retaining the intensity two to three days before the event. At the same time, eat a carbohydrate-rich diet (8-10 grams per kg bodyweight). When It All Goes Wrong Hunger Knock / Bonk You have enough sugar in your blood stream and liver to last for two hours if you take no extra carbohydrate. When it’s all used up, you switch to “fat burning” and you will be unable to exercise at anything above 50% VO2max (equivalent to Zone 1 or “active recovery” rate). However, as soon as you eat or drink a sugar-rich snack (e.g. Mars Bar, carbohydrate drink, Kendal Mint Cake, Coca Cola) your body recovers in a minute or two due to a brain response triggered by the sugar. Dehydration Dehydration is a very serious concern for cyclists, especially on Sportives in hot weather. If you lose 11 2% of your bodyweight in fluid (3lb for a 10st athlete) your performance will drop by 10%-20%. A loss of 4% may cause nausea, vomiting and diarrhoea. At 5% performance drops by 30% and 8% causes dizziness, laboured breathing, weakness and confusion. At this point immediate medical intervention and possibly hospitalisation is required. And Finally I am often asked which brands are best. In terms of the quality of ingredients and also guarantee that you won’t fall foul of any drugs testing, three brands that can be relied on are Torq, High5, Powerbar. In addition, I make my own range of energy and recovery drink powders sourced from the highest quality ingredients and cost less than the commercial alternatives. These are available to club members on request. Following a wheel by Dave Korson Matt Pumo sits on the wheel of Sam Skuce N ew riders to the club may be unfamiliar with the phrase ‘To follow a wheel’ this refers to the practice of riding behind another rider in order to take shelter from the wind and also to take pace. Doing this saves valuable energy sometimes up to 30%. It is always safer to ride slightly to one side of the rider in front as this will help in avoiding any crash in the event of a sudden alteration in speed or even an emergency stop. In windy conditions ride to the sheltered side e.g. if the wind is from the right take shelter behind and to the left of the rider in front. This practice also forms the basis of 12 group riding, whether in bunch racing or on a club run. Club Run Riding It is good practice for the two leading riders to ride as a pair (no half wheeling) in this way the following riders can also ride in pairs, following a wheel slightly to one side and at a safe distance (usually about 1-2 feet). This ensures a compact group making the ride easier for those behind and by adopting this style of riding less able riders can keep up with riders faster than themselves. At the Clubroom Bike Maintenance by Bill Sibley 9th May B ill Sibley gave one of his ever popular Bike Maintenance talks covering subjects as diverse as adjusting gears to the latest design for bottom bracket sets with press fit cups then how to repair a puncture, a task you would think everyone would know how to do, but as usual Bill had a number of good tips. Audience participation was as usual prominent with many adding their own experience to the discussion, in particular those who took a keen interest and were involved in bike repairs on their own behalf. Prominent amongst these were Nick Coe, Ian Gow and Sam Skuce, ensuring a lively debate. Strawberry & Cream Evening 27th June As daytime temperatures soared to over 30 degrees Centigrade, a record for six years, the Strawberry and Cream evening once again proved to be popular amongst sociable members as almost twenty turned up to enjoy the treat and to chat with friends. 13 Verulam riders abroad Raid Switzerland 7-July-2011: Doug Driscoll reports F ourteen riders (12 VCC) headed off to the Alps at the end of June for their annual pilgrimage across the mountains. Using a format that we have refined over the years: We simply hire a van to take the bikes & luggage down to the start whilst everybody else flies out and back, and have a nice kind driver (Nick Coe this time) to follow us around on our stripped down racing bikes. Various duties (route planning, hotel bookings, map printing etc.) are all shared around to help keep costs to a minimum – unlike Matt P & Marek’s choice in wines! A full report with photo’s can be seen on the club web site www.verulamcc.org.uk Participants were:Mark Antcliffe, Gavin Bench, Paul Cackett, Nick Coe, Mark Drinkwater, Doug Driscoll, Frazer Harper, Steve Kay, Leigh Marmon, Gareth Morris, Matt Pumo, Matt Reader, Paul Roberts & Marek Siwicki. La Marmotte Richard Marriott reports A nother group of Verulam CC riders headed off to the Alps for one of Europe's hardest sportives: La Marmotte. The route is 170km long (of which around 81 are uphill) and has about 5300m of ascent over the legendary Col du Glandon, Col du Telegraph, Col du Galibier and up the legendary 21 bends of Alpe d'Huez to the finish. The riders and times were as follows: Hazel Davies (11:51:43), Alan Swinhoe (8:53:16), Richard Marriott (8:44:09). Jon sutcliffe, Martin Jones and Craig Stewart were also spotted out on the route. Jem Biggins and Andy Rice provided much appreciated support to Hazel, Richard and Alan. 14 Hazel & Richard Jem & Andy Raid Pyrenees (A sore pair o' knees) Don Andrews reports W hen you're groveling up the giant Col du Tourmalet, an 18k climb average gradient of 7% in the cold mist with low visibility and every sinew in your body screaming in agony for you to stop it's hard to remember that this is supposed to be a cycling holiday! This was the low point in the raid Pyrenees which is a really tough challenge I went on with Andy Cole and 8 of his friends who called themselves the 'Harpenden Raiders'. The ride is from Hendaye on the Atlantic coast to Cerbere on the Med, 710kms with 18 major cols which has to be done in 100hrs total to qualify for an award. This results in up to 10hrs a day cycling up to 4 cols per day, the views were spectacular, but little time for real rest. At various cafe stops along the way you needed to get your route card stamped to prove you made it. The French word for a stamp is Tampon which caused much amusement when 10 guys lined up asking cafe owners for Tampons. We all succeeded in the challenge though it was by far the toughest cycling event I've ever done and one not to be repeated. Spirits were kept high by good company and lots of banter. Typical of this was those who got to the cols first doing press ups whilst the rest came over the top. An awesome trip and I must admit in certain parts it did seem like a holiday. Answers to Andy’s Quiz featured on page 20 1. Watford, 2. St. Albans, 3.Potters Bar, 4.Buntingford, 5. Tring, 6. Hatfield, 7. Ware, 8. Digswell, 9. Hertford, 10. Rickmansworth, 11. London Colney, 12. Cuffley, 13. Codicote, 14. Batford, 15. Borehamwood, 16. Ashwell, 17. Welwyn Gdn City, 18. Whitwell, 19. Hitchin, 20. Wheathampstead. 15 Chiltern Hundred Results Medio Fondo Gran Fondo Name Time Award Name Time Award Steve Kay Matt Pumo Ian Cunningham Richard Marriott David Reid Peter McDermott Paul Moody Alan Swinhoe Martin Jones Nigel Gilespie Tim Lowcock Paul Browning Tim Gray Jon Sutcliffe Marc Cane Sam Skuce Peter Miller Hazel Davies (F) Toby Francis Paul Hammond Jim Phillips Jem Biggins Davinder Bhatia Vim Rawal 6.00.33 6.17.30 6.30.13 6.44.05 6.46.32 6.49.00 6.50.38 6.59.34 7.03.59 7.06.45 7.06.47 7.10.54 7.15.00 7.28.21 7.32.55 7.38.34 7.39.05 7. 40.20 7.54.36 8.02.59 8.03.08 8.22.17 8.30.36 8.55.10 Gold Gold Gold Silver Silver Silver Silver Silver Silver Silver Silver Bronze Silver Bronze Bronze Bronze Bronze Silver Paul Roberts Doug Driscoll Chris Dennis Giles Horridge Robert Sutton Martyn Skinner Martin Purvis Dave Korson Mark Russell Ian Ladd Lucy Cuppleditch (F) James O’Neill 4.13.21 4.40.02 4.55.58 5.10.48 5.11.10 5.20.21 5.32.13 5.50.56 5.51.00 5.51.04 5.51.53 6.20.27 Gold Gold Silver Silver Silver Bronze Bronze Bronze Bronze Bronze Corto Fondo Name Craig Stewart Joga Shoger Time 3.57.33 4.24.42 Steve Kay storms through Gran Fondo Steve Kay showed his form once again as he returned almost 17 minutes ahead of Matt Pumo, whilst Ian Cunningham came in with a very credible 6.30.13. Hazel Davies, the only VCC lady to ride the Gran Fondo, came home with 7.40.20. earning a Silver Award. The only other VCC lady to ride, Lucy Cuppleditch, also did herself credit in the Medio earning a Bronze Award. 16 Welcome to New Members Andy Whitaker: Until recently Andy preferred Mountain biking to the road and competed in some MTB races, before joining VCC in January following his conversion to road cycling. He started with the Inters and quickly progressed to Mods+. Andy says he will be out of action for a few months as he is expecting his third child this month. We all wish them both good luck for the new arrival. Ed. Karen Jones recently took up cycling and joined VCC to get fit for a 400k charity ride in Kenya’s Rift Valley in support of Women v Cancer. New to cycling it was the encouragement of Ted and Lindsay who kept her going. Karen rides with the Sociables. Donations to this worthy cause www.justgiving/ karenjanejones Mike Sims joined after learning about the club through the website. He is a keen collector of Raleigh racing bikes. Mike rides with the Sociables. John Hattersley is an ex road runner who regularly competed in marathons. After undergoing a knee operation he took up cycling because it is less strain on his knees. John is rejoining following his operation and rides with the Intermediates. 17 Caton’s Blog A regular feature in which Paul shares his experience with readers Thinking aloud An eclectic collection Paul competing in the European Masters L ast October I received a Garmin 705 as a present and was quite impressed by its large configurable screen that can display all sorts of data whilst on the move. Once at home all this data can be downloaded and analysed along with a map of where you have been. You can then at a later time do the same ride again and race against yourself with the unit telling you if you are up or down on your previous efforts. All clever stuff. Where this device really comes into its own for me is the ability to pre plan a ride using an internet mapping tool and then upload it onto your Garmin. When you are ready, off you go with route overlaid onto a visible colour map with directions being alerted just before you get to a junction. This is a really useful feature when you are riding in an unfamiliar area as it means you do not have to keep stopping to consult a map which can get quite disruptive. Why are the handlebar plug ends that come with bar tape always much smaller than the diameter of the handlebars? The evening 10 series is attracting a good entry which is really good to see with many more aero bikes now being used with plenty of talk on how many watts overshoes and aero hats save. These are great events to ride and provide the ability to pitch yourself against your mates in the race of truth. It is also encouraging to see Suzannah Driscoll competing under the watchful eye of Doug, I am sure he follows just to make sure she looks after his best racing wheels! My first race was the Norlond Combine 10 held on the F4 which went over the then quiet A1 (which was single carriageway at that time) by Hatfield and up to the London Colney roundabout and back. I think I did a 33.07 and won an OS166 map with the Verulam fielding a good team of under 16’s, how 18 times have changed. I can’t imagine riding over that course now due to the traffic, let alone when I was 13 years old. you are not competing against the youngsters with their boundless energy. LVRC is a standalone not for profit organisation whose members organise something like 250 races throughout the year and all round the country. Each race is divided into 5 year age groups so everyone stands the chance of a prize. Staying on the Time Trial theme I have recently competed in two evening hilly or sporting course events which the promoting clubs put on as a change from the normal evening club 10. Whilst the Verulam 10 course is reasonably sporting it would provide a bit of variety if the event nearest the longest day was two circuits of the Whitwell circuit. Food for thought perhaps and might add a bit of spice to the Seabird trophy. About this time of year I try and encourage you all to have a go at track racing. The Welwyn Wheelers run an introductory session every Saturday morning at Gosling Stadium and will even rent you a bike, all the details are on their web site. I’ts great fun and certainly improves your bike handling skills. If you want to start riding the indoor tracks like London Olympic velodrome post 2012 then this would be a great place to start. Of all the riding I do, the velodrome gives me the biggest adrenaline rush. From the report on the web site the road race day at Hog Hill was a success we may perhaps see some of those that gave it a try enter some races. There are many to choose from and if you are over 40 you can also ride LVRC races which means 9 St Brelades Place, Jersey Farm, St. Albans, Herts. AL4 9RG Tel: 01727 847477 e-mail: st-albanscycles@btconnect.com Mountain Bikes, Road Bikes, Hybrid Bikes, Kids Bikes, Parts & Accessories, Clothing, Shoes. Servicing and Repairs. No Booking. Fast turnaround. 19 Andy’s Quiz Local Knowledge The answers are all in Hertfordshire. 1. Reputedly nothing happens north of here. 2. What a martyr. 3. Where a clay worker gets refreshed. 4. Hanging decor for a US President. 5. Sounds like a telephone when repeated. 6. Headgear in a meadow. 7. Do you know this location? 8. The gardener works hard. 9. A stag by a river crossing. 10. Value of a chap in a haystack. 11. A capital sounding rabbit. 12. What is found at the end of a sleeve-ly? 13. Fish in a dove’s residence. 14. Belfry creature crosses stream here. 15. Not a very interesting forest. 16. A tree near a spring. 17. Definitely a trendy place for flowers. 18. Water drawn for Spring Bank Holiday. 19. Cowboys tie their horses to this post. 20. Grain with an arty London suburb. by Andy McLennon Answers on page 15 Dates for Your Diary Club Events 26th June Ride 4a Reason Woollams St. Albans 24th July VCC Open 25 mile tt F1 Tempsford 3rd September VCC Seabird tt Whitwell Circuit 14th September SGM Club Room 18th September Norlond Combine 25 tt Incorporating VCC 25 mile Championship Course tbc 19th November Annual Dinner Dance Harpenden Golf Club & Prize Giving 20 VCC Circuit Racing at Hog Hill 22nd May 2011 5 Lap Handicap 1.Will Laughton 2.Colin Vidler 3.Andy Whitaker Devil take the hindmost - Group A 1.Steve Kay 2.Matt Pumo 3.Sam Skuce Points Race - Group A 1.Steve Kay 2.Gavin Bench 3.Matt Pumo Devil take the hindmost - Group B 1.Nick Coe 2.Andy Whitaker 3.Richard Marriot Points Race - Group B 1.Richard Marriot 2.Nick Coe 3.Stuart Dwight Most aggresive rider award Steve Kay A great day was had by all at our Hog Hill circuit racing adventure. 24 riders took part on a blustery day that made for some tough racing. Steve Kay took most of the spoils in the A category whilst Richard Marriot & Nick Coe shared the honours in the B category. Will Laughton held off all challengers for a close win in the Handicap race. Here’s what they said:‘Hog Hill was a really good day out, probably the best Verulam day out I have been on. Everyone agreed we need to do more racing.’ Steve Kay Great fun, and an excellent opportunity to improve your bike handling skills Lucy Cuppleditch Thanks to Doug Driscoll who ran the event on the day, Dave Yorke, for help with British Cycling accreditation, Paul Caton for his invaluable advice, Paul Brown, Andrew Rice for photo’s and to helpers on the day Dick Morgan, Mike Willard and Kim Coe. The club invested several hundred pounds to provide members with a new experience of bunch riding and ‘Real Racing’ on a closed circuit. Next year the event will be run at a small charge to defray some of the expenses. Dave Korson 21 22 Racing at Hog Hill Photo’s by Paul Brown 23 Dave Yorke, Bill Sibley & Victoria Gunn Organizer Dave Yorke Don Andrews & Bob Bone Signing on Pmb photo’s ‘Inters Group’ Jack Sutton, Max Ward, Lucy Peacock, Phillipa Shubert, & Ian Ladd ‘The Inters Group’ Robert Sutton & Dave Korson lead 24