Out on the back of the circuit four men finally got away with Russell and Kristian being joined by Russell Hampton and Marvin Bialoblocki all representing different teams and some wondered if they would work together to stay away from the chasing pack. With a fair bit of racing still to go this uneasy alliance held and they kept the rest at bay pulling out a minute and twenty seconds on the now thoroughly exhausted chasers. As they charged up the climb of Michael Gate it still looked like any one of some twenty riders stood a chance but Russell Downing had not come to Lincoln today to be denied his fourth victory and as the bell sounded he found a last few ounces of strength and went for glory. The massive crowd in Castle Square cheered him on to a fantastic and hard fought victory as he crossed the line in style and claimed the honours. Marcin Biaboblocki just missed out and came in a well deserved second place as he was always in amongst the leaders and NODE Giorddana Racing had had a good day out. Kristian House home in third to a thunderous round of applause as he had been in evolved in every move and navigated the cause brilliantly.

They race was once had proced why it is perhaps the best once day event in Britian and as always a special thanks goes out to all involved with putting on this years event and to the spectators who turn out in their thousands to cheer and appluad the riders till the very last one has crossed the finish line.

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The Halfords Tour Series 2012 Promo Video

The professional cyclists will be racing against each other to become the overall champions, of The Halfords Tour Series  The racing is intense and fast paced, and comes with all the usual thrills and spills of crit racing.  ITV4 will be covering the whole series.

Today we are pleased to announce that Primal Europe powered by RuTrainingToday have 2 guest spots for The Halfords Tour Series.

The team will be at Torquay on Tuesday 5th, and Colchester on 7th June 2012.

Primal Europe had a fabulous first year in 2011 with over 25 wins, stage race wins, high ranking of 13th in the U.K. and a Masters Champion.  This year they have continued to improve and raise their standards.  Having recently returned from the Ras Mumhan in Ireland, where Primal Europe held Under 23 jersey and finished 3rd and 4th overall.  Primal Europe also have a development club called RuTrainingToday CC, where promising youngsters can cut their teeth in the racing scene, whilst those who just want to ride their bikes can do so.

The team names are yet to be released, but they will of course be easily recognisable with their trade mark ‘Go Faster’ stripes!  The Tour Series is a great opportunity for the whole team to compete at the next level, but also provides a platform to show themselves off to their sponsors.

(L-R = Adam Bright, Peter Haworth, Wayne Coombs, Tom Stockdale, James Smith, Martin Smith, Judith Smith, James Williams, Rob Willcocks, Phil Borrett, Richard Oram)

The Halfords Tour Series is a great event for all the family, generating a buzzing atmosphere for all spectators.  Many of the events hold afternoon events, bringing a whole day of cycling festivities to the city centre. In Torquay we also have many of our club riders from RuTrainingToday CC, racing on the circuit ahead of the pro race.

For more information on the event -

http://www.tourseries.co.uk

Torquay support races -

http://www.britishcycling.org.uk/events/details/79409/Mid-Devon-CC,-Tour-Series-Support-Events

http://www.tourseries.co.uk/CircuitMaps/Torquay.pdf – Torquay Circuit Map

http://www.tourseries.co.uk/CircuitMaps/Colchester.pdf -Colchester Circuit Map

It was a familiar setting deep in Southern Belgium having only been up the road a few days earlier for the Houffalize World Cup.  This however was an even tougher course than the World Cup itself with super steep climbs and technical wet off camber descents that had the majority of the field running.

It wasn’t just the course that was World Cup standard though; the field contained double Olympic Champion, Julien Absalon and French star Maxime Marotte as well as Belgian hero Kevin Van Hoovels and Junior World Champion Inaki Lejarreta Errasti not to mention a host of World class Cyclo-Cross riders.

A great start from both Rourke and Dave saw them blast through the start loop inside the top 20.  The tactics had been set out to start well and quickly settle down as it would be a long race.  By lap two both riders had moved up well with Dave pushing himself inside the points and Rourke knocking on the door of the top 10!  Meanwhile Absalon was running away at the front of the race with a 2 minute gap after just 1 lap and never looking back.

As the race neared its climax Rourke only got stronger and moved to just outside the top 5 before shaking off Tom Meeusen of Fidea Telnet to take a phenomenal 4^th place in Elite (1^st Under 23), beating Elite riders ranked in the top 20 in the world – without doubt one of the best results Orange Monkey-Cannondale has ever seen.

Dave was also having a solid race and maintained his good form of late by finishing inside the points with a 15^th position.  It was another great weekend of racing after the triple podium just one week before in Dalby Forest.  Rourke now fly’s to Mauritius for the African Continental Championships before the team head back into Europe for the next World Cups in the Czech Republic and France.

Photos & Story courtesy of www.myoranagemonkey.com

The short and sharp nature of the circuit, which includes a tight turn around the obelisk, promises fast and furious racing, great for spectators and competitors alike. Each round will see four races catering for youth’s through to elite categories. With races being limited to 25 youths and 50 riders for the rest of the races its best to enter in advance to secure a place.

New this year, it is also planned to hold ‘Go-Ride’ events in the park to cater for younger children and aspiring racers in advance of the main races.

Participants can enter as many of the rounds as they wish, with series points awarded in each round. The series champions will be crowned, and prizes awarded at the final event on Wednesday 30 May. Race information and entry details can be found on www.bathcycleraces.co.uk, and spectators are encouraged to come and watch this free event.
There will be also standalone sixth race taking place during the Bike Bath cycle festival on Saturday 23 June at Royal Victoria Park. Details for these races can be found on www.bikebath.co.uk

A massive thanks goes to Anna and team for putting on a sterling event once again, with a special acknowledgement for getting the races off at the earlier than usual advertised time. This early start however, had a fair number of people attending the pre-race briefing still half dressed, and made an actual warm up a luxury few had been afforded. Still, this made for an interestingly different dynamic for an Ilton race.

Being cold anyway, and being ‘cold’ my start was not my most impressive – two pieces of wood for legs left me scrambling for wheels and generally riding very averagely. As usual there were plenty of people looking to get something going in the opening laps, but with little success. I’ve not raced much this season, so I would love to say who these people were, but I don’t recognise a lot of the kits etc… so if you were an early animator please accept my apologies for not mentioning names.

On the prime lap, the elastic finally snapped. For some reason, I’ve had a keen eye for a move this year, far more than normal anyway, so having seen Marcin make a dig, Bjergfelt have a go, and everyone else generally apply themselves for a bit, I tried a cheeky one as soon as the pace eased. The gap was easy enough to open, but on my own into the headwind, it hurt a lot. I was almost pleased to turn around and see Marcin charging across to me, especially as teammate Martin Smith was attached to his rear wheel.

For the three of us, the rest of the race was simple, put our heads down, make the break count, then work out how to win from there. Behind, the reports are that my Primal buddies were all over any counter moves that tried to get away, which unfortunately shut the race down a little. I’ll have a word with the guys and see if we can keep things a little less negative moving forward. Oops!

So, you’re in a break with another teammate, and the strongest rider in the field. How do you win this one? Where is the opportunity? Well, when I am in Marcin’s position of strongest in a move, I always like to force my dominance onto people. Make people feel that resistance is futile, that nothing they try will work, and they might as well work with me towards the group kick and see who comes out on top. I won’t say how I look to do this, but lets just say it’s a subtle bit of psychology.

Anyway, my point is that Marcin applied this same tactic on Martin and I with devastating effect. I knew my legs were pap and I was unlikely to beat Marcin in a sprint, however, it would be totally fruitless to try and attack the guy, as we’d only end up dropping ourselves. So what do you do? Well what you don’t do is nothing, which is exactly what Martin and I did. Like a rabbit in the headlights, we sat there and waited to be squashed, and squashed we were.

Marcin do the smash, we say thank you, Marcin makes glorious victory. I come second, and Martin third. Primal teammates Rob and Adam bring in the bunch completing a good outing for the team. However, missing the top step on the night will – I am sure – be the focus for our detractors going forward… I love it.

James Williams

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RUTRAININGTODAY CYCLE CLUB

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Will be holding Go-Ride coaching sessions at the George Park and Ride, Robourgh, Plymouth for children aged 8-14 who want to get to grips with bike handling and racing skills.

Each session will be run by British Cycling Go-Ride Coaches, cost £2 per session and will run from 9.00 – 10.30am.

A bike (no stunt pegs) and helmet are essential (NB children without a helmet will not be able to participate).

Booking is essential.

Please contact Sorrelle for more information and booking:sdplec00r@aol.com

Finally I would like to thank all of our team sponsors who have been very supportive so far this season. Especially Primal Wear for producing us with brand new superb kit for the race. CNP Cycling for supplying is with loads more nutrition for the race. C Originals Helmets, Sunwise Sunglasses and Rutrainingtoday.co.uk for constant pictures and awesome shirts. And finally a personal sponsor of mine Qoroz bikes for supplying me and constantly supporting me with a Superb Titanium bike and wheels. If you ever need to buy any of these things I would highly recommend all of these.

OTHER PICTURES

http://www.irishcyclingphotos.com/?p=2023
http://www.rasmumhan.com/?attachment_id=940

Follow me on twitter @Stocky001

I have never really enjoyed recovery drink, well barely been able to keep it down would be more accurate, but the CNP professional pro-recover (chocolate) tastes better than any product I’ve tried before. I drink it after all hard training sessions and feel it really helps with recovery, especially if racing more than once in a day….

The bars and gels are equally good. We have been supplied with four products. The two gels come in a caffeinated and non-caffeinated variety. Being a coffee addict I prefer the caffeinated ones, especially on race day, but guess they are best left till the end of the race – as a pick-me-up for the finale. I find the energy bars are good for longer training rides races as they are slightly slower release fuel than the gels and so stay around a little longer. I like the cranberry ones the best but they all taste great. I use the CNP pro flapjack bars as an alternative to recovery drink, they are also pretty filling making them a good alternative to a sweeter snack during the day if you are trying to avoid sugary food.

I have been using the isotonic energy drink and it passes the main test for me – which is that I find it very easy to drink. I tended to find during my triathlon days that although the exact composition of energy/isotonic drinks is important, for me the bigger factor was how easy they were to drink when on the rivet mid race, and the CNP passes this test with flying colours….

CNP complete their range of supplements with a pro peptide. I have not been using this yet- partly as I like the high protein flapjacks and recovery drink so good, but if it tastes as good as the other products it is well worth having a try…..

It has been really helpful to train and race with the same nutrition, making fuelling in races much easier. As a team we are really fortunate to be using the same stuff that both GB cycling and SKY are using, and if it is good enough for them, it is certainly good enough for me……Fingers crossed the results will follow!

Ben Stockdale won the Thames Velo RR at the weekend and he regularly attends the Tuesday sessions.

So what is it ?  A chaingang is a group of cyclists in a close knit formation usually of two parallel lines.

The formation comes from the fact that it is harder to cycle at the front of a group than in the shelter of another rider.  The rider behind enjoys the slipstream of the rider in front. If one rider were to stay at the front all the time, he would tire and the whole group would slow down. If the lead is rotated, the effort is distributed across the group and the speed can be higher or the individual effort less.

This effect is very significant – up to a 40% reduction in effort for the slip-streaming riders while the lead rider also benefits from reduced drag (somewhat under 10%) due to the air not closing up after him.

The name chain gang is an allusion to the formation that riders adopt. The rider in the front of the group will take his share of the lead, then swing to the side and let the rest of the line come through, led by a new leader. The first rider then eases up and drops in behind the last rider in the line, staying in his slipstream until once again his turn comes to ride at the front.

When there are enough riders, turns at the front can be so brief that there is a continuous flow up and down, in two lines, so that cyclists take on the role of links in a chain. For that reason: chain gang.

The technique is hard to perfect because it demands riders cycle close to the rider in front at speed, sometimes just centimetres from his tyre. It also demands trust in others in the group because, that close, no rider would be able to avoid hitting the one in front if the pace suddenly changed. For that reason, the leading rider takes responsibility for taking the line through the smoothest path he can and at a constant speed.

The technique is often used in training for races but it can be seen in races themselves, usually when a small group of riders gets ahead of the main field, or in team time trials (not long to the Kalas 2 Day), where the chain-gang technique is paramount.

Personally, I find this training session harder than being in a break and it’s perfect training therefore for races.

If you haven’t done one before it will be a shock to the system but will bring your form on in leaps and bounds.

Enjoy !