SERRL 2016 Summer Series 5 - Kenardington

[Rickbalfour]

Despite the Tour de Frejus (8 stages) only finishing on Thursday there was a good ACC turnout for SERRL 2016 Series 5 at Kenardington including Marek, Paul, Jonathan, Ian, Matt and Rich. All but myself and Marek had been to Frejus but Marek hadn’t been idle, putting in a solo 250km ride around Lake Geneva the week before! As I pulled up I was surprised to see Rich in attendance (clearly the rumours that he doesn’t always make the start line are unfounded, aided by blue skies he was true to his word and ready to go). My next surprise was that there was no sign of Paul. Only someone who, facially at least, looked a lot like Paul, but with a shaved head and narrow moustache that did bring someone else to mind, a historical figure perhaps but their name escapes me.

First into the action was Ian. Making a break for it only 500m into the race. Sadly it was a break out the back. Now I knew Frejus would have taken its toll but I have to admit this surprised me. However, it later transpired that Ian had hit a pothole, stopped to fix his brakes and then had to ride the rest of the race with 2 gears after his rear derailleur had also packed up. Next to attack was Marek who, also true to his word, broke from the gun and before long was out of sight. Marek solo’ed in the lead for over two laps before coming back into sight and back into the bunch. Next up was Jonathan who made the first of his (spoiler alert) two unsuccessful solo breaks. Something of a pattern was beginning to form with ACC riders easily pulling out a gap but with no other teams prepared to try and bridge the gap during the first half of the race.

By laps 4 and 5 things had become a bit more animated on the front with more aggressive riding but nothing sticking (peloton dropped to 25 riders by this point from over 50 at the start, with all ACC riders still in the race, well technically still in the race, Ian was on his own a few minutes behind the race but still going) . Paul got a way on a couple of occasions, once with Jonathan in the same group but it didn’t stick. Meanwhile Matt made a few breaks too. Always on the same hill, so by the end I wasn’t sure if he was going for a break or chasing a particular Strava segment KOM. But he didn’t get the support he needed to stay away and came back to the bunch. With about 2 laps to go an ASL rider put in a serious effort and got away. Another rider got off the front and Marek tried to bridge to him but gradually it came back together just leaving the ASL rider out front and out of sight.

The pace quickened towards the finish and just as I should have been starting to think about sprinting, a rider from another team kindly pulled out to the side and began to lead me out. I got on his wheel and went round the group. With about 10m to go we flew past the lone ASL rider who had made it painfully close to an epic solo victory. At this point I expected my lead out guy to ease up and let me take the victory. Sadly he hadn’t read the script and kept going to take the victory leaving me to take second place and a £25 cash prize to boot!

Paul finished 10th with Matt 13th, Rich 15th and Marek 24th. Chapeau to Ian for racing the whole 80k on his own with 2 gears and finishing only a few minutes behind us. After a debrief at the end it was back off racing. This time to catch the last 60km of Paris Roubaix on TV!

[thomashansell]

Great report, Rik, and well done all of you!

[Ian Bray]

Great report Rik and well deserved points. You will all be pleased to know I fixed the di2 rear mech, the pothole had disconnected the wire into the hood. Even though I was last I was happy to average 21.5mph with only the front mech working. It was one of my toughest rides.

[Antloony]

Great result and write up Rik. Top stuff from ACC.

[Toks]

Good report, nice work Rick - so close at the end. Chapeau to the ACC squad