Eagle Road Club

ECCA Festival - 3rd / Juniors circuit race

This was the final race of the opening Saturday, and due to late running was reduced to 20 laps of the Hog Hill circuit. We had two riders in this race, James Sale and Adam Dawson.

Adam takes up the action "Hoghill 3/4 race was rather lack luster really. It seems that the break away option came from the young rider (under 16) who decided that after winning the prime that it was right to clip off the front and see who would go with him. One other did and they stayed away. James went after them with 5 laps to go and I sat fuming in the bunch. James came back to the bunch and lead us round for a lap or two. I was now raging. Then on the final time up Mt Hoghill James was 2wheel at 250m to go and then led the bunch over the top of the climb. Unfortunately his legs weren't up to his ambitious wants and Crest, some other team and ME came past to take positions 1-5. James ended up a frustrated 6th and I a furious 5th! Taking out the Juniour that won, we achieved a 4th and 5th and a very good lesson in team work(or what happens when you don't have it!)".

James also had his own thoughts  "Adam has pretty much summed up ‘our’ Hog Hill experience. My performance was poor to say the least. However, much can be learnt from the experience, and whatever doesn’t kill you makes you stronger".

ECCA Festival - E123 Circuit Race

This event also took place at Hog Hill on the Saturday. The Eagle had two riders taking part; Ben Preston and Phil Hersey riding his second event of the day.

Quite early on a group of four riders broke clear, but none of them ECCA riders.  Phil tells us what happened " A break containing non-ECCA riders went away quite early, so I changed my plan for the race to watching the other ECCA riders and trying to mark their moves. ELV riders were going off the front at regular intervals, so I was chasing lots of moves.". 

Ben was finding the pace a touch hot and found himself dropped after half an hour.  Not one for wanting to leave a clubmate on his own though, jumped back in to give Phil some company.

With two laps to go, it looked like being a sprint and Phil was lounging at the back of the bunch when Digby Symons (Cambridge) and David Barnes (ELV) went away. Phil made my way through the bunch and chased after then, caught then with half a lap to go, but was too tired for the sprint up the hill. He finished  4 ECCA rider and about 12th overall for a very satisfying first days work.

ECCA Festival - The Go Race

"Go races" are for novice road racers, to give them the opportunity to experience of racing without the need to take out a full racing licence.

We had two riders in this race; Cheney Stenning and Joe Lambert, and the race was over 6 laps of the Hog Hill circuit.  Lap by lap saw riders fall out the back of the bunch, until there remained only tenty or so in with a chance.  Joe stretched his legs up the finishing hill to leave the buch strung out, but sensed he would rather wait for the buch sprint.

When the sprint did come what a pleasant surprise - with a kick like a mule, Cheney came flying over the line well clear of the rest of the bunch for a very convincing win.

Joe rode well too coming in for about 10th place (Ithink), which for a first race is very encouraging.  I can see these two taking out full racing licences very soon - well done.

ECCA Festival - Ladies Road Race

This is a picture of Liz Chittenden finishing the ladies road race at Hog Hill on the Saturday of the ECCA Festival.

The results of the race aren't in yet, but we do know that Liz raced aggressively throughout the race, tried to get away on the last lap, before being caught by le peloton as it raced to the line.

ECCA Festival - Hog Hill Masters Race

Chris Baldwin is first ECCA rider home in the Hog Hill Masters Race.

Chris managed to get away with an ELV rider, but the gap was tenuous as there many decent riders in the bunch who had ambitions to win.

Damien tells us how the race unfolded."Saturday at hoghill masters race was fast very fast! chris go away with some evl dude and matt seaton who is an elite rider kept trying to chase i sensed the danger and said to rob windser of elv that we had to get seaton away as he could bring back the others so i got behind seaton told him to go and let a gap appear so he got across to chris and the elv guy."

With Matt Seaton now with the two leaders the break started to look like a race winning move.  The speed however, took toll of the ELV rider who drifted back to the bunch, leaving Chris and Matt to fight out the finish.

Damien finishes "the race then went up and down in speed sometimes so fast i was on the ropes but chris did a super ride and won which puts him on hero status."

ECCA Festival - Hog Hill 10

Pos	Rider	Club	Time
1	Dean LUBIN	PCA Ciclos Uno	23.24
2	Philip HERSEY	Eagle RC	23.35
21	Paul DE RITTER	Eagle RC	26.32
44	Howard GRACE	Eagle RC	29.22
61	Alan McARDLE	Eagle RC	34.25
66	Raymond McARDLE	Eagle RC	35.26

Andrew Griffiths established a course record at 22.04

Phil Hersey gives us some insights into his preparation - his first experience of racing were the 10 mile time trials at Eastway and tells us he used to really enjoy the challenge of racing the same lap over again - trying the go around the corners faster each lap. He arrived early so that he could practice the circuit - worked out that he could pedal around all the corners and they could all be ridden on the tri-bars. He paced himself by watching the numbers for the next starter as he crossed the line each lap. He was number 60 and the next starter as he crossed the line was 63 and hadn't started, so he knew he was on target for a time of under 24 mins. Finished up with 23.35, which he was very pleased with - 2nd ECCA rider and 3rd overall.

New Discussion Board

I thought I ought to remember those members that have not signed up to our new discussion board. It's like having a Wednesday night clubroom online, so if you find yourself craving some social interaction with fellow eagles then why not sign up.

Just Click here and you will be taken to the site.