Eagle Road Club

San Fairy Ann Crits

Great sprint by Matthew Farrow to take 2nd place by half a wheel - you can see that he was a wheel behind when he put his head down in the last 20 meters, chapeau! Official results have him down as winning, but the boy who won was off the front and there were major problems with the lap counting so can't report our first Eagle win of the year. Nell took second again to Maya, but managed to go up on her for the first two laps this time and maintain contact enough that she's asked to use the turbo to "train" for the next one.

Dave, Damien and Ben were all in the 3/4 race with Damien showing his stuff at 8th, followed by Dave (although the official results seem to be messed up) and Ben. The first race of the season is always a bit of a shock to the system, so well done guys for the February start.

James Sale wins at Hog Hill

Intent on gaining his second cat license James has started his 2010 season early. Having picked up a second last week, by winning the bunch sprint after a lone escapee took off, James went one better on Sunday by gaining his first win of the 2010 season. Again it was another bunch sprint, so the signs look good for promoti0n to 2nd cat.

There is a fair bit of racing over the winter at Hog Hill so there's plenty of chances to follow Jamzy's lead and grab some early points.

Result of the Eagle Hill climb 2009

Quite an attrocious November day with a stiff, gusting breeze and much too much rain.  Congratulations to Dave Youell who recovered well from his week off in Paris to take the title from Phil Hersey in second place.

Position	Rider	Time
1	Dave Youell	1:46.9	Eagle
2	Phil Hersey	1:53.6	Eagle
3	Mark Steers	2:04.6	Hainault
4	Howard Staunton	2:08.9	Hainault
5	John Beaufoy	2:12.3	Eagle
6	Simon Hewins	2:15.7	Eagle
7	Chris Tomkins	2:31.6	Hainault
8	Dave Clarke	2:31.9	Eagle
9	Rob Dulson	2:44.9	Hainault
10	Alastair Smith	2:59.3	Hainault

Autumn 25 result

Autumn 25

Our Time Trial secretary, Peter Smith, is taking entries for our last 25 mile time trial of the year, the Autumn 25.  This event is run on the hilly course which is out to Thaxted and back via Debden to be run on the 4th October starting at 9:00 am.

If you'd like to enter this event just drop Peter an email or contact him onthe members area.

This event is a "come and try" event so if you are not in the Eagle Rc you can turn up on the day and get a ride.

Peter also needs helpers to marshal the event so please volunteer if you are able.

This weekend at the clubhouse

With eight Eagles in the ECCA 10 this Saturday afternoon and more racing on the Sunday this weekend is going to be busy, busy, busy at the clubhouse.

To take advantage of the events many Eagles are bringing up their families and making it a camping weekend - let us hope the weather holds out for the barbeque. So an open invitation to any Eagles that want to join in the fun, the more the merrier.  It is going to be very informal, just turn up and be prepared to muck in with the cooking.

The ECCA 10 starts at 2;00 pm up on the E2 course which is Six Mile Bottom.

Eagle Open 50 Result

Chris Baldwin reports from the yeterday's race

"A big round of applause is in order to all those helping to make the Open 50 a success yesterday. Special thanks to Steve Hodges for taking on the organising role, and the judge, timekeepers, marshals and of course the refreshment crew. Nothing like being spoiled as a rider to have a marshal cheering you through each of the roundabouts. Probably something in the CTT rules preventing such behaviour!

We had a few dramas on the way with Phil puncturing just before his start and missing his start time by 3 and a bit minutes and still getting under and Liz chasing down some Welwyn Wheelers bloke onto the A11 one roundabout too early and missing out on a PB and Eagle women's record time (DQ'd but with an estimated finish of 2:17:30 ish for a full 50 after her 49.2 mile ride).

Official results to come, but a great Eagle day with Eagles retaining the team win title with all three team scorers (Hersey, Baldwin, Foy) under 2 hours to overtake a strong Essex Roads challenge. Damien took the Handicap competition, I snuck past the overall winner and young vet Peter Balls to win the Vet on Standard prize. Special unofficial kudos to Phil for riding the fastest Eagle ride of the day before his late start penalty was added in and to Antonio for his racing comeback after being hit by a car five weeks ago"

Open 50 next Sunday

It's our open 50 next Sunday, 13th Sept, up on the clubhouse course, the E1. We have a field of 53 riders including five Eagles and it is shaping up to be a very competitive individual and team race.  Start is at 7:00 am.

Please let Stephen Hodges, our organiser, know if you can help out on the day.  I know he is short of marshals so any help would be much appreciated.

We still need more marshals for our open 50.  Please contact Stephen Hodges if you can help out on the day.

Chris Baldwin breaks club 30 record

Chris Baldwin and Damien Foy took part in the National Vets 30 mile time trial on Sunday with both Eagles doing fin rides.

Chris tells us the story

"You could not have asked for a better day on a better course. I was a little concerned about my early start time of 7:05, but it turned out that there was less wind for the earliest starters, and when the wind came up about 7:30 - 7:45 it was pushing me home. Most of the last 15 miles was raced at over 30 mph, and the final time of 1:06:06 (a 27.23 mph avg overall) definitely reflected that good bit of luck with the weather. The ride on the E2 / 30 was also the VTTA National and ECCA championships on Standard and Handicap. Gets a bit confusing, but I know that I managed 5th on actual (tying Phil's 5th place last year when he picked up the record) and 3rd on standard in the 50 - 59 age group for a VTTA National Championship bronze medal.

Funny story on Damien's ride - he was off at 7:15, and admits that he snookered himself from the start by listening to another rider instead of following his instinct on never changing your bike setup based on another person's opinion, and certainly never 15 minutes before starting a race. Apparently he was convinced that his exposed nipples constituted an unacceptable drag. Knowing his fondness for kit, I thought he must have gone at the new skinsuit with a pair of scissors and I didn't want to see the 18+ rated result. Turns out the bloke was talking about the nipples on the Zipp 404 wheel he had on the front and he changed it for a heavier and slower Bora. He reckons that cost him at least 40 seconds. His time of 1:09:02 is the 3rd fastest in Eagle history as far as I can tell and was good enough for 13th in a field of 77 finishers with an average speed of just over 26 mph. "

Weekend of the 26th September

This is the weekend before the Eagle Autumn 25

Chatting to some Eagle members we came up with the following idea for a nice Eagle weekend. There is an ECCA 10 on the Sat afternoon on the E2 start at 2:00 pm. As it's an ECCa event we all stand a reasonable chance of getting in for a fast time - club record could go

Then on the Sunday there is the Lea Valley 30 on the E1. I am sure we would all get into that.

So why not make this a weekend at the clubhouse? Ride the Sat afternoon, return to the clubhouse for evening meal and a spot of camping.  Then up for the 30 on the Sunday,  sounds perfect to me.