Gorrick Autumn Classic 2
Crowthorne Wood: 12/11/06
By Calum Chamberlain & Paul Howard
Somehow I (Calum) managed to be persuaded into riding the Sport category at the most recent Gorrick, along with Ben and Warren even though my bike is in a bit of a sorry state at the moment. Thankfully, Mountain Trax managed to sort me out with a Giant Anthem 1 which we have on demo at the moment (which rides fantastically, and shifts like a dream with its 2007 XTR mech).
Having arrived fairly last minute and rushed around setting up the bike making sure all was well for the race, we lined up on the line all together. From the off it was fairly frantic with myself and Michael Lancaster pushing up the hill straight away, only to be flanked by hordes of riders along the rest of the long start straight. I fought my way in between riders to try and stay with Ben as he was my pace-setter and I intended to stick on him for most of the race to get a feel for the intensity of a Sport race (double the distance of my usual Youth races).
I however lost touch with Ben through the first singletrack as he powered off into the lead, setting the pace for the rest of the racers to follow. However, by the second lap Ben had decided that he'd had enough of leading the pack and let some others do the work, at this point I managed to catch him back up and stuck with him for the rest of the race, tailing second place rider Tim Smith. In retrospect we should have broken from him and worked as a pair to get up to the leader, however I was happy to just glide on their wheels and wasn't pushing for a good result, especially seeing as I was recovering from a cold and lack of training due to college overload!
We ended up sticking in this formation right up to the last singletrack, by which time Ben and myself really should have made a move, but we left it late and as Ben attacked up the penultimate climb he hit a root and lost all speed, then all we had left was to sit on his wheel through the last little up and down singletrack section and finish, leaving Ben in 3rd (Mr consistency) and me in 4th. Warren came home with a finish of 7th not far behind us having pushed hard in the last lap.
Earlier in the morning Paul Howard lined up in a good sized field of Supermasters, about 25 in all. I was looking forward to the race as I always enjoy the Crowthorne courses. For the first time this season I elected to ride my old Giant carbon hardtail instead of the Genius, as I've been getting used to racing the CycloCross bike with no suspension at all. I got into a good position and rode with a couple of people I normally battle with letting them set the pace, but a couple of mistakes on their part saw me seize the opportunity to break away. Only to have to stop for half a minute whilst starting the second lap to tighten my front quick release. I noticed it had rotated forward and so didn't want to risk an accident. This spurred me on as I'd dropped 3 or 4 places during the stop. Bit by bit I reeled them in to finally catch Vik who uttered a great line "Uh oh is that Paul? You always finish fast!" I had to laugh and promptly dropped the hammer to open a gap into the Corkscrew. I knew I was closing on 6th but couldn't see him due to the nature of the course, it wasn't until the final descent that I got within a few seconds but not enough to pass. Oh well great fun and it was now time for a short recovery before competing in the single lap Berks On Bikes Handicap Race at 2pm.
Chris had just ridden two laps of the Open foregoing the third lap to be ready for the Sprint Race. Although by the looks of him an earlier crash put him off his stride. The idea of the Sprint race is that riders are started at intervals in groups depending upon their ability, so slowest first through to fastest last. I was involved in setting the groups and estimated the slowest rider would finish in 30 minutes, myself probably managing a 19 to 20 minute lap. It was quite a sight to see over twenty riders all in BOB tops lined up. Chris had to wait eight and half minutes after the first rider left, and finally myself some ten minutes down. You've probably guessed by now the aim is that if everyone rides to their ability or perceived grouping there should be a mass finish. We weren't far off as apart from a couple of riders mostly everyone finished within a two minute window. You can see from the lap times (and corrected actual time) that both Chris and I managed faster laps than in our earlier races.
These races were the last of another long season for the team. And now finally a bit of respite from the hectic lifestyle of a racer, with many of us taking this as our cue to take a well deserved rest before embarking on those long cold base rides in preparation for next year.
For all of the team it was a good year, with its ups and downs; podiums and punctures. Roll on next year! (but give us a break first, I - Calum - need the wounds to heal.)
Pos Laps Time Time+ Name Lap 1 Lap 2 Lap 3 Lap 4 ------------------------------------------------------------------------- SUPERMASTER 7 4 01:21:04 05:00 PAUL HOWARD 19:40 20:36 20:19 20:29 OPEN 96 2 00:48:57 CHRIS WHITE 25:01 23:56 - SPORT 3 4 01:19:39 02:38 BEN THOMAS 19:04 19:33 20:57 20:05 4 4 01:19:40 02:39 CALUM CHAMBERLAIN 19:14 19:25 20:56 20:05 7 4 01:21:23 04:22 WARREN BATES 19:50 20:11 20:35 20:47 BOB HANDICAP SPRINT 13 1 00:29:19 02:50 PAUL HOWARD 29:19 (actual time = 19:19) 21 1 00:31:32 05:03 CHRIS WHITE 31:32 (actual time = 23:02)