Sean Hughes and I raced at the Macclesfield Wheelers Evening RR last night. For once it only rained for 3 seconds which left the surface wet enough to cover my bike in muck for the 100th time this year.

The race started with a pile up in the neutral zone, for some reason a rider just fell off his bike and took down 2 of the stronger riders, Paul Bethell and Dan Wheelan (Ex Century). A break went away on the 1st lap of 3, but it never made any headway. Coming to the end of the 1st lap Sean did a strong stint to bring back the initial breakaway and as we neared I jumped across to the break and 3 of them came with me, after a while there were about  of us, but the quality wasn't good enough with riders missing turns or going to hard...the usual story. So it was all back together again. Soon after I got into another break but decided that it wasn't strong enough to stay away...my mistake as this formed the final breakaway. So as we came up to the final lap 1 man was away but was being pegged at a safe distance. Then right on cue Sean punctured! 

So coming into the last corner before the final few kms to the finish I ended up right on the front and couldn't get myself into any of the 3 riders who jumped wheels as I wasn't going to drag the peleton up to them. So after bad positioning I was left to fight it out for the 5th place spot. I decided to jump away in the last km and almost made it to the line but was caught with about 10m to go. So I maybe finished in top 10??? All in all it was a good experience but a race that Sean or I should really have been challenging the win.

Just a quick round up of races, if you have been omitted let me know.

Audlem TLI

Tim B, Ritchie B and me enjoyed this road race, shortened to 45 miles for a reason that we never worked out, the race itself was great. With a 15 mile lap it wasn't repetitive as other races and with long drags, shorts climbs and plenty of scope to break away the race proved to be fun. A small break of 3 went in the first lap, however this was brought back just as the 2nd lap started and soon enough another break went up the road. I thought this would be the one so I jumped a little too late and paid for that mistake, taking a good 5 minutes to bridge across. So 8 of us worked pretty well to start with, however having 2 riders from each team (Kuota and Maxgear) it soon turned into a game and after a few attempts we settled back down, but this had cost us and the 20 odd mile break began to disingtigrate as the bunch drew near. I was the first to get dropped after another sequence of attacks, and as I was picked up by what remained of the peleton we soon caught all the remaining members of the break bar 3. The peleton was driven by Paul Bethell who had punctured after the first lap in the break and then subsequently rode back on and drove the bunch hard, shedding quite a few riders. Tim and Ritchie had ridden well and now Tim was helping drive the chase to the line. The finish was up a slight drag and we were positioned a bit too far back with Tim being the best placed, however the drag allowed us to move up and Tim and I finished top ten, possibly with Tim in 7-8th and myself a place behind. Ritchie must have just been knocking on the door of 10th. 

Litherland Round 4

Round 4 was a club sponsored event and I was the only senior rider there. I had to marshal the first part then quickly get changed for the race with little warm up. From the gun it was fast and after a the usual breaks the race settled down into 3 groups of 3 with myself lodged in the rear group. The 3 of us worked well and finished in a sprint between me and a junior..he won. So I finished 8th or so I thought. The results were retrospectively changed to place me 9th. I won't go into it suffice to say it made no sense to me.

CDNW Gt. Budworth

Geraint took part in this race but from what I can work out he forgot his gloves and the weather was horrendous and many a rider had to pack in because they couldn't change gears see Ryan Pikes blog. So Geraint had to pack in as well, a lesson learnt to hard way!

That's it for now, please let me know of any results or write ups. Send them to info@liverpoolcentury.com

Race report from yesterday at Blackpool. 

Me, Phil, Ian Kendall and another guy from the century (who was looking for points for uni champs?) raced - Doug was meant to but couldn't see him so don't think he made it.
Was quick from the off on a windy course. I got in a break of 4 after a few laps but we got brought back after about 10mins. Got in a few more breaks all of which were unsuccessful, until the main break of 7 got away which i missed (amateur!). Break stayed away until the end, was nearly caught on the line.
I got taken out in a crash with 4 laps to go, tried to take a lap out but wasn't allowed as it was too close to the end so got a dnf. I was fuming as I was there or thereabouts all day and felt ok, but not as bad as the other guy who took me off as he needed an ambulance!
Phil rode a canny race, stayed in the bunch all day. With about 10 laps to go he got on the front and tried to get away with me on his wheel but we were pulling everyone else along. Not sure where he finished but he won his bunch sprint.
Other guys all got dropped.
Good day out and all for charidee

http://www.britishcycling.org.uk/events/details/78546/The-Lewis-Balyckyi-Memorial-Crits---Blackpool

Sean Hughes, Andy Bennett (Onimpex) and me thought we'd spend easter weekend getting soaked at the Frank Morgan RR. 

Kirkby rates up there with Pimbo for being one of the most dull  courses in the season, but for a lot's of local guys this is a key race to include early season as it's one of the few local races with the added benefit of being a Regional A race meaning that Elites and 1st cats aren't allowed.

The pace during the race felt high but was 2mph slower than the E/1/2 races I've done, but that might be down to the fact that there was more oppurtunity to attack or get into breaks. All 3 of us got into a small break or another but all failed to get into an 8 man move that stayed away from about the 2nd-3rd lap till the end. The break finished with only 2 riders, with 2 crashing on the 2nd last bend (how pissed off would you be!!). Behind the break there were constant attacks that forced the bunch to string out 2 or 3 times per lap.

So as the bell lap approached the Maxgear boys increased the pace and kept it pretty safe, it was pretty hard going to move up, but Andy did a great job of pulling his team mate Dan Whelan, (ex century rider as well)  myself and Sean up to the top 15-20 places. Then as teh last bend was rounded the sprint unfolded. Suffering with a cold from Majorca I didn't have the legs and finished 18th, but Sean finished 11th and got a few handy points on his license.

Regional rankings, not bad going since the top rankings are all for 'teams' rather than club racers. Sure this will get better, week by week!

2012 Regional Club Road & Track

Only a brief report as I've been away in Majorca.

Here are all the senior results for the end of March

Both Jonathan and Kevin are only a couple of points from their 3rd CAT licenses.

Simon Wilkes has been putting the miles in and finished the tough going that is Capernwray.