The Beacon Message Board

I raced for the first time in 2018 at Milton Keynes Bowl on Saturday. It was all going well until 40 minutes in, when someone tried to squeeze up the inside of another rider ahead of me, they tangled bars and a whole bunch of us came down. Cue lots of road rash for me. I'd driven there as I was on my way to visit my mum for the rest of the weekend, and it did make me wonder about the wisdom of travelling to races alone - I was OK to drive afterwards, but driving back to Birmingham yesterday evening wasn't all that comfortable.

Gavin got on much better up north, with 6th place in a 2/3 crit.

Couple of races in the last two weeks.

Laurence, Stu, John and I got involved in the 3rds and also the 3/4ths races at Birmingham Business Park. Both were active races with Beacon riders up the road, but not able to make anything stick. In the end I got 10th in the first and 12th in the second, with John picking up 20th and 15th.

John and I also raced yesterday at the Two Counties RR. John was in good form and was active throughout (I was mostly sitting at the back wondering why I didn't look at the course profile before turning up). First of three climbs up to the finish split the bunch in half with John near the front, and me picking my way through to just about get on the back of the front group. Two riders managed to stay away in the end with the final climb coming together and taking up the whole road with little room to move up. John ended up 11th, missing out on the points despite deserving more for his efforts throughout the race... I ended up further back in the bunch in 29th feeling happy that I managed to finish.

Darley Moor next Saturday for me... anyone else racing this week?

Joseph 12th on Sunday at Shrewsbury in the under 10s. Any parents interested in their child giving one of the West Midlands Youth Circuit League races a go get in touch and I can send you dates and locations, hard to find on BC website.

https://www.velouk.net/2018/04/16/repor ... t-races-1/

We seem to have got out of the habit of reporting race results, but in the meantime John and Gavin have both made it to 2nd cat, which, having seen them race a few times this year, is very well deserved in both cases.

After a few near misses and another crash at MK Bowl, I got 9th there a couple of weeks ago and then 7th last Thursday, so hopefully I can keep that rate of improvement up through July.

You'll get that 3rd cat in no time!

I can't imagine they'll be anything noteworthy from me now lol

GavPass wrote: ↑

25 Jun 2018 19:27

You'll get that 3rd cat in no time!

A couple of OK results at Curborough and 8th at MK Bowl two weeks ago left my needing just two points, which I narrowly missed out on last week, but I made sure with 5th place there this week. About time, too. I'm having a bit of a break now before hopefully doing some 3/4 road races towards the end of the season, if I can find some.

laurence_cooley wrote: ↑

14 Jul 2018 20:29

GavPass wrote: ↑

25 Jun 2018 19:27

You'll get that 3rd cat in no time!

I'm having a bit of a break now before hopefully doing some 3/4 road races towards the end of the season, if I can find some.

Best of luck finding a 3/4 road race Most 1/2/3 /4
There's a few more rounds of the SSSSC etc. And there's the West Midlands Championship on the Astley circuit on 19th August. I think you may have to look outside of the region.

I'm away for the remaining rounds of the league, unfortunately. There are a couple of 3/4 road races in the East Midlands, which I might travel for, and Royal Leamington Spa are organising one in early September, although I think I might be away with work for that as well. There's another race at Birmingham Business Park in September, at least.

The answer is, take up cyclocross Laurence

Sorry did I read you've made 3rd cat? Congrats!! Good effort after crashing early in the season.
You join an elite bunch of Beacon 3rd Cats

Tim wrote: ↑

14 Jul 2018 23:56

Sorry did I read you've made 3rd cat? Congrats!! Good effort after crashing early in the season.
You join an elite bunch of Beacon 3rd Cats

Most of the existing 3rd cats seem to have either got promoted to 2nd cat or retired, though!

The best thing about finally getting the points is that I can now go to see someone to try to find out why, ever since that crash, my knee hurts when I sit down for any length of time, without worrying about the consequences if I'm told I have to take a break from riding.

Just get a standing desk!

Well done on making third cat Laurence. It ain't easy. I really hope the knee doesn't cause you too much trouble. Not too many Beacon members are racing at the moment.