Hillingdon Winter Series

So Steve and I rode our first race of the 2012/2013 season (all points scrubbed from the licenses so time to start again!), E/1/2/3 at Hillingdon.

Great circuit, wish we had one in Portsmouth! Despite the number of corners and undulations there was very little incident in the peloton. It was a little chilly to start but we soon warmed up, especially when I went to the front on the third lap to pick up the pace after I missed a move. Attacking uphill into a headwind backfired slightly though as I missed the apex on a corner, ran wide and lost the back of the train a few laps later. The next twenty minutes were pretty tough, especially having to give way to the thirds who started behind us, then the breakaway, before rejoining the peloton. I then sat on the back staying out the way for a while until 4 laps to go when I thought it a good idea to cause some mischief, I broke away on the home straight and rode the lap on my own building up a considerable lead before peeling off next time across the line to stay out of the way of the finish. Not sure whether the group let me go as they knew I was a lap down or they thought I couldn't sustain the effort for four laps. Immaterial anyway, good race, nice circuit, friendly people, will be going back!

I'll have to visit my sister more often, she lives in Perivale, so it can only be a couple of miles from the circuit. Is it new?

I agree with Jerry, course is great and people are friendly, think its been there for 5 years or so in its current state.
A very enjoyable race, however dont be fooled. Dont race your winter hack as I did. The standard of fitness is high, as is the quality of machine. missing gear changes whilst pushing up the climbs or buzzing down the other side whilst fun(157 cadence) wont help your legs or lungs !
Quite a few who participate in the faster club runs would keep up with the pace, JC is back there next week, I'm going the week after.
Those that hold 3rd cat licences could ride the 3rd only race, I have decided to stay with the E123 for the benefits I hope it will bring.

Winter miles = Summer smiles.

I did get my license sorted but I won't be there tomorrow.

Hopefully I'll be able to get to at least one of the remaining events in the series.

Good luck tomorrow JC & next week Steve

For those of you who didn't know the BC points reset on the 1st December but your 2012 racing licenses are still valid. Imperial Winter Series at Hillingdon is highly recommended, oh and PNE are off the mark for the 2013 season already, if you didn't fancy reading the biased report from my blog, you can see a summary of the races so far on the Imperial Race Team website: http://www.imperialracingteam.com/results1213.html? Some nice pics on there as well

Does anyone fancy the race at hillingdon on New Year's Day? (It's afternoon) I'll probably be hiring a car so will have space to take one other if they're interested.

jerryc wrote:Does anyone fancy the race at hillingdon on New Year's Day? (It's afternoon) I'll probably be hiring a car so will have space to take one other if they're interested.

Charlie ? He posted on New Year's Day ride about joining you?

trigwill wrote:

jerryc wrote:Does anyone fancy the race at hillingdon on New Year's Day? (It's afternoon) I'll probably be hiring a car so will have space to take one other if they're interested.

Charlie ? He posted on New Year's Day ride about joining you?

Saw that, will wait to hear from him to know if he meant hillingdon or club ride.

I meant on the club ride... I'm definitely not in a state to race at the moment .

Charlie96 wrote:I meant on the club ride... I'm definitely not in a state to race at the moment .

Yeah saw that, train by day, meditate on rule #5 by night...good reaction at the bottom of Mercury today though.

jerryc wrote:good reaction at the bottom of Mercury today though.

Does it completely go against Rule 5 to say that really hurt?