The morning session took place but the afternoon was rained off.
Darren Paice's Account:-
" There was quite a crowd in the Half Moon Pub to see the Rollapaluza National Finale last Friday. The proceedings had kicked off early due to rain causing the Herne Hill Track event to be cancelled."
"Regrettably TCCwould not be represented as fully on this occasion as hoped. Dorchie had been taken ill and would not be able to attend or ride. V was also running to a tight schedule and was unable to get there before qualifying closed. I must also admit that a wayward text message, on my part, also failed to fully inform V of the urgency of the situation. So it was down to me to fly the TCCflag."
"On arrival I was delighted to see that Dave Peck and Sol were already there and enjoying the beer, the qualifying races and that they had secured a prime viewing spot. I surveyed the proceedings for a while before officially entering. Some good times had been set and it was clear that I would need to achieve a near personal best time just to qualify. My name was soon called and Dave and I headed to stage. I must admit that Dave looked considerably more nervous that I at this point. He had just one job to do - scream at me and make me go faster..! The time came and we were off. Gazing on a single point in the crowd, I tried to maintain good body composure and pedalled for all I was worth. This was it, all or nothing just to qualify. Dave’s look was slight forlorn as I finished and I knew that I’d lost the contest but had I done enoughto qualify? I glanced at the time; it was equal to my best time at 22.00 secs, which saw me through qualifying in 13th place."
"I knew the first knockout round was going to be difficult as I was up against the 4th fastest qualifier. The room was now full to capacity and Dave and I soaked up the atmosphere as we prepared to battle once more. I was up against Hayden Wood, the south west champion from Bristol. I reacted quickly to the staggered start sequence and set into my rhythm. Dave screamed instructions at me, mainly to pedal faster. But this advice became ever more important in the final stages as Dave gave me the sign that I was slipping behind. I pushed again and tried to replicate one of Dorchie’s memorable finishes. Unfortunately it was not to be, I had lost by just 0.24 secs. To the confusion of the crowd I started to celebrate as I saw my time. I had smashed half a second off my previous best, which now stands at 21.48 secs and only 0.5 secs off the winning time in the final."
"Hayden was finally knocked out in the semi-finals. The final was contested by Keith Henderson (the double winning folding bike champion at the SmithfieldNocture) and Miles Stovold (the Rollapaluza Winter series champion 2009/10.) Miles won overall by a margin of just 0.01 secs."
"The women’s event was dominated by the Max Gear team."
"Both finals can be seen on You Tube. See the Rollapaluza website for more information about the results and pictures."
"Finally, I must take this opportunity to thank Dave and Sol for me supporting on the night, (especially for saving me from public transport getting home), and to everyone else who has represented TCCby racing or cheering for us all throughout the Winter Series."
4 Declan
Higgins
22 Mark Spindler
27= Tom Bell
1/2/3
19 Matt Myers
3rds
31 Matt
Treadwell
37 Tom Bell
39 Tom Sutherland
40 Mark Spindler
6 Iain Palmer
Iain Palmer's Account:-
"I decided to make the trip to Redbridge on Monday for the 4th cat race (1hr + 3 laps). The circuit is 2km with some reasonably tight turns and a hill that steepens just before the finish line - somewhat more interesting than Hillingdon, where I've done most of my previous races. Within 3 or 4 laps I was beginning to have equipment issues, with my chain repeatedly shifting off the outside of the large chainring - which is difficult to sort while still moving! This gave me two options; staying on the small chainring and spinning out on the downhills or keeping on the large ring and making the uphill more difficult - I decided to go for the latter. The first 40 minutes were relatively uneventful, with the hill slowly thinning the bunch out. Soon after, a 3-man break went off the front and began to pull out an increasing lead. I decided that this would be a good time to bridge across, and spent the next lap and a half closing the gap. Unfortunately, once I'd caught them I looked back to find I'd towed 6 or 7 other guys with me. This new group quickly fractured into two groups of 5, with myself on the back of the front group. On the next downhill, I managed to lose the wheel of the man in front and after a lap fighting to rejoin the lead group, dropped back to the next group. Only two of us seemed prepared to do any work, but from 4 laps to go it seemed as though we were slowly closing the gap. By the last lap, however, it was clear we were going to run out of time. Taking the front into a headwind at the start of the final hill, I managed to use a rider we were lapping to block the inside line and drag my 80 kilos to the finish line ahead of the rest of the group to take 6th. "
Associate Member Jim Cusick completed the 3 day Tour Doon Hame in Scotland. Riding for Dooley Cycles Jim finished 70th in the second round of the British Cycling Premier Calendar.
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