June has been an amazing month for London Phoenix at the Hillingdon circuit with no less than five of our riders reaching Cat 3 status and three getting podiums. Mark Paul got an inspired win in mid June, while Gary Lingard was just edged out of a win a week later but was miles ahead of the competition in 2nd place. And on the final race of the month Paul Wixon took a stunning 3rd place and a really hard won 3rd Cat licence after nearly a year and a half of trying.

London Phoenix riders also managed to get consistent top ten places and more points. Matt Webber picked up his 3d Cat licence in the same race as Gary, and David Murrell took his licence at the beginning of the month after placing 5th. Well done to both. Stephen Hird, Andrew Angwin, Peter Baird and Ken Iino also managed consistent efforts and are now on the cusp of 3rd cat licences, with plenty of others just out of the points so far.

If you’d like to join us, just get in touch…

The London-Paris is billed as the closest you can get to the experience of riding the Tour de France. Just like Le Tour, London-Paris features rolling road closures, mechanical support and motorcycle outriders. The only thing missing is the constant buzzing of the helicopters overhead!

This year intrepid LPers Liz and Phil were amongst 300 riders taking part in this 520km challenge – you can find out how they got on here.

Liz & Phil joined 300 riders on the 2009 edition of the 3-day, 520km London-Paris ride.  Billed as ‘the professional event for amateurs’ it’s a real experience to ride around 100 miles three days in row, with full motorbike escorts.  There’s a great, friendly atmosphere – chatting really helps the kilometres pass quickly!

Day 1, Esher to Dover in the glorious sunshine.  After all the nervous anticipation it was great to discover that we weren’t going to have any problems with the pace in group 3.  Despite all the ‘we’re just there to finish it’ predictions, things were going so well it seemed like fun to race the timed section just before lunch – and from the provisional results it seems Liz was 3rd fastest woman on that section. That effort came back to bite her later on the killer final climb just before Dover, at about 14% that just seems to go on and on, especially after a full day in the saddle.

We felt surprisingly fresh at the start of Day 2, and it seemed rather surreal to be cycling in another country!  After a couple of hours it was as though we were cycling in a whole different world as the sky opened, and we rode through probably the heaviest rain we’ve ever come across.  There were literally rivers across the road, and you could barely see where you were going.  Our group happened to be in front at that point, and we heard later that one group was held up because the cars couldn’t make it through that amount of water (and the timed section was neutralised for safety).  But perhaps because it was warm despite the wet, it seemed exhilarating rather than miserable.  The weather cleared up in the afternoon, and we looked forward to an early night and some dry clothes – sadly denied us for 3 hours due to some navigation and coach-related fiascos that we won’t dwell on, other than to say we’re pretty confident we’ve seen everything that the industrial suburbs of Amiens have to offer.

The weather cleared up nicely for day 3, and we rode between beautiful, picture-postcard fields of corn and wheat, climbing up gradually to Vaux-sur-Seine where we had the most amazing view of the river towards Paris.

Riding into the capital was unforgettable – 300 cyclists in one big peleton, with rolling road closure so we could keep up a steady pace as bemused spectators cheered us on through the suburbs and through the cobbles.  I’m told that they only close the streets like this for two events – the Tour de France and this London-Paris event.  When we passed the Trocadero, the Eiffel Tower was suddenly looming up right next to us, and the realisation that we had really ridden all the way here started to set in.

A fast and flowing 13km course and perfect conditions made for some thrilling racing this weekend, with London Phoenix out in force at the Ginger Smallwood Memorial Event hosted by Kenton RC.

Stuart Jones led an early break of seven that stayed clear for 65km, and by the final lap they were comfortably out of sight and looked to have the race sown up with a lead of over a minute.

But with 1/2 lap to go Alex Christians kicked clear of the main group and lead a 3 man break on an audacious 6km high speed chase worthy of a Hollywood blockbuster. Unbelievably he managed to catch Stuart’s lead group on the final turn before the finish, and the long sprint to the line saw him take 5th place with Stuart on his wheel in 6th. Pretty incredible stuff.

All in all it was a great show of team work, with Phoenix working hard at the front to ensure the two breaks got clear, and with Matt Harper, Richard Lam and Ken Iino putting in solid performances to finish comfortably near the head of the main group, though out of the points.

But the day belonged to Alex and Stuart who put in truly stunning rides, and who were unlucky not to be on the podium. Well done guys, that was truly awesome.

London Phoenix had 6 riders in the 4th cat race – myself (Andy Nash), Mark Paul, Dino, Stephen Hird, Paul Wixon and Kevin Carter.

Together we worked really well near the front to control the race (sitting firmly upon two coordinated attacks from Dynamo amongst many others). Personally I was surprised to find the whole thing pretty comfortable, though at the end, the easy two hour ride in the pm, followed by the one hour ride out there, and bringing lots of attacks back took its toll, so I didn’t have sprinting legs or knees, and I cruised in in 20th-ish. Actually a very pleasing result, I know I can get top ten there soon.

Mark managed a fine win in the sprint finish, despite riding into the thistles a few laps before the end, to avoid an Addiscombe rider who misjudged a corner, went off the track and tried to put his foot down at speed.

Congrats on your 3rd cat licence Mark!

London Phoenix has had yet more fantastic results on the road in the last couple weeks, led by our new star Mark Paul. He placed fourth at the Minet Park Grand Prix at the weekend, and then got a glorious win and a 3rd Cat licence at the BC West Thames/Willesden CC Circuit Race on Tuesday night.

Mark’s dramatic effort was all the more remarkable for the fact that he’d been forced off the road and into the thistles in the final few laps, and yet managed to power his way through the pack and onto a truly stylish win. Read Andy’s account here.

The week earlier Phoenix placed 4 riders in the top 10 at Hillingdon, with David Murrell gaining his 3rd Cat licence and Stephen Hird, Andrew Angwin and Ken Iino all picking up cherished BC points.

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