Our next women’s ride is an expedition from Knockholt in Kent on Sunday 9th May.

All you need is a road bike and some confidence that you’ll be able to ride at about 15mph / 25 kph.  Enthusiasm for cake is also appreciated.

If you’d like to join us or would like more details please email liz [at] londonphoenix.co.uk so we know who to expect.

Thanks mainly to Astrid, who has turned out to be something of a star on the road as well as in cyclo-cross, we’re currently in 6th position in the London Women’s Cycle Racing League.  Astrid’s cyclo-cross experience has come in very handy though, with a Lance Armstrong-style detour across the grass at the Hog Hill race!

Our team isn’t just a one-woman band of course – Annabel, Alex, Louise and Liz have all participated already, and there are several more who are planning to attend future events.  If you’re looking for a club to race with, why not join us?

As I watched Philippe Gilbert cross the finishing line on the Cauberg it struck me that perhaps we were not of the same species. A little under 24 hours previously I had made a similar journey up those final 900 metres. Philippe crossed the line and walked into the congratulatory arms of his team and suporters whereas I slumped on the side of the road and spent the next 15 minutes trying to keep 5 gels, 4 current buns, 1 Clif bar and 4 gallons of Isostar within the confines of my stomach! Nope Philippe and me are very different.

Welcome to the Amstel gold! As is traditional the Lee Green chapter of London Phoenix set out on Friday to conquer yet another Spring Classic. The usual contingent of Poles, Chinese, Aussies and Brits made a mockery of the no fly weekend and made it from SE12 to Maastricht in around 6 hours. Basically in time to carbo load on a few light breakfast lagers before bed. Turns out we were riding on tickets provided by the bananna sponsor which seemed kind of apt.

Saturday dawned bright but bloody freezing which was a challenge to those of us who had been deluded into thinking it was Spring. After all the tall tales from our new Dutch mates about the route we set about our job with enthusiasm. The facts we knew were 250KM with 3000M of climbing. The first loop is fast, very fast……..90K ish with about 500m of climbing. Almost like Essex…no problem. Second loop……about another 90K adding about 1000m of climbing…..still OK but there is something nagging in the back of my mind. Ah – thats it…we are on the 3rd loop we’ve done about 200K but only 2000m metres of climbing……there can’t possibly be 1000m of climing in the last 50K……can there?

There can and there is! One after another the various ‘bergs’ rear up. Aptly enough the Dutch word for gradient seems to be ‘Helling’ and now I know why. Cramping badly we crept over the Keutenberg which tops out at 22%. They put a video camera there to capture the European all comers gurning competition which is held at the top instead of a sprint!

Anyhow – it is a great event and very well organised. I dont think I’ll be doing it again though.

One last thing – if Richard Lam ever says to you something on the lines of “you won’t need a compact 53/39 will be fine” Just punch him very hard.

Mention the words Amstel Gold to most people and they’ll start idly daydreaming of ice cool beers and the pancake flat landscape of Holland, rather than the legendary bike race of the same name. Of course LP’s long distance specialists Richard Knight and Richard Lam aren’t most people, as they ably demonstrated at the weekend when they took on the very same 31 hills and 250km of pain the pros would ride the very next day.

Amstel Gold is one of the Spring Classics, a series of super tough one day races that attract the very best riders in the world. This year Belgium’s Philippe Gilbert was the first man to cross the line on the hill top finish – and as Richard Knight reports – that really was no mean feat.

LP had a fantastic 3 days of Road, MTB and Track action in Wales in April, with about thirty of us heading to beautiful Afan in South Wales for a club get together.

We mixed glorious Road and adrenaline MTB action on the Saturday and Sunday, and then with knackered legs headed to Newport velodrome on the Monday for the Track finale. By way of a thank you for having organised the weekend we carefully staged events to make it look like Alex Christians had genuinely won the last race of the day, and needless to say we all returned to London with massive grins on our faces and are already looking forward to next year…

Chris Dick and James Wallace proved themselves master tacticians at the end of March at the Biddenden Road Race, pulling off a stunning win in the process. James selflessly spent the majority of the race at the front of the pack chasing down breaks and generally keeping the pace high, leaving Chris to conserve his energies for the nail-biting finale. Chris takes up the story:

“With 5km to go a guy from San Fairy Anne attacked hard off the front and I followed to get on his wheel… to his frustration I pretty much sat there not willing to take the lead but made a deal with him that I’d do the work up the hill leading us toward the finish. A third of the way up he bonked, and I was left with a horrible feeling thinking I had blown it seeing the group gradually edging closer and closer as I approached the crest with my legs going to jelly. With the finish line in sight I had one last look behind, put my head down and to my shock crossed the line first.”

The win was not only a great result for Chris, who earned his Cat 2 licence in the process, but was also the perfect wedding gift from James as Chris flew back to Australia to get married a few days later. Well done guys, awesome teamwork, great tactics and a beautiful result.

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