London League Team Champs - 1 more rider needed!

[Chris Clague]

2 races in 2 days sounds like a fun way to end the season - let's do it. Do we all enter together or do I enter (and sign up for my first race ) then we get grouped?

What race are you doing on Saturday?

Welwyn in the Central League - shout if you want a lift.

[Chris Clague]

Thanks Chris!

Thank you! - I've raced far too little this season.

[Astrid Wingler]

Ok, have joined the league

I'm sure you're looking forward to finally attaching one of those (in)famous timing chips to your helmet!

[Chris Clague]

I have one from 2 years ago. I'm tempted to put it on just to confuse Bill.

[DanielMcqueen]

Great!

I think we enter all together as a team. I'll have a look and sign us up if I can.

Hi Max, will you do this? I am registered with RiderHQ so you should be able to find me. I can give you cash on the day or transfer funds.

[Chris Clague]

I've just entered.

Dan - follow the link on Max's post and select 'join existing team' and choose from the dropdown list.

[DanielMcqueen]

Done.

[MaxReuter]

Great, looking forward to seeing you all on Sunday!

[MichelleSellars]

How was it?

[Stuart]

How was it?

They're still washing their bikes

[Chris Clague]

I'll have you know I finished washing my bike half an hour ago actually...

The sign-on team excelled themselves today - we stood in a queue for 45 minutes without moving an inch The whole thing was delayed etc, but it's just the charm of the London League and nobody really seemed to mind that much.

Not sure how many riders there were, someone said 150, but the result sheets seemed to go out to about 192 I think. Whatever, it was a massive field, way bigger than any I'd seen. As the last man to sign up, I was in pen 4 right at the very back of all of them, along with Aoife, formerly of this parish who was racing with her new friends (all of whom had matching bobble hats).

A whistle blew somewhere in the distance, and the chatting eased a little, and some time later we started to move. Some bright spark in front of me took to the grass verge, forcing the spectators to leap out of the way. I decided this was a rather sterling idea so jumped on his wheel. We probably passed about 60 riders up there on the banking, then headed off into the paddock/pit area where everyone seemed to be forming an orderly queue. I nipped down the side of that too and squeezed in where it narrowed through the gateposts. I was already having way too much fun as we crossed the start line and made for the slippy stuff - the best thing about starting so far back is that you really do have nothing at all to lose so I just kept going - I'd already passed Dan (who'd been shunted apparently - I'll leave him to tell that particular story) and Caroline by this point, but I could just about see Max disappearing off into the distance - the next time I saw him was the finish. A great greasy blast through the woods, probably fell off 2 or 3 times in total, spent lots of time sliding, a bit of running here and there - all of it was ace. Starting to get used to the squirmy tubs, and early on at least it almost felt like cheating as people were fighting for traction all over the place and I was just blasting through. A fantastic end to the season. And only at events like this can you buy a decent sized lunch and a cup of tea for £3. A grand day out with lots of familiar faces.

Big thanks to Max & Caroline for organising and Dan for giving me a lift.

[MaxReuter]

Yes, a great day of racing, thanks Chris and Dan for joining us down South for this!

As Chris alluded to, the London League timing system managed to show itself one last time this season in all its might and sophistication. As somebody pointed out in the queue, we spent more time waiting to have our chips scanned than actually racing!

But it was worth the wait. The course is one of my favourites, quite a bit of climbing on loose, dry soil, some wetter and differently slippery bits and this time a long, slippery descent with a sharp, muddy corner at the end. I started in the first pen, but behind quite a few slower riders. My start was pretty poor, not everyone ahead got off very quickly and I am still getting used to my Look MTB pedals. But once clipped I got on well and got past a number of people and battled with some others. The end of the race came a bit as a surprise to me, I had saved some energy on what I believed to be the penultimate lap, only to find that the race had (I think) been shortened and have the flag waved at me. Bit of an anti-climax that, but well. Looking at the results stuck up in the café after the race I finished 8th vet (and between 20th and 30th overall), which is one of the better results this season.

Caroline fell victim of the enormous field and the resulting sub-optimal communication between commissaires and riders. Having missed the 1-minute announcement, she was surprised by the whistle and was over-taken by a good bunch while struggling out of her jacket. But her race went fine and she finished 3rd woman, behind her two toughest competitors Laura Greenalgh and Emma Lewis.

Having had sandwiches, tea and cake for Chris and Dan and his family we stayed on for the price giving. That dragged on for quite a while, covering London League overall standings for all age categories, Sussex League overall standings and then the team prizes. But it was lucrative, at least for Caroline, who is now proud owner of two magnificent plastic/metal cups, one for first Vet40 woman, one for second woman overall in the final League standings. Jules and Clément rode in the Herne Hill A team and finished third in the team rankings today. But while they were called onto the podium, the medals were only for first and second team. Bit of a shame, in particular as lots of adults got a plastic cup they probably care little about.

But overall a great end to a very successful season. But I'll have to work hard over the summer to catch up with the rest of the family before we start again in September!

[MaxReuter]

And many thanks to Dan for lending me his spare LP jersey today. In a serious lapse of the usually impeccable Swiss/German organisation (a lapse that, it seems, I had already selectively edited out my memory when writing earlier) we had left our bag of clothing at home. At least we had a bike, a helmet and two shoes each...

[JackCurzon]

Sounds like a great day!

[Astrid Wingler]

Sounds like the London League at its best.
And congragulations to Caroline for finishing second in the league overall!