Nasty crash

Paul O'Donovan, also known as POD, had a nasty crash at Goodwood on Sunday and has broken his collar bone and shoulder blade. At the time of writing, Monday, he was still in hospital, but hoped to be out tonight. Being a true trooper he hopes to be back at work in a couple of days. I'm sure we all wish him a speedy recovery.

New members

Welcome to our newest members John Rowlands of Felpham and David Samuels also of Felpham, Jasper Richmond of Bognor and Shane O'Neil of Thorney Island.

Road racing results

Toby Neave continued his run of top three places with third at Dunsfold Park on 5th August. In the final event he was 7th. I think both Toby and Shaun have finished in the top 10 in the series, but we await confirmation.

Time trialling results

Toby Neave was a clear two minutes quicker than the next competitor in the Bognor Hilly 10. Mike Cooper was 4th and Liam Terry making a come back after knee trouble just a few seconds behind in 5th. Jason Davis was 6th and Mark Warrington 8th. Dave Pothecary, Mary Campbell, Alistair Mallett and Elizabeth Strarup all rode to almost outnumber Bognor CC.
At the following week's event Shaun Smart set a new fastest time of the year of 21:37 to win, with Pete McGuiness 5th in 23:21 and Liam Terry and Richard Bevan tied for 7th with 23:42. Alistair Mallet set a personal best of 25:46.
Toby Neave won the final Bognor evening event with 21:16.

Portsmouth League

Our time trialling co-ordinator Mike Marchant has been quietly working away at our membership of the Portsdown Time Trial League. Mike writes "Those of you who were around at the time might remember that last year I was asked (by the membership!) to get the club into the Portsdown TT League. The 2 main requirements of that are that we must serve 1 years notice and then promote an event. We will have served our years notice in time for the 2009 league. I have also designed a 36Km sporting course around the Goodwood area in preparation for an event which I suspect will be in October 2009.

I have contacted the new organiser of the League and before they can confirm our membership for 2009 they want to know how much interest there is from the club.

The league consists of about 6 events all held on sporting courses around the Portsmouth area. There are various categories, you get points for positions and it is a bit of fun with all the events held on a 'club event' basis, i.e. not open events, so only local riders will ride.

So, can those of you who are interested in taking part next year please let me know as soon as you can."

How do I start cyclo-cross?

I have added a How do I start cyclo-cross entry to our How Do I? section on the website. Basic information about where to race, how much it will cost etc.
I plan to add more about cyclo-cross as the season approaches.

Racing in Belgium

In mid August I made my annual pilgrimage to race in Belgium. For the third year in succession I was racing in the Internationale Kampioenschappen van Woesten which is held near Ieper (Ypres) in West Flanders. The event consists of a time trial, segregated by age and a handicap kermis. The over 50s ride their time trial on the Thursday, those of us in the prime of our lives on the Friday and the under 35s on the Saturday. The time trial uses a 7km circuit with 14 bends per lap.
It was quite a bit windier this year, but I managed a very similar time to last year to average 25mph for 28KM. I felt I had ridden a near perfect race in terms of pacing and cornering. The winner, however, had put 2 minutes in to me. I finish 9th out of 30.
The day of the kermis was very windy so a hard race was in prospect. The first 13km of the kermis are on those concrete slab roads that make your tyres feel flat all the time. With the wind behind us we are flying along and we are gobbling up the groups ahead of us. Once we join the TT circuit the wind is either on our sides or a block head wind, but rarely on our backs. As soon as we catch groups they go straight out the back, but despite our pace we are caught by the scratch group.
Eventually there are about 20 left at the front and after another round of attacking and cross winds I find myself in the second of two groups of seven. Why seven? The roads are extremely narrow so four can echelon across the road with three in the gutter. Everyone else gets blown out. We chase hard and hold them at 10 seconds for 14 KM. We are so close that the dust from the lead car and their group thrown up from the mud on the road still hangs in the air as we follow. Eventually the gap just teases out before we give up. In the sprint I finish second in our group to take 9th (again).
The winner is once again Kenny De Marteleire. Former Motobecane professional, second to Greg Lemond in the junior World Champs and last year's ICF world champion.
I receive three trophies and 55 euro which my team manager (son, Jeremy) and I blow on a final slap up meal in Ieper.
With a visit to the beach at De Panne where we saw heats for Miss Coast Belgium, chocolate shops, cafes and larking about at the farm we stayed on we had a great time.