It was a thoroughly enjoyable evening’s racing at the Stourport circuit last night. It was raining of course but I think we’re all getting use to that by now aren’t we?

The circuit is a departure from the normal road based event and is shunned by some of the more die hard roadies because of this but it’s a great facility. I realised I’d ridden, trained and coached there (part of the Regional School of Racing and the GBTx team) but never actually raced it before. I coached a session on cornering last time - I wish some of the guys who raced last night had come along… :) 

I got there early to see if I could blag a ride in the first race but the amiable Mr Goring put me straight with some choice use of direct language. Alighting to the club house only slightly disappointed, I sat down with a coffee and watched the heavens open. I was joined by the league leader Dave Starkey (Freds) resplendent in his yellow jersey and matching yellow Oakleys (he’d had them for ages apparently) and Karen Summers (Wrekinsport) the leading the woman and holder of the pink jersey. Pink – well, it’s for women innit pink. Radical and controversial colour selection by the league committee there. However, despite the hallowed company, nobody would buy us another coffee.

A good showing by Wrekinsport. Some of them had even brought bikes and kit and intended to ride the event. Not so Del and Steve whose kit and bikes stayed firmly in the car as the rain hammered down.  Good to see Dave ‘Vintage’ Moore giving the league a lash for the first time this season.   

Because of the restrictions of the circuit there were two races, the first one containing Groups 1 & 2. Wrekinsport presence was John Byatt, Pink Karen, Last Minute Dan, White Lines Billington and John Cooke. It should have contained Del and Steve too but it was raining and they had biscuits and tea on the go…

I was warming up watching the G1&2 race and had my money on Ben Manfield, the leading junior, to win – which he duly did. He was getting round the final 180 degree corner in better shape that most and whoever came out of there in position was going to get a result. There was a ‘slider’ in the final corner of the first race meaning some slaloming work for the rest of the bunch. Our John Cooke was up there with a 3rd place and, more to point a 3rd Cat licence and, continuing the ‘3’ theme, I suspect an overdue invitation to ride in G3 next week. Well done and welcome aboard!

Whilst warming up, the NFTO race team were chatting about the Tour series in Torquay that was on telly the night before. I mentioned I'd watched it, they mentioned they'd ridden it. It was at this point, had it not already sunk in, I knew I was screwed.

The second race, with a combined Group 4&5 starting three parts of a lap behind us in Group 3 set off in warm and pleasant sunshine. No really, it did. After 35 minutes of the usually suspects working at the front of G3 and a lot of other riders keeping their powder really really REALLY dry awaiting the inevitable arrival of the scratch group, the race came together.  Another 10 minutes at that pace saw me off although I did manage to spend a few seconds on Mike Jones (Stans – Paramount) and Starkey’s wheel (just to say I had… there’s a first and a last time for everything).

I think Tim Jones (MSW) was one of the very few, if not only, rider from G3 to hang on to the race. Never afraid to put a shift in, Tim did well to stay with it and finish with the bunch.  

Young Elliot Jones (Stans – Paramount) won the bunch sprint, Dad (Stans - Paramount) not far behind, I think Jacob Tipper (Halesowen) was up there too along with the NFTO crew. There are some pretty serious riders in that group – bloody quick.  

Successful night for Wrekinsport really, John’s 3rd Cat licence, Karen holding the pink jersey, we all stayed upright and some of us had tea and biscuits…

More, much more, next week…

It struck me first thing this morning whilst watching the smiley weather girl on BBC that I had to answer a question in my A level geography paper, ‘Britain doesn’t have a climate, just a series of weather patterns. Discuss’. My answer (bloody right mate) was enough to score me a D but it didn’t really address the issue fully.

We certainly had a series of weather patterns at Knighton last evening. It was raining when I got there (standard) but then by the time the rather thin (in numbers, not necessarily weight) field were on the start line it had improved to ‘dry but bloody cold with a northerly hooley’ (you can tell I’m a geographer eh?)

4 groups this evening with Wrekinsport riders dotted throughout, with the obvious exception of the scratch group, including me, Karen and John, White Lines Billington and Last Minute Dan. Whilst light on numbers the youngsters in the scratch group looked pretty mean, amongst them David ‘Lord’ Starkey (Freds), Todd Hotchkiss, Elliot Jones (Paramount), John Cooper (Wolves Wheelers) and a couple of ‘sign on the line’ team jockeys.

The boys from the scratch group caught us on the second lap of 5 which is pretty early so it was going to be a tough race. I noticed as they came through that not one of them weighted over 10 stone and their average age was probably no more than early 20’s. This, in my mind at least, is cheating – but then I’m a chubby 46 year old so I would say that wouldn’t I?

The combined group 3&4 picked up what looked like the combined 1&2 with a lap and a half left. Riders were being shelled out through speed and conditions. The best place on the back straight was in the right hand gutter in echelon but that’s kinda tricky when a HGV is coming the other way delivering to the chocolate factory – they don’t get this on the Giro…

The rain really came down on the last half lap of the race, thankfully this stopped…but only because it turned to hail. Real painful proper bullet sized hail. I pulled up next to John as we came up to the railway bridge for the last time only to see him disappear down Grand Knighton Canyon on the left side of road. Thankfully he held it together.

A group of 3 or 4 riders from the scratch managed to break away. I think it included a couple of sign on the line jockeys and possibly Todd, Starkey etc. There was a bunch sprint for the minor places so if you survived to the end, well done. White Lines was up there, me and Last Minute rolled in with the bunch. By this time my shoes were flooded.  

Karen Summers put in a gutsy ride to keep hold of the pink jersey for the leading woman (well done Karen). Good ride in challenging conditions.  

I retreated to the Social Club to get changed, sat up on the stage chatting to Mark Fenn (Paramount) and a few others to do the standard ‘taking your shorts off with a towel around you’ routine when an idea struck me. Taking my shorts off… on a stage… nah, nobody would pay to see that. Or notice for that matter. Anyhoo, there was a satisfied glow amongst the riders that comes at the end of a race completed in tough conditions – it’s a worthwhile experience and more good quality miles in the legs. All good stuff.

Early this morning, I sat on my turbo in the garage doing a little recovery session. It was the first time I’d experienced a headwind in that environment. Bloody. British. Weather….. Discuss.

We’re at the Stourport circuit next so more weather reporting from Worcestershire then. 

The 13 riders of the GB Transplant Cycling Team, representing Great Britain at the 19th World Transplant Games in Durban, South Africa this July, are meeting at the Stourport cycling circuit on 15th June as final preparation for the trip.

All of the team have had lifesaving organ transplants (7 kidneys, 4 livers, 1 heart and 1 bone marrow to be precise!) and are only racing and riding because of the bravery of selfless others who’ve had the foresight to join the organ donor register and tell their family and loved ones of their wishes.    

The meeting will include the unveiling of the team’s new kit, produced by one of our supporters Pro Vision, and funded through generous donations from Therakos and number of individual and company sponsors who support the campaign to increase awareness of organ donation and transplantation. Similarly, Cycling Plus are helping us to raise awareness and we are pleased to be displaying their logo on our jerseys this year. All the team riders are self-funded so without this vital support we would not be able to take what will be the biggest ever GBTx Cycling Team to attend a World Games.

We’ll be on the track from around 11am if you’d like to come down and join us, we can tell you a few stories. Click here for directions.

Links for editors

19th World Transplant Games                                   

World Transplant Games Federation                      

Therakos                                                                         

Pro Vision                                                                      

Follow us on Twitter at GBTxCyclists or Facebook  at GB Transplant Cyclists or call or email team captain Rich Smith on 07799 767930 or richard.smith@mamilcycling.co.uk for further information. 

A change of circuit for this surprisingly warm and pleasant evening on the boarder of South Staffordhire and Shropshire in the shadow of Mt MoFo - cue sounds of condors in flight and Andean nose flutes…  

The scurrilous rumours circulating in the peloton before the race that The Gos and I had dug up the lane leading towards Mt MoFo to ensure the dreaded climb was excluded from tonight’s course were, well, scurrilous and unfounded. However, this was only because we hadn’t thought of it…

The abridged course, navigating the newly namely 4 Ashes climb, (it was ‘2’ less steep than 6 Ashes – thank you John Cooper for that) still provided a challenging drag for the big boned rider but it wasn’t big enough to split things up like Mt MoFo can.

The evening saw less than a full complement of Wrekinsporters but our merry bunch included Ade ‘White Lines’ Billington, Karen and John, New John and me. Forgive me if I’ve missed anybody, it’s still a bit of a blur…

There were four groups this evening, imaginatively named groups 1,2,3 and yes, you’ve guessed it, 4. The race included some riders who had competed in the Lincoln GP last weekend but excluded a few who were preparing for an assault on the Division Champs at the weekend (good luck guys) so it was always going to be quick.  

Unfortunately lap 1 was marred by a crash in G2 which left a number of riders on the deck and a couple of walking wounded. I’m told 2 guys are on their way to hospital so we wish them a speedy recovery. The organisers got to grips with things quickly as they always do – top work again to Dave Goring and the team. Dave, who is responsible for handicapping the event, is looking younger and slimmer every week. Charming chap…

The pace was pretty frantic. I saw some really strong riding from the usual suspects in my group with Mark Fenn (Paramount), Tim Jones (MSW) and Andy Jones (Wolverhampton Wheelers) amongst them.  

6 laps of the shorter course saw G3 get hold of G2 on lap 3 and G1 shortly afterwards. The fourth group came through with a lap and a half left so it all came together for the finish. Frankly, I’ve seen the finish of this course more often in photographs than in real life, so seldom do I actually manage to hang in on Mt MoFo. However, the flat course meant I was in there at the end (ish) New John was up there, White Lines a little behind (no puns please…) then Karen and John, Karen working hard to keep that jersey.

Karen was resplendent in the pink jersey for leading the women’s ranking. It’s a great effort – she even had matching shoes for the evening but had, apparently, had drawn the line at pink shorts.  Fair play indeed.    

Fair play also to the organisers for managing to put the race on in light of the road works. Shuffling police consents and HQ’s at the last minute is above and beyond so, thanks to those guys.  

I’m afraid I’ve no idea who won (I’ve never claimed these reports were useful) but I guarantee it wouldn’t have been one of my big boned riding mates. The heavens opened just as we rolled it to pick up our licences. Perfect timing.

More next week, Knighton I think…. 

Here we are again race fans. It’s usually cow shit and diesel time for the traditional opening round of the road race league at Knighton. This time around it was a disorientatingly pleasant evening without the reassuringly familiar smell of manure and pink fuel.  

This evening was particularly odd as I’m use to navigating to the Newport course by smell and Sat Nat because it’s usually blowing a hooley and pissing down with mixture of horizontal sleet and snow. It appeared Spring had sprung a bit.

The briefing from Commissaire ‘Big Dave’ Goring was typically to the point. The race was to be settled as is traditional at Knighton by two falls, two submissions or, more commonly, a couple of knockouts and decent bout of concussion. We were advised to avoid riding through the gardens and shrubberies of those houses lining the course where possible and that biting, scratching and gouging were out. Premiership footballers please take note.

The usual suspects showed up. You know, bike riders and that. Many of them as old as me. Good Wrekinsport turn out, including the Gos who had seemingly got lost on his way to a chess match although as it appears he wears the same clothes for both activities it’s difficult to tell.

I wish in Big Dave’s Health and Safety but he had told us that, in the unlikely event of us loosing air pressure during the race, oxygen masks would fall from the sky and could be activated by pulling them down towards your face. I could have really done with one of these a few minutes into the ‘riding around the course bit’. In fact, I could have done with a much larger one that fitted over my arse too because that’s what I was breathing through. My Majorca training was really kicking in at this point in so much that I could have really done with a sit down and a cake…

5 groups raced tonight, Group 3 caught group two on lap 3 of 5 and were later joined by the proper cyclists from G4 and G5 (presumably they combined at some point, I don’t really know what kind of black magic goes on back there) but at the end of the race G1 were still away by 4 minutes. Notable top 10’s were Wrekinsport’s John Cooke and Wolves Wheelers Ben Manfield who finished 2nd, just coming up from the youth to junior ranks this season, both of whom will soon be towing my arse around in G3.

A safe race, I only witnessed one bit of hedge trimming by a rider who had singularly failed to contribute anything useful to the race and was trying to get upfront for a pointless bunch sprint. The gap is either big enough or it isn’t – this time it wasn’t., isn't, wasn't... whatever. He was unharmed save for having to pick some privet out of this teeth.    

Good to see Fred’s mechanic Jam Price back racing – also means next time I bollox my bike up on a Thursday night he can take it straight into the shop…

A good start to the league – we are lucky to have it and we were lucky to have had such great conditions this year. Listening to the radio on the back I reflected many of my fellow riders of a similar age were also lucky not to been shagged backwards by a 70/80’s children TV presenter. But I digress.

My luck finally ran out when I got home and unloaded the bike from the back of the car to discover a searing pain in the shin and smell of burnt flesh that comes from a person unaware his new car’s exhaust pipe is in the middle rather than at one side.  Happy days, good to be back eh?

More, much more, later…