Chris McNamara claimed 2nd position at the Winchester Crit last weekend after losing out to Easton Ritte rider Al Murrison. A short report below talks us through what happened.

We had strong team representing Pedal Heaven in this race  – on the line were Rob McCarthy, Will Harper, Simon Holt, Mitch Webber and myself.

This race is on a very technical/tight circuit and from last years experience we knew the first few laps and getting good start would be crucial!

The race split very quickly, Mitch crashed heavily on lap 3 but got back up quickly and after a lap out was back in the race – after around 15 minutes their we’re 4 of us left in the lead, last years winner Al Murrison, Jody Crawford, Mitch and myself.

We rode hard together and built up a lead then Mitch and I tried to get one of us up the road but the other two weren’t going to let this happen, we were all together going into the last lap and it ended in a sprint – I got a good jump and thought I could hold on but Al was too fast and came round me in sight of the line.

Mitch did a great ride for 4th having got up off the deck, Rob was in a chase group taking 7th and Will was close behind so a solid day for the team. Close but no cigar!

Stevie Williams and Gruff Lewis were representing for Pedal Heaven at the National Welsh Road Championship’s. A short report below gives a run down on how it went.

The race started off really hard which was expected, this however ended up neutralising all the elite riders.

On the second lap I got into a break with Rhys Lloyd and Andrew Williams, a group of four came across to us which included my team mate Gruff and Ben Simmons, it was good that we were both represented as where NFTO.

I started feeling a bit worse for wear throughout the fourth lap. As the fifth lap started my legs started coming back to me.

Me and Gruff had a chat towards the end, and we knew we could play a couple of cards, on the last climb I attacked with 5km and got a 30 second gap to the break reaching the top of the climb and I was able to hold down the rolling decent to the finish and take a solo win.

Gruff won the group sprint and took second place.

An overall good day out and a great result for Pedal Heaven RT

Use the link to watch a post race interview with Steve Williams – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q3jqKwqNutU&feature=share

Another tough weekend of racing done and dusted at the Tour of the Reservoir. Pedal Heaven’s own Dave Mcgowan finished 13th overall in general classification, a report below explains more.

Stage One

The tour of the reservoir is renowned for its difficult racing conditions and the 2015 tour did not disappoint.

135 riders set off on stage one to tackle eight laps of the Derwent Reservoir, no sooner had the race begun when the race began to split into groups; due to the tough winds the riders had to face.

At the end of lap one a small group of 7 riders escaped the peloton, including Pedal Heaven’s own David McGowan as the only none UCI team representative in the breakaway. A lap later the group would swell to 9 riders and gain almost a four minute advantage.

However, in the final 20miles the aggressive peloton had been decimated by the fast pace and were now closing in fast on the breakaway!

At the finish line it was Madison Genesis rider Eric Rowsell who took the victory, with a slender margin over the rest of the breakaway.

With a small 15 man peloton less than a minute behind it was all to play for on Stage Two.

Stage 2

As the race started on stage two, the remaining riders left in the race faced gruelling weather conditions with rain, biting winds and even a snow storm!

The race organisers decided to change the route to a shorten 80mile event, taking on 6 laps of the Derwent Reservoir.

Many attacks early in the race came to nothing, as the Madison Genesis team controlled the peloton for the Stage One winner, Eric Rowsell.

As the race reached the last lap the weather had taken its toll and there were now only 20 riders left at the front of the race.

As the sun finally broke through the thick grey clouds, Marcin Bialoblocki of OnePro Cycling emerged at the head of the group to take the win on Stage Two.Eric Rowsell took the overall win of the Tour of the Reservoir 2015, with Steve Lampier (Team Raleigh) in second and Andy Tennant (Team Wiggins) taking the final spot on the podium.

Pedal Heaven were well represented despite having difficulties with crashes and injuries during the two day event in Northumberland. With David McGowan finishing 13th, Gruff Lewis 26th and Stephen Williams in 29th place.

Stevie Williams finished 11th overall in general classification last weekend at the TotnesVire stage race. A short report below fills us in with how each stage went.

Gruff, Dave Creeggan, Mitch Webber, Will Fox, Rob Moore and I attended the Totnes 2 da y last weekend, a difficult weekend with tough competition and poor weather conditions.

Stage 1

It was a grim rainy and windy day, and we knew the terrain was tough and splits where going to happen, with the team looking good at the front if the peloton we went with a lot if moves early on and we were always in the place that we needed to be.

Rob Moore managed to get himself into the break of 8 which was ended by a mechanical.

On the 3rd lap I got into a chase group of three with OnePro and Raleigh riders, we worked well together, and a small group of 8 came across to us. We stayed away until the end and finished 15 seconds behind the break, I finished 9th on the stage. With G and Mitch safely in the group a minute behind.

Stage 2

A couple of hours later it was a closed circuit race, morale was pretty low at this point due to bad weather and fatigue from the morning stage. We picked ourselves up with a few jokes and got into the racing mind-set once again.

We positioned ourselves well throughout the race, but it was Rob Moore who stole the show, Rob put in a great effort after clipping of the front staying away until the last lap in which he did a great job of riding solo for over an hour holding off a brutal chase from OnePro. A lot of riders where getting spat due to crosswinds, I found myself distanced in the last couple if laps losing a bit of time to the leaders.

Stage 3

I knew today I was capable of getting myself to a top 10gc finish due to the Haytor finish. With the boys looking after me early on, with 40km to go it split massively and there was a group of 20 riders left, with a break of four up the road Lampier of Raleigh, Mould, Opie and Yanto of OnePro the raced slowed.

I managed to position myself well at the bottom of the climb. And go with the early moves. With the crosswinds on Haytor, climbing wasn’t easy.

Myself and G managed to finish the race 11th and 14th overall.

Last weekend saw the Pedal Heaven RT take on the Wally Gimber Road Race which for the first year has been announced a National A.

The race started fast and every rider was active at the front, attacking themselves trying to make the crucial move and also closing down attacks. There was a break just approaching the end of lap one which looked promising, there were number of riders from Raleigh GAC, JLT Condor, Catford and all 6 of our riders. The race was forced to be stopped due to some riders crossing onto the other side of the road causing dangerous riding, after a strong word from the commissaire the race was restarted with all riders back together.

After the restart a small break was established which was sitting around 45 seconds for a long time, Rob Moore who had been riding strong all race was involved, unfortunately that was bought back after some string riding from the peloton.

After many attacks and a lot of chasing the decisive move happened as the race was nearing the end which included 23 riders and all major teams represented. Three riders clipped of the front half way through the penultimate lap, two Raleigh GAC riders (Karol Domagalski and Steve Lampier) and 1 Richardson’s Trek rider (Jamie Caldwell) and they stayed away until the finish.

With 20 riders left in the group behind it was one last time up the hill which did see some rider’s fall of the back of the group and then a sprint finish.

Chris Mcnamara was the highest placed rider with 8^th overall, followed closely by Will fox in 10^th and Rob Moore in 12^th.

A strong ride all round by all riders!

Results:

1 Karol Domagalski – Raleigh GAC 03:45:14
2 Steve Lampier – Raleigh GAC
3 Jamie Caldwell – Richardson’s-Trek RT
4 Tobyn Horton – Madison Genesis
5 George Wood – Richardson’s-Trek RT
6 Brad Morgan – Raleigh GAC
7 Sam Lowe – Raleigh GAC
8 Chris McNamara – Pedal Heaven RT
9 Joseph Moses – JLT Condor
10 Robert Moore – Pedal Heaven RT
11 Michael Smith – Corley Cycles – Drops RT
12 Will Fox – Pedal Heaven RT
13 Ashley Dennis – Catford CC Equipe/Banks
14 Thomas Bustard – Giordana-Mitsubishi Electric RT
15 Lawrence Carpenter – Catford CC Equipe/Banks
16 Andrew Hastings – Richardson’s-Trek RT
17 Edmund Bradbury – NFTO
18 Martin Ford – BowlPhish BONTRAGER Racing
19 Ashley Cox – CC Luton
20 Luke Grivell-Mellor – JLT Condor