Allan Bontjer blog cycling and other stuff

Home - Cycling - Diary - Films - Photos - rss

Other online diaries:

Michael Carden blog
Steven Hanley
Planet Cycling

Photo Galleries:


←July→
Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat Sun
        1 2 3
4 5 6 7 8 9 10
11 12 13 14 15 16 17
18 19 20 21 22 23 24
25 26 27 28 29 30 31

←2005→
Months
Jan Feb Mar
Apr May Jun
JulAug Sep
Oct Nov Dec

Categories:

Mon, 25 Jul 2005

Another tale of woe - 22:16

First of all I would like to pass on thanks to all that helped the other riders we went down. I don't recall too many details of who did what but I did have a sense that things were being organised. I must pass on thanks to Gary Rolfe who cleaned up my elbow and patched me up as best he could when the first aid kit arrived. Thanks also to Neil who drove me home.

Mike's Blog Entry has a description of the events


It all very quickly, I saw a rider wobbling, and then it was dominos at 65kph. Before I knew it I was trying to get myself out of a quickly falling pack. I saw an escape route, went hard left but bam, Al was down in front of me. So, it was either hitting Al full on or going wider. I choose wider as the soft gravel and dirt was a much better option than hurting Al and hitting the hard bitumen. Then I was down, quickly.
I got up quick, first instinct was to grab my bike and ride on. Bbut then I got sensible as I felt a piercing pain to my elbow. So, I sat back down again trying not to look across the bodies sprawled across the road. Jonathon and Chris sounded pretty bad and I could not bear to look, just like when I know a replay of that Beloki crash is coming up. Al lay next to me silently; I asked him if he was OK, but no response. So I just lay there for a while and any details just washed over and away. I can only imagine my mind was just trying to block out the events. I do remember Gary cleaning my arm up and putting a bandage on. I wanted to get out of there and I was freezing cold so I rode back to the start finish area. Somebody road back with me, thanks, but I don't remember who it was.
Back at the start I discovered my helmet had taken quite a beating (I’ve just cut it up and binned it) Thanks to all those people who came to talk to me to make sure I was OK.
The nasty details:
John Coleman - a fractured collarbone and rib and a minor puncture to his lung.
Chris Short - Is resting at home with just minor abrasions.
Allan Lees - has a fractured
Phil Anderson - has a fair amount of skin off and a bruised shoulder.
Jerome Davidson - has a fractured collarbone
Mark A Taylor -Broken collarbone

Terry reports there were no head or spinal injuries for anyone!
I feel very lucky to come out of it with a heavily bruised hip and a few stiches to my elbow. Neil and I saw Al on Sunday and he seemed OK. Like must of us will be a bit sad and sorry for a month or two. Hopefully everybody can come out of it fit and healthy. When I watch pro racers crash and bounce up and ride off I'm pretty amazed, now I'm even more amazed at how they can do it. I can tell you that my adrenalin after about 15 seconds.

[/cycling] link

Sun, 10 Jul 2005

It all came down to how fast I could ride for about 2 minutes - 16:19

First of all I need to tell Mikey that it did not rain, it tried damn hard but it was dry. I suspect the rain was scared off by the wind.
Anyhow onto the report. Forty nine souls riders and a bunch of dedicated race marshals lead by Rob braved the cold at Bungendore on Saturday for the Graded Scratch Race - Results Again, A and B grade were combined, this time A grade got lucky, they were not started a minute behind B. From the start the pace was brisk, with a cross wind blowing the riders to the centre line, it was almost easier to work through as opposed to dicing with the centre line. After a few little digs Simon got away at the start of the long climb, he only got away to take his jacket off, but found himself 50 metres up the road so he kept on going. The A graders looked at each other, so did the riders from B. At least we know that Simon was most definitely an A grade rider. Everybody know the chase would start, it’s not the first surge that really matters, it’s the counter that is the hard one. Anyhow, Mr. Eveready Dave Dickson(or Duracell) I can’t recall which little bunny wins decided to take up the chase. I don’t really know why because Dave is currently in B. Well, the hammer went down as soon as Dave eased up, Mark Harris and Tony O’Connor had the bunch strung out in single file. This lasted till the top of the hill where there was a slight easing and I was grateful to get a push from Richard Bourne to get me back into the fray.
The easy pace didn’t last long; every little pinch saw Mark or Dave put an effort in which has riders scrambling for wheels. I was covering most of the surges. Then Mark decided to put in a huge attack, only Tony and Howard Galloway were able to follow. I tried vainly, if only I could have gone faster for those two minutes or so. Mr. Eveready tried hard to close the gap, Mike Rawlin and Dave Sims had a go as well. Patrick Mc McNamara was there as well with a few strong turns. The only surprise was the lack of Damien Barrett surging though since he is normally the protagonist in situations like this. It turned out that Damien was having some tummy troubles. Dougie McLean on the comeback trail got us organising with some strong steady work as we hit the half way mark.
So, we worked and worked, ending up going into a block headwind barely moving at maybe 23-25kph. We had the breakaway three in sight, but Simon was well out of sight and out of mind. We never caught them. I lead out a slow motion sprint into a headwind and was very happy to see the finish line come up quicker than expected.
Sorry to hear about Al Lees who punctured early on, also I was quite surprised to see John Craig and John Thorn dropped since Thorny was very strong and did a splendid bunch caption job in the horror handicap the week before.

[/cycling] link

Home - Blog - Racing - Racing Pictures - Cycle Training - Photo Albums - rss