InGear Junior Tour of Sussex

May 25-28, 2007- West Sussex

A Reynolds/Michelin Junior National Road Race Series Event

Sponsored by De Laune CC!!!!!!

BCF report and lots of photos here...

InGear Introduction here... and their results/report here...

Sam at the front of the bunch on the climb up Pixot Hill

These 3 pics attached taken at Brenchley on Easter Sunday 2006. Photos from James Lyon

James King at the top of the hill

James Peckham takes the inside line round the corner

Interbike RR - 2/3/4/J - 109km 28 August 2005

Sam and Myself decided to travel up to Essex to tackle our first ever road race. Over 6 rolling 18k laps.

James – ‘What’s this on my wheel?’ Sam – ‘It’s a bloody spoke’ grumbles Sam

Our legs were feeling rather fresh considering the 11 hours of training we did in Hastings on Thursday and Friday. Probably thanks to Granny’s cooking.

The race began with a 1.8 mile neutralised start. However many riders had itchy feet and decided to attack during the neutral zone. Further problems arose when horses turning in the road halted the whole race; this allowed the break to get a 30 second lead before the race had even begun!

With riders already away, the pace was electric for the first lap. On the third lap Sam attacked off the front of the group with four riders on his wheel. Two more quickly bridged the gap and a strong break was away. The lead groups advantage quickly tumbled under the weight of Sam’s group. Falling from 2mins to 40sec after 1 lap.

Unfortunately for Sam, disaster struck on lap four when his chain snapped. “Bollocks!” The race continued with the two breaks drawing away from the main pack, creating a lead of 5minutes. James had been reserving himself in the pack during the race, and on the last-lap attacked 5miles from the finish with two other riders. Holding on to a slender lead of around 15 seconds, the small group worked well until one rider blew up and was swallowed by the chasing bunch. In sight of the finish line James jumped away from his now weary companion to claim somewhere in the region of 18th-20th place (the organisers have been rather sketchy recording and publishing results).

Sam Fensterheim and James King

Vlissegem Kermesse - Belgium

I was kindly invited to do my first ever race abroad in Belgium by Ian Whitehead of Ruxley Cycles. Belgium being the 'home' of cycling all races over there are much more organised, faster and attract larger fields than here in England. In England pretty much all youth races will be held on a closed road circuit of a mile or less such as Eastway and will last from 20 too 40minutes . In Belgium on the other hand many youth races are held on the road with a circuit of around 6 or 7 miles closed off just for a youth race. The race distances are about 40 miles and race speeds can reach up to and above 30mph on an 84inch gear. I set off from Herne Hill and after a car journey a shuttle and and another car journey arrived in Belgium at Neuwelingen in West Flanders only 4 hours after I had set off.

After a good warm up and the bellowing of English 70s music being played from the speakers in the portable commentary box I lined up at the start line with one other English rider Simon Lewis and 42 Belgian riders. This is a reasonably small field for Belgium as there was another race in the area. The race started at a frantic pace with me loosing my water bottle on the first lap after going over a monster of a speed bump. There were frequent attacks some of which stayed away for a few laps but were never let out of the groups sight. I even had a crack myself but no avail. Then on the home straight with about a mile to go tile the finish line a Belgian rider struck out alone. With none of the group willing to commit to the chase until 500m metres to go th race ended in a 30 up bunch sprint in pursuit of the brake. I finished 18th overall out off 43 other starters. The other English rider Simon Lewis finished a creditable 6th after leading the bunch sprint out.

A good warm down followed by lunch and then the collection of my prize money as prizes go down to 20th in most Belgian youth races. Completely knackered me and Simon flopped into the car with Ian kind enough to load our bags and bikes in. Four hours later after a good days racing I arrived back home.

I would like to thank the club for funding my trip to Belgium as it would of not been possible to have such an experience otherwise. I'd also like to thanks Ian Whitehead of Ruxley cycles who was kind enough to lug me over to Belgium and organise race entry etc. My next trip to Belgium will be on May8th back to West Flanders to take part in a kermessere.

Sam Fensterheim