early season results round up

early season races

The early season has seen Harry compete in no less than 17 road events In  Hansford colours.  On the 19^th of feb He managed a 2^nd place at  Mountbatten Circuit Races , a 12^th in Roy Thame Cup  a tough road race where 1/3 of the peloton didn’t finish!  Add this to the almost win at ham hill and another 2^nd at Thruxton Harry has built up a considerable amount of BC points for the team.  

 Phill and Mike where also quick to start the season, way back in the frosty depths of January they took part in The army cycling unions Ludgershall winter series.  Phill scored a 4^th in one of these in March in what I can only describe as grotty conditions.  Mike Scott also competed heavily in this series of events but was frustrated with mechanicals and punctures (I would like to add this was before we had the focus bikes).  Various other early season races saw Hansford entrants including Brook taking a 7^th in the Portsmouth Easter 3^rd cat only race.  

  Sandy Radford memorial race

All this said we were mainly racing as individuals.  The 21^st of April gave us the chance to change this with 5 Hansford riders taking part in the Sandy Radford Memorial RR.  This even is run by the local cycling legend Glen Longland and is over 35miles around the new forest.  However don’t let the short distance fool you this race has a sting in the tail, Pipers waite! It might only be 400m long but its harsh gradient and dead road surface makes it a tricky finish. 

  The race got underway and there where attacks as soon as the flag was dropped, only to be expected in such a short road race.  Early on the first lap Andy Bryson jumped clear with Ian Legg (Pirmera).  The bunch let them go for a bit before attacking again; Harry managed to make the leap at this point with a few others.     Rowan Horner (VC ST Raphael/Waites Contracts) had missed the split but was not going to let it rest, he attacked several times before splitting off a small group that included Phill.    Eventually shelled out riders started to come back to the bunch, I knew carnage must be going on up the road but with 3 of the team up there I was quite confident that none of dropped riders would be in the black white and blue.  To add to the fun a hailstorm decided to pelt us for a bit too. Brook and I  Started to marshal the bunch to stop people jumping the gap and where oblivious of  what was going on in the lead group.

Local cycling reporter Eamonn Deane describes what happen next:  “On the first climb of Pipers Waite hill up to the finish, Horner put the pressure on and Legg was the first to pop with the rest hanging on. The Hansford Cycles trio of Bulstrode, Reynolds and Bryson had the numerical advantage but Horner had the legs. Comfortably answering all the questions, the experienced Waites rider attacked on the final climb and only Reynolds could respond. Reynolds dug deep but Horner was just too strong. Bulstrode took third at 18 seconds with Bryson 4th.”

Phil Reynolds
“I sat in early on, we had Andy up the road early on, I tried not to bring Rowan up too much, and we knew he would be strong on this course. He did some pretty hard turns to bring things back, and then we started to work. There were three of us, Rowan covered everything, in retrospect we should have attacked a bit harder, and one of us should have really committed, to make him think”

Harry Bulstrode
“Rowan was simply too strong today, we worked him over as best we could and he just chased down every move. He had some help with Josh Day, the two of them managed to contain us, it should have been a Hansford win”

Rowan and Phill fight it out!

Phill and Toby Neave on Pipers Waite

Harry takeing 3rd with andy just behind to take 4th

Not getting the win was disappointing but I keep bearing in mind it was the first time we raced as a team and we took  2^nd, 3^rd,4^th & 9^th  as a team effort I can be disappointed with that. The new focus Izalco also performed superbly on this tough little bit of the forest.   We should also thank Glen Longland for putting events like this on as part of his 40years of racing celebrations.  Thanks Glen you are a true gent!