London Dynamo Newsletter #3, 16.04.04
EGGS-TRAORDINARY!
After months of nesting beneath the ample bottoms of Keith ‘Mother Hen’ Butler and the wise old birds at British Cycling, the real start of the season finally hatched from its shell with an egg-stra large programme of races during the reasonably warm Easter weekend. And like a hungry, vicious chicken sprung from the battery farm, London Dynamo pecked out top ten places in every type of cycle discipline you could think of this past week – a feat equalled by no other club. Eager Dyna-mates ruffled feathers at crits, on the track, at a triathlon, a time trial and even during a three-day stage race. As Michael Jackson out of Bo Selecta! might say: Chick our bad selves! So without any more clucking around, let’s find out how the club that everyone is calling the squawk of the town came to rule the roost…
FIRST PAST THE BOAST
Crafty Kiwi WARRICK SPENCE can already boast one first – he won Eastway’s inaugural fastest lap competition last year. Now the powerful pace master can add yet another fantastic first to his bulging palmares in the form of the green jersey from the Surrey League Easter 3-Day stage race in Milland Valley, Goodwood and Walliswood. The organisers had never run a points competition before and Warrick conquered the race’s 237 miles to come out on top. Well done, sir! The shy and retiring Cyclefit technician, who came 8th in the general classification, will probably be even more pleased to hear that he has also bagged the London Dynamo Newsletter Result Of The Week competition for the second week running. A moth-eaten woollen jersey is winging its way to Macklin Street as we speak!
TURBO POWER
Cyclefit guru PHIL CAVELL pointed out in Mallorca that GUY POWDRILL has a “massive engine” – and the towering triathlete really put his foot on the gas for the aptly named Thames Turbo triathlon on Monday. The first race in the series, which was held at the glamorous Lower Sunbury Leisure Centre, saw Powdrill power his way to 5th place in a staggering field of 225 competitors. Guy said: “It was very, very cold. It took the engine quite a while to get started.” The split times tell a different story – he was 2nd in the swim and 3rd on the bike, which suggests there was plenty of warmth surging beneath the bonnet. And talking of heat…
WHAT A SCORCHER!
Dashing MARTIN WILLIAMSON had his boyish good looks tarnished at Goodwood on Easter Sunday when the sun came out and turned his face a delicate shade of crimson. The cat 3 event, which was one of the 3- Day support races, saw him getting into a two-man break early on before wisely dropping back when he realised the ridiculously large field were hanging them out to dry. Martin only needed 8th place in the 50-mile race to go up a category, but he went off at the front with less than half a lap to go, held a gap and nailed 1st place. TOM HEMMANT, who contested the sprint to nab 7th and yet another misspelled entry on the finishing sheet, said of his team-mate’s closing tactic: “It was an impressive move as there seemed to be plenty of strong riders in the bunch.” As if that praise wasn’t enough, Martin now enters the cat 2 world of pain for his efforts. Well done, that man! The ever-humble Hemmant also acclaims JOHN OLDRIDGE for managing to pull off a number of attacks, even though he had been racing at Milland Hill the previous day. Meanwhile, PAUL ‘CANNONBALL’ CALLINAN saved the blushes of a few elite and cat 1 riders by graciously coming 9th in the E/1/2 support race. Nice move – never let them know how strong you are, buddy!
THAT FRIDAY FEELING
Good grief! In addition to winning the 3-Day points jersey, lucky old WARRICK SPENCE got an extra-special treat on Good Friday when he visited Herne Hill with GUY ‘CAPTAIN MAINWARING’ ANDREWS. You won’t believe this, but lining the track and actually showing more than a passing interest in the respectable field of seasoned trackies on road bikes was an actual honest-to-goodness audience. This kind of thing just doesn’t happen on a wet Saturday in Lee Valley – or anywhere else for that matter! The Dynamo-ic duo whipped the crowd into a frenzy when they formed part of a four-man break in the last five laps which ended with Warrick grabbing 3rd and Guy 5th. Dynamo’s chief whip reports the pace was “very fast” – and it got even quicker towards the end of the 70 laps. Phew! Guy also took 3rd place at the Bishops Stortford time trial on Monday, clocking up 1hr 12min 27 secs on the hilly and technical 27.5 mile course. It was his quickest time on the circuit, so make sure you congratulate him before he barks an exacting command at you during the next Parkride.
BUM DEAL
The Goodwood sun didn’t quite make it to Great Milton in Oxfordshire for Thames Velo’s Easter Road Races on Sunday – but lone Dynamo rider DAVID WILLIAMS wasn’t in an overcast mood. He came 2nd in the 3/4/W/J race which earned him enough points to become a cat 2 rider. That’s two new 2s in one week! Unfortunately he came a cropper at his first 2/3/4 event in Ockley the next day where he “discovered one of the fundamental facts of bike racing – lycra does not provide much protection from a hard and gravelly road.” David reckons he will be back racing this weekend – once he has finished picking the remnants of his Campag shorts out of an intimate part of his anatomy. That’s rear-ly painful, chum!
SHORT STORY
Tenacious GUY ANDREWS, our man stuck in the pack at Hillingdon, dropped the Newsletter a quick note to say that he witnessed compact killer RUSSELL ‘RUSTY’ SHORT coming 7th in Tuesday’s E/1/2/3 race after a good lead out and a great sprint. Meanwhile, ROB TUBBS described his race in the 4/W/J event as “fruitless – except for the banana that I ate before the race.” Don’t be so harsh, Rob! Eleventh place may not be a peach of a result, but it’s not a total fig-up!
BEYOND OUR KEN
Enigmatic antipodean KEN BUIST came 29th at Saturday’s race at Milland Hill. That, we’re afraid, is all we know. The wily renegade’s movements are usually a mystery to the Newsletter at the best of times and this was certainly no exception. Did you witness him racing or have you seen him on a ride recently? Then email news@londondynamo.co.uk. If we get enough responses, then we’ll start a regular feature called Ken Watch with a Buistometer for the number of sightings per week. He loves the attention really!
GOING GLOBAL
That just about wraps up the phenomenal race action for this week – and with news of so many superb results winging their way to the London Dynamo nerve centre, race secretary PAUL CALLINAN is set to have another sleepless night feeding all of your points into the club’s supercomputer. But what’s this? He’s slipped a note under the Newsletter bunker’s door: “Can you get the riders to let me know if they change category so I can track them on my global team tracking spreadsheet?” Consider them globalised, Paul. Which only leaves us to remind you, as ever, about…
THIS WEEK’S RIDES
SATURDAY
The Parkride, Roehampton Gate, 9am. Three to four laps of Richmond Park split into fast, intermediate and steady groups.
SUNDAY
Hampton Court bridge, 9am for Surrey Hills ride. 50ish miles at a steady pace. Bring a pump, inner tubes, drink and a bawdy anecdote for the top of Box Hill.
WEDNESDAY
Richmond Gate, Richmond Park, 7:30pm. Steady two-hour ride to Surrey and back.
Our kindest regards, London Dynamo Newsletter.
+++STOP PRESS!+++
Chief clothing technician GUY ANDREWS has dropped a bombshell – the long- awaited London Dynamo team kit should be ready this weekend! He points out, however, that this is the third assurance he has had and adds: “Don’t watch this space.” There’s always a fly in the ointment!
THE SMALL PRINT
SURREY LEAGUE EASTER 3-DAY, 10/4 to 12/4, 1/2/3/4. GC: 1 Paul Butler (Prestige VC) 9hrs 10mins 41secs; 2 Richard Wakor (Prestige VC) 9:11:29; 3 Christopher McNamara (Team Synergy) 9:12:18; 4 Stephen Gowar (Tunbridge Wells RC) 9:12:59; 5 Steven Richards (VC Meudon) 9:14:07; 6 Nigel Carpenter (Pacific Riding) 9:14:22; 7 Nat Spurling (Finsbury Park) 9:14:39; 8 WARRICK SPENCE (LONDON DYNAMO) 9:14:46; 9 Tony Kelly (Pacific Racing) 9:15:20; 10 Graham Lackford (Alcan-Bianchi) 9:15:23.
Points: 1 WARRICK SPENCE (LONDON DYNAMO) 37; 2 Simon Brooks (VC St Raphael) 30; 3 Robert Hurd (unatt) 26; 4 Graham Lackford (Alcan-Bianchi) 21; 5 Paul Butler (Prestige VC) 20; 6 Christopher McNamara (Team Synergy) 16; 7 Richard Wakor (Prestige VC) 15; 8 Justin Clarke (Festival RC) 13; 8 Lewis Atkins (Ciclos Uno) 13; 10 Stephen Gowar (Tunbridge Wells RC) 12; 10 Andrew Retter (Okehampton) 12.
EASTER FUN FRIDAY, HERNE HILL TRACK, 11/4, 1 hour, E/1/2/3/4: 1 Bryan Taylor (VC Londres); 2 Dan Rudd (Edwardes); 3 WARRICK SPENCE (LONDON DYNAMO) ; 4 Vince Halpern (Twickenham CC); 5 GUY ANDREWS (LONDON DYNAMO).
GOODWOOD 3-DAY SUPPORT RACES, 12/4. 3/J, 50 miles: 1 MARTIN WILLIAMSON (LONDON DYNAMO); 2 Steve Ferguson (Team Maestro); 3 Paul Atkinson (VC St Raphael); 4 Alan Parkinson (South Western RC); 5 Adam Radford (Bournemouth) 6 Matthew Houghton (Rutland CC); 7 TOM HEMMANT (LONDON DYNAMO); 8 Richard Heathcote (I- Team.co.uk). E/1/2, 50 miles: 1 Lee Day (Liphook Cycles RT); 2 Justin Hoy (Evans Cycles RT); 3 Stuart Heade (Sigma Sport RT); 4 Andrew Hardy (?); 5 Andrew MacPherson (Liphook Cycles); 6 Joe Bayfield (Baywest); 7 Nick Allen (VC Meudon); 8 Ken Prince (Pearson Cycles); 9 PAUL CALLINAN (LONDON DYNAMO); 10 Jason Edwards (Tunbridge Wells RC).
THAMES VELO EASTER ROAD RACES, 12/4. 3/4/W/J, 43 miles: 1 Andrew Scopes (Team Milton Keynes-Phil Corley Cycles) 1hr 46min 18sec; 2 DAVID WILLIAMS (LONDON DYNAMO); 3 John Tucket (Oxford University- High 5); 4 James Smith (Team Maestro); 5 Alan Lovegrove (North Road CC); 6 Eddy Hill (Verulam CC); 7 Tom Crouch (High Wycombe CC-Cycle Care); 8 Ed Unsworth (Gloucester City RC); 9 Eddy Whitehorn (Glendene CC); 10 David Ridge (Reading CC).
HILLINGDON TUESDAY SERIES 2, 15/4. E/1/2/3, 30 miles: 1 Chris Tune (VC Prestige) 1hr 10min 15sec; 2 Domonic Gambellini (Angliasport); 3 Vince Halpern (Twickenham CC); 4 Marc Wilmot (Team Quest); 5 Colin Roshier (Team Quest); 6 Chris Denham (Beyond MTB).
The DYNAMITE! Files 
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