Support Illy next Sunday

Illy rides the 85 mile Hounslow Road Race on 28th March – I’m sure he would appreciate support from spectators. This race is a step up to a higher level of competition for Illy as previously he has only ridden against second and third cat. riders over shorter distances.

I predict that some of the younger users of this forum will, in time, reach the highest levels of competition on both road and track. For the moment I think Illy’s entry in the Hounslow race is the most ambitious attempt at road racing by a forum member on the way up, and the first appearance of CS Grupetto colours against Premier Calendar level riders (see my pre race review below: I’ll just add that Mr. Gibb doesn’t ride a lot of 25’s, but when he does, if he’s slower than a 49 his supporters will be asking what went wrong!).

Illy himself is a strong and talented rider (as I know to my cost), but this race is quite a step up from 50 mile Surrey League events against non elite riders, so finishing in the bunch will be a good result for him this time.

The course (see programme on the Hounslow web site) is easily accessible from central London – if you don’t feel like riding out, take the train to Weybridge.

Remember this Sunday is the first day of British Summer Time, so we lose an hour.

**Hounslow & District Wheelers Road Race.**

Probably Surrey’s biggest and best ‘free to view’ sporting event takes place next Sunday (March 28th).

The 85 mile Peter Young Memorial Road Race takes off from its HQ, Valley End School (GU24 8TB), at 10.30 am.

The race has a full field of eighty riders including two former winners: wily and hyper experienced Gary Dodd (Sigma Sport) and the powerful Tony Gibb (Cycle Premier-Metaltek CRT).

Gary will be looking for a third victory after winning last year and in 2005, aside from a large number of high placings in other years. Tony, winner in 2006, is always hungry to add to his long list of successes. However these two will certainly not have it all their own way, since there are 14 elite and 18 first category riders on the start sheet.
  Perhaps the most interesting entry comes from Team Zappi’s. This is a new organisation led by Flavio Zappi, a 48 year old former Italian  pro with  impressive palmarès from his career in the eighties, which included wearing the King of the Mountains jersey in the Giro d’Italia. 
Now based in Oxford he has come back to cycling after a 20 year break with a mission to improve the structure of road race coaching in his adopted country so as to achieve the same level of success that British riders have had on the track in recent years.  He has entered a team of young riders in the Hounslow race, but Signor Zappi is not the sort of *directeur sportif *who issues his orders from the comfort of the team car. He will actually be with his riders in the bunch, and by all accounts may himself still be a contender for high honours.

Sadly this year’s race may prove to be the last Hounslow Road Race. The organiser, Jeff Marshall, feels it is time for to retire, and since he has been responsible for twenty three of these events out of a total of forty which have been promoted since 1971, it’s clear that Jeff has done far more than his fair share of the work,

   It is to be hoped that another organiser will come forward, but if no one does this early season classic will be lost.

To see the start sheet, which gives full details of the riders and the course, go to the HDW website and click on ‘Open Events’ in the contents list. The web address is: http//www.hounslowanddistrictwheelers.co.uk