SERRL Series Round 2 - Benenden

With a massive contrast in weather conditions to the previous round, the Toachim riders were looking forward to racing in the sun again! Four riders took to the start, Stephen Swindley, Martin O'Grady, Ciaran O'Grady and the Team Toachim boss; Andrew Wills.

A last-minute change of course meant that the circuit was a lot hillier than expected, which made the race tough. It was extremely difficult to escape from the peloton, with many Team Toachim riders attacking off the front throughout the race.

The course featured several climbs, and several fast descents that kept the pace high all through the race. We worked well as a team, and would be ready to follow any dangerous riders that attacked, as well as counter-attacking another Team Toachim rider's breakaway being caught. This meant that there was rarely a moment where a Team Toachim jersey wasn't in the action at the front of the race.

A 2 man break got away on the last lap however, and contained eventual race winner Hugo Humphreys from Leeds Uni CC, but Team Toachim kept an eye on things and finished well, with Stephen Swindley and Martin O'Grady finishing 10th and 11th respectively. Ciaran O'Grady and Andrew Wills were caught up in a crash in the lead up to the sprint. Andrew was flung into the verge, which was relatively soft so there were no injuries and he finished in 31st position.

Ciaran's back wheel was caught by the crash as he was moving up for the sprint, so was brought to a stand-still before he could get moving again, by which time the front of the peloton had already gone. He caught back a few places and finished in 16th position.


3 riders in the top 20 and 1 outside due to a crash, a good result for a good day's racing!

Results:

Name	Last name	Club/Team	BC Category	Finish Position
Hugo	Humphreys	Leeds Uni CC	2 U23	1
Paul	Sewell	Bigfoot CC	2	2
Phil	Starr	Python rt	2	3
Dan	Mitchell	Redhill CC	3	4
Scott	Webb	PMR@cing	3	5
joe	norledge	velo 29, OTR, VANKRU	2nd	6
harold	evans	VO2 development team	2	7
Kelvin	Hatch	San fairy ann	4	8
Simon	Collins	Dulwich Paragon	4	9
Stephen	Swindley	Team Toachim	3 U23	10
Martin	O'Grady	Team Toachim	2	11
sean	ORegan		3v	12
Robbie	Hayton	Bigfoot CC	3	13
Michael	Barnes			14
David	Shilland	Bigfoot CC	4	15
Ciaran	O'Grady	Team Toachim	3 - U23	16
Harry	Godding	PM Racing	3J	17
Matthew	Hinchelwood	ViCiOUS VELO	3	18
Ross	Bryan	ACTiV Cycles	3	19
Matthew	Hull	San Fairy Ann CC	4	20
Chris	Taylor	Colour Tech RT	3 v	21
James	Wood	Catford CC	3J	22
David	Webborn	London Dynamo CC	2	23
Drew	Holmes			24
Andrew	Colvin	Bigfoot CC	3	25
Derek	Wiles	n/a	3	26
Jack	Edwards	PMR@cing	2J	27
Philip	Murrell	Finsbury Park CC	2	28
Keith	Lea	Addiscombe CC	3V	29
Lee	Rowe	Finchley RT	2	30
Andrew	Wills	Team Toachim	3V	31
francis	cade	VO2 Development Team	2	32
jason	guibarra	medway velo	4	33
Ian	Leeding	Norwood Paragon CC	3V	34
Richard	Bayfield	London Phoenix	3	35
Michael	Brown	V02 development Squad	4	36
Steve	Kane	Brighton Excelsior	3	37
Sam	Bradford	VC Elan	3-U23	38
simon	tovey	Private	4	39 @ 1 Lap
Huck	Garip		4v	40 @ 2 laps
Phil	Hoffman	San Fairy Ann CC	4	41 @ 2 Laps

SERRL Series Round 1 - Lamberhurst

"Get through a whole Cyclocross season without a really rainy race, and then your first Road Race of the year turns into a washout! Typical" - Martin O'Grady

Rain was the order of the day as Team Toachim riders Martin O'Grady, Ciaran O'Grady, Craig Joy and Stephen Swindley rolled out for the first round of the SERRL Summer Series. Being an E/1/2/3 race there were lots of big names that we would be competing against. Martin was not phased at all by them, and was quick at getting into the action and joining a good quality breakaway early on.

After being pulled back and getting into another break, he unfortunately punctured and was forced to abandon the race. Craig Joy, Stephen Swindley and Ciaran O'Grady kept an eye on things in the peloton, with Craig and Ciaran even attempting to bridge across to Martin at one point!

Unfortunately the conditions would get the better of Craig and Stephen, who abandoned the race with a few laps to go. Ciaran was dropped from the select peloton with 2 laps to go, but kept riding to the finish, and finished in a respectable 23rd position!

 The course itself is a tough course even at the best of times, and then when you couple that with the horrendous weather, it makes racing super hard. It was a good learning experience for some of our riders and we are all keen to keep racing aggressively as the season progresses!

Keep an eye out for us at SERRL races throughout the season; as well as Luke Ryan competing up around Liverpool, where he is studying at University.

Results:

1 Stephen Adams Cycle Premier RT

2 Lewis Atkins Twenty3c.co.uk-Orbea

3 Wouter Sybrandy IG - Sigma Sport

4 James Moss NODE4 - Giordana Racing

5 Nicolas Hutchings CS Grupetto

6 Chris McNamara Pedal Heaven RT

7 Allan Ridler Pedal Heaven

8 Paul Pickup Pedal Heaven

9 Chris Morrison London Dynamo cc

10 Francis Cade VO2 Development Team

11 David Creeggan Pedal Heaven RT

12 Phil Starr Python RT

13 Nicholas Baker Zappis CC

14 John Heaton-Armstrong Felt-Colbornes RT

15 Anthony Moye Velo29

16 Pete Wager Felt-Colbornes RT

17 Joe Norledge Velo 29

18 Lawrence Carpenter V02 Development

19 Tao Geoghegan Hart Cycling Club Hackney

20 Mark McCullagh Dulwich Paragon

21 Robin Kirk Kingston wheelers

22 Zappi Flavio Zappis CC

23 Ciaran O'Grady Team Toachim

24 Keith Henderson Condor Cycles

25 Steven Smith Clay Cross RT

26 Phil Dempsey Aprire RT

(out of over 80 starters)

DNF Martin O'Grady Team Toachim

DNF Craig Joy Team Toachim

DNF Stephen Swindley Team Toachim

SERRL Winter League Round 5

The 5th round of the SERRL Winter League at the new Cyclopark at Gravesend delivered some good results for Team Toachim which is a great sign for the rest of the 2012 road racing season.

Toachim riders Craig Joy, Martin O'Grady and Ciaran O'Grady were eagerly anticipating their first road race of 2012, and were determined to show off the Toachim jersey at the front of both the E/1/2 race and the 3/4 race. Craig and Martin were racing in the E/1/2, and Ciaran was still stuck as a 3rd category rider after scoring 38 points in 2011, needing 40 points to move up to 2nd category.

On arrival at the circuit, the weather was cold with a medium strength wind but couple that with the new circuit which has several sharp corners and two major gradient increases a lap, a tough race was to be expected! The biggest discussion of the day was what kit to wear for the race... skinsuit one minute...long-sleeved jersey and leg warmers the next, so a major thank you to our amazing sponsor and also great rider, Andrew Wills, for giving us the luxury to have enough kit for any eventuality!


The racing in the E/1/2 race was very aggressive, with Craig attacking from the gun in true Cyclocross form, and spending most of the race out in a breakaway, where he also picked up one of the Sprint Prime prizes. Martin was doing a great team job back in the peloton, keeping an eye on any moves that went away. Craig ended up finishing 3rd, and Martin crossed the line in a solid 6th.


Ciaran was the only Toachim rider in the 3/4 race, and was extremely keen to grab some points and be on his way to his 2nd category license. After seeing Craig's attack from the gun, Ciaran spent the first lap of the race out in front, being aggressive! With 5 laps to go, Ciaran was caught behind a crash on one of the circuit's corners, but managed to work back to the front split, only for the whole race to come together again. So after many attacks and catching the E/1/2 race... twice... a group of 3 riders had snuck away on the last lap, leaving Ciaran to try and put in a monumental effort to try and catch them on the finish straight. The group were about 350m in front as he started the start finish straight, but managed to pull them back to within 50m at the top of the finish straight. So close yet no win.


Altogether, today's racing was a great start to 2012 with aggressive racing and good results. Stay tuned for more race reports and behind-the-scenes looks at the way the team is run and the various goings-on throughout the year.

Results: (Top-10 riders)

1/2:
1 Ben Moores (Norwood Paragon CC)
2 David Murrell (London Phoenix CC)
3 Craig Joy (Team Toachim)
4 Jason Edwards (GB MS Tina)
5 Jason Nind (Wigmore CC)
6 Martin O’Grady (Team Toachim)
7 Stoyico Bussarov (WyndyMilla)
8 Ashley Holding (GB MS Tina)
9 Marco Coppola (Gemini BC)
10 Chris Dick (London Phoenix)
Veterans: Jason Edwards.

3/4:
1 Mark McCullagh (Dulwich Paragon)
2 Matt Barlow (Essex Roads CC)
3 Peter St Amour (Addiscombe CC)
4 Ciaran O’Grady (Team Toachim)
5 Mark Northover (The Cycle Studio)
6 James Wood (Team Darenth)
7 Dan Mitchell (Redhill CC)
8 Jez McCann (VC Elan)
9 Sebastian Dickson (Thanet RC)
10 Tom Smith (CC Hackney)

Veterans: Mark McCullagh. Under-23s: Ciaran O’Grady. Youth: Jez McCann.

London Cyclocross League Round 12!

The 12th round of the London Cyclocross League was a good day for Team Toachim, with some good performances by all three cyclocross riders on the team. The course was extremely bumpy, probably more akin to Paris-Roubaix than to cyclocross racing, and was a very different setting to the last time we raced here; under about 20cm of snow and ice last year. Following a puncture of a tubular tyre in the previous week, Ciaran was racing on Michelin Mud2's, but was confident that the course was not going to be a very technical course.

All 3 cyclocross riders on the team; Craig Joy, Martin O'Grady and Ciaran O'Grady, had been doing a lot of hard winter training over the Christmas break, so we were all eager to get racing again.

Ciaran was gridded on the front row, next to many-time london league round winnerMatt Webber and national level rider Simon Richardson, with Craig and Martin a few rows behind. Ex-national Champion Jody Crawforth had lined up on the start line, and was going to be tough to beat as he would be reaching his top form going into the National Championships and World Championships. The start was furiously fast, and Ciaran slipped his pedal in the initial surge, but luckily so had Taylor Johnstone, so the two worked back up towards the front riders.

Shortly after, a group of four riders formed behind the leading three, containing Ciaran, Taylor, Harry Franklin and Andrew Nichols. The racing was hard, with the bumpy surface meaning a big gear was needed to keep the bike going smoothly, with a smattering of technical bits to break up the long straights. Being in a group ment that Ciaran was able to use the other riders to determine a good pace to set, instead of going too fast in one section and suffer in the next section.


Craig and Martin were in one of the chasing groups behind the group Ciaran was in, and were battling with riders like Jon Lyons and Mick Bell and were being very aggressive throughout the race.

Ciaran crossed the line in 7th place, a good result for him, especially after a bout of illness over Christmas, while Craig and Martin finished inside the top-20 riders, which bodes well for the London League Team Championships during February.

The Team Championships was one of our main goals of the season as a team, we have successfully faught our way to becoming one of the top teams in the London League series, and hopefully a win at this event will give us a result and title to prove this!




Here is a video from the race, taken by the superb John Mullineaux, who operates http://www.ukcyclesport.com/

Position	Name	Team name
1	Mr Jody Crawforth	Hargroves Cycles-Specialized-Trant-Next-Elliott's
2	Mr Simon Richardson	Sigma Sport Specialized Cycling Team
3	Mr Matthew Webber	London Phoenix CC
4	Master Harry Franklin	Hargroves Cycles-Specialized-Trant-Next-Elliott's
5	Mr Taylor Johnstone	Team De ver
6	Mr Andrew Nichols	Ciclos Uno
7	Mr Ciaran O'Grady	Team Toachim
8	Mr Sylvain Garde	Addiscombe CC
9	Mr Paul Sheers	ViCious Velo
10	Mr Michael Bell	London Fire Brigade CC