This morning,myself, Charler, Greek, Dave Lee and Weave raced the Climb On Bikes RR at Sutton, Hereford. And what a day it was – although sadly not all for the right reasons, as poor Weave got taken down badly right at the end    Here’s how it panned out….

After some kit-dithering from the team before the start, we set off on the 4x 16mile circuit in bloody horrible p*ssing down rain. It was a good route, best described as rolling, with a series of sapping pulls on the return leg and a tight and twisty run in before the finish. Epic boys were showing their presence all day, trying a few digs off the front but no one really wanted to give it a go, so when a couple of guys did manage to slope off the front, it looked at one point like they might stay away, as no-one seemed to want to pull it back.

Enter Dave the Greek, who decided that no break was going to get away on his watch, and spent a good few miles hauling the bunch back up to the escapees. A massive turn it was, of Jens Voight proportions Everyone else seemed content to sit on him, but like Greek said ‘if I didn’t do anything, the break would’ve stayed away’ – which was true because everyone was just looking at each other. So it came down to the last lap and the pace cranked up as everyone anticipated a last minute gallop. Weave tried his luck, but the guy who went with him, rather pointlessly, decided not to take a pull. Two guys belted off the front on the winding road just prior to the finish, and almost made it but they got caught up when the sprint started winding up. Which is where things got nasty.

The two riders, sensing their attack had failed, sensibly pulled to the left and sat up as the pack caught them. One guy decided that, as he was blocked on the right, he’d try and force his way between the verge and the two caught and slowing riders, as the line was fast approaching. From what the marshalls said afterwards, there was no gap there for anyone to ride through, and so almost inevitably, he caught the bars of one the riders and they both hit the deck. Weave was riding directly behind this guy and before he could even think about evasive action, he was down. He was less than 5 feet from the line. It has to be said a slow moving commisaire’s car on the other side of the road, which inexplicably impeded the sprint, may have contributed to a number of riders moving left, which would only have made things even tighter on Weave’s side of the road.

Once over the line, Dave, Charler and myself congratulated each other on what (we think) were 3 top ten finishes (Charler 5th, after grabbing 8th yesterday; me 8th and Dave 9th or 10th I think?). We all heard the crash but had no reason to think one of our guys was involved. Dave had to rush back home for a family birthday (he thought it was only 3 laps of the circuit not 4!) so Charler and I span round to go back to the finish. It wasn’t until we realised almost the whole field had passed by us, and no Phil, that we suspected the worst.

We found Greek (who, recovering after his efforts had finished safely in the bunch) a couple of medics and marshalls surrounding Weave who was lying flat out on the road. It was a very sobering sight, and you tend to feel a little helpless to be honest. To our relief he was talking, but it was clear he was in pain and you could tell from how he was positioned on the ground that something wasn’t right. The ambulance came and picked him up, whilst we went over logistics of getting his bike and car back home. After we were changed we went to the hospital to see him. It turns out that along with the usual road rash etc, he’s dislocated his shoulder and badly dislocated his hip. He was chirpy and chatty, but that might have been the gas and air ! Last news was that he’d been in surgery under general anesthetic to have his hip re-set. At least nothing was broken and no head injuries though I guess. Get well soon mate.

The COB marshalls (especially Luke & Paula Moseley), the medics and the organising staff deserve a special mention for how they dealt with the situation, and they went out of their way to look after Weave and indeed us, back at HQ. Big thanks guys.

On the positive side, more points for the team, plus I got to drive Epic One back home