Ride4Will

is a social ride for family, friends, and team and club mates in memory of Will Houghton. 

On Sunday, 9 October 2016 from 10:00 to 15:00

Will was a positive and motivated young man and is very much missed by family and friends. He was a promising Cat 2 cyclist, reading Sports Science at Portsmouth University when he was killed in a cycle accident in January.

For those who followed Will’s road racing Blog Posts on our website maybe interested in joining in the Ride4Will. See event https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/ride4will-tickets-25657720934

Fundraising For Hampshire & Isle of Wight Air Ambulance Justgiving.com

I have known Will for about 3 years and always an honour to meet up. Will always had a smile and nothing was ever too much trouble. In fact, if I get in to a situation in life I would think how would Will cope with that!

Will loved his bike and would be cleaning and tinkering with the gears when not riding. And a pleasure for Will to spend a day with me on the road and a day helping out at the Chiltern 100 giving support.  

Ride4Will A beautiful sunny day, with many different cyclists who made it a great enjoyable day/ride. Big thanks for organising, to Richard, Liz, Scott and everyone.

Photos of Will:

Will and the boys from Cinelli

 Will re-fitting rear wheel before replacing new chain

First ride

 Will making it look easy on the rollers

Will after been helping out at the Chiltern 100

Banbury Star Road Race

One of the regions finest road races, the Banbury Star Road Race. Formerly known as the Morgan Ashurst Road Race, the race takes riders around 3 lap 72km course which tackles the infamous Knowle Hill. Starting in Drayton, Banbury, the race heads out towards Warwick along the B4100. It turns left at the MOD camp to climb Knowle Hill, through Edge Hill village then soon after joining the A422 the route then turns left to Horley and back to the B4100 where the finish line is, just past the village.

The course for the race on Sunday 3rd of June was tough, the race comprised of 3 laps of this course. It started with a couple of miles if undulating "A" road, then it turned left onto a quieter county lane, this led the race onto the toughest part of the course  a 1.5 kilometre hill called Knowle Hill  which averaged 14% throughout, at the top it was about 3 miles to the finish through quiet country villages, with a short but steep climb before the finish. 

The main bunch of the race stayed together until the first ascent of Knowle hill where many people struggled and dropped back, Will stayed with the top ten until about 50 meters to go of the hill where he lost some ground and had to spend a couple miles catching the leading 5 up with his group of about 8. The first group which he was in where then caught by the second group on the road who had been dropped on the hill so the bunch was about 30 riders large now. At the second ascent of the hill more people were getting dropped until at the top there were only about 20 riders left contesting the win, Will stayed in the top  20 throughout. Approaching the finish Will was lying about 4th back in the first group, going up the final short climb Will was in a very low gear which made him reduce his cadence and drop his speed this made Will about sixth in the group going into the last 20 metres, at the finish Will was caught by another rider so had to settle for seventh in the end. 

Finished first junior (prize of £25) and seventh overall. Will was glad to have got a good result but slightly annoyed that he chose the wrong gear for the final hill as he could have carried enough speed for second or third. Finishing about a metre behind third. 

Supporting Chiltern Hundred

Cycle Tech UK Ltd are proud to be supporting the Chiltern Hundred this year. 

Quiet time on training rollers 

Cool Will showing me how to ride the rollers 

 Mike from Cycle Tech Hertforshire, My daughter Jodie, Me and Will

The Cycle Tech UK Team 

Tour Of The Milburys

Another report from another hard race, DNF again.  

Tour Of The Milburys 2/3/4

The popular Roy Ludford Memorial race - the Tour of the Milburys every year in May. The T.O.M is a two stage 6Km timetrial and 107Km road race on a demanding circuit around the Meon Valley in South Hampshire.

Hill Climb  10:00am

Will started the day by getting lost  in his warm-up so had to add an extra minute to his TT time. Came dead last with the extra minute added on, only about a minute down from top 20,  which is good as 80% were cat 2 and Will was the only junior. TT started at bottom of Winchester Hill and finished 4 miles away at top. Will very pleased with TT performance as was quite close to some very good riders. Glad to be able to get a decent result 2 months into his first real season 

Road Race 69miles 1:00pm

A very demanding circuit of twelve miles, with sharp downhills and steep ascents. Started very quickly with six members of Dream Cycling Team  pushing the pace on as they had the leader in their team. Riders getting dropped every minute with will getting dropped at least 5 times before half way and just about staying on. Will got completely dropped 37 miles in with an average of 22MPH, stopped and dropped out, again. Will going to change some of his races to 3/4 to allow him to compete and get some results instead of just trying to survive in Cat 2 races, as he is one of the strongest Cat 3. 

Andy Morrison Memorial Road Race

Will’s race started in Cranfield Uni Sports hall, very few Cat 3`s and most Cat 2`s so Will knew it was going to be a quick race.

The course was a 2 mile triangle, with the first mile being a long drag downhill, and the rest of the course going up a long drag with a slight flat section before the finish.

Will found it very difficult to stay in the bunch on the downhill with junior gears and he had to push very hard to stay in the group. Will spent the entire race struggling to stay in the bunch on the downhill and pushing himself back up the bunch on the hill.

Will completed 16 of the 18 laps before completely blowing up and having to stop as he was going very dizzy and struggling to change gear, not knowing why his brain would not work. Will was glad to have stayed in the bunch most of the way and again improving each race. 

We decided the night before the race, that Will's Cinelli is now just over 1 year old, so was time to upgrade with new 105 5700 shifters and new gear mechs:

Fitting gear cable

Tune up new gears

Team MK Early Season Bowl Circuit Road Race Series

Will's race at Team MK Circuit around the National Bowl, about 40 starting. Fast race with both cat 2 and 3. Early breakaway of about 8 went away with strong cat 2`s, Will stayed in the bunch which thinned down to about 12, finished about 8th in the bunch, overall about 16th. Will is pleased to be improving and targeting a top ten place in the next couple of circuits which are also with category 2`s. 

Will  pictured in front at Team MK Early Season Bowl Circuit Road Race Series

Spring Chicken RR

Will Rode the Spring Chicken RR on Saturday 10th march, his first road race, with a field of 80. 46 miles of a undulating course, full of potholes. He was about tenth back on the top of the last climb, and then at the top  with about 2 miles to go, Will completely ran out of energy and finished just behind the main bunch. He was glad that he had the fitness to stay in the bunch, Will said he needed to eat more beforehand.

Team Cycle Tech rider Will, learns to replace chain & cassette on his Cinelli

Part of Team Cycle Tech's sponsorship deal with Will and his Cinelli, is maintenance and showing Will how to look after his bike to help him win his races. 

Removing rear wheel

Removing cassette

Refitting new cassette

Cutting chain to length with chain tool 

Refitting new chain

Lubricating new chain

Hillingdon cycle club Saturday Ride

Photos from Will's training ride at Hillingdon cycle club

Will and Cinelli Saetta Sprint

Body Geometry‏

The handle bars of Will's Cinelli being adjusted as part of his body geometry bike fit. The fit makes sure that the bike is set up to allow Will to deliver maximum power and ride comfortably over long distances.

Testing Will's Aerobic Threshold

Testing Aerobic Threshold

As part of Will’s developing training programme he has been tested for his aerobic or functional threshold – the point just before the body starts to generate lactic acid and slow down.  Having identified the heart rate that indicates Will’s functional threshold, his coach Scott Holmes (Hillingdon CC) has calculated four different zones to allow him to train to develop a combination of power and stamina.

The testing session lasted 1.5 hours on a watt bike that measures heart rate, cadence and power output of the rider.  You can see 40 seconds of the test in the video.

Will is also competing in regular evening time trials, with his best performance to date being 26 minutes 48 seconds for a 10 mile ride.  He now has his sights set on 24 minutes for 10 miles.

Chiltern 100 Sportive

Will Houghton - Sponsored rider-Update

It has been a busy month or so since Will took delivery of his new Cinellie Saetta Sprint from CycleTech.

National Youth

 The bike’s first outing was at the National Youth Circuit Race Series at Hillingdon.  The sixty strong field included national champions, and on a sunny afternoon on the 7^th May Will made a strong start, getting himself straight into the leading group.   But Will’s race was to come to an abrupt end only one mile in when a rider in front of him drifted off line at a downhill corner forcing him over the handlebars at 20 miles an hour. 

Having ‘bounced’ a couple of times Will was run over by two following riders.  Once he had been stopped by first aiders from getting back on his bike, he spent 45 minutes having a lot of gravel and dirt removed from his shoulders, thighs, arms and hands.  The fist aid was followed by a trip to A&E in order to check that no bones were broken.  We’re glad to say that despite losing quite a lot of skin Will did not suffer any major damage.

Chiltern 100

Once his wounds had healed Will was back training and took part in the Chiltern 100 Sportive on Sunday 5^th June, posting a creditable 03:25:48 for the 59 mile route.  This was the 3^rd fastest time for the 324 riders that took on the Corto Fondo, and the fastest for an under 18 by some way.

Omega Thorney Island Circuit

On a very wet, cold and grey Sunday (12^th June) Will took part in the Omega Thorney Island Circuit race, coming second in what seemed more of an eight mile sprint rather than a road race.   

For the next month and a half Will is combining his training with time trials in Bucks and a short series of Saturday races at Redbridge Cycle centre.

Will At Thorney Island Circuit

Missenden cyclist wins sponsorship deal

Martin Wilkins of High Wycombe based Cycle Tech hands over a new Cinelli Saetta Sprint carbon road bike to racing cyclist Will Houghton (15) of Great Missenden. The bike is part of Will’s new sponsorship deal with the mobile bicycle maintenance business.

Houghton, despite only starting to race six months ago, has already been selected for British Cycling Regional School of Racing and is trying for a place in the Central region youth race team.

Under the sponsorship deal Cycle Tech provides both the very latest racing equipment and all the necessary servicing and parts to keep Will at the front of the pack.

Will rides with Amersham Road Cycling Club most weekends and is trained by Thame based Scott Holmes of Hillingdon Cycle Club.