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Basil Moss (Cambridge CC) and Simon Asher (VC Norwich) set the question in the first lap, and the bunch spent a couple of hours failing to answer it. Surely, surely this is what bike racing is all about, or a part of it at least.

A flat course, a beautiful day, both sunny and still, and with the break established the bunch slipped straight into the trap of self-indulgence.

Moss and Asher never gained more than 90 seconds, but they managed their gap like masters. Several times it fell back to 45 seconds or so, and they reacted calmly, pushed on a little and before long they had the minute gap again. What a difference was made by regular timechecks from Joan Potts (Assistant Commissaire) with her car's PA system.

Both riders in the breakaway shared the work throughout the race, but there was always the question of the win. This is how it's done: a couple of times press on up what hills there are and make your point, make a little gap, then wait and ride on together. And then with a lap to go you have The Conversation, and that's when you decide whether you'll work together to reach the line with the result agreed, or whether you will fight it out. Elegant diplomacy is part of bike racing too, and it is not a diplomacy of words.

And so the bunch - what happened? This is the real mystery of bike racing, the real magic. Just why was the break never put under the sustained pressure that surely would have brought it back, broken it? Surely just four riders working consistently would have brought back the two escapees. Surely Finchley and Glade and St Ives and ELV could have reached this break, or could have launched the chase group that would have seized this race. And they never did.

All credit to Cambridge - they strung this race out in the first lap until one of their attacks did stick. All credit to them too for chasing down the attacks that could have formed the chase group that might have challenged Basil. It's the other teams that have to ask what happened? How did they give this one up so easily?

Despite the win by Cambridge, this race really just reinforces the themes of the season so far. In third place, riding clear of the bunch in the last lap was Malcolm Smith (St Ives), and just as ominously the Finchley sprint machine took first place in the bunch (Lee Rowe), and second place too (Trevor Burke), and third (Dieter Rowe). Perhaps this is the Finchley style this year - don't worry about the win, just grind out the League points. Their time will surely come.

Finchley RT have shown what a potent threat they present for the 2010 Club Championship with their success in the first race of the season.

Table

22 Finchley RT

17 East London Velo

14 St Ives CC

8 Glade CC

5 Crest CC - Ilford

1 Cambridge CC

The message to other teams was clear as FRT took 1st, 2nd and 5th places in the bunch sprint for third place. The other teams in the points all rode the race aggressively and worked hard to avoid a mass finish, seemingly already wary of what the FRT lineup promised in this race and perhaps for the season as a whole. CCC stood out in their commitment, and this time have earned the least reward for their vigorous animation of the race.

The outstanding successes in escaping a mauling at the hands of the FRT sprint machine was the ELV attack by Graham Galvin and Wayne Crombie, and then the St Ives rider, Paul Fielding's majestic solo ride. However Crombie was rightly disqualifed after it was found that he had earlier infringed race regulations. Galvin was relegated to 1st equal with Fielding since he had benefitted from his teammate's misconduct. Despite this, through their aggression all three riders had perhaps indicated the way ahead for their clubs if they are to contain the Finchley threat.

In doing this they will be helped by the change in the way ERRL Club points are awarded this year (now equivalent to Band 4 rather than Band 5), so that successful breakaways earn better rewards than before.

Is it too early to pick out the shape of the races ahead of us, with FRT more and more taking on the onus of controlling attacks and trying to make their dominance of the sprint count in harvesting the points?

The 2010 season looks like being as exciting and competitive as any yet. However before we turn to the new season let us celebrate once again the achievements of last year. The club champions were BMC UK RT, but Finchley RT and Cambridge CC were both within 15 points of them after a hard-fought season-long competition.

The changes made at the AGM mean that winning races and placing riders on the podium are better rewarded in the club competition than they have been before. Even more significant than this is the shift in the way points are awarded in National B races: as long as riders are in the BC points they will get full ERRL points in the order in which they come home among ERRL riders.

With these changes the 2010 ERRL champion club will need to be competitive at the highest levels of our racing. The new Orbea-For Goodness Shakes team is going to be even harder to beat than it was in last year's incarnation as BMC UK RT. Despite this the Finchley RT in particular looks to have strengthened its roster and can perhaps give the Orbea team a run for its money.

Never mind - this competition has never gone to the form book so far. Let's get to the racing and see who can start racking up some points with their results on the road.

The traditional season opener is The Crest Spring Road Race on 7 March. This is now less than four weeks away with entries closing this Sunday 14 February. As always there is no EOL for the Crest RR - if you want to take part you have to get your entry in before the weekend.

Remember lots of riders' preparations have been disrupted by the weather, so this year's edition promises to be as unpredictable as ever: and there's still time to find your race legs at the Hog Hill Winter Series.

This is going to be an exciting start to an exciting season. And it's less than four weeks away now. . .

A very lively and well-attended meeting on 19th November decided on the following changes to ERRL rules:

Clause 7 banning the League from holding two Regional races on the same day was deleted. As the League expands it now has the confidence that the risk of damaging conflicts can be controlled by the committee and the Regional Competition Administrator.

Clause 11 on field selection was amended. The management committee may permit an organiser to disregard any rule of field selection where it resolves that it is in the interests of the League to do so.

Clause 18 permitting private membership of the League was deleted.

Clause 12 restricting selection of riders for National A and B events was replaced with a statement that these were now completely open. ERRL riders no longer receive any preference at all in E123 races.

Clause 14 now awards points in the Club Competition to riders from ERRL clubs in the order in which they finish disregarding places gained by non-ERRL riders. The first ERRL rider to finish will gain 15 points, the second 12 and so on in accordance with Band 4 of the Licence scales, except that riders finishing outside the BC points altogether will not receive ERRL Club points.

It was decided to appoint to the Committee a League Competition Officer in order to

- liaise with the BC Regional Competition Administrator regarding the classification and scheduling of League Events

- facilitate a balanced and competitive League calendar by co-ordinating the League Events among club organisers before the Eastern Region date-fixing meeting

- consider strategies and/or propose rule amendments to support and improve the quality and quantity of ERRL events.

Four new clubs were welcomed to the League:

London Phoenix Hainault RC Team Orbea For Goodness Shakes (formerly BMC) Inverse Racing

All the new clubs confirmed that they had the resources to promote an additional road race for the League in 2010, some with assistance from existing League members.

The results of the elections to the committee and officers were:

Madam Chairman - Joan Potts Secretary - Philip Whitehorn Treasurer - Ann Illingworth Website Manager - Chris Brooking League Competition Officer - Hugo Robins Simon Bateson Roy Godbeer Eric Gowland Richard Whitehorn

Prizes were presented to the winners of the League's competitions.

Various other matters relating to road-racing in our region were then discussed under any other business.

For the first time in its 46 year history, the Last Chance Points Grabber (27th September 2009) run by Hertfordshire Wheelers has a full field on the provisional start sheet, 2 weeks before the closing date. Check the club's website for the accepted list to date: herts-wheelers.org. Entries are still being accepted.