Another wet day at the office - Reading CC RR 29th Apri

Having pestered the organizer all week for the possibility of a ride I awoke Sunday morning to the gentle thrum of rain on the roof outside. Brilliant! The Reading CC Road Race was full, with ten reserves, so the only chance of an entry on the line was a bit of rain. The Big Fella had kindly obliged. So in a calculated risk I headed off for Woodcote nr Reading for a 2/3/4 race. Sure enough after a bit of waiting around I got my ride.

The circuit was really quite tough, and made tougher by the torrid conditions. Not only was it raining heavily, but there was a lot of standing water and the cross to headwind in places was verging on the dangerous. The circuit was broadly out along the main road where the wind played the biggest part being cross to head, and giving everyone a really tough time, followed by a sharp left turn and a really quick section in the tailwind to the foot of a 800m finishing climb which steepened towards the top. On a clement day it would be tricky circuit, on a day like today it was very tough indeed.

I later learned that only 18 of the 70 odd starters made it to the finish.

It is often said that it is the riders that make the race not the circuit, and almost from the start it was an attacking race. I believe the bunch split to bits first time up the main road where the only shelter was in the left hand gutter, trying desperately not to get blown into the verge. It was really quite unpleasant on all counts and only the strongest and better bike handlers survived. First time up the finishing climb I was riding in the first 20 or so, and felt lousy. I used the length of the bunch to slowly slip backwards thinking all the while about the subsequent 4 ascents to come!

 Second time along the main road a break went away and the bunch splintered further. I was probably in the second group on the road and actually felt ok. I seem to do ok in those sorts of conditions but it became pretty clear that a lot of riders were not going to finish. It was also clear that if you got taken out the back it was going to be almost impossible to get back on. Nick Baker from Zappi’s was one of the main protagonists driving things along. Next time up the finishing climb was not too bad and I was beginning to feel a little better. Obviously I was soaked and cold but riding ok.

The next lap a break of 5 went away along the main road including some decent riders. There was 8 in my group I think and it was only the fact that we organized a chase quickly to which most people contributed that we caught them back up round the back of the ciruit. A really tough 10km of riding though and I paid for it later. It was sometime around this stage that the race winning move went and ultimately lead to Alec Baskaya time-trialing to a well deserved victory.

Next time up the main road was proper purgatory. I came very close to getting dropped as that man Baker drilled it. I understand he has made 1^st Cat already this season so he’s evidentally flying. It felt like it, and I only just managed to hold on to the group to the left hand turn. Nick Baker’s attacks eventually paid off as one resulted in everyone watching each other and away he went. I suspect others were feeling the pace as badly as I was and didn’t really have the stomach for the chase!

His work left a group of 10 riders and having made the selection (thank goodness) something of a truce was called over the next lap or so (yours truly in the black in the photo below - see www.grahamrobins.net for more pictures).

Had we continued to ride at the limit I fear I would have been dropped as my legs were really feeling it. However, at one point in the tail wind it was almost pleasant! The penultimate time up the climb was relatively steady and yet I was towards/at the back of the group. Not hanging on but certainly drawing the conclusion that I wasn’t going to be fighting it out for the win! The last lap stayed relatively steady until we hit the bottom of the finishing climb. My tactics were to make sure I didn’t blow and just ride steady and hope to pick up a few places over the top. That all went out the window as an attack went near the bottom and it quickly became every man for himself. My legs were shot and I was out the back pretty quickly trundling over the line in 12^th place overall.

Looking back I’m glad I made the effort to go. It was a very tough for the second race of the season and the conditions made it more so. There was some pretty strong riders there, but ultimately I made the final group and just failed on having the legs for the finish. (Lack of race miles perhaps?). Nevertheless I am pleased that I made it that far and chalked up the first points of the year. Here’s hoping for a drier slightly warmer race next weekend!

Rough conditions for the Sloan Trophy Road Race

Since my last race the winter has been and (supposedly) gone. My early season training has gone ok, with a couple of tough weeks in the very hilly terrain of Northern Croatia setting me up quite nicely for this weekend’s Sloan Trophy Road Race. This was the 60^th running of the race promoted by the club I was a member of as a boy, the Gosforth Road Club. The Sloan is the sister race to the Beaumont Trophy which is now a Premier Calendar race, and last year was the National Championships.

The first race of the season is often a difficult affair. It is tricky to train hard enough to get properly race fit, and so the first outing of the season can be a painful affair. Sunday dawned bright and sunny, although the forecast was ropey at best. This raised the problem of what to wear for a race that could have turned out to be sunny and warm, or wet with hailstones. I opted for the cautious approach and wore intermediate jacket, with overshoes, full finger gloves, and ¾ length shorts.

The Sloan is held over 67 miles on the Ogle circuit which is well known in the North East. While it lacks any proper climbs, it is a real hard man’s circuit with several long drags where the wind can be a real feature. (Click here for a guide written by someone else). The 80-strong field was pretty good with several teams from out of the region fielding 5 or more 2^nd cat riders. My tactics – in so far as any were necessary – would be to not get dropped, and follow wheels. If I could get round in one piece then I felt that would be a reasonable achievement first time out. 

The race begun with the sun still shining, and two riders went away almost immediately the flag dropped. The run up through Blackheddon is gently uphill most of the way followed by a rapid descent to a dead-turn where the drag up to Wallridge crossroads starts. I would have to interrogate my Garmin but I would guess that it is a mile and a bit long at 4-5% gradient. First time up either I was very rusty, or the hammer properly went down. The bunch was lined out in single file the whole way up the climb, and there were gaps appearing all over the place. I was pretty close to the limit and severely worried that I wasn’t going to make it up there another 4 times if this was what it was going to be like. I later learned that 20 people got dropped on this short stretch. Given I was trying not to swallow a lung I missed the break forming. It may well have been first time up to Wallridge with 3 going across to the two who attacked from the gun making a group of 5. In any case as I looked up the road it felt that these guys meant business, and so it turned out as we never caught them.

The second lap was pretty rough as the heavens opened and by turn hailed and rained on us for a good 20 minutes. There was standing water everywhere and in no time I was soaked to the skin, filthy and absolutely freezing. It was about now that my hands went numb and didn’t recover until half an hour after the race had finished. At this point it felt like it was going to be a long race although this photo (taken on the last lap - remember 80 started!) doesn't quite capture the full glory of the weather (yours truly on the outside of the bunch in white)

It was an odd race thereafter, but as time went on I felt stronger and stronger. There was lots of attacking but nothing that stuck, and there was never a chase that got going. The gap to the break hovered around a minute for a long time, and I felt that if the bunch had got a chase together we could have caught them. Having said that I was in no mood to either try to organise a chase, nor to get involved in any breaks. With hindsight perhaps I should have ridden more aggressively and might have got a better result as reward for it.

By the last lap the bunch had slimmed down to perhaps 30 riders, and I suspect a few more were clipped off the back with the last run up to Wallridge. A small break of 3 or 4 riders went up the road shortly thereafter and hovered off the front at maybe 15 seconds – a gap they were to hold to the finish. Over the last lap I had been finding it increasingly difficult to change gear and despite trying to get some feeling back into my hands the problem was getting worse rather than better. I couldn’t get gel out of my pocket, and was unable even to squirt the liquid out of my second bottle! (I ended up chucking it to a marshal).

The finish was at the top of Stamfordham bank, a short and not terribly steep climb but enough to sap cold tired legs. It’s one of those where you don’t want to go too early. Thankfully I had positioned myself near the back of the bunch as we hit the climb, and paid the price getting switched into the verge and then baulked twice thereafter. I actually finished reasonably well in the last 50 metres (despite cramp in both my thighs) and crossed the line probably 8^th or 9^th from the bunch. I suspect that had I positioned myself better I’d have been top 3-4 in the bunch sprint. I would think that this put me towards the bottom end of the top 20 overall. I

On reflection I am pretty chuffed with my performance today. I didn’t find the racing that tough, and got round in the (depleted) bunch strongly. That I lacked the final kick at the finish is not that surprising, and is more likely a reflection of my lack of race miles. More importantly I really enjoyed the racing, and I’m sure I’ll look back on today as being a good building block in what I hope will be a successful season.