Not getting a kicking by the bigger boys

Central RR Championships E123 82 miles

My 6^th race of the season, and first E123, was the divisional champs, run over 3 laps of a larger circuit, and 21 laps of the short circuit featured in the Andy Morrison Memorial race a couple of weeks ago. There was a full field of 80 riders, including a number of full time pros so I was fully expecting a tough race.  My intention was to sit in the middle of the bunch and try and hold on to the finish. As it turned out the race was significantly less difficult, and certainly less attritional than several of the races I had already ridden this year.

The race came at the end of a tough training week. At this time of year I don’t cover hundreds of miles, but will try and get one 3-4 hour ride in and supplement with various interval sessions.  This served me well last year, and I lined up feeling more confident than I have done so far this year.

The first three laps of the larger circuit went in a bit of blur. There were a couple of very fast sections where the bunch got drawn out, and there was plenty of attacking but from my vantage point it was all pretty straightforward. A break of 6 did establish itself shortly before we moved to the smaller circuit, and I believe survived into the later stages. One of the things that you are often blissfully unaware of sat in the middle of the bunch is exactly who is going up the road, how many groups are away, who has been caught etc etc.

I was moderately concerned about the longer distance but as it turned out this was not really an issue. The 21 laps passed quickly and fairly easily really, with various attacks coming and going and with me showing no interest in getting into any of them. I felt pretty strong, with good legs, but was content to ride my way round to the finish for what inevitably seemed like being an almighty bunch sprint.

As we approached the last lap I would guess that there were at least 50 and perhaps 60 left in the bunch. The pace was pretty fast and so moving up the bunch was difficult. I was sat perhaps 1/3 of the way down the bunch but used the climb to move up a little (at 22mph it turns out!). As we swung into the long finishing straight it was a cross to head wind and so the bunch was lined out in single file. The break looked likely to get caught but managed to hold on by about 5 seconds. I felt as if I had all the legs in the world but managed to get a particularly unattractive wheel and was badly boxed. As the sprint wound up I found myself freewheeling unable to find any space, and never really got the afterburners lit. I rolled over the line somewhere in 20^th position. 

I am in something of two minds looking back. Firstly that a top 20 in the divs is a reasonable result, and one that I would have been happy with on the start line. And secondly wondering what might have been. It’s an odd sensation being involved in a sprint without actually really sprinting. In the final analysis I guess my key takeaway is that I am in decent enough shape to get round a E123 race, and should now be pushing towards top 3 and winning in 234. This all bodes well for the rest of the season, and my 1^st cat licence feels like it ought to be attainable with continued hard work and a bit of luck along the way.

Some sun at last - Surrey League Road Race (Farnborough & Camberley) 13th May 2012

It felt slightly odd lining up in the afternoon of the 13^th May with the sun shining and the temperature a frankly barmy 16’c. The latest round of the Surrey League was held over 12 laps of the Cutmill circuit and I had a degree of forewarning that it was another reasonable tough circuit. There were two main challenges. 1) there isn’t a lot of flat in it, including a long drag up to the finishing climb, and 2) the deadest of dead turns covered in gravel which lead straight into a two step climb which in turn lead to a 40mph descent.

For the second time in as many weeks a break went almost from the gun that included 4 riders. As alluded to above there was not a lot of rest on the circuit and the race was characterized by almost non-stop attacking, and a resultant yo-yoing of the pace throughout. The break continued to push on going out to a lead of about two minutes by halfway and it felt like it was pretty much game over. As the race went into it’s second half the attacks became more sustained and tended to feature the stronger riders left near the front. As they did so the break started to come back with the gap falling 15-20 seconds per lap.

Truth be told I felt pretty rubbish throughout, although ironically the climb provided probably the easier part of the circuit for me.  I certainly didn’t feel in any danger of getting dropped, but nor did my legs ever feel like they were totally with me, and I suspected that in the last lap burn up the climb I might run out of gas. The penultimate time through the finish the break had come in to about 45 seconds and the hammer went down at the front of the bunch. I had managed to contrive to get myself about 20^th or so position and so found myself struggling to make it into even the second group that formed. I had to put in a monster effort over the top to get into a group of 4 chasing a much stronger group of 6. It took a really hard chase of 3 or 4 miles to reel them back in which inevitably took it’s toll on everyone.

There was a more substantial regrouping on the downhill into the bottom of the final climb and the break was down to perhaps 10-15 seconds as we hit the bottom turn. Ironically this was the nail in the coffin for the chase as everyone assumed the job was done and sat up for the lower part of the finishing climb, as Will Hayter attacked the break and went on to take the victory.

For my part I didn’t feel like I had the legs to take the bunch “sprint” but rode near to the front, and got a couple of lucky breaks which allowed me to move up the very inside to sit in third wheel as we hit the final ramp. It kept feeling as if someone would come round me, and I was pretty much maxed out trying to hold the wheel of a London Phoenix rider. The jump eventually came on the far right and I had nothing left to go with it. In the end I could only watch as the wheel in front inexorably inched away from me, helpless to prevent it in a way that spectators never understand. Although I only needed to push “a little but harder” I was spent and my legs begun to cramp in the last 50 metres or so. A photo will presumably appear on the internet at some stage which will betray quite how painful it was!

Anyway, I trundled across the line 6^th in the bunch and 10^th overall, which with hindsight is a reasonable enough result and lands a few more points. At least I am at a reasonably competitive stage, although there is a good deal more work to do if I am to progress this season. Next week is the divisional champs, and a good excuse to get a proper kicking from so

Dull race, dull racer? - Andy Morrison Memorial Road Race - 5th April

It was a strange race on Saturday for a couple of reasons. 1) It was (surprisingly) only 40 miles long (must pay more attention to start sheets) 2) I managed to win the 60-strong bunch sprint despite feeling pretty lousy for most of the race. It was an early, cold, but bright start on Saturday in stark contrast to the previous weeks’ racing. Since the previous Sunday’s race I had felt pretty under the weather. I’d managed a couple of half decent interval sessions, and a pretty awful 60 miler over the previous 5 days but I didn’t line up with a whole lot of positive feeling.

The Andy Morrison Memorial Road Race is held over a 2 and a bit mile loop nr Cranfield University. The course has a 40mph descent followed by a long drag back to the top of the circuit, and a slightly undulating finishing straight. Repeat 18 times bringing to a slow boil. Truth be told it was a pretty dull race, that yours truly rode in a pretty dull way. The climb is the only place where things might split but it was a raging headwind and the bunch screamed round the rest of the circuit hovering up I don’t know how many wanabee attackers. Richard Simmons did manage to get clear early on, and was eventually joined by two other attackers with about 2 laps to go.  These three would go on to battle out the win.

I could talk you through the first 17 laps from my perspective but I’m not sure even I could stay awake long enough to tell it, so wouldn’t give you a lot of chance of staying awake long enough to read it. Suffice to say I spent my time following wheels and doing very little. The fact that over 60 riders started the last lap in the bunch tells you all you need to know about how hard (or otherwise) the race was. I started the lap towards the back of the field and held station on the fast descent.

As we turned left and begun the climb I positioned myself on the right hand side of the road and started to make progress. There was an attack near the bottom of the climb which served to string things out a little, and I was feeling alright and continued to ride up the outside of the bunch without exerting myself unduly. As the attack was caught there was the inevitable easing and I moved into the top 5. As we hit the turn Henry Latimer took it up and drove hard out of the turn onto the finishing straight. He would hold the front all the way to the last 100m.

With about 600m to go, I managed to get myself into third wheel over the next 3-400m. For the first time in the race I felt pretty good, and had that wonderful feeling of waiting to kick, but floating along holding the wheel and waiting. The last 200m had a slight downhill, with the last 100m or so being slightly uphill. It was in a crosswind so I thought it best to leave the jump a little later than normal. I kept expecting someone to come round me on the right, so was hyper alert to it. No one did. Instead the guy in front of me went on the left. This was it, and I kicked hard to Henry’s right. I remained in the saddle as I pulled level with him, and kicked again. I hit the front still seated and continued to power on crossing the line in 4^th place. This was probably the biggest bunch sprint I have won since coming back to the sport, and I can’t recall the last time I finished outside the top 3 in any sprint I have contested. I guess I can sprint a bit.

In some respects though this race left me a bit cold. Although it’s nice to finish well, I rode the race in a very negative way. I didn’t really learn a lot, nor did I stick my nose in the wind to make it difficult for myself, and look to improve. Last weekend was an infinitely more edifying ride. I guess in some respects that’s cycling I suppose. The history books record the results, but the mind and body record the experience in far more granular detail than words and numbers ever can.