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.