So I left this back in February having raced a few rounds of ELV’s Winter series. Generally they went pretty well. My main aim had been to get round, not get dropped and see how I compared to a field of 4th cats. There was no risk of sprinting to glory or soloing off the front any time soon but I was about on par with your garden variety 4th cat. A Sauber or a Force India if you like.
A combination of a mad month or two at work perfectly coinciding with an exam looming meant that the blog took a back seat for March and April. I’d taken a month off the bike whilst I studied for my last exam (post Ronde) and could barely function when I got back on the bike. I wasn’t going to make that mistake again, no sir-ree! So come mid-April and with the exam done it was time to get back out there. I’d managed to keep the miles up and if anything actually improved my fitness through March. Not sure how that bodes for exam performance…..
With the clocks changing, chain gangs starting, weather improving, April was all good! So much so I completely forgot about the blog. Since then I’ve had a pretty good few months, lots of hard miles and plenty of suffering. It has to be said that having your legs torn off by Mike and/or Tom every week is still a hell of a lot more fun that gurning at the garage wall waiting for the longest 20 minute interval in history to tick by.
Here’s a (very) brief round up of what I’ve been up to.
Eagle Road Club Good Friday Races 3/4 – Redbridge
In hindsight a 3/4 at Hog Hill was a little ambitious……As ever it sounded like a great idea at the time, Good Friday, why not do some racing! I blame Ollie.
The 4th cat races earlier in the year had averaged around 22-23 mph for the hour. I was in for a rude shock when the bunch got up to just under 25 and pretty much stayed there. Primes chucked in for fun (I swear the dude on the tannoy was enjoying this far too much) left me on the ropes and literally hanging on for dear life. I started slipping back and before I knew it was I out the back after the second Prime. Bugger.
2 mph a lap doesn’t sound much but when you realise that most of that increase came from a near 25% increase in speed up the Hoggenberg it’s no wonder it took its toll. My positioning could have been better as I slipped back pretty quickly and I didn’t have the legs to get out of the danger zone quick enough. Feeling a bit like Marussia at this point.
I’d made the trip with (a supposedly unfit) Ollie who spent most of the race calmly sat in the top ten until an assisted trip into a ditch on the last lap ruined his race. Shame, he’d been going well. I learnt that chicken nuggets contain pretty much all your macros in one hit so the day wasn’t a total loss.
https://www.strava.com/activities/278550323
CC Hackney Primavera 3/4 – Lea Valley Velopark
I’d heard this was a fast circuit which I was hoping would suit me better than Hog Hill. The circuit has very few actual straights, is fairly narrow and has a racing line which moves from one side of the track to the other frequently. There was to be a prime at some point and I was keen not to drop myself by sitting too far back. About 20 minutes in that moving racing line claimed its first casualty. From what I gather it was caused by someone sitting up to drink, either way it brought down most of the field like some sort of lycra clad domino set.
I would have missed it being on the other side of the road but the guy two in front locked up and went down leaving me and the guy in front no choice but go down with him. It’s weird how nonchalant you can be about crashing when you know there’s no way out of it. As first crashes go I think it went pretty well. The Garmin reckons I was doing about 28 mph before going down. I landed on a bike rather than the tarmac it seems, no gravel rash and only a slight stinging from the back of my neck. Result! A small moment of hilarity followed as the guy that landed on me tried to get up with someone on top of him. There’s an order to untangling after a crash it seems, much like picking up dominos.
Anyway, the race was neutralised so I dusted myself off, rolled back to the start and went for it again. 35 minutes in and the siren went for the prime, the pace went up and frankly all hell broke loose. Its amazing the risks people will take for what is likely a twenty pound prize. I sat back as there were too many bods in front of me to even attempt to sprint. Several tried to sprint from 30 places back. Bit nuts to be honest as they were never getting through. Inevitably someone went down, another hit the guy on the ground and got catapulted over the bars. Ouch!
The race was stopped, then abandoned as they scrapped the two poor chaps off the tarmac. One with a broken collar bone and the other knocked clean out. This shit just got serious.
I’d been feeling pretty good in this race, comfortably moving up and down the field and closing any gaps without too much (perceived!) effort. Promising if nothing else. Let’s call that one a Williams.
It turns out that stinging in my neck was actually a full imprint of a chain ring and a cassette. Joy! The next few hours were spent with a variety of medical professionals sucking air through their teeth much like a plumber does when your bath has created an indoor waterfall. Still, I got this cool picture and what appears to be a permanent scar. Despite what I thought though, chicks don’t dig scars, even less so when they first learn about them on Facebook…..
https://www.strava.com/activities/292283170
Crits at the Park (San Fairy Ann) 4th cat only – Cyclopark
I’d booked this one a few weeks beforehand. Everyone I’d spoken to seemed to love Cyclopark. I can see why, it’s a great track. Technical with a few changes of gradient, long straights and a nice range of corners. There’s no Hoggenberg (thankfully) but the gradients are in places that can cause you problems. Particularly the hill (ok, it’s not really a hill) after the hairpin. The wind was strongly up the start/finish straight. So strong in fact it blew my bike over twice.
I had Rob Kemp (CRCC) for company, although only briefly to be honest as he went off the front with about 4 or 5 others after about 15 minutes. I nearly made it across but that hill (see, now its a hill) after the hairpin led into a 20 mph + headwind so my bridging was short-lived. Good for Rob at least as it seems a good portion of the bunch were sat on my wheel.
For the most part the break were kept in sight, but after about 30 minutes the gap started to go out. I was sat in the top ten for most of the race and put in a few turns here and there. Mostly on the (tailwind assisted) start/finish straight cause I felt like Mark Renshaw charging across the line at 30 mph, but a few into the wind too. There were a few attempts at getting organised but no-one was really interested in working. A tidy through and off effort into the wind would have brought the break back in no time but despite a few attempts no-one would commit. Bunch sprint it is then.
I was feeling pretty good so I sat in for the last few laps and saved my energy. The bell went and I had kept myself top 5 or so on the final lap, 6 were away so the winner of the bunch sprint would get 7th. A few boys from Dulwich Paragon organised themselves into a tidy lead out so I tried to follow that as closely as I could. I crossed the line behind the Dulwich guys and alongside two other guys. I thought I’d got 10th, maybe even 9th….Could this be my first point? My sole aim for this season? Or was it 11th and a nearer miss than dodging the chap on the floor at Lea Valley?
I must have refreshed the BC website about 300 times that night in the hope that the results would go up. They didn’t, but Jamil spotted them the next morning before the VC Oyster sportive. Boom, 10th! I have a point. That’s only 11 more 10th places to reach 3rd cat.
https://www.strava.com/activities/301215297
Speaking of the VC Oyster sportive. Whilst a sportive in name, a good group of us treated it as a training ride. The result was 63 odd miles at just under 21 mph. Tidy.
https://www.strava.com/activities/301690334
Ken Wright Memorial Road Race, incorporating the Eastern Region Road Race Championships
After much umming and ahhing I entered this. Mostly because I really wanted to ride my own club event but also because it was literally on my doorstep. As a lowly 4th cat I thought I wouldn’t have much chance of a ride. Turned out I was wrong. Oh shit! At least I’d convinced Jamil and Rads that this was a good idea so I wouldn’t be the only terrified 4th cat.
Picking an E/1/2/3 as my first open road race was never going to go down as my brightest idea. Race day came around and I felt literally sick with nerves, these were some pretty massive butterflies. What if I get dropped in the neutralised zone? What if I don’t make the first lap? All of this was flying around my head whilst I warmed up. Hardly ideal mental preparation. I’d ridden the course a few days earlier so I knew what to expect. Whilst there are no real hills on the course there are plenty of short sharp efforts that would sap the legs. Rolling out on to the course the butterflies were still there.
I made it through the neutralised zone, result! after that I parked myself in the top 20-30 and basically ignored my Garmin. Power was looking good, but heart rate was eye watering. I was burning match boxes rather than matches. The first lap ticked by and I was still there, right, lets see if I can make that 2 laps……..2 and a half laps went before the race was neutralised briefly. Off we go again and I made it round 3 laps of the larger Peldon circuit. Laps 2 and 3 had been fast, really fast. Breaks had been chased down and attacks launched all over the place. Partly through sheer fear of being dropped I kept myself well positioned (Thanks to Brett and Andy E for the helpful reminders) and whilst I could see the tank emptying rapidly I was starting to get into a rhythm. I was beginning to think that I might just make it on to the smaller Jock Wadley circuit. Ridiculous as it sounds I was ecstatic. Considering my original goal had been to not get dropped on the first lap I was feeling pretty good to be honest.
I made it on to the Wadley circuit, tried and failed to grab a bottle from Erin (probably should have practiced this…) and found myself echeloned in to the opposite gutter on the New Road. Now THIS is what it’s all about! Sadly the dream ended shortly after this as I dropped myself juggling a bottle on the next lap (really should have practiced this…). The gap that went had only been small but I had nothing left to close it by this point. Even if I had, Russell Hampton blew the race apart on the next lap with an astonishing jump up the road and I very much doubt my race would have lasted much longer than that.
All in all it was a fantastic experience. I hadn’t expected to get that far into the race. It sounds ridiculous to be happy to DNF but it will without doubt be one of my highlights of the year. A bit like Marussia at Monaco (and 10th in the Constructors championship) this one. Promising. Looking at the data I made no improvements to critical power, I had expected over that distance I’d be setting new pbs from an hour outwards. This is where road racing is deceptive, whilst not a constant effort like a time trial, it’s the sudden sharp accelerations that grind you down. None of these efforts are 100% of critical power but one minute you are doing 100 watts in the bunch, the next you are strung out doing 500 watts up Church Road in Peldon. What’s more, you don’t get to recover at the top. Chalk that one down as great experience. I was chuffed with 60 miles, i’d got much further than I thought I would. Next year, I may even finish!
https://www.strava.com/activities/306298228
Lotus Cycle Racing E/1/2/3/4 – Hethel
I’d heard that Hethel was good fast racing. It uses Lotus’ recently resurfaced test track and a very fast circuit. I was in two minds between entering the 4th cat only or the E/1/2/3/4 but in the end I got talked into the E/1/2/3/4 by Andy and Brett. I’m glad I did to be honest as it was great fun. It was ridiculously fast and all hard top end work. Weirdly I didn’t feel like I was working that hard but looking at heart rate and power afterwards i’d been on the limit throughout. The race was largely controlled by Strada Sport and Iceni Velo, who each had good numbers in the race so it was interesting to see how the tactics unfolded. Basically they chased down any break not containing one of their riders and sat up when they were involved. The bunch sprint was manic but very well-disciplined. No idea where I finished but it was great top end work if nothing else. Nothing but Lotus-Renault this one, no points, but just happy to finish without my engine exploding (For the pedants I’m fully aware that Lotus-Renault has nothing to do with Lotus).
https://www.strava.com/activities/308486568
No photos sadly (cameras not allowed) so here’s a snap of Ola (the VX220) instead. Despite the Vauxhall badge she rolled off the Lotus production line in Hethel. Great car, but totally shit for carrying a bike, or even a wheel.
Crits at the Park (Medway Velo) 4th only – Cyclopark
Time for another trip to Cyclopark. After the (relative) success of last time I had high hopes for this one. I felt in great shape after the past few weeks of training and racing. Jamil had entered too so we shared the trip down and basically agreed that points were a must. We could both do with the reward for recent efforts. Less wind this time and a good sized bunch meant the race stayed together. I realised again that I’m utterly crap at determining wind direction. Being well positioned on the start/finish straight suddenly became fully exposed to the wind after a rider on my outside dropped back. Arse. One day I’ll figure out wind direction.
Jamil and I yo-yo’d around the front of the bunch for the most part until a broken spoke took him out of the race. On I plodded until the 5 lap to go board came out and the pace started to rise. With 2 laps to go a group of us nearly got off the front, but a moments hesitation between turns let the bunch get back on. Doesn’t take much.
One lap to go and I was still near the front, its crazy to think that 55 minutes of racing is largely irrelevant but compared to the last 5 minutes it really is. With a few corners to go I picked what i thought was a good wheel (i.e. not a chopper) only for the guy on his inside to wash out and put them both on to the grass. Less than ideal! I had to avoid them and lost touch with the first 10 as a result, chasing back on pretty much did me in. I’d closed the gap by the time we reached the finish straight but the guy in front sat up and I didn’t have quite enough left in the tank to jump across. In the end I rolled home in 17th after catching a few on the line. A frustrating race to be honest as I felt strong enough for another points finish. A solidly midfield effort. Force India say.
off-the-back 