So final race of the season…It seems to have come and gone so quickly, seems like just yesterday I was lining up for the first race of the year back in September! But 13 Rounds, 1 Regional and 1 National Championship later, here we are Round 14. I’d had a busy season contesting all but one of the races (DNF’ing in two), but with recent results was coming in with quite a bit of form.
I won’t lie, this is going to be a long post!
Pre Race
Going into the event I was studying the league table trying to work out permutations, following last weeks race I had moved up to 8th place, and was trying to work out if I could move up further, this seemed difficult, as the two riders ahead David James Brazier and Tim Doole were too far up, but mostly trying to establish how many riders could catch me from behind as only your best 10 events count and there were a few people who had only raced 9 events within catching distance. I looked at the pre entered riders and only 1 of those was entered, this was a good start.
I got to the event early, and despite the overnight rain at probably the boggiest venue, the course was pretty dry all over with a strong wind helping dry it out even quicker. Last year the start for this event was so muddy everyone started on foot for the first 200 yards!! The course starts on a boggyish section uphill, then drops down and into a sloppy uphill into a wooded section, once out of the woods you cut across a bumpy BMX Track, past the pits and make your way downhill into an off camber then onto the really dry open tree section, before climbing your way back up to the pits, across the finish line (which is about half a lap from the start) back across an even bumpier section of BMX track, then a long steady, in places sticky drag up, a few nice dry corners and back on to the start straight for the lap.
The usual pre race stress of helping out my team mates didn’t exist as no pitting was required, and we only had 2 riders in the earlier race as a couple were out injured and the girl I usually pit for was away on her hen do. This made my day very relaxed and good to catch up with some people!
I was keeping an eye out for those riders who could overtake me, but didn’t see any, so was quite happy! Did my warm up and ate a banana during it as my stomach was rumbling, this was a bit out of kilter as I try to avoid any sort of solid food, preferring caffeine gels and drink, but knew I needed some sustenance. My warm up place was right by the start which removed a lot of stress from the usual pre race format. Warm up finished, stuff packed away and up waiting to be gridded.
The Start
As the list of riders was called, none of the guys who could catch me were called up. Then I waited for my name to be called, and waited and waited. Soon establishing that the commissaires had the out of date average points score from last week! So I got called up 4 or 5 places lower than I expected, I wasn’t too happy with this and got a second row start on the outside, I ideally wanted the drier inside line, but not going to moan too much. As the race was delayed it was a quick 30 second call to the whistle! We were off, and myself and the guy in front both got some wheelspin on the leaves! But got going after a few spins and off, and slotted into about 12th or so off the start into a pinch point where it went more single file. I quickly made up a position and settled in to the wooded section.
Once this opened up and onto the off camber I made up another spot, past Chris McGovern scoped who was in front of me trying to work out how/who I could make it up to whilst the race was still nice and tight, I braked into a tight right hander, started to turn and splat, into the slightly damp and squidgy corner my front wheel slid out, I quickly picked the bike up and tried to pedal but had to jump off as I was getting no traction, ran out of the mud and made a quick remount, dropping 3 or 4 places. I slotted in behind Alan Collins who is an honorary member of our club and got past him on the next corner as he gave me the line, knowing he wouldn’t keep up. I then worked to get back on to the wheel of the next rider, but I was past him quicker than expected and chasing down my usual group of riders including DJB (see last week) and Dan Atkins, but ahead of my nemesis Tim Doole who obviously hadn’t had a good start.
Lap 2 and 3 Clawing Time Back
Over the next half a lap or so I made up the 10 second or so gap to the next couple of riders in 7th, 8th and 9th, I popped by 2 before going back into the wooded section, and quickly passed the other on the off camber, this time being much more cautious into the right hander I fell as on the first lap. I was then about another 6 or 7 second back from the riders running in 4th, 5th and 6th, Karl Norfolk (the guy I hit when I broke my handlebars) David James Brazier and Dan Atkins, by the end of the lap I was on this group, and then as we made our way past the start line I worked past DJB and Dan and pulled away, I got onto Karls wheel and stayed behind him in the wooded section. And then sat behind him for a bit to get my legs back. DJB had hung on but Dan had dropped a few seconds. As we crossed the finish line I was running in 5th. As we got round and onto the long steady drag back up to the start line, I worked past Karl and started to push on, at this point I actually thought Karl was a different rider who had dropped back after 20 mins last week, so knew if I kicked on I could drop him. So my kick on up the start line dropped Karl and DJB and I made a good 10 second or so lead. With DJB now the rider behind me in 5th with Karl looking to take a bit of a breather whenever I saw them.
Laps 4 onwards
After about 20 minutes my gap was holding steady and stayed this way for the next couple of laps, I was fairly tentative into most of the corners, as although dry, they weren’t the grippiest with my front slipping a little if I leant too hard. I had settled in at this point and worked to keep the gap steady and get a bit of recovery where I could, but like last week, there were very few places to do this, my gaps back to Dan Atkins and Tim Doole were extending by a couple of seconds per lap, so I ignored them and just focused on DJB and Karl behind. As we got to about 35 minutes I noticed Karl had jumped DJB and was starting to claw some time back on me. I had a brief minute or two thinking if he catches me sit on the wheel, but then a pep talk prior to the race from my club mate reminded me not to settle, the following lap I then had a slight slip at the right hander I had fallen on and had to unclip and foot down, this gave away a few seconds as I couldn’t then clip in due to the mud. I had given away a few seconds and reckoned it was about 7 as I crossed the finish line at the end of that lap. I worked bloody hard over the next couple of laps to keep Karl at a safe distance, calling out early to back markers to ensure I wouldn’t get tangled up, who were all brilliant and moved off the line. As we got to about 45ish minutes I could see I was gaining more time on Karl working my way back up to the pits, this was after a group of back markers, so can only assume he had got held up a bit. As I passed the pits I got the message I only had 2 laps to go!
Final Laps
This couple of laps to go was reiterated by my mum who was right by the finish line. I may have let out an expletive at this point as I was pretty tired, but knew I had enough in my legs to keep up this pace, as I worked my way back up to the start line, the gap over Karl was now up to about 20 or 30 seconds, but I didn’t ease off knowing that any mechanical could thwart me. Backmarkers were more prevalent now, but early calling helped! Knowing riders through the field also helps as I could call by name! That lap went fairly easily and then onto my final lap with a huge gap behind me. I eased off a little, but as I passed the pits my club mate told me to bring it home and ease off which just meant I pushed on harder!
but the last minute of the lap I did ease up and crossed the line for fourth place. Over a minute ahead of Karl who had blown it seems on lap 10, and about 1 minute 50 behind Matt Wakefield in front who had finished 2mins 35 ahead of me last week.
Ecstatic! Knowing this was on pure merit and leg strength, rather than mechanicals and having the confidence to ride away from strong riders and carrying on pushing. This meant I was on the podium (extended to 5th) and earnt some money! (always a bonus in the cheap sport that is cycling…)
Been a great end to the season and looking forward to a couple of weeks rest to consolidate and work out my goals for next season, although that is a long 8 months away. (although my coach wants me to do a retest Tuesday) Now the eager wait to the final tables are released, but I think I will drop down to 9th. My mate put it into perspective by saying in other leagues that would have been a win with the strength of the Wessex League!
There are some pictures on strava which I'll probably add to as people upload them.
https://www.strava.com/activities/2107381995
https://my2.raceresult.com/116111/results?lang=en#10_FE003A
This is all people saw!!
TL: DR - I fell off first lap and worked my way back up to 4th!
My first 10 was meant to be this Saturday up here but standard end of financial year roadworks all over the shop have lead to it being postponed till later in the year.