English
I can’t believe that half the year has gone already, time has really flown by! I keep thinking that I have plenty of time until the Solo World Championships in October but at this rate it will arrive before I know it!
The last few weekends have been great for me, mixing up solid training during the week with busy weekends. I had a last minute reprieve from work and was able to travel to Dalby to race in the National XC series. Of all the courses in the series this was the one that I really wanted to race because it is based on the World Cup course and supposed to be a technical challenge. I made the long journey up from Wales and met up with Lee and Ben on the Friday evening. I did a practice lap straight away and quite pleased with the course. Before hand I had been worried about technical sections on the course that people were talking up, one was called “Worry Gill” which was a near vertical drop. It had several riders worried, although to be honest it was pretty easy once you got your head around it. The other section was named “Medusas Drop” and called for much more skill as line choice down the 30-40 meter section was crucial to avoid a crash.
I had missed the previous round in the series, but I was still gridded number 6 and on the front row. Unlike every other XC race I have entered I actually managed to get a great start, being first to the first corner and within the top 5 to the first singletrack which I knew would be crucial. I felt fairly good on the first lap, but a little frustrated that Giles Drake had managed to get away when I was stuck behind a few other riders. Laps 2 & 3 I was swapping positions with a few other riders, but always within the top 5. The gap to Giles at the front grew during the second lap but then stabilised as time went on. I was really hopeful that my endurance would pull me through and this proved to be the case during the final 2 laps. I managed to pull a gap on the riders behind and I was slowly pulled back Giles in the lead, but the end of the race came too soon and I had to settle for 2nd place, finishing 30 seconds behind. I knew this would be my last XC race of the year and had hoped to go out with a win, but 2nd position is at least one position higher than I managed at Rounds 1 & 2 of the series and considering that XC is just a good training session for me I am really happy with what I have been able to achieve over the year.
Even though I won’t make it to Elite category automatically because I haven’t entered enough races I am hopeful that British Cycling will give me an Elite licence for 2011 and my aims will be to race in the World Cup and be in the top 15-20 in the National Series.
Almost straight after the race at Dalby it was back in the car to make the long journey back home as I had entered the Merlin Ride Sportive, the most local sportive to me on roads I am very familiar with. Unlike many other sportives it was a mass start with the 500 or so riders all starting together. I was immediately on the front and we soon formed a group of 10 or so riders and started making great progress. After 20 miles or so there was a crash in the group and my friend Robin hit the deck, he was pretty beaten up but he managed to keep going, unlike the other rider involved and his Focus Izalco survived totally intact, again unlike the other rider.
We all pushed on and soon came to the big climb of the day over the Black Mountain, my favourite climb of all. The group started to split as soon as we got onto the lower slopes with a couple of riders trying hard to get a gap. I managed to stick to anyone who went away and near the top I put a little dig in and got away myself. The descent is fantastic and quite alpine with several switchbacks and sharp corners along the way, I know every inch of it and despite the rain which had started to fall I went down as quickly as I ever have done, putting several minutes into riders behind. I had a long way to go, so eased up at the bottom and let the group come back together, there was a strong headwind at times and I didn’t fancy riding the rest alone. The weather had turned really nasty, so the 8 of us who were still together all decided to take the shorter 70 mile option, rather than do the 105 mile route which went over some very exposed terrain. We all finished together in a time of 3 hours 28 minutes, which considering the weather and the amount of climbing was pretty good going.
After another pretty good week of training with several long and punishing rides I entered my first ever road race this weekend, the George Greaves memorial. I must admit I was quite nervous before hand, although I have been doing a few circuit races recently to try and get used to riding in a bunch the thought of rolling along public roads at speed just inches away from other riders is a scary thought to me. Turning up at race HQ did nothing to dissipate the nerves as there were some seriously nice bikes and kit around making it quite an intimidating atmosphere. I would be racing my Verenti Rhigos, showing how versatile a machine it is, just as happy doing a road race as it is on a 100 mile sportive.
After a neutral start of a couple of miles we got under way and the pace jumped up immediately and I found myself languishing towards the back of the bunch. After a bit of time to settle into a rhythm I was able to start working my way back up towards the front. The course was 3 laps of a 20 mile loop and the first lap seemed to go by in no time at all. The back half of the loop was extremely fast with a tail wind and I was running out of gears as the biggest gear on the Verenti is 52/12, normally plenty but I was wishing for a 53/11t as the speeds were beyond 40mph for long stretches. Lap 2 came and went without too much drama, although the were a few speculative attacks off the front that came to nothing. I was starting to feel a bit more comfortable in the group and at times, usually by accident found myself on the front.
Everything changed as we went into lap 3 as the pace increased and a 2 man break went away and slowly started to get a decent time gap. It was until the final 5 miles on the very fast stretch that they came back and at the same time I found right by the front having to do more work than I wanted, perhaps showing my inexperience but I knew I had to stay close to the front to stand any chance in the finish. With the bunch altogether for the finish it was going to be a little chaotic, with a gradual uphill 1km from the finish the pace went up as people tried to get away. I was hoping to give it a shot up the hill but I was boxed in and had to stay in the bunch for a little longer. When I finally managed to get onto the outside it was on the flat section 500m before the finish, just before a tight left hander. The rider in front of me took a terrible line through the corner and hit the kerb, I was following his wheel and only just managed to avoid it myself. By the time I had got myself steady the whole bunch was up the road and I knew I had no chance so just eased up and crossed the line towards the back of the bunch.
First road race done and dusted, I’ll definitely do another but there is no way I will be turning into a road racer, give me a MTB race any day!
