Thursday already? That hard run on Tuesday wasn't such a great idea as my calfs felt like solid blocks and, as usual, a day of clock watching at my desk, had left me tired and lethargic.
A quick espresso before leaving home sorted out one of those, and the cyclocross contingent of the Rock n Road Race team, wound their way up to Newbury.
This was to be our inaugural (cross)outing in team colours, as Kalas had delivered a pile of new team kit in the week and for the first time in 15 years, I found myself pinning a number onto team clothing.
James, from Rock n Road had traveled up with us, with the intention of watching Ben and I racing, take a few pictures and pass on his advice.
Slightly different setup tonight, I was forsaking my tubs and would be racing on my Powertap. While usually, we dont get on, I had taken it down from its perch in the garage, dusted it off, furnished it with new batteries and ran it on a mud 2 with latex inner. The intention is to get a stack of race data , possibly to be analysed later on. Due to the dryer conditions, I had decided to run pressures a bit harder than last week.
Bikes ready, Ben and I rolled out onto the course for a two lap warmup. What a cracking course this week..
Anticlockwise , starting with a decent straight parallel to the access road. a sweeping left hand bend into a sharp hair pin, taking you all the way back again.. full speed past the kids playground, where there was a pair of running boards as a very welcome change.. Excellent, I thought, something to slow up the roadies, and unsettle the MTBers.).. through the drying up 'muddy dip. (though with the dry spell, its not a slightly churned up rut). A great arching right hander round the back of the trees and instead of up the hill , over the hump and back to the lower field. a lovely sharp right hander, where the off camber helped you around..a short straight led to a set of 'gates'. A series of short tight switch backs that slowed everyone down. I hate these .
Out of the saddle sprinting again, over the bank and as it bears left the steep 'lee side of the bank lends an awkward off camber to the mix.then off up the hill with a much straighter run up this week. The turns around the trees didn't feel as tight, but the sting came with two off camber witch backs up the top. The second of these had a large flattened mole hill, right in the riding line. a dig for the top and westwards on the gravely path.
spat out the other end of the path into a relaxed left hander. a quick dig to the lone tree, before another set of inventive switchbacks, these ones a bit wider spaced. a cracking roll off, with the tape pinching and making choosing a line difficult. awkward bumps and the flattened mole hills spicing things up..
Hitting the 'muddy ' dip at speed and back out onto the start straight.
Cracking course.. loved it. Unfortunately The Banjo guys remove the boards just before the race starts , I think someone clipped them and trashed one :-( maybe next week eh ?
So to the start.. I lined up earlier this week , and as there is no gridding, I plonked myself squarely in the front row.
On the Go! I got straight in. and went for it, pretty much elbow to elbow with Jamie Newall, he had the inside line and managed to get the holeshot, and going into the first hairpin I was in 3rd.
The race strung out a bit, and I relaxed, comfortable in my position, I moved over to let Steve James of Hargroves pass me ( for the first time) as I cranked to maintain my position. I am not quite sure how it happened, but my chain jumped off the big ring and dropped between the crank arm and the ring. Unfortunately the pin that usually stops this was a bit short and the scooped back of the crank arm, allowed a good press on the pedals to wedge the chain past, steadfastly locking itself in there.
I pull over to the right, as the entire race buzzes past me. ... Bollocks...
it takes an eternity to dislodge it.. strenuously pulling on it on the hope I could pop it back out. As time ticks away, I consider canning the race there and then.
Eventually I manage to twist the chain past the blasted pin and re-seat the chain. a quick hop and I am off again , with only two riders behind. I am in 52nd place. Time to get a motor on.
The remainder of that first lap was a bit of a blur. but by the time we went through the finish I was up to 34th. and making up places.
As the race settles I continue working hard, picking off riders individually, there is no polite "Passing left" as these are not lapped riders, each one is riding their own race, fighting for each corner, and defending their line.By the end of lap three I am back up to 23rd.
Just after the sharp off camber before the hill, I overtake a guy on the right ..accelerating towards the corner. He takes exception to this and accelerates over me and tries blocking me into the corner, but I hold my line as I have 2/3 of a bike length...
I have to brake harder than him and he accelerates past me before he swings right,switching across me , deliberately forcing me into the tape..I made a bit of a daft move, but his was well out of order. Petulant, .so I tell him..Racing is racing, but a deliberate retaliatory move to push into the tape is just being a cock...
His fred move is wasted as I easily pass him on the hill.
I come up behind Stu Gough of VC Venta, a Wessex league regular. I know he races hard, and we have had regular battles in the winter. He gaps his sitter on, and I jump around to grab his wheel. But its not long before the hunt is back on and I pass him on my way over to the next rider.
Other regulars pass, as I am working my way up to my usual peer group... Morvelo guy comes and goes,
Dan Clark of Banjo Cycles, who had a good dig during the start is next.. As I pass him, he jumps on and gives me encouragement to catch the two in front, telling me that " they are our group , you are doing it" as I ratchet them back.. It takes a while and my legs are full of lactic. I still cant get that long sweeper down hill right, taking a different line each time and losing momentum each lap. Each turn comes up shorter, or the line is awkward and bumpy.
towards the last lap, I pass an Army CU guy and he tucks in behind, I havent eased off at all and still going as hard as I possibly could.
Steve James of Hargroves ( Nat U23 champ?) laps me... and I try to get his wheel. ...No chance,.. I hold it for about 10 seconds before he dispatches me.
Army guy is still there , and as we approach the long straight I worry that he will jump me in the finale.
With " Sorry mate , but F**K off" I jump pretty hard and gap him, then without looking around I cane it as hard as I can to the finish.. He may beat me but he will have to seriously dig deep to do it...
( I didnt mean to be rude,.. just wasnt going to tow him to the line then get jumped. He may well have eased off and let me go )
I finished pretty blasted, one lap down on the winner (No one else lapped me) A credible 16th after such a disastrous first lap..
What a great race.. Seriously loved the course and the return of the infernal cattle gates and the off camber switchbacks up the top. Start fast... finish fucked....
What went well:
- tyre pressure was good for the conditions.
- got a power file of the race.
- good start.
- raced very hard to work up from 52 to finish 16th.
- The new team kit is excellent..
- Dropping the chain and watching the ENTIRE race flash past.
- The cattle gates ( very tight double switch backs) were bloody awkward,
Hopefully you can finish on Thursday WITHOUT a mishap - you've finished plenty with them!
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