It didn’t get off to an auspicious start when I found out that the organisers hadn’t received my cheque which I sent over 3 weeks ago to enter this race.Luckily I had £20 on me and entered on the line.
After arriving I saw Adam, the only other ACC-er there. We had a little chat and he seemed really up for this one, despite having done the 2/3 cat race only yesterday afternoon. I was feeling a little more apprehensive: I hadn’t got any real miles in my legs yet this year and was a bit concerned with the distance. Well, at least it would be good training, I thought. The apprehension deepened when I got chatting to another rider who told me about the course: basically, he said, it’s really hilly. It’s either going up or going down and you’ve got to be near the front on the climbs cos people just let wheels go when they crack and it’s easy to get dropped.
Great , I thought. That’s all I need. Just get round, I said to myself. I’ll be happy if I just get round.
Anyway, out of the neutralised section things sped up a bit and sure enough, it was pretty lumpy. I was stuck near the back for most of the first two laps which wasn’t doing me any favours and seeing Adam up near the front, with his suspiciously tanned legs, I decided to move up a bit more. On about the third lap there was a split on the big hill : about a mile and a half long drag that really saps the legs, at the top of which was the finish line. Luckily by this stage I was riding in the front 10 and felt pretty comfortable on the hills. Once the selection was made on the hill, the hammer went down as 25 or so riders saw an opportunity to get rid of half the field, which is basically what happened. Unfortunately for Adam, he was in the wrong half of the field and got detached. Pretty soon after I think he climbed off since it was obvious the break wasn’t coming back. Kindly, he stayed behind and cheered me on at the start/finish line. Thanks mate
By now I was realising that I was one of the strongest guys on the hill. Either that or people were bluffing really well. I was riding in the top 5 or 6 riders for most of the last 3 laps .However, despite feeling good, there was a problem. My legs were beginning to cramp up. On the penultimate lap it became quite a problem and I was doing all sorts of things to try and alleviate the problem: drinking more, spinning gears, stretching my legs etc. All to no avail. On to the last lap, I stayed near the front. The lead group had now been whittled away to less than 15, I would guess. People were getting shelled out on the hills mostly and found they couldn’t get back on.
As we turned the corner onto the last 2 miles I thought I had a good chance if only my legs didn’t cramp up any more. I knew which guys to watch, which guys seemed stronger on the big hill and I stayed on the outside so as not to get boxed in. Just as the final hill began to start to rear up, a guy rode off the front. It wasn’t an attack, people just let him go and no one wanted to chase. In 30 seconds he had 50 metres and he was away. Onto the lower slopes and there were 6 of us fighting it out . As I stood on the pedals to go with the accelerations, my legs just locked up. The cramp meant that it was almost impossible to turn the pedals, yet I carried on fighting the bike. At one point I thought I’d have to climb off, but that would have been too embarrassing with only 50 metres to go.
In the end I came in 6th and was a bit disappointed with that. I felt I was worth a top 3, but maybe I’m being too optimistic but I felt I could have done better. Once over the line and I’d got my breath, me and Adam headed back to HQ for some recovery drinks.
All in all, a really testing course and decent marshalling meant everyone felt pretty safe on the open roads.
Cheers
Matt
