Still, I have been determined to do a good ride in this Easter 3 Day event since, well, since the last day of last Easters event! Now lately my car has been misbehaving as some of you well know, so I called upon the team management Chris and Lisa for a lift and just general support and company. It was fantastic getting driven to the race this morning, a rare treat.The conditions as you well know have been somewhat mixed today, as I write it’s bright blue sky out there. But this morning it was somewhat different. The clouds were a suspicious grey/white colour, perfect snow bearing clouds as the weathermen predicted. Thankfully it wasn’t quite as cold as they predicted, but cold enough for un-practically thick gloves!
The course for stage one this morning was the Milland hill circuit on the border of Sussex and Hampshire. The course is generally quite flat, with two or three good descents, then over the last mile… one almighty hill! The last few hundred meters of which are at 25%, there aren’t many roads steeper than that. Still, good practice for my upcoming assault on the Tour of Flanders parcours. I’ve mentioned before I’m not a fantastic climber, but I have improved over the winter, but by enough? The circuit is about seven miles around, with the finish being about 100 meters away from the top of the climb.
The race started off fast, I moved to the front to look for the protagonists that I suspected would feature heavily over the next few days. After little more than a lap gone, I ended up off the front, again. I had already said to Chris and Lisa at the start that I wasn’t going to get involved in any breaks today. But there I was, what was I to do!? It looked like we had a good gap so I thought I’d give it a go. After about another lap we were joined by a few more riders, most notably former professional rider Ben Wilson. I knew immediately that this break could well be the race winning move. So I settled into it and braced myself for another tough ride.
We shed a couple of the early aggressors, which included my friend from Thames Velo, Ian Lowe. He’s was the first to admit that he’s too big a guy for today’s climb. Each time we came to the climb it was edgy as everyone eyed one another too see who was strong, and who was not! At mid-race I felt ok, and we had a time check telling us we were a minute clear. I was thinking that this break may well sort out the top seven of the final general classification come Monday afternoon. But it later transpired that we probably never quite had the minute we thought. Apparently, according to eye witness accounts, the whole race was a total war of attrition. Behind my break the peloton had split into at least two groups, with riders in between and behind them. If our break was not going to succeed, at least it had put many riders well out of contention for the GC.
By the time we reached two laps to go, two riders had ridden across to us from the first chase group. The original break riders weren’t sure what to do. We weren’t sure how far back the first chase group was and so on the section immediately after the climb there was a lot of messing about. In reality had we continued working we may well have kept a good gap. But by the time we climbed up the hill for one lap to go, the first chase group had just about hitched onto the back of our escape group. As we hit the summit, I went to change back up into my big chain ring, then there was a kind of pop. And nothing happened! sh1t. I looked down and tried to change up again, and nothing. The cable to my front mechanism had snapped
, I had no big ring! So there I was on the first of three descents before the finish with 39x12 being my largest gear. I was very close at this point to getting off my bike and throwing it into a hedge! But I continued in the hope that luck might now swing onto my side.Then the inevitable happened. As we got onto the drag after the climb, the ex-pro Ben Wilson launched a stinging attack; no one could get close to going with him. I didn’t even have the option of trying, there was no way I could go with him stuck in a 39 tooth chain ring! Well, I moved aside and alerted riders to my situation which actually worked to my advantage. Riders came through but I could just pedal fast enough to stay with them. In the confusion two more riders eased themselves off the front, followed by one more. The problems were going to come with the remaining descents. So I let just two riders hit the first one ahead of me, I got into the lowest possible tuck and tried to stay with them. For now I just about managed it. Coming into the next one, things were harder. We were hitting 60kph (almost 40mph) and there was no way I could maintain that on such a small gear. Despite my legs spinning as fast as they possibly could!! Thankfully the road leveled out again with enough time for me to regain a few positions.
The trouble was, I was now beginning to cramp up because my legs were being forced to spin so fast. It was going to be a painful final climb. I literally just held my position as best I could, my legs were hitting that point just before they lock up. I’m sure most of you know what I mean. And we hadn’t even gotten to the steep part just yet. But thankfully, they kept going, as we hit the steep part I made no attempt to move up. I just didn’t want the cramp to hit. As the road leveled out I could see the finish, but importantly I sensed a slight gap behind me and two other riders. I then tried to move round the man in front of me, but into the wind I just couldn’t overhaul him. I crossed the line in 7th place.
Which I can’t be disappointed with, it was a good result considering the gearing incident! I was disappointed the break I was in didn’t make it, and a little disappointed that my gears prevented me from getting a higher placing. But that’s racing I guess, c’est la vie. Ben Wilson did indeed ride to the victory, and was certainly the strongest rider today. But this is a three day event, so who knows what will happen tomorrow and Monday. I’m 57 seconds away from Ben, now in the yellow jersey. Which is a sizeable gap, and it may even be more if that time doesn’t include his 30 second win bonus. Which I don’t think it does. But there are quite a handful of riders on the same time as me, and just a couple above me. So on GC, I can realistically improve from 7th, but it’s going to be hard…
The other Addiscombe riders racing today, Dan G, Matt D and Paul T. I saw Paul briefly in the first few KMs, but little of Matt and Dan. I believe they both had punctures and therefore didn't finish particularly high up. But I'm sure they'll be back fighting tomorow... I'm sure they have their own stories to tell...
Tomorows weather is due to be colder and more snow, which will certainly be a test of character. If last week we had Paris-Roubaix conditions, this week we have Liege-Bastogne-Liege conditions!
), was it your new bike or a cable that's been a bit more neglected over winter?
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