This weekend it was off to Charndon, near Bicester, for the Spring Chicken Road Race.
With a full field of 80 riders, a relatively flat course (only one 'climb' worth noting), a bit of wind, and multi-BBAR champion Ian Cammish down to ride, the race was pretty predictable. At some point Cammish would knock off the front and everyone else would end up in a sprint for the minor places. Having no sprint to speak of the game plan was simple then - stay near the front, hang onto Cammish's wheel when he goes and hope to hang onto the end
Road racing would be easy if my legs could cope with it
The race started with a short neutralised section and everything was a bit nervy. Stopping at the first give way sign in order to turn right onto the circuit gave rise to a few excitable squeals from the rear of the pack as those towards the back failed to anticipate the pause in progress.
Once onto the circuit the pace picked up although it stayed pretty comfortable and then the first left-turn took us into 'Paris-Roubaix' country with a narrow potholed-road covered in sh*t meaning the bunch filled the road. At this stage I was stuck pretty much mid-bunch with no opportunity to go forwards and the occasional excitement of oncoming cars on a single lane road to cope with.
Once the road widened I started to make my way towards the front, and after a small dig to test the wind (it was definitely better in the bunch) I settled near the front and waited for Cammish to attack. All I had to do was stay near the front in a reasonable position.
This is where this road racing lark really gets me. How can it be so hard to stay towards the front of the pack? I could cope with the pace and I knew where I wanted to be but by the end of the first lap I was midway back in the pack and every time I tried to move forwards I'd end up behind a group of riders moving backwards through the pack
Stuck in this position through the narrow section on the second lap the inevitable happened and Cammish rode off the front with one other rider in tow. By the time I found myself anywhere near the front again he was long gone
During the next lap as I got to what I thought was about halfway back in the bunch I found that there was no-one behind me. There had been about 80 riders and I was now in a group of about 30 with 2 people off the front. Where had everyone else gone? In some sort of X-files moment we'd lost about half the field - things like that don't happen at Hillingdon or Eastway!
Time for a change of plan. As I was pretty sure my sprint hadn't improved over the previous half-hour, and there was no prospect of riding away from a group of 30 riders who seemed pretty keen to chase down anyone they thought they could catch, the plan was again simple. The short climb was about 3-miles from the finish most of which was a shallow downhill with a tailwind. I was going to wait for the last lap, be at the front going up the hill and then attack as we get to the top to try and use some time-trialling skill to stay ahead to the finish. Simple.
Everything went well round the next couple of laps. Sat in the bunch and at the bell managed to move towards the front. Was in about 8th place in the bunch coming through the narrow section and felt comfortable as the pace responded to a couple of attempts to get away. Was about 3rd or 4th in the bunch as we came to the bottom of the climb had my mind set for a full effort up the short climb and then .....
the whole bunch came past me
I know I'm fat but I'd had no trouble holding my position the previous 4 times up this bump 
Managed to hang onto the back of the bunch as it started to accelerate down towards the finish, time for game plan 3 - I would have to sprint
I'd done alright in a bunch sprint at Chertsey a couple of weeks earlier so maybe I could sprint after all?
Knew I was too far back so I started to work my way up and was sitting in the middle of the bunch as we came past the 1km to go sign. A car was coming towards the bunch but after the car it looked as if it would stay clear to the finish so the right hand side looked like a good place to be. Things started to wind up as we went past the 500m to go sign and I had my mind fixed on a few seconds of effort. Then it all kicked off I started to accelerate and started to find everyone going past me. My sprint hadn't improved and as I arrived at the tail-end of the bunch I decided to sit up and look as if I hadn't been trying to sprint anyway
A moment of excitement as we crossed the line as a rider at the front of the bunch had a blow-out followed very quickly by his wheel collapsing but everyone managed to avoid him.
A thoroughly enjoyable day-out but I've got a bit of weight to lose and a bit of power to gain before I can get the hang of this road-racing lark!
