Aww roger, lap one and I’m exactly where I don’t wanna be. Dead last – playing silly buggers at the back of a 59-man conga line. Its only been about 15 minutes into the race, my tongues out gurning-style and I’m dancing to a different beat to the rest of the bunch. Their cruising and I’m gasping! So there’s none of your marginal gains Wiggins, Trott, Rio, Gold Medal marlarkey around here mate - this is life at the bottom of the competitive cycling pyramid
Yes indeed - the wonderful world of amateur 3rd cat Road Racing. Here we go tapping along at a comfortable 23/24 mph. What could go wrong? How about a junction, a left hand turn and the slinky effect? IF YOU’RE AT THE BACK PLEASE START SPRINTING FOR YOUR LIVES NOW! I’m well versed with these early season stay do or die efforts to stay in touch but this is bloody August for Christ sakes. I embraced the pain as my thighs are douse with lactate and try and stay clam. Unlike Jason Kenny my maximum sprint efforts are a paltry 800-900 watts and not the 2000+watts of the Olympic thunder-thighed-sprint God…5 secs – 10 secs – 15 secs – sh1t - the gap is getting wider. I looked back and was all on my lonesome trying to strike up a deal between aerodynamics and maximum anaerobic power agents. Damn I hate sprinting. I looked up. It was still lined out for some 50/60 metres up the road. Gap still not closed…Another look. Relax!! heads are up and hands are back on the hoods. Toot Toot – one of the NEG motorbike riders signifies he’s coming past. Finally, I’m back on the train – completely shagged and still “last man!
Carefree riding at the back of the bunch has come at price. I’ve had to dig deep and I’m annoyed with myself. I hitch a ride on a London Dynamo rider. What did they say about crossing white lines? Er…?! A couple of sharp blasts from the commissionaire’s car behind and we’re back on the left side of Surrey League Race law. The 10 places or so we gained are quickly lost. A shout of “car’ goes out from riders upfront so we ease further to the left to accommodate other white line transgressors and regrettably I slide back almost to whence I came.
Lap 1 completed, marks out of 10 for my bunch riding skills – I’ll give myself two points. Oh well, at least it’s a lovely sunny morning and the course isn’t too changeling. If ‘gently-rolling’ was in the ‘Wikipedia’ there would be a lovely picture of Newdigate, Surrey. Bar one slightly severe kick the uppy bits of the course were fine and the descents fast if a little frustrating coz at the back you’re constantly on the brakes. Ooo! someone’s let a gap go. My momentum carries me past. Thanks mate, I’ll take that - I’ve got myself 2/3rd up the bunch with minimum effort. Matt, my Addiscombe team mate has been ensconced in this position for a while and we share a few quick words about the race. Along with Rick, also ACC, we all acknowledge the pace is fine. OK so far so good but what are we all doing here? We need to get upfront.
Through the numerous domed shaped heads I can see someone off the front on a leg testing mission perhaps? I can’t quite make him out. Is he a Brighton Mitre or VC Meudon? The inevitable happens, peeps get jumpy, index fingers are engaged and a collective click click of the gears turbo charges the front end of the bunch up the road and like excitable pups we all follow…and something approaching “full gas” ensues for about a minute. I’m better prepared for this one and I suck wheels like a pro as we snake our way around the course (a nice little 10 mile loop we circumnavigate 5 ½ times – roughly 56 miles)
The bunch is an ever-changing shape shifting beast and by the end of lap 2 Matt’s riding tempo at the head of things. I spot a couple of Pretorius riders fly up the outside of the bunch and both are now in much desired top 15 positions. Text book stuff – that’s where I wanna be. I sneak forward and allow a guy from Brixton Cycles into a gap and he tows me further forward. On the short steep climb my shallow breaths are drowned out by the heaving of heavier rider in front. I’ve chosen the wrong wheel so I’m temporarily parked up – its cool - gotta be patient. I shake my head internally as a few guys around me give it big gear pedal stomps just to maintain position with more than an hours racing to go. LEARN TO SPIN AND SAVE YA LEGS!
Just past the hour mark I decide to test the legs and follow a move instigated by a perky London Dynamo rider. It feels good for the first time ever to be free from the bunch but detached at the front this time. A Mono CC ride also joins us and a 3-man rotation begins. It was quite possible the most formal breakaway I’ve even been in; I can’t remember their names now but I was told them and they asked for mine. How exciting!? Four others quickly join us and its game on for about 90 seconds. Early breakaway relationships are usually made out of straw. I doubt we even had 20 seconds. The big bad wolf AKA the bunch stirred into action by the end of the 3rd lap we were once again negotiating the surrey lanes together in one big multi-coloured mass
I downed a couple of gels and squeezed a muesli bar into my grill. At the beginning of the fourth lap I put in another surge. Out on my own again but this time without any “mates”. I don’t think my FT is even 290 watts so I was going nowhere quite slowly. I hadn’t gone too deep so I recovered quickly once the bunch came across. With peeps getting tired it was easier to stay up the front.
With a lap and half to go I positioned myself behind a Paceline rider, Paul Moore. We all know they’ve got some good TT guys in their club so I wondered if Paul was one of them. Matt had got away briefly in a small group and was being brought back. I was 6th wheel from the front and wanted to take full advantage of the inevitable lull in pace once Matt was back in the wheels. Matt was back… As chance would have it Paul Moore snuck off the front. I could see his number 42 up front alone - 40 metres away. I then waited for the strong Mono CC guy to burn a match on the front before I jumped. BINGO!!
I was gone. A brief recovery on the back of Paul’s wheel and we had a few seconds. As he testifies in the Paceline Blog he is a bit of a diesel. He was very encouraging though and told me to keep it smooth and not to surge and I was more than happy to oblige. The bell lap rang out and we kept rolling hard for quite a while taking turns – his longer than mine. On the short steep climb I looked back and I could see some riders seemingly bridging across. OH NO!!! FORGET THEM. HEAD DOWN – KEEP RIDING HARD AND LETS SEE.
We kept rolling and eventually the lead car slipped in behind us which meant we had a 30 second gap on the bunch. Now I like to believe I’m a fair rider and kept taking turns as much as I could. Paul said, we were gonna take 1st and 2nd - I wasn’t so sure. Nevertheless, I could tell my Paceline buddy was the stronger rider at this point. I tried to pull through but when I rolled alongside him I wasn’t strong enough to get past him.
Oh well - settle in for the sprint then. The finish was a slightly draggy climb. I surged slightly more in preparation for the effort required rather than an attack. Paul’s legs fell off and I gapped him very quickly. Head down tongue out and I managed to sit up just before the finish line. My first win in a Road Race and finishing alone made it special. Big Thanks to Red Hill Club, their Race marshals, Organising Team and NEG Motor Bike
Provisional result, full result to come.
August 14, 2016 - Redhill CC - Norwood Hill - 3 - 53 miles
Pos Name Last name Club/Team
1 Toks Adesanya Addiscombe CC
2 Paul Moore Paceline RT
3 Rupert Gordon-Watkins Kingston Wheelers
4 Matthew Halvatzis Addiscombe CC
5 Ben Hitchins Pretorius Bikes
6 Oliver Craig Mono cc
7 Adam Parkes Private Member
8 Richard Balfour Addiscombe CC
9 Dean Corney VC Meudon
10 William Everson Dulwich Paragon CC
11 Michael Weekes London Dynamo
12 Christopher Roberts Velosport CC
13 Harry Ribbons Team Bottecchia UK
14 Justin Thomas Dorking CC
15 Seb Ashton Kingston Wheelers
16 Ollie Williams VC Meudon
17 Noah Faiers Oxted CC
18 Edward Cronan Paceline RT
19 Ashley Russell London Dynamo
20 Ian Long Maison Du Velo
21 Mark Gray London Dynamo
22 Cliff Steele Brixton Cycles Club
23 Dale Moran WyndyMilla
24 Chris Hewitt Oxted CC
the breakaway
Race winning move
