Driving down to Edenbridge this morning sunglasses were very much the order of the day, well, they were up to then anyway. Arrived nice and early at the leisure centre to have a bit of a chat and all. As we lined up at the start the organisation informed us of their problem, too few marshalls, think they almost didn't have a car either. Also, the finish had to be moved to a flat straight part of the circuit (sprinters paradise
) instead of the planned off circuit up-hill finish due to the lack of support. We didn't even have a lap board! But despite all of this, the race did turn out to be excellently run, and safe also, which is always a bonus. So firstly my thanks go particularly to Tom McCall who is a commisaire and was down to be riding, but took charge to make sure the race went ahead. And of course all those who volunteered to do the little jobs like put the signs out sort the results... Paul T! (though this appeared to be a much larger job in the end!)On to the race itself. It was to be three laps of a very undulating 15 mile circuit. The surfaces are generally pretty good on this course and I suspect I would have got away with using the Zipps this morning, but I opted for the power instead
. Make no mistake, this is a hard circuit. There is only really one flat part on it, the finish! Everywhere else is either UP, DOWN, or somehwere in between, but certainly not flat! The first few minutes seemed almost club-run like, when the lead car pulled away after the short neutralised section, no body moved. Then after getting through the parked cars of Marsh Green, three riders eased themselves off the front. None of whom were in the top ten on GC, I had all them written down on my top tube you see . As a result they were allowed a little freedom. From then on the race became a waiting game, each of the GC contenders were simply watching one another, with the yellow jersey conspicuous by his abscence from the front 10 riders. One by one a few more riders had a few goes at bridging to the escapees who were never much more than 45-60 seconds away. Each time one of the top 10 went, and each time a couple of other of the GC men would close it down. This continued for the whole of the first lap.Half way through lap two, at the main climb of the circuit just after Dormansland, the fireworks went off. I put some pressure on at the front to see who was playing ball. When I looked over my shoulder I was about 20m off the front. I had a perfect view of the faces of all te contenders behind me, including the yellow jersey, who looked nothinh short of ominous. And then it kicked off, as the bunch came back up to me he launched a searing attack up the last part of the climb. Round the sharp left at the summit, and onto 8 miles of up/down dragginess (a new word there perhaps?). Immeadiately, in the blink of an eye, the peloton was split in two. He kept on the pressure at the front until a few riders saw the gap and began working, I really had to work to get on terms here. As soon as it became clear that all the contenders had made the split, the impetus dropped. And as soon as it did, the maillot jaune launched his first of a string of unbelievable attacks, almost Cancellara'esque. And who was right on his wheel when he attacked, yep, me. The right place to be you'd think, so did I, but I tell you, it bloody hurt to go with him. I was surging well over 1000 watts to go with him, which is a lot, I can assure you. Each time it came back together, he would go again, and each time he would go again. My power file from today reveals I had 3 5second power's at over 900 watts here in the space of 5 minutes. Now 5 seconds at 900 watts is enough to beat the cream of the training group to the Charlwood signs I can assure you
. It was too much for me, I drifted to the back of the group and eventually the yellow jersey rode across to two Paragon riders who had attacked in a lul. They then worked together and caught the original break rather promptly, which then made a working group of 6 riders at the head of the race. It was game over in terms of the stage win.The trouble was everyone in the now very much reduced peloton who was capable of working, was more interested in their general classification placing. And I have to admit I had resigned myself to failure at this point. It was kind of like in the Tour a few years ago, when Armstrong was in yellow, the other guys would ride to defend second place. As we approached the finish area with one to go, I saw some Paragon riders including Mr Kennett who shouted out 40 seconds was the gap. But my head had dropped, I was seriously in the red after trying to follow the yellow jersey. And no one wanted to commit to work to bring them back. Crossing the line with one to go I also spotted Chris and Lisa who had made the journey down to cheer me on, immeadiately I felt obliged to try harder! Also saw Hal on the last lap, who was obviously looking for an ACC jersey as he completely missed me waving at him!!
Through the last lap I began to recover. But hang on a moment, I havn't mentioned the weather yet have I??? Well, almost as soon as we started it began trying to snow, and from the second lap in, it really was! I was dangerously on the limit with my clothing choices, summer jersey, arm warmers, and gloves that are certainly not waterproof. As it turned out snow doesn't actually get you that wet really, well not today anyway. I was damp and chilly, but not really cold until I finished, which was handy. There were times though when the snow became less fluffy, and started stinging as it blasted your face at 25mph
.So like I was saying, I began to recover through the last lap. I even began to work again. But each time I went through I seemed to go off the front a little, so each time I would ease up and then the same would happen to someone else. It was a shame, because we could have caught the escapees if we had worked together. There were more than enough strong riders to work. But it had become a game of poker. So I thought ok then, I can sprint, its a flat straight finish, lets be having it! As we came to the final corner, I was about 8 riders back from the front, as it was still a long way to the finish, perhaps 800m. Then through the blind bends before it straightens out a few more riders came past on the wrong side of the road. Ok I thought, I'm not going to get killed going for a 7th place! So as it straightened out and my eye caught sight of the finish, I slipped round a couple of riders into a more favourable position. I was just to the right of the white line when a few riders opened up the sprint, which wasn't a problem as what marshals there were had stopped the traffic beyond the finish. So I went, as hard as my legs would allow after a ver hard race. I was right to the right of the road and gaining ground, the line was approaching, but I moved into the lead with about 25m to go. Then threw the bike over the line as clear winner (of the bunch sprint anyway) by about a half a bike.
So I returned to the line where I was confirmed 7th by Chris, Lisa etc... I was pleased to win the bunch sprint, but was it enough? I started the day needing 6 points for promotion to second cat. 7th would give me 3, I still needed 3. So my thoughts turned to the GC where this morning I was 7th after Saturday's stage. It was going to be a moment for the calcluators, or as Paul will tell you, a carefully arranged spreadsheet. So back to the HQ for the post mortem, tea, coffee, chat, and most importantly to get warm! I was now beginning to freeze. While back at my car putting my bike away and changing, the snow was nothing short of blizzard like. I didn't hang about. So in the HQ I had a chat with Ben Wilson, the maillot jaune, who indeed won the stage, again, as well as the overall. He was simply awesome today, and on Saturday, i'm sure as soon as he's out of 3rd cat races there will be a huge collective sigh of relief across Surrey!
But I was in for a wait to see the final general classification, I even ended up helping Paul sort it out I was so eager to see the outcome. You see it's really quite complicated all this stage racing stuff! Eventually we got to me in 9th place overall, which would mean I would remain a 3rd for a little longer requiring one more point. Then as he watched my face drop (not for the first time today!) he said hang on... As there were a few riders on the same time around me, he said that the final order is decided by your placings. So we input more numbers into another column in the spreadsheet, and due to my consistency of coming 7th both days, I climbed a place into 8th overall. Netting me that extra point! So there I was, gleeful at last, the weekend of crap weather and suffering all seemed worthwhile at last! 40 points and my second cat licence should be winging it's way to me shortly...
So there you go, the Easter 3 day is over, in two days
I'm sure there are as many frustrated 123 riders at not getting to race today as there are 3rds who will wonder what might have been had we been able to race Dunsfold yesterday. But apparently Easter won't be this early again for about 80 years or something, so i'll be pleased just to spectate that race! The weather dampened my expectations of this weekend. I was most looking forward to getting another crack at the stage I nearly won last year at Dunsfold, but sadly it wasn't to be. And I know Paul was really only in the three day for the bunch sprint at Dunsfold , of course I would have been happy to have him come second behind me 
. But it seems I managed a reasonable performance on two hard stages that didn't suit me, so I'm happy. And I'm even more pleased that next time I sign on at a race I can put a little '2' next to my name 
