This was a rather dodgy race for me. You time triallers out there are used to getting up at 5 o clock in the morning and then having a race. Well, my preparation for this race was the slight reverse of tt preparation. Going to bed at 5am after a night out in the fine city of Dublin and getting 4 hours sleep before a half day conference was probably not ideal. Although, I have been advised that in the old days, Alcohol was banned in hospitals, although Guinness was allowed due to its great properties such as Iron etc. So maybe my preparation was going to be fine.
On the flight back from Dublin I took the opportunity to catch up with 40 winks and to plan my race strategy.
As I arrived for the race I saw a few ACC riders lining up and I was to be put into a group with Keith and Jim B. There were also 3 Pearson riders and a tall lad from Corridori. We got set off after a couple of groups and I took my first couple of turns on the front. Now, normally I get annoyed with people that sit in on these types of rides, but I can tell you that the night before/morning preparation was starting to feel slightly ill advised. In fact my sweat was tasting like a concoction of Guinness and Lager, so not all things were too bad then but I had a gel before I started the race and it was not sitting too well.
Gulped down as much GO GO juice as I could to keep me hydrated and just sat on the back of the group. This was going to be a race of survival, I took absolutely no part in chasing after the first lap, I felt really guilty but I really was not feeling too good. One of the Pearson riders was also on the back with me and he seemed to be struggling a bit as well.
After a few laps we had caught up with the leading groups and Dom eventually got reeled in. As we came around the top of the course before the bridge that we go over a split in the group took place with about 6 or 7 guys pulling away from the groups we had caught. I was in the 2nd group and the 2 guys in front of me were trying to chase down the group. They were not having much success. I waited for them to cook themselves and then jumped them and managed to bridge to get back onto the front group. That was the only bit of exertion I actually put in during the whole race, I soon recovered just about, although now the rain was really coming down, although that was good for me as meant we rode around the corners a bit slower and I could keep up.
There were now about 8 of us in the group and we managed to stay away. Coming into the final hill and I was actually thinking that I should really try to win this. Unfortunately I was not in fine sprint form and missed the jump by the Corridori guy as I was a bit too far back. As I got onto the hill proper my wheels were slipping all over the place, trying to sprint up hill in the wet was not any good. Think my Schwalbes are a bit naff in the wet. Managed to overtake a couple of riders, poor old Jim who had dragged us around the last lap and came in a not so deserved 6th place.
Was probably the easiest points I have ever got, maybe I should sit in more often.
Have got a Triathlon this weekend so will mix my drinks up a bit more on Saturday night to see if that betters my Tri disciplines.
Cheers
Marek....