Benenden/Sandhurst 2,3,4

[Marek]

This was my first road race for some time as had been busy with holidays and Triathlon stuff more recently so was feeling pretty nervous about my chances of finishing, let alone being competitive. Last weekend I was in Poland with 2 4am finishes and enough Vodka to satisfy a Russian Cossack I was not sure that I would be in a good place in this race. Thankfully I managed to get a commute in on Friday which I think was enough to wake up my system, although the 2 glasses of red and unlimited French Fries with my steak in Rowleys was not the best prep for the commute home.

This was to be 6 laps of a 10.7 mile circuit. The circuit has a couple of little lumps in it, but nothing to get too worried about. It also has some long fast flat sections and very quick downhill parts which suit me. At 9.30am we headed off after the briefing, was a full field of around 60 riders with a few decent looking second cats looking to get final points for promotion to 1st cat. I decided to take it easy due to being unsure of my form and settled in mid pack and got dragged around. For the first 3 laps or so nothing really happened, there were the odd attacks, but the speed of the peleton was high enough to snuff out these attacks quite early on. Halfway around the 3rd lap the peleton almost stopped, at this point a couple of guys wisely chipped off the front, I thought that they would be back soon enough and decided to stay where I was. The peleton gradually started to wind back up to race speed but the two leaders were out of sight by now so we did not seem to ensue a real chase.

Onto the 5th lap and I was feeling quite fresh, had not really done anything the whole race so decided that on the slight rise before a long fast flat section to start to move up towards the front. I was right at the back and started to whip up the Cervelo to full speed and as we crested the slight rise onto the flat I had great momentum and went flying past the whole peleton and got a good gap. A couple of others had just chipped off the front as well and one other rider managed to catch my wheel as I went past the peleton. I caught up with the two up ahead and we started to work together.

We had a really good gap and all was going well until we hit the hill where the lap board and finish line was. I went backwards. I still had a good gap on the peleton, but the 3 riders I were with had a lot more to give on the hill than I did. I came over the line with a reasonable gap and the bell went. I decided it was futile to carry on on my own as I was clearly not in good enough form to stay away so I waited for the peleton. I went to the back and hid. And that was it really, I don't know whether we caught the other 3 riders, I think we did, but the 2 that got away early managed to stay away. Into the sprint up the finishing hill and I did not really have enough to go up and contest so just rolled over the line mid pack.

Really enjoyed the race, felt quite good throughout and although did not have quite enough at the end am pretty pleased that at least I was able to get in a couple of moves, just need to lose a few more kilos of Polish kiebasa from my waist and hopefully the hills will be a little bit easier.

Cheers

Marek....

[Sylv]

The late night vodka and chips excuses, the doomed power-surge attacks, somethings never change with you Marek

[Marek]

Hey, at least I waited to attack until a bit later into the race. Sylv see you have been doing a little bit of hill training recently, are you going to set a new Boxhill time sometime soon?

Cheers

Marek....

[Sylv]

Only teasing
Yes as soon as I receive my new (2nd hand) climbing wheels I'll head over there to see if just under 800gm of rotating weight loss can help get me up there in under 5"30 (no power file this time sorry ben)

Oh and I'll also be saving 85gm by not using my custom footbeds

[Keith]

[quote="Marek"]
For the first 3 laps or so nothing really happened,

...

Hey, at least I waited to attack until a bit later into the race.

[Andrew G]

[quote="Sylv"]I'll head over there to see if just under 800gm of rotating weight ...Oh and I'll also be saving 85gm by not using my custom footbeds

[Sylv]

[quote="Andrew G"]Bec HC you'll be going up starkers in all your efforts to save weight.

[Toks]

[quote="Marek"]This was my first road race for some time as had been busy with holidays and Triathlon stuff more recently so was feeling pretty nervous about my chances of finishing, let alone being competitive. Last weekend I was in Poland with 2 4am finishes and enough Vodka to satisfy a Russian Cossack I was not sure that I would be in a good place in this race. Thankfully I managed to get a commute in on Friday which I think was enough to wake up my system, although the 2 glasses of red and unlimited French Fries with my steak in Rowleys was not the best prep for the commute home.

[Rob W]

Well done for the effort.