Sherpa Performance 40+ Masters Stage Race

Headed up to Colchester for a Masters 4 stage race over 2 days. Joe Horton from East Grinstead Cycling Club and I were staying in an air b n b to ensure we could be fresh for the races.

The format:

Day 1

Stage 1 – 8km TT

Stage 2 – 72km Road Race

Day 2

Stage 3 – 1 hour Criterium – anti-clockwise

Stage 4 – 1 hour criterium – clockwise

Stage 1

Managed a decent warm up and hit the time trial hard. A beautful route going over a causeway at Abberton Reservoir finishing on a hill up towards the Nature Centre. Lovely weather. Came in 4th place, about 5 seconds off the podium but first in the over 50s category.

Stage 2

A punchy road race, attacked too much. Was being marked. A few guys eventually got up the road including the yellow jersey who did a great ride. Declan Egan from Kigston wheelers won the stage. Steve Dunn in the over 50s also away and he was now only 7 seconds behind me in the 50+. I moved down to 7th on GC. In hindsight I raced this stage very badly, a couple of lessons learnt.

In the evening Joe, Noah Fairs and I popped to The Old Crown pub in Messing. Had a few pints of IPA and a lovely fish pie. When we got back Joe was keen for a glass of wine so we cracked open a bottle of red but kept it careful and just had one glass each. We justified our poor nutrition on the fact we are not professional riders, we are Masters racers and overall its about a bit of fun.

Stage 3

Race was quick, at about 15 minutes in Martin Smith who was 8th on GC went off the front. He was dangling for about 15 mins but quite a nice gap. A lull in the peleton and I chanced my arm and launched myself off the front. I didnt get marked and was soon on the back of Martin. We started to relay, as he had been out for a while I pulled on the headwind section for a couple of laps to let him recover a bit. A few laps later Andy Hastings bridged across to us. He is a very strong elite rider, but is quite small. So although great to have him to push the pace, not a lot of shelter behind him. Martin and I were trying to hide behind each other as both much taller. We worked really well and by the finish we had about 30 seconds on the bunch. Andy took the sprint and I got second place with Martin coming in 3rd.

This put me up to 5th place on GC and a bit more of a gap in the 50+.

Stage 4

Everyone was pretty beaten up after the morning. Was going to be tough to get further up on GC. I made a few efforts in the race to get away but everyone was very cagey. 4th on GC Andy Hastings had a go at getting away and got a good gap, but 3rd place Declan Egan put in a monster pull to ensure he maintained his position on GC and got Andy back. I would have then countered, but my legs were not happy. I ended up just marking out any moves and it finished as a bunch finish. I didnt contest and rolled in at the back of the peleton. Job done, 5th on GC and 1st over 50.

Hats off to the organisers who did a great job with collating all the results. Got myself a few beers as prizes and a little trophy for my toilet shelf.

Very enjoyable weekend of racing with lots of banter with a cracking group of riders.