So the road racing season is coming to a close and having just signed for a newly formed racing team I entered mylast road race of the year in Team B38/Underpin racing colours. The kit arrived last week, so to test it out I enteredthe final TT of the Tadcaster evening league the “Hilly 11”. I knew the roads really well and I knew my form was good, so I just smashed it as hard as I could all the way around. I set a new power PB by 8w for 20 minutes and then continued to hold it to the line. I wasn’t sure I could hold my pace, but I actually increased my power in the second half and set a new course record by 9 seconds.
Naturally I was pleased with this, but it was incredibly short-lived as my teammate young Kieran Savage crossed the line just 9 seconds after me to destroy my course record…
The next event of the week was my first open hill climb of the year. Four of us travelled up to Northumberland to take on the two stage North Tyneside Riders HC. The first climb was Winter’s Gibbet which literally has a gibbet at the top from the 1800’s. I set off like a man on a mission and rode harder than ever before, I broke my power PB for 7 minutes by just short of 50w and put out more than what I did for the national HC last year. I recorded a time of 7:15.9 which ranked me third; behind two teammates who beat me by 6s.
The second hill was a slightly shorter climb, which was steepest at the start. I fluffed it up a bit and didn’t go hard enough on that steep section, leaving me too much to make up over the top giving me the fourth faster time for both that hill and for the two combined. Again, behind three teammates. As it’s one rider one prize I did receive the Espoire’s prize which was nice.
The final event of the week was the Alba Rosa RR, only a 2/3/4 but it was on my local circuit so I knew the roads very well. My plan was to get into a breakaway early doors and hold it to the line, I was also trying to support my team mate Archie Cross who needed to get 4th or higher to get his 1st cat license.
The race started incredibly hard, with the neutral car sprinting up the first climb splitting the bunch. It all came back together quickly of course, but the precedent was set. After 2 laps, 2 riders had got off the front and got a small lead which got brought back reasonably quickly. After a bit of messing around and following attacks, I got to the front and drilled it, instantly distancing the bunch. I kept a high pace and the gap went out fairly easily which pleased me. What didn’t please me was seeing a sign showing 6 laps to go.
After half a lap alone, one rider bridged to me and we worked through and off, extending the lead. I felt like the stronger of the two but I liked the rest on his wheel so kept together. We had a couple close calls with cars pulling out on us, which was utterly ridiculous and I gave the driver a mouthful for being a dickhead.
After 3 laps they gap was shown to be 51s and they put a car in between us and the bunch, increasing my confidence for the win. It wasn’t to be however. Merely 5 km after the time gap was given a group of ten caught us, and the bunch caught them bringing it all back together wasting my effort.
There was another flurry of attacks and I was tactically a bit poor, as I followed my teammates moves a few times which helped neither of us. He had a word with me and a couple of minutes later he got off the front solo, chasing down a group of 4.
I spent a lap resting in the bunch, and like an Ogroid missed a 10 man break get away with 2 laps to go. The penultimate time up the climb that group was in sight so I had a dig to leave the peloton. 3-4 people followed and I wasn’t about to drag them so eased off and let a guy go on the front. He got something like a one second gap which I closed and then attacked again dropping the bunch leaving me solo with a 20 second gap to close.
I absolutely drilled it, my legs were screaming but the gap gradually came down. I was counting the time to the group wishing they’d slow and within ten brutal minutes of gradually gaining back time I caught them and settled in nicely. We worked through and off for the rest of the race but I could tell that a lot of the guys were knackered while I still felt good, regardless of my earlier efforts. I knew it was going to be a sprint from our group so I stayed in 5th position on the right, sheltering myself from the wind and as we came onto the final hill.
Some guys went early and I opened up when they did, only to have the door shut on me causing me to stall, then re-accelerate before opening up to come in 12th place overall in my last race of the year. Archie came 2nd giving him more than enough points for Cat 1, so a great end to a great week for the team.
Naturally I was pleased with this, but it was incredibly short-lived as my teammate young Kieran Savage crossed the line just 9 seconds after me to destroy my course record…
The next event of the week was my first open hill climb of the year. Four of us travelled up to Northumberland to take on the two stage North Tyneside Riders HC. The first climb was Winter’s Gibbet which literally has a gibbet at the top from the 1800’s. I set off like a man on a mission and rode harder than ever before, I broke my power PB for 7 minutes by just short of 50w and put out more than what I did for the national HC last year. I recorded a time of 7:15.9 which ranked me third; behind two teammates who beat me by 6s.
The second hill was a slightly shorter climb, which was steepest at the start. I fluffed it up a bit and didn’t go hard enough on that steep section, leaving me too much to make up over the top giving me the fourth faster time for both that hill and for the two combined. Again, behind three teammates. As it’s one rider one prize I did receive the Espoire’s prize which was nice.
The final event of the week was the Alba Rosa RR, only a 2/3/4 but it was on my local circuit so I knew the roads very well. My plan was to get into a breakaway early doors and hold it to the line, I was also trying to support my team mate Archie Cross who needed to get 4th or higher to get his 1st cat license.
The race started incredibly hard, with the neutral car sprinting up the first climb splitting the bunch. It all came back together quickly of course, but the precedent was set. After 2 laps, 2 riders had got off the front and got a small lead which got brought back reasonably quickly. After a bit of messing around and following attacks, I got to the front and drilled it, instantly distancing the bunch. I kept a high pace and the gap went out fairly easily which pleased me. What didn’t please me was seeing a sign showing 6 laps to go.
After half a lap alone, one rider bridged to me and we worked through and off, extending the lead. I felt like the stronger of the two but I liked the rest on his wheel so kept together. We had a couple close calls with cars pulling out on us, which was utterly ridiculous and I gave the driver a mouthful for being a dickhead.
After 3 laps they gap was shown to be 51s and they put a car in between us and the bunch, increasing my confidence for the win. It wasn’t to be however. Merely 5 km after the time gap was given a group of ten caught us, and the bunch caught them bringing it all back together wasting my effort.
There was another flurry of attacks and I was tactically a bit poor, as I followed my teammates moves a few times which helped neither of us. He had a word with me and a couple of minutes later he got off the front solo, chasing down a group of 4.
I spent a lap resting in the bunch, and like an Ogroid missed a 10 man break get away with 2 laps to go. The penultimate time up the climb that group was in sight so I had a dig to leave the peloton. 3-4 people followed and I wasn’t about to drag them so eased off and let a guy go on the front. He got something like a one second gap which I closed and then attacked again dropping the bunch leaving me solo with a 20 second gap to close.
I absolutely drilled it, my legs were screaming but the gap gradually came down. I was counting the time to the group wishing they’d slow and within ten brutal minutes of gradually gaining back time I caught them and settled in nicely. We worked through and off for the rest of the race but I could tell that a lot of the guys were knackered while I still felt good, regardless of my earlier efforts. I knew it was going to be a sprint from our group so I stayed in 5th position on the right, sheltering myself from the wind and as we came onto the final hill.
Some guys went early and I opened up when they did, only to have the door shut on me causing me to stall, then re-accelerate before opening up to come in 12th place overall in my last race of the year. Archie came 2nd giving him more than enough points for Cat 1, so a great end to a great week for the team.
