The Old Hutton circuit is a tough day out; this race was 8 hilly laps around 120km. It’s a tough man’s course and as a “tough man” I was well up for it. The race clashed with Tour of the Mendips in Bristol, the field wasn’t as strong as it could have been. My legs are in form now and with no big “hitters” the door was wide open for me to take the win.
I took lap 1 easy, getting a feel for the course, letting others attack and chase while I stayed hidden. We hit the base of the main climb starting lap 2 and I was right at the front. There were three guys up the road with a tenuous lead. As we crested the first steep ramp, I let loose and attacked. I didn’t look back but I got a little gap which got closed quickly. I surged past the trio up the road and kept the pressure on, stringing out the field.
I relented but stayed on the front at an easier pace not wanting to drag everyone along. It didn’t take long for an attack to go and I immediately jumped on his wheel. We hadn’t been followed so I got my hill climb mode engaged and drilled it. A substantial gap opened and we pressed on to stretch out the advantage.
A couple of minutes later a lone rider had bridged to us. The race had two primes on the 1st and 3rd laps. We were very close to the prime and I had a bit of a dig to take the prize. I thought I had it in the bag and eased before the line, only for one guy to nearly pip me at the line. I only got it by a bike throw.
Alas, I pushed on to get as big a gap as we could. Making us hard to catch anyway. My injection of pace caused us to split and we lost the rider who made the initial move. And then there were 2…
We pulled long, consistent turns for around a lap before a group of 3 got away from the peloton and bridged to us. We saw them approaching and eased up, on a course like this it was “the more the merrier”. And then there were 5…
The 5 of us kept pressing on and the gap grew to 35 seconds. It was around this point Will Brown from Ribble stopped pulling turns. So it was basically just 4 of us working. We were doing OK as a group but there were no bigger names there so I doubted how long we would last. We approached the prime on lap 3 and once again I made a move and was uncontested to take this prize too.
The gap extended out to 45 seconds and then a minute with 4 laps to go. It was looking set. I was feeling so good, and the win was there. With 3 laps to go, were started to falter as a breakaway. It was tired legs more than anything. Will Brown still just sat on the back. We got told the gap was down at 35s to a chase of 2 and 50 seconds to the bunch. It was touch and go now.
Pressing on hard still, a solo rider managed to bridge. He was the firepower we needed. Well I thought so, until we spat Ben Granger on one climb. The race was full gas now, they were chasing hard behind us and the gap shattered down to around 20 seconds. I didn’t know what to do, ease off presuming they’d catch us or press on? Press on it was.
As the gap was so small, two riders managed to jump across. Dylan Burne and Oli Rees, both solid riders and their firepower was exactly what we needed. It allowed us to apply some pressure and the gap stretched out again. I was obviously feeling sore after 7 laps away but still definitely had enough left fora full out effort to the line.
We entered the last lap and the gap was back over a minute. It was all set up now, this was 100% the winning move. There was less than half a lap left when suddenly my front wheel started squealing and I had a puncture. I just couldn’t believe it. There wasn’t even a neutral service car so I had to retire. I just can’t believe my luck this year. This is about my 8th race ending mechanical this season. I simply cannot catch a break.
Honestly, I was devastated, I felt so strong all day got no result. It wasn’t even that I’d been flukey to make the break, I set up the break on raw power alone.I got a wheel from the race commasaire and just rolled around in crying until I crossed the line. Just sick of it. It’s almost every single race I have an issue cannot catch a break at all.
I took lap 1 easy, getting a feel for the course, letting others attack and chase while I stayed hidden. We hit the base of the main climb starting lap 2 and I was right at the front. There were three guys up the road with a tenuous lead. As we crested the first steep ramp, I let loose and attacked. I didn’t look back but I got a little gap which got closed quickly. I surged past the trio up the road and kept the pressure on, stringing out the field.
I relented but stayed on the front at an easier pace not wanting to drag everyone along. It didn’t take long for an attack to go and I immediately jumped on his wheel. We hadn’t been followed so I got my hill climb mode engaged and drilled it. A substantial gap opened and we pressed on to stretch out the advantage.
A couple of minutes later a lone rider had bridged to us. The race had two primes on the 1st and 3rd laps. We were very close to the prime and I had a bit of a dig to take the prize. I thought I had it in the bag and eased before the line, only for one guy to nearly pip me at the line. I only got it by a bike throw.
Alas, I pushed on to get as big a gap as we could. Making us hard to catch anyway. My injection of pace caused us to split and we lost the rider who made the initial move. And then there were 2…
We pulled long, consistent turns for around a lap before a group of 3 got away from the peloton and bridged to us. We saw them approaching and eased up, on a course like this it was “the more the merrier”. And then there were 5…
The 5 of us kept pressing on and the gap grew to 35 seconds. It was around this point Will Brown from Ribble stopped pulling turns. So it was basically just 4 of us working. We were doing OK as a group but there were no bigger names there so I doubted how long we would last. We approached the prime on lap 3 and once again I made a move and was uncontested to take this prize too.
The gap extended out to 45 seconds and then a minute with 4 laps to go. It was looking set. I was feeling so good, and the win was there. With 3 laps to go, were started to falter as a breakaway. It was tired legs more than anything. Will Brown still just sat on the back. We got told the gap was down at 35s to a chase of 2 and 50 seconds to the bunch. It was touch and go now.
Pressing on hard still, a solo rider managed to bridge. He was the firepower we needed. Well I thought so, until we spat Ben Granger on one climb. The race was full gas now, they were chasing hard behind us and the gap shattered down to around 20 seconds. I didn’t know what to do, ease off presuming they’d catch us or press on? Press on it was.
As the gap was so small, two riders managed to jump across. Dylan Burne and Oli Rees, both solid riders and their firepower was exactly what we needed. It allowed us to apply some pressure and the gap stretched out again. I was obviously feeling sore after 7 laps away but still definitely had enough left fora full out effort to the line.
We entered the last lap and the gap was back over a minute. It was all set up now, this was 100% the winning move. There was less than half a lap left when suddenly my front wheel started squealing and I had a puncture. I just couldn’t believe it. There wasn’t even a neutral service car so I had to retire. I just can’t believe my luck this year. This is about my 8th race ending mechanical this season. I simply cannot catch a break.
Honestly, I was devastated, I felt so strong all day got no result. It wasn’t even that I’d been flukey to make the break, I set up the break on raw power alone.I got a wheel from the race commasaire and just rolled around in crying until I crossed the line. Just sick of it. It’s almost every single race I have an issue cannot catch a break at all.
