This weekend was my first major race of the season, the Holme Valley Wheelers 2-day stage race. It was a National B
event and had some seriously good riders in it.
It started out with a 10 mile TT to split the riders up. The course was slow and hilly so pacing was very much required. The course started with a 2 kilometre descent before hitting a 6 km long climb then it mainly descended for the next 8km to the finish. My plan was to go easy for the initial descent and get into the zone, then ramp it up over threshold for the climb, hoping I’d have enough to recover on the descent to the finish.
This plan worked well and at the halfway mark I had caught my 30 second man and was looking at a good average power. My issue was that I found it hard to keep the power down when descending and I saw the average slowly dropping, I don’t think it mattered that much as I kept the speed high. I gave it what I had, which gave me the 35th quickest time. Considering there were a lot of TT bikes I was pleased with that placing, and with my normalised power of 378W!
In the afternoon there was an 80 km road race on the same circuit as the TT but finishing at the summit of the climb. Now this race was hard, I wasn’t sure how I’d be feeling after the morning’s effort so when I was feeling good I tried to get away on the first climb. In hindsight I regret this. With a couple of other riders I got a bit of a gap but everything was chased down. The rest of the race involved me tucking in and staying safe. After a while it became apparent that the race was being controlled by the TT winner with his team mates and literally every break got chased down, this meant it was full gas the whole race and riders were getting constantly shelled. Even on a 3 km section of narrow, potholed road it was game on; the pace was huge, with speeds in excess of 75 kph, everyone tucking in smashing the pedals, just keeping in touch. It was a real thrill but pretty intense, if someone would have come down 30 riders could have followed.
With one lap to go I just got distanced at the top of the climb but managed to chase back in on the descent. For the final lap I just tucked in and bode my time, I was expecting to get distanced again and I just wanted to delay that. On the final climb with less than 2 km to go the pace ramped up and I had nothing left to follow. I limited my losses and rolled in 22 seconds down on the tail of the bunch, exhausted. It took me a few minutes to recover while sat in the grass my bike resting next to me. I couldn’t get over how quick these boys were, there was no point where I was really competing and I was just hanging in. For that stage I finished 41st, meaning that literally half the field got dropped or had a mechanical, like my friend who punctured with 2.5 laps to go and chased the bunch for the rest of the race,rolling in 20 minutes down.
The third and final stage was 5 laps of the previous circuit, one more than the previous days. Once again it was full gas from the start, the first lap was huge, with about 20 riders getting dropped and the pace being driven with riders trying to break away. My game plan was to just stick in the bunch and see what I had left at the end, naturally I was tempted a couple of times and chased a couple of things down but I mainly stayed sheltered.
Eventually break of 5 strong riders got away and our pace settled down, I was comfortable with that and was feeling good, even climbing I was doing well. All until there were two laps to go when it blew apart. I was feeling a bit fatigued at this point so moved to the front of the climb meaning I could drop back a few places. Again with about 2 km to the top the pace got smashed, the current race leader made a move with some more riders and it just collapsed, I tried and I tried to stay with it but rider after rider passed me and my friend shouted “hang on” when he passed but I had nothing left. I got distanced with 500 m to the top. The course then goes into a steep descent and I chased in an aero tuck but they were going full gas and there was no way I could get them back on my own. I was gutted and I kept chasing them down for a whole lap before deciding to call it quits at the top of the climb with a lap to go.
It was my first ever DNF, I could have carried on and done another lone lap but I was well behind the pace and would have been fighting for 45th place. It was anticlimactic, there was no celebration at the end, no one to say well done you did your best. Just me alone wondering “how they are so good?” It was a moment I won’t forget for a long time and I know that it’ll be the root of my motivation for the next coming months.
event and had some seriously good riders in it.
It started out with a 10 mile TT to split the riders up. The course was slow and hilly so pacing was very much required. The course started with a 2 kilometre descent before hitting a 6 km long climb then it mainly descended for the next 8km to the finish. My plan was to go easy for the initial descent and get into the zone, then ramp it up over threshold for the climb, hoping I’d have enough to recover on the descent to the finish.
This plan worked well and at the halfway mark I had caught my 30 second man and was looking at a good average power. My issue was that I found it hard to keep the power down when descending and I saw the average slowly dropping, I don’t think it mattered that much as I kept the speed high. I gave it what I had, which gave me the 35th quickest time. Considering there were a lot of TT bikes I was pleased with that placing, and with my normalised power of 378W!
In the afternoon there was an 80 km road race on the same circuit as the TT but finishing at the summit of the climb. Now this race was hard, I wasn’t sure how I’d be feeling after the morning’s effort so when I was feeling good I tried to get away on the first climb. In hindsight I regret this. With a couple of other riders I got a bit of a gap but everything was chased down. The rest of the race involved me tucking in and staying safe. After a while it became apparent that the race was being controlled by the TT winner with his team mates and literally every break got chased down, this meant it was full gas the whole race and riders were getting constantly shelled. Even on a 3 km section of narrow, potholed road it was game on; the pace was huge, with speeds in excess of 75 kph, everyone tucking in smashing the pedals, just keeping in touch. It was a real thrill but pretty intense, if someone would have come down 30 riders could have followed.
With one lap to go I just got distanced at the top of the climb but managed to chase back in on the descent. For the final lap I just tucked in and bode my time, I was expecting to get distanced again and I just wanted to delay that. On the final climb with less than 2 km to go the pace ramped up and I had nothing left to follow. I limited my losses and rolled in 22 seconds down on the tail of the bunch, exhausted. It took me a few minutes to recover while sat in the grass my bike resting next to me. I couldn’t get over how quick these boys were, there was no point where I was really competing and I was just hanging in. For that stage I finished 41st, meaning that literally half the field got dropped or had a mechanical, like my friend who punctured with 2.5 laps to go and chased the bunch for the rest of the race,rolling in 20 minutes down.
The third and final stage was 5 laps of the previous circuit, one more than the previous days. Once again it was full gas from the start, the first lap was huge, with about 20 riders getting dropped and the pace being driven with riders trying to break away. My game plan was to just stick in the bunch and see what I had left at the end, naturally I was tempted a couple of times and chased a couple of things down but I mainly stayed sheltered.
Eventually break of 5 strong riders got away and our pace settled down, I was comfortable with that and was feeling good, even climbing I was doing well. All until there were two laps to go when it blew apart. I was feeling a bit fatigued at this point so moved to the front of the climb meaning I could drop back a few places. Again with about 2 km to the top the pace got smashed, the current race leader made a move with some more riders and it just collapsed, I tried and I tried to stay with it but rider after rider passed me and my friend shouted “hang on” when he passed but I had nothing left. I got distanced with 500 m to the top. The course then goes into a steep descent and I chased in an aero tuck but they were going full gas and there was no way I could get them back on my own. I was gutted and I kept chasing them down for a whole lap before deciding to call it quits at the top of the climb with a lap to go.
It was my first ever DNF, I could have carried on and done another lone lap but I was well behind the pace and would have been fighting for 45th place. It was anticlimactic, there was no celebration at the end, no one to say well done you did your best. Just me alone wondering “how they are so good?” It was a moment I won’t forget for a long time and I know that it’ll be the root of my motivation for the next coming months.
