My preparation for this race was not ideal. Just 12 hours before the race was due to start, I was topless and in the care of a paramedic in Albert Hall, Manchester. I’d been to a very hot and very intense gig and became so dehydrated I was beginning to pass out. This is no where near good enough for a national race.
Coming into this race I was on 196 points, merely 4 off obtaining my category 1 license. This has been a major goal of mine and I wasn’t under too much pressure needing to only come 17th or higher. I say only because I’ve been having a cracking season and haven’t been outside of the top 10 in a race (except Prems and a puncture DNF) since May. 17th was definitely doable, especially with the support of the formidable Cross brothers.
The final round of the North Wales Racing series was two large laps of a circuit with three times up a 4km at 4% climb followed by a summit finish up Horseshoe pass (reverse side). The final climb is roughly 2.5km at 6% and I was really backing myself to do reasonably well (>17th). The conditions were warm but annoyingly windy, it was a block headwind on Horseshoe pass, which would not be ideal.
After the night before and early start, my legs/body weren’t feeling great. I simply sat in the middle of the pack for the first assault of the climb and tried to wake myself up. The pace was quick but with 80 riders there’s such a draft I wasn’t under any pressure.
We crested and took an actual right hand turn! Before a very fast but gradual descent. There were a few probing moves and I did find myself off the front in a group of 6 or 7 but it was short lived. This move followed by a gel woke me up and I was on form from then on.
I was truly backing that it would be all together for the summit finish so I got back in the bunch and rested. This was when a group of 8 got away... I didn’t really see it go and had to ask “are there any hitters there?”. There were. Fortunately quite a few teams had missed the move, notably Cycling Sheffield. As we hit the climb for the second time, the break still had a 20-30 seconds advantage.
Cycling Sheffield got to the front and kept the pace sustained. Again, in a bunch drafting I wasn’t being tested. But the break was. By the time we crested they were within sight. Quite often the last 5 seconds is the hardest to close. No one wants to do the effort because they are so close now. I’ve seen breaks slip away like this before so I got to the front and pulled a couple of turns.
Whilst doing these efforts Eugene caught me up and told me that he’d chase and for me to rest for the end. I did just that and sure enough they helped bring the break back. This was now ideal for me. Several hitters had tired themselves out in the break when I was simply recovering.
In the kilometres approaching the climb before the summit I was well positioned and followed an attack by a very strong Louis Szymanski. He won this race last year in a solo move and clearly was aiming to do the same again. When I say I followed him, I followed Ollie Hayward and helped him bridge Louis. However we were followed by the bunch and our move was doomed.
Without actually making the bridge to him, I was brought back and our pace lulled. Louis just kept on his sustained attack and went out of sight. Shortly after this a chase group of 6 got established too but I missed it.
There were about 5km left before the main climb and I had a discussion with the Cross brothers. Archie has had an illness this season and hasn’t been racing much. He has a good 20 minute effort but no kick and decided to commit his remaining strength to me. Eugene also committed his legs. Our plan was for Archie to hold the gap to the break and not let it get too big then blow on the climb. At this point Eugene would ramp up the pace and make it as hard as he could until he blew. This would then lead me out with hopefully a reduced bunch.
Archie did a sterling job chasing. At first, the gap to Louis was 80s and 30s to the break. Before we’d even hit the climb Archie had caught the break but Louis was just ahead. I still sat in 20th wheel, saving what I could. Archie pulled off the front about 2/3rd’s the way up the climb, Eugene got on the front and raised the tempo. I saw this occurring and positioned myself into 10th wheel.
Eugene was still on the front as we were cresting the climb before horseshoe pass. He’d not split the field but had limited the gap to Louis and deterred any attacks. We got to the roundabout directly before the final summit finish. Eugene pointed vicariously at his rear wheel directing me to follow. I did as instructed.
There’s a short descent before the climb and Eugene pulled me directly to the front for the base of the climb. He started to carry out his final domestique effort as I sat in second wheel directly behind him. Waiting to pounce.
Having rested almost the entire 100km before this, I knew I had a hill climb left in my legs and I could feel Eugene beginning to fade. Just as we crested a steeper section, with 1.5km to go, I attacked. I felt like Froomedog on Ventoux. I’d had such an awesome leadout from the team and I wanted to back it up with a win. I gave it a solid 30 second attack before settling into a hill climb rhythm. I got into a nice gear, but when I looked back they were chasing. The peloton was lined out, they were really trying to catch me.
But they couldn’t.
They were close but I made the decision to keep attacking. I got my head down and kept in hill climb mode. I was going absolutely ham and with 1km to go when I checked back I had a significant gap. I carried on the assault.
With about 500m to go I caught the solo Louis. I yelled “how far to the top?” but he didn’t answer. I’m pretty sure he jumped on my wheel, but I was in the big dog and just drilled it to drop him.
I could see the bunch behind me, but still a ways away. As I turned the final corner with less than 50m to go, I was winning. The road begins to ramp up and I pushed on to the line. I was doing as much of a sprint as I could but I just got caught.
Three riders had attacked from the bunch and passed me with about 30m to go. I was so close.
It was a 22kph block headwind on the climb and this was my downfall. It was an almost perfect attack. I paced it perfectly, my effort was strong and sustained. I got the gap and held it but I was just killed by the headwind. Had it been a tailwind, or simply no wind at all, I would have made it. The chasers could remain sheltered for longer and still had a kick to sprint whilst I didn’t. I was caught SO close to the line.
At the finish all I could repeat was “I was so close, I nearly won”. I was so disappointing, literally pipped at the line. It wasn’t even a case that I’d gone too hard or too early and blown; it was that I’d been beaten by riders sprinting for the line. They were just faster at the end.
I really wanted a win this season and this was probably the cruellest loss. I almost won a national race. I just couldn’t pull it off. I just cannot seem to win this season. It’s the 4th time I’ve lost it in the last 30 metres. I don’t know how to fix it.
The Wiggins rider who came 3rd did 6.4W/kg for 4 minutes whilst in the bunch, so for me to do the same time solo into the wind I think it’s a fair estimate that I was doing around 440W. Even a low estimate of 420W is pretty good after 100km of racing and it’s very promising for hill climb season.
The 40 points gained from this race also upgrades me to category 1. Achievement complete!
Now I can start to transition into hill climb season.
Coming into this race I was on 196 points, merely 4 off obtaining my category 1 license. This has been a major goal of mine and I wasn’t under too much pressure needing to only come 17th or higher. I say only because I’ve been having a cracking season and haven’t been outside of the top 10 in a race (except Prems and a puncture DNF) since May. 17th was definitely doable, especially with the support of the formidable Cross brothers.
The final round of the North Wales Racing series was two large laps of a circuit with three times up a 4km at 4% climb followed by a summit finish up Horseshoe pass (reverse side). The final climb is roughly 2.5km at 6% and I was really backing myself to do reasonably well (>17th). The conditions were warm but annoyingly windy, it was a block headwind on Horseshoe pass, which would not be ideal.
After the night before and early start, my legs/body weren’t feeling great. I simply sat in the middle of the pack for the first assault of the climb and tried to wake myself up. The pace was quick but with 80 riders there’s such a draft I wasn’t under any pressure.
We crested and took an actual right hand turn! Before a very fast but gradual descent. There were a few probing moves and I did find myself off the front in a group of 6 or 7 but it was short lived. This move followed by a gel woke me up and I was on form from then on.
I was truly backing that it would be all together for the summit finish so I got back in the bunch and rested. This was when a group of 8 got away... I didn’t really see it go and had to ask “are there any hitters there?”. There were. Fortunately quite a few teams had missed the move, notably Cycling Sheffield. As we hit the climb for the second time, the break still had a 20-30 seconds advantage.
Cycling Sheffield got to the front and kept the pace sustained. Again, in a bunch drafting I wasn’t being tested. But the break was. By the time we crested they were within sight. Quite often the last 5 seconds is the hardest to close. No one wants to do the effort because they are so close now. I’ve seen breaks slip away like this before so I got to the front and pulled a couple of turns.
Whilst doing these efforts Eugene caught me up and told me that he’d chase and for me to rest for the end. I did just that and sure enough they helped bring the break back. This was now ideal for me. Several hitters had tired themselves out in the break when I was simply recovering.
In the kilometres approaching the climb before the summit I was well positioned and followed an attack by a very strong Louis Szymanski. He won this race last year in a solo move and clearly was aiming to do the same again. When I say I followed him, I followed Ollie Hayward and helped him bridge Louis. However we were followed by the bunch and our move was doomed.
Without actually making the bridge to him, I was brought back and our pace lulled. Louis just kept on his sustained attack and went out of sight. Shortly after this a chase group of 6 got established too but I missed it.
There were about 5km left before the main climb and I had a discussion with the Cross brothers. Archie has had an illness this season and hasn’t been racing much. He has a good 20 minute effort but no kick and decided to commit his remaining strength to me. Eugene also committed his legs. Our plan was for Archie to hold the gap to the break and not let it get too big then blow on the climb. At this point Eugene would ramp up the pace and make it as hard as he could until he blew. This would then lead me out with hopefully a reduced bunch.
Archie did a sterling job chasing. At first, the gap to Louis was 80s and 30s to the break. Before we’d even hit the climb Archie had caught the break but Louis was just ahead. I still sat in 20th wheel, saving what I could. Archie pulled off the front about 2/3rd’s the way up the climb, Eugene got on the front and raised the tempo. I saw this occurring and positioned myself into 10th wheel.
Eugene was still on the front as we were cresting the climb before horseshoe pass. He’d not split the field but had limited the gap to Louis and deterred any attacks. We got to the roundabout directly before the final summit finish. Eugene pointed vicariously at his rear wheel directing me to follow. I did as instructed.
There’s a short descent before the climb and Eugene pulled me directly to the front for the base of the climb. He started to carry out his final domestique effort as I sat in second wheel directly behind him. Waiting to pounce.
Having rested almost the entire 100km before this, I knew I had a hill climb left in my legs and I could feel Eugene beginning to fade. Just as we crested a steeper section, with 1.5km to go, I attacked. I felt like Froomedog on Ventoux. I’d had such an awesome leadout from the team and I wanted to back it up with a win. I gave it a solid 30 second attack before settling into a hill climb rhythm. I got into a nice gear, but when I looked back they were chasing. The peloton was lined out, they were really trying to catch me.
But they couldn’t.
They were close but I made the decision to keep attacking. I got my head down and kept in hill climb mode. I was going absolutely ham and with 1km to go when I checked back I had a significant gap. I carried on the assault.
With about 500m to go I caught the solo Louis. I yelled “how far to the top?” but he didn’t answer. I’m pretty sure he jumped on my wheel, but I was in the big dog and just drilled it to drop him.
I could see the bunch behind me, but still a ways away. As I turned the final corner with less than 50m to go, I was winning. The road begins to ramp up and I pushed on to the line. I was doing as much of a sprint as I could but I just got caught.
Three riders had attacked from the bunch and passed me with about 30m to go. I was so close.
It was a 22kph block headwind on the climb and this was my downfall. It was an almost perfect attack. I paced it perfectly, my effort was strong and sustained. I got the gap and held it but I was just killed by the headwind. Had it been a tailwind, or simply no wind at all, I would have made it. The chasers could remain sheltered for longer and still had a kick to sprint whilst I didn’t. I was caught SO close to the line.
At the finish all I could repeat was “I was so close, I nearly won”. I was so disappointing, literally pipped at the line. It wasn’t even a case that I’d gone too hard or too early and blown; it was that I’d been beaten by riders sprinting for the line. They were just faster at the end.
I really wanted a win this season and this was probably the cruellest loss. I almost won a national race. I just couldn’t pull it off. I just cannot seem to win this season. It’s the 4th time I’ve lost it in the last 30 metres. I don’t know how to fix it.
The Wiggins rider who came 3rd did 6.4W/kg for 4 minutes whilst in the bunch, so for me to do the same time solo into the wind I think it’s a fair estimate that I was doing around 440W. Even a low estimate of 420W is pretty good after 100km of racing and it’s very promising for hill climb season.
The 40 points gained from this race also upgrades me to category 1. Achievement complete!
Now I can start to transition into hill climb season.
This is a comparison of the time between me (black line) and the peloton behind. You can see how I get a gap of10/11 seconds at one point and then how much they claw back by sprinting the last 50m.
