This was my first ever Premier calendar race and I didn’t really know what to expect. The course was 162 km in length on a rolling open course. The race had a rolling road closure and with 150 riders on the start line including many pros it was always going to be a tough day in the saddle.
We set off HARD, the pace was drilled from the gun as the break tried to get away. I was simply trying to move up but with so many riders trying to get to the front I found it extremely difficult. The first 20 miles was a straight road to Caistor and with a cross tailwind and we were flying. There were points where there were literally 100 riders strung out in single file. I was in the gutter just hanging on.
After 45 minutes in the gutter we turned onto this single track road with gravel in the centre and I was too far back. I ended up having to unclip and basically walk up the climb sue to the volume of riders. By the time I got to the top, the riders at the front had gone and I was left chasing. They were still single file and I manged to bridge to the back, but as riders started dropping off I was forced to overtake and eventually couldn’t close the gap any more. Even when it was only a 5 m gap to close it was too far to bridge. The pace was too high.
I never gave up though and ended up in an autobus of 20 riders, including two bike channel canyon riders, a Raleigh rider, a Wheelbase guy and many other strong riders who were misplaced. Now I thought we might chill out once we were off the back but we didn’t. Getting torn apart by the crosswinds we were fully echeloned out across the entire road, just pulling turns. The effort I was doing was like I was in the break in a National B race, I just happened to be two minutes down on the peloton.
My issue was that we weren’t working well as a group, with a few riders not pulling turns. So when we got to the climb I raised the pace, hoping to shell the weaker guys. We dropped maybe five of them and pushed on. We just kept going and I was feeling better having got going so I kept pulling turns not giving up. After two hours of racing, at the top of the climb the second time up, the commissaries stepped out in front of us saying we were too far behind to keepracing. Naturally I was frustrated as I wanted to finish but we were 5 minutes down at this point so they cut us.
So how hard was it? Well in the first hour I averaged 27.5 mph and spent 40 minutes with my heartrate about threshold. Power was lower than threshold, but with descents and tucking in that’s to be expected. For me the hardest part was moving up on closed roads, I really struggled to find the room. It was also brilliantly hot, in my 2 hours of racing I drank four full bottles and was still thirsty. In all it was a hard day out and I’d have liked to have done better, I’m hoping to be better at positioning for Chorley next week and I’ll see what I can manage.
We set off HARD, the pace was drilled from the gun as the break tried to get away. I was simply trying to move up but with so many riders trying to get to the front I found it extremely difficult. The first 20 miles was a straight road to Caistor and with a cross tailwind and we were flying. There were points where there were literally 100 riders strung out in single file. I was in the gutter just hanging on.
After 45 minutes in the gutter we turned onto this single track road with gravel in the centre and I was too far back. I ended up having to unclip and basically walk up the climb sue to the volume of riders. By the time I got to the top, the riders at the front had gone and I was left chasing. They were still single file and I manged to bridge to the back, but as riders started dropping off I was forced to overtake and eventually couldn’t close the gap any more. Even when it was only a 5 m gap to close it was too far to bridge. The pace was too high.
I never gave up though and ended up in an autobus of 20 riders, including two bike channel canyon riders, a Raleigh rider, a Wheelbase guy and many other strong riders who were misplaced. Now I thought we might chill out once we were off the back but we didn’t. Getting torn apart by the crosswinds we were fully echeloned out across the entire road, just pulling turns. The effort I was doing was like I was in the break in a National B race, I just happened to be two minutes down on the peloton.
My issue was that we weren’t working well as a group, with a few riders not pulling turns. So when we got to the climb I raised the pace, hoping to shell the weaker guys. We dropped maybe five of them and pushed on. We just kept going and I was feeling better having got going so I kept pulling turns not giving up. After two hours of racing, at the top of the climb the second time up, the commissaries stepped out in front of us saying we were too far behind to keepracing. Naturally I was frustrated as I wanted to finish but we were 5 minutes down at this point so they cut us.
So how hard was it? Well in the first hour I averaged 27.5 mph and spent 40 minutes with my heartrate about threshold. Power was lower than threshold, but with descents and tucking in that’s to be expected. For me the hardest part was moving up on closed roads, I really struggled to find the room. It was also brilliantly hot, in my 2 hours of racing I drank four full bottles and was still thirsty. In all it was a hard day out and I’d have liked to have done better, I’m hoping to be better at positioning for Chorley next week and I’ll see what I can manage.