The first race of the year is always a nervy affair. Fortunately, I had a delightful edition of Milan San Remo to keep me occupied on Saturday. Sadly, another race won by Quickstep (I’ll just leave this here…. http://www.cyclismas.com/biscuits/so-just-who-is-dr-jose-ibarguren-taus/)
Anyways back to the race. The Pullar Coaching road race was 6 laps totaling 120km on the very flat Cockerham circuit. Cockerham is directly next to the coast and the wind was roaring giving some decidedly harsh racing conditions. As you can see from the screenshot below from the website mywindsock (one of our sponsors) there was a long stretch of block headwind and followed by a long stretch of block tailwind. The wind was by far the biggest deciding factor of the race.
Anyways back to the race. The Pullar Coaching road race was 6 laps totaling 120km on the very flat Cockerham circuit. Cockerham is directly next to the coast and the wind was roaring giving some decidedly harsh racing conditions. As you can see from the screenshot below from the website mywindsock (one of our sponsors) there was a long stretch of block headwind and followed by a long stretch of block tailwind. The wind was by far the biggest deciding factor of the race.
The racing scene in the North is mixed at the moment, there aren’t many races going so everyone local is entering the best ones. The organisers have been picking the highest caliber of rider. This meant the field was stacked, Ian Bibby was probably the biggest name. Multiple prem winner he is a cut above on his day. Team Ribble also had 7 riders there, so I took some expert advice from former pro Josh Hunt. He said it was likely they’d get 2 in a break first lap and then chase everything down. I took note of this and was vigilant to mark them as we set off.
As usual, the first 5 miles was fast, plenty of attacks for various riders. I followed the odd one here and there but I’m pretty sure I got countered by what turned out to be the winning break. Just as Josh predicted, the break went first lap with 2 Ribble riders.
The headwind was hard so I tried to stay hidden but struggled to tuck in at times and kept trying to move up when I should have settled further back. Thanks to mywindsock.com, I knew the conditions and as we hit the sharp corner into the tailwind, I made the effort to sprint to the front making my job easier in the wind.
It was not easy in the tailwind. We averaged 48.5kph for the 10 minute straight and sat in like 5th wheel I averaged 320W. But the bunch barely split and I was just wasting energy helping to drive it.
Through the next lap, the three Madison Genesis riders sat on the front pulling turns into the headwind. Once again as we hit the tailwind I surged to the front, I think I was even in first wheel out of the corner? But pulled off quickly. We hit the tailwind extremely hard this lap. We averaged 50.4 kph and 334W. I was dying! I just kept with it, sticking on the biggest guy I could find’s wheel and praying he wouldn’t let a gap open. I just remember it being full gas.
The bunch kept splitting and regrouping but nothing meaningful yet. I was really well positioned throughout, just towards the front but casually avoiding the front when I could. I was forced to pull the odd turn and got coaxed into chasing several moves when I should have held my cool.
The race kept going like this, headwind : no one works except for kamikaze attacks. Tailwind: fucking mental. Groups splitting and regrouping.
This was until lap 4 when the group properly split. A chase group of 4/5 got away, again I think they countered me but I got into a second chase with Ian Bibby, Alex Dalton and one other. We were hammering it into the taily but after several minutes into the red, got brought back. This injection of pace thoroughly broke the group and there was a peloton of about 20 riders now.
This would be good but when the group is so large no one wants to work and after maybe 20 minutes of this we all regrouped.
Now onto lap 5 and I was feeling it the distance. I’d had great legs so far but was beginning to cramp up when I got out of the saddle. Into the headwind the peloton eased its pace and some attacks went. I did keep following and bridging to what I thought were good moves but I kept getting brought back and was just wasting energy.
And then we hit the tailwind. My legs had had enough. The group splintered with the wind and I was in a small chase group of 4. We were going for about 10-15th place but I was wrecked and started to miss turns. A chase group of 3 caught us up, so I sat on. But eventually my legs gave in with 1 lap to go.
I ended up fighting the wind in a small group of weaker riders but was just shagged out and sat on before getting spat and then riding to the finish with Glen Hale who’d cramped up and had to get off.
Throughout the race I was just being stupid. For the first hour I averaged 6 beats below threshold and 316W. I don’t know what I was thinking. I was just being a dickhead and chasing everything. Need to get my racing brain in gear.
Pretty upset to be honest. I just need some racing to get back into it. Let’s see how I do at Capernwray next week. Get my skeleton up some bergs.
P.S. note to self. Make sure I tighten my bottle cage so it doesn’t fall off.
As usual, the first 5 miles was fast, plenty of attacks for various riders. I followed the odd one here and there but I’m pretty sure I got countered by what turned out to be the winning break. Just as Josh predicted, the break went first lap with 2 Ribble riders.
The headwind was hard so I tried to stay hidden but struggled to tuck in at times and kept trying to move up when I should have settled further back. Thanks to mywindsock.com, I knew the conditions and as we hit the sharp corner into the tailwind, I made the effort to sprint to the front making my job easier in the wind.
It was not easy in the tailwind. We averaged 48.5kph for the 10 minute straight and sat in like 5th wheel I averaged 320W. But the bunch barely split and I was just wasting energy helping to drive it.
Through the next lap, the three Madison Genesis riders sat on the front pulling turns into the headwind. Once again as we hit the tailwind I surged to the front, I think I was even in first wheel out of the corner? But pulled off quickly. We hit the tailwind extremely hard this lap. We averaged 50.4 kph and 334W. I was dying! I just kept with it, sticking on the biggest guy I could find’s wheel and praying he wouldn’t let a gap open. I just remember it being full gas.
The bunch kept splitting and regrouping but nothing meaningful yet. I was really well positioned throughout, just towards the front but casually avoiding the front when I could. I was forced to pull the odd turn and got coaxed into chasing several moves when I should have held my cool.
The race kept going like this, headwind : no one works except for kamikaze attacks. Tailwind: fucking mental. Groups splitting and regrouping.
This was until lap 4 when the group properly split. A chase group of 4/5 got away, again I think they countered me but I got into a second chase with Ian Bibby, Alex Dalton and one other. We were hammering it into the taily but after several minutes into the red, got brought back. This injection of pace thoroughly broke the group and there was a peloton of about 20 riders now.
This would be good but when the group is so large no one wants to work and after maybe 20 minutes of this we all regrouped.
Now onto lap 5 and I was feeling it the distance. I’d had great legs so far but was beginning to cramp up when I got out of the saddle. Into the headwind the peloton eased its pace and some attacks went. I did keep following and bridging to what I thought were good moves but I kept getting brought back and was just wasting energy.
And then we hit the tailwind. My legs had had enough. The group splintered with the wind and I was in a small chase group of 4. We were going for about 10-15th place but I was wrecked and started to miss turns. A chase group of 3 caught us up, so I sat on. But eventually my legs gave in with 1 lap to go.
I ended up fighting the wind in a small group of weaker riders but was just shagged out and sat on before getting spat and then riding to the finish with Glen Hale who’d cramped up and had to get off.
Throughout the race I was just being stupid. For the first hour I averaged 6 beats below threshold and 316W. I don’t know what I was thinking. I was just being a dickhead and chasing everything. Need to get my racing brain in gear.
Pretty upset to be honest. I just need some racing to get back into it. Let’s see how I do at Capernwray next week. Get my skeleton up some bergs.
P.S. note to self. Make sure I tighten my bottle cage so it doesn’t fall off.
