'That's racing' is exactly what I said to myself as I rolled
over the line in what turned out to be 21st place yesterday at the Brenig Road
Race. It wasn't much comfort though, having been part of a breakaway that
formed within the first 10 minutes of racing and only got brought back about 55
miles later.
The race, for Cat 2/3/4 riders, was described by some as
'savage' and by others as a 'brutality', with around 9 miles of largely unrelenting climbing
from the gun and a lumpy run in to some finishing circuits located about 10
miles from the bottom of the climb. With a team mate following an attack off
the front of the bunch within the first 5 minutes, I followed a subsequent
effort a little later on one of the steeper sections of the climb and we eventually
joined up with the leading trio. The eventual winner (Lee Baldwin) clipped off
the front of the bunch to join us, forming a leading group of 5 that was later
joined by a further 3 riders about 15miles later, bringing the total number of
North West riders in the break to 6. Considering we race and do chaingangs together
all the time-this was a promising development! The 6 of us worked well, but
unfortunately we also had a few dead
weights. It's fair to say we all missed a couple of turns to eat and whatever,
but when riders sit on in and do possibly 1/10th the turns everyone else does…well
it gets a little irritating. I can understand needing a rest after bridging a
40-60second gap up to a cohesive, organised group of 4, but surely after that
rest you should be able to do some work? To be at the head of a strongly field
of 2/3/4 riders, I would assume that you
are not inexperienced and used up your only 'shot' in bridging; I would also
assume that a prolific winner on the road/hill climb and time trial scene fresh
from multiple training camps abroad would be capable of doing more than the odd
turn. But that's racing I suppose!
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| The Original 4. I'm the one in blue with red shoes on...oh.... |
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| It was actually really windy and raining at this point. |
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| Fair to say the bunch wasn't hanging around! |
After nearly 2.5 hours away we were brought back, but it was
not for lack of trying. For almost all that time the gap had hovered around
50seconds, and it took a concerted chase from the group behind to finally reel
us in. Luckily, Lee Baldwin took the win regardless with fellow breakaway-ee Mike
Rawson getting top 5 as well. Nice to see them getting some decent money/points
for their efforts!
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| Break Ver 2.0, bug fixes required. |
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| I was taking it seriously, honest. I just don't like how everyone is like 'this is my super serious face, grrrrr' in race pics. |
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| Kit, Bike and Shoe Symmetry. |
Yesterday was without a doubt the best race I have ever done
(ok, excluding the RR I won for obvious reasons), actually racing from Point A
to Point B over some incredibly challenging roads was a unique experience-and
doing 88% of that out in front made it all the more special! However, I did not
get the result I felt I should. I felt stronger as the race progressed and truly
believed that a.) the break could stay away and that b.) I would get a podium
or the win. That's not post race 'shouldawouldacoulda', that's just hard
analysis of how I felt and judgments of how the others were riding. It is
difficult though, to be successful in road races you must commit 100% mentally
and physically. That in itself is not a problem, but I struggle to do that time
and time again with no apparent reward for said investment. That is why I have
done far more time trialling this year as, barring bad luck/mechanicals etc,
you get a representative result in a TT. The only thing standing between you
and the result you deserve is yourself and if you give everything then 99% of
the time it is representative. You can give 150% in a road race and get rolled
on the line by some chopper who sat in all day. But that's racing. To the casual
observer (and the BC points system) I rolled in unseen and in obscurity; but
then if you don't try how can you know what could have been?
Strava/Garmin stalk me to get an idea of what a day it was. Or just take my word it was hard ;)
Thanks for reading! If you got this far...
