Saturday 15 June 2013

Brain Over Brawn - A Race Report 15 June 2013

Well, it's been about a year and a half since I pinned on a number so this morning was met with a bit of trepidation. However, after 25 years of toeing the line, once I parked the team car all the old habits came back but this time, without the pressure.
Instead of having to herd cats (organize my team mates) all I had to do was get myself prepared. Instead of organizing a master plan for every possible contingency I rode the course and came up with a simple plan involving me, myself and I.
The course was a 5km square (sort of) with a head wind along the back straight and a cross wind on the final stretch. It was about 400+ meters from the final corner to the line.
In the old days I would have considered attacking into the corner, driving the outside foot into the ground and carving a ridiculous final corner giving me a gap and momentum and then nailing it to the line for all I was worth.

Not today.

It was too far and I am too olde.

Instead I decided to mostly sit in, position myself about 6~8 going into the final corner and then it would be game on for the money.

Bang! We start and immediately a small group goes off the front. It's a pretty short race so this wasn't as silly as it seemed especially since they had team mates in the bunch willing to slow a chase.

We rolled around for a few laps and I stuck my nose in the wind a few times to blow out the cobwebs and to stir the bunch a bit so that the gap didn't get too crazy. It worked the charm and I managed to get others to keep the move in check.

Sure enough they came back on the bell lap and then it was 5km to go.

The wind had been picking up and I knew that the finish had a decent cross wind so I needed to come up early out of the final corner to get the inside position. This was no problem but it was all about getting into position before that.

I had actually been concerned about my pack skills since it had been more than a year since I'd ridden with more than 3 or 4 people but ten pedal strokes in and I was surfing to the front through the middle of the group, working guys off wheels and keeping myself sheltered.

Since we caught the break as we heard the bell the group had throttled back and was spreading across the road. There were a few surges but without someone taking control we ran the risk of going into the final corner curb to curb.

On the headwind back straight the pace picked up and I needed to work myself out, move to the outside and find a wheel to take me where I wanted to go. And I did. I saw a train forming on the right and I rode it to the front much to the chagrin of the sprinter I took off the wheel.

Going into the final corner I was 6th or 7th wheel. I popped up early and got the inside line. Then the sprint began in earnest. There were only 6 of us out of the 80 or so with a shot.

I stayed seated, hooked my thumb over the Campagnolo paddle and began spinning up the gear, shifting, spinning up and shifting again all the while sliding from wheel to wheel in the cross wind and towards the line.

I never even got out of the saddle.

Thursday 13 June 2013

Cough, Cough...a thick layer of dust.

I've had it in the back of my mind to update this blog but the reason I haven't gotten to it is the same thing that has kept me off the bike to a large extend over the last two years; A young son and a young business which are both huge time suckers.

Last year was the first year since 1985 where I didn't start a single race. Not one. And it was weird, really weird. Although I kept very busy with other things I had the phantom ache of something lost.

The business has grown up and my son is a little older now meaning I can carve out some time for myself again. It won't be the kind of time I had a few years ago but it should be enough to get reasonably fit and do a little racing.

To that end I have a short circuit race on Saturday. I am over-weight and under trained. Even though I may have dreams of jumping away in the last 200m for the win most likely I will spend my time hiding in the bunch hacking up a lung.

I just hope I don't embarrass myself...

If I can pull that off it should be enough to motivate me to train more. The good news is that at 49 yrs olde they have let me out of the Elite group (full of kids and Continental Team riders) and I should be sucking the wheels of guys much closer to my own age and ambitions. That should prove interesting.

Hopefully I'll be able to keep the rubber on the road and my lungs in my chest. That's not quite the mindset I'm used to racing with but I'm sure once the gun goes off reality will set in and I will be able to focus on my more modest goals.