I don't know whether the forum would be interested or not, but i decided id do a little kind of story of my racing (or attempted racing). It will be a very simple run down of each race i do, not to do with training or nething, unless something fun crops up. But it also will help to motivate me to know ive got to have something to show for each race.
First race of the season started last saturday:
Springtime Pursuit #1 - 16th feb
The first race of the season is always a hard one as I just don't know how my legs are going to be going, and whether i will be able to even keep up with the pack. Luckily for me, I was put into group 3 (of 5) which allowed me to find my legs again before the Elite riders caught us and smashed me into the ground.
The first group were sent off onto their first lap (of 3.5 - each lap about 9.5miles in length, and finishing on the final lap by going up a nice mile long climb), the second followed one minute later, and my group set off a total of 2.5mins after the first. The next group was 1.5mins behind us, and the elites 1min behind them.
Eventual winner Tom Burke, from my club last year, sets off in the elite group
After half a lap, i decided id move to the front of my group of about 15, to start putting in some turns to try to stay away, or at least cause the groups behind some trouble.
After several turns, it was apparant the group wasn't going to work well with too many unfit older riders messing up the through and off, so after being left on the front for a minute, i upped the pace and got off the front for a mile until the group finally got their act together and started working. However, after this little dig, my legs, still not used to big ring yet this year, and the effort of racing at a constant high speed, were already starting to feel heavy, and this isn't even 2 laps in.
After 2 laps, group 3 (my group) had caught group 2, who had caught group 1. The elite group had caught the 4th group, and they were all bearing down on our large front group. By the half way mark of lap 2, everything had come together, and the pace went up. A LOT. The fitter riders were jumping around trying to get gaps and a break going. This continued for a complete lap, before 2 riders, managed to get away.
They would stay away for the remainder of the race, avoiding the road wide pile up, that i was behind. I managed to get back onto the group, just as it hit the final climb of the day. Its nothing compared to some climbs, and nothing compared to elite races, or overseas racers, but to me, with solid legs, it really was.
Tom Burke won the race, and i rolled in with burning lungs in about 40th place (out of 80). I was pleased for my first race of the season as i hadnt been dropped for once.
Profile of the Springtime Pursuits:
Second race of the season - Springtime Pursuit #2 - 24th Feb
Again, with some rather unknown legs i decided id go for it today, and just go through and off as much as possible. The set up was the same as the first Pursuit, with me being in the 3rd group again. This time though, there was an evil headwind heading out on the more downhill stretch, and a fast tailwind coming upto the climb.
Group 2 relented to our group pretty fast, but group 1 stayed away until even the elites caught us, and some had attacked off the front. Some of group 1 would never see the main bunch, and managed to stay away with the breakaway. (Impressive for 4th category riders - until i talked to them and learnt they just hadn't got any points as they'd been working for team mates all last year... in national races...)
I managed to do some pretty powerful turns on the front of my group, dragging it along with just 4 other guys willing to go through and off. So hopefully ill be able to find pictures of it lined out behind me B) Once the elites caught us (at about 4miles per hour faster then i was going) i dropped to the back of the bunch to hide! My legs whilst feeling tired, were better then last week, and i found it easier to hang around, even with the fast changes in pace and all the short little rises on the course. A couple of groups got away to form a big group of 9 on the last lap. Jeremy Hunt was of course in the breakaway... (id actually talked to him in the race without knowing who he was - he was wearing CAgricole kit and i thought he just didnt have any club stuff. It wasn't until after the race when my mate mentioned he'd been racing with Jeremy Hunt in the break i realised who he was...) the break stayed away, and with not enough race miles in my legs i couldnt get near the front for the climb, so managed to hang on by the skin of my teeth to the rear of the bunch. Having to overtake people all the time is nice, but not when there are still 40 people in front of you.
Ended up around about 40-50th again this week. Legs are starting to feel more like racing legs again, so roll on next week (when an extra lap is added in for more fun!!!)
Next races:
1st March - Springtime Pursuit #3 - 45miles
9th March - Thruxton Motor Circuit - 30miles
16th March - Evesham Vale RR - 56miles
Edited by rjc_43 on 28-12-2008 19:51
To be honest i think it'll be a good "story" only if i get some results, but hopefully it'll spur me onto to riding positively and attacking more then doing nothing because i have to write about it here Tom Burke isn't to my knowledge related to Steven no... I believe Hunt was at least top 2, not sure if he won or not - i wasn't anywhere near to be able to see
The final race of the series would be an extra lap today, taking the total mileage up to 41miles or so. With the increased mileage, the gaps between groups also increased, but unfortunately the turnout decreased, meaning a hard ride for everyone involved. Still in the 3rd group, i set off with about 11 others behind a massive 20 strong group 2 minutes ahead of us, 2 minutes ahead of them were a smaller group of about 8. The 4th and 5th groups were also small compared to previous weeks, with a lot of elite riders focusing on harder races (Severn Bridge tomorrow for example). The pace in my group was steady, and within a few miles, had settled down well into through and off. Once past the turn, and into one of the worst headwinds ever, the through and off was quickly falling apart. A few of us would keep it going, but after the half way point i got fed up and started putting in some bigger turns to actually try and get across to the group ahead of us.
A crash occured in our group (how when the group was 12 strong i dont know) and so one guy lost half his spokes from a nice set of carbon wheels ( ). At half way through the race, at the turn around the lowest end (see profile in first post) the 4th group had almost caught us. I decided at this point to take a breather, and missed 2 turns on the front (shock horror) after this little rest i was starting to feel really good, and was ready to return to the front when... i crashed. I know. the group had been shelled down to EIGHT riders, and the guy in front of me decided he'd stop. So i rode into the back of him, and down i went, taking one other guy who's screwed his shoulder badly. One guy decided he wouldnt run my head over, and so dived onto the verge, for which i was somewhat grateful. With the 4th group so close, i had no chance of getting into them, but with the elites a minute behind still, i prepared to get back on my bike (bleeding) because im hard core Which was when i noticed my front wheel was not in line with the handlebars... and the right hood was bent at 45degrees. So that screwed that idea up. End of race for me.
I rode to the finish, and waited to see the outcome of the lovely race (and to wait for the guys i rode to the race with). i have a video to put up in a bit, when U-Tube has finished processing it.
Race #3 done, crash #1 done. B)
Edited by rjc_43 on 03-03-2008 17:53
This would be a fast paced 10 lap race of a roughly 2.5 mile circuit. Finished in probably just under the hour.
Quite a flat circuit, with only one small hill, its probably the toughest circuit i know of though, due to the cross winds that whip across on the downhill section, making it string out, and if you're unlucky, pushing you off the circuit, or making you have to sit up to avoid going off.
The first lap i just sat in, making sure i was warmed up nicely. One guy attacked on the uphill part (into the headwind from hell) and was away still by the time it started to go down again. I attacked on the downhill, and caught up fairly easily. Started going through and off, but by the time we'd got to the flat, just past the finish, we'd been reeled back in. I sat back in at the front again as a team mate shot off the front for a lap on their own. They too were brought back. On the 5th lap, on the upwards section, an oldish man attacked, and so i followed, put in a strong turn, looked around and saw we had about a 15second advantage. We managed to maintain this, and another guy came across. By the time we hit the headwind and the uphill again, the gap had fallen a bit (the old man was WEAK!) and by the flat past-the-finish section, our group had grown to 7-8 of us. Another team mate was in the break, and as we just got caught, he looked at me, and nodded. Possibly the last thing i wanted to see, but still i attacked again on the downhill and got a good gap. By the uphill again, a group of 7 had caught me, so i sat on the back for about 200m before getting beeped at by the race car for sitting in the Elite race (whoops!) so i sat up and waited for 2 guys from my race coming across. We got caught next lap (penultimate lap) and so i sat in, thinking i'd attack on the last lap. However, due to the side wind, i was following the wrong wheels, and the guys in front sat up. So i had to then make up 150m into the headwind to get back to the main group. With a lap to go, i decided i wouldn't bother attacking, and i'd wait to see how i felt for the headwind section. By that point i was fairly tired, and so decided after an aggressive race i wouldn't bother sprinting either (which was a good thing, as there was a crash with 300m to go of about 15 guys).
All in all, an aggressive ride by myself. The first time i've properly attacked loads. My team was finally impressed by me, and so i think they are happy to let me ride the Ras this year (Welsh stage race - 6 stages over 5 days) in July.
Next week is the same race, but this time i hope to actually get a break to work
Results will follow when they get posted (some of my team got two top ten placings)
EDIT:
Results:
Place Rider Club Age Cat Disc Cat Rank Pts
1 Michael Groves Hargroves Cycles Over 23 3rd 10
2 Samuel McCurdy Promap Over 23 3rd 8
3 Jack Adams Pendragon Sports Under 23 3rd 7
4 Robin Didymus Fareham Wheelers Cycling Club Over 23 3rd 6
5 Stephen Knight Team Axiom Over 23 3rd 5
6 Ian PackerVelo Club MontpellierOver 23 3rd 4
7 Nicholas Mawson Swindon RC Over 23 3rd 3
8 James GriffinVelo Club MontpellierOver 23 3rd 2Edited by rjc_43 on 11-03-2008 20:17
"We all know that wasn't the real footage of the Worlds anyway. That was just the staged footage to perpetuate the coverup that it was actually Vinokourov that won the race."
Thanks The guy who i got a lift with got 3rd place in the race before mine, and so now he's moved up a category and has to race with me next week he says he's gunna come in the breaks with me, so it should stay away cos he's much stronger then me! (He's been training for 9 hours every weekend alone, plus all week day training too - he has no life )
A rather windy, rainy and total naff day saw a slightly smaller field of 60 riders in my race. With no team mates (as they are all off in Majorca training - gits.) it would be down to me to get a result if i could. (Ha!)
Due to the bad conditions, the race would be 8 laps out of the 10 normally. With 2 friends from University there, we had a master plan of a break together.
It was not to be however. After one lap, i was already feeling pretty rubbish, out of breath just sitting near the back, which is fairly unusual for me. My legs couldn't put out anywhere near my usual power, so i kept sat in for about 4 laps. Which is when i looked up and saw my two mates off the front. So i sighed, moved up the outside and launched possibly the weakest attack in the history of the sport, which surprisingly got me 50metres, and i only had 150m to get across to the two up front. They looked around, saw it was me, and sat up somewhat thankfully. I got across, and sat on the back. Usually after about a minute of sitting there, i'd be ready to go thru and off and nail it, but i just couldnt get my breath back. I was feeling pretty ill from the effort, and that wasn't disappearing either. So with a lap away, we all decided to give it up as it wasn't working. So back to the back of the group i went, where i sat for the rest of the race trying desperately to get enough oxygen in my body to feel alive....
Lesson of the race - don't wear tights when racing....
On a funny note, one of my mates won the race. He got in the break and stayed away. However, he later got disqualified for sitting on another race's breakaway. He was not best pleased...
Just wearing tights.... I hope neway. I have 5 weeks at home now to do a LOT of training. I don't think i have another race for like 3 weeks So lots of intervals and the such...
With no cold developing, i decided that id best get to some races to keep increasing my percentage of attacks per race! With this in mind, i went to a localish race circuit - Castle Combe - on good friday. With a field of 130 riders, the race was either going to be split apart by attacks, the wind, or crashes. Luckily for us all, no crashes occured in my race!
With 10 members of the club taking part, they all had great plans for the team tactics. None of which happened (typical!). So after just one lap of the roughly mile and a half long circuit, i followed a few attacks which came to nothing, as i thought they wouldn't. After this little show of kit, i sat in for about another 10 laps. Each lap would see another 5 or so riders being shelled off the back as the wind pushed them into the gutters of the track. With 8 laps to go, i attacked past the finishing straight, and got in a chase break as there were 2 more guys up the road. The 3 of us started working well and got a good gap. Stupidly one of the guys in our break thought we were going for the Prime at the end of that lap (I have no idea why he didn't realise there were 2 guys ahead of us) So with 200m to the line, he took off having sat on for half a lap. Needless to say, I and the other guy weren't pleased. A lap later, the guy who'd attacked had sat up, and a half lap later the other guy sat up. So i spent another lonely lap by myself before being caught by the bunch. So as is my usual tactic, i went to the back and rode around the guys getting dropped continually. By the end i rolled in about 50-60th out of the 130 starters.
Non of my team got a single place, and i rode the most proactively. On a positive note for me, each circuit race i do, and each break i get in, keeps staying away for longer, so soon i'll get in a successful break
I also recieved a lot of hand shakes from guys i know and club members' attached (wives, girlfriends etc) who all were cheering for me It's a good feeling - i think i'll keep my attaching style, it's great fun!
Next race is hopefully next weekend if i can get a ride and a lift to a race. If not, a couple of weeks. B)
Did he win the race?
The guy who i got a lift with got 3rd place in the race before mine, and so now he's moved up a category and has to race with me next week 
I hope neway. I have 5 weeks at home now to do a LOT of training. I don't think i have another race for like 3 weeks 
