Yesterday's Race
Today I was also supposed to be riding the 'Hell of the Ashdown' sportive in and around the Kent countryside - fears over the conditions and ice that might be present put paid to my lift out to the start. I only mention this as riding that today was my driver to determine my race strategy yesterday as I wanted to remain fresh enough to get through the Hell in a decent (preferably Gold standard) time. This meant for almost all of the race yesterday I sat in and did nothing. A rarity for me as I usually do a fair amount on the front, and occasionally find myself having a pop at a (usually unsuccessful) break.
On that basis, for the first 30mins of the race there is basically nothing at all to report. The last 10 minutes or so were a little more interesting...
At 30 mins gone I decided it was time to work my way towards the front of the field - that 3-lap board always appears sooner than you think and if you're not near the front you're sure to panic and do yourself no favours. It was at about this time that a break got away, and in a very short space of time they'd amounted a decent gap. A couple of laps later and I could sense that it was looking like quite a decisive break and I was beginning to think I was watching my much-needed points ride off into the distance.
Time to switch on.
A few others clearly had the same thought as there was a concerted (and very well controlled) effort from the front of the field to reel them back in. About 8 of us were actually working quite well on the front, and in doing so had strung the field out quite nicely behind.
3-lap board. We were now catching the break and pulling them back in quite easily, but as we went up the hill heading towards the end of the lap there was a bit of shouting over my left shoulder - I didn't see what happened but my wheel got clipped and some rather unpleasant noises ensued. Not good.
At the end of the penultimate lap we had caught the break, but the work to do so had taken it's toll and I had to sit in and recover as much as possible for the two-thirds of the lap that were available to me prior to winding it up for my sprint. Down the back straight I had a mate in front who had also worked to pull the break back. I was shouting at him to keep his place and push on - we were both in a good position on the final two bends.
And then the final corner, all hell breaks loose...
Racing through my mind are thoughts of my current position: "I'm guaranteed a top ten placing here... don't wind it up for the sprint too early... but don't go too late... damn, those guys at the front might just be out of reach... I'm penned in, what can I do?!".
Pic copyright of British Cycling - that's me second from the left (bizarrely everyone else is sprinting seated!)
We were driving up the left side of the climb when a gap opened up going through the kink. I crossed the track to the right side, shouted at a couple of others not to move off their line and promptly turned myself inside out trying to catch the top four.
I think I bagged fifth place but at the time of writing the Imperial website is yet to be updated, and I was too out of breath to speak to the guys in race control! I'll confirm back as soon as I know more...
Lucy Collins and the guys who run this Hillingdon series cannot get enough praise for their efforts and I'm sure I speak for everyone who has, does and will race here when I say a whole-hearted thank you to them for putting this on every week. It really is a fantastic introduction to racing for us lowly 4th Cats, and is a great early season warm-up and form guide for those in the higher categories. If you've ever thought about racing but haven't got around to it mark Hillingdon down as a start point. I believe they run a mid-week summer series on a Tuesday evening too.
I hope those who didn't survive the race unscathed are not too seriously injured, and wishing you a speedy recovery.