SERRL Edenbridge, Sunday 23rd May, 3/4 race. What a beautiful day for a bike race – warm, sunny, a light breeze, plenty of other Dynamos in the field, it should have been a good day. But it wasn’t. My state of mind is the problem at the moment with my racing and I was so far from being committed that I may as well have just sat the race out in the carpark.
The pre-race briefing started with the usual warnings – no straying over the white line, watch out for numerous parked cars on the course, there are loads of potholes, there’s a kids’ fun day which might result in some funny driving and additional pedestrians, etc. All of which makes you realise that road racing in the South East is a bit of an obstacle course.
The Edenbridge course is pretty lumpy – no major hills but enough steep little rises and long false flats to make things interesting. So, mile one, someone drops a bottle up ahead and the guy next to me rides straight over it, spraying me with some sticky energy drink – nice! I can’t remember the last race I was in when someone hasn’t dropped a bottle. Mile 4, and Mark has a puncture. Just as the pace is hotting up a bit, far from ideal. He got a spare wheel from neutral service and chased for the remainder of the first lap but made little headway on the gap. End of lap one and I’ve got most of the hills and roads sorted out in my mind, but I’m really not enjoying myself. Some of the riding is a bit iffy, but not too bad really, so I’m confused – why am I enjoying this so little? Lap two and I have no problems with the pace, but up one of the smaller climbs I take a swig from my bottle and let a small gap open up. Suddenly there’s four of us off the back – no problem, a little dig and we get back on. Then it happens again, and this time my head goes down – it isn’t the legs or the lungs that are hurting, but I don’t feel like trying any more. I’m sick of riding in the bunch and constantly worrying about the riders, the potholes that I can’t see, the oncoming traffic that must be struggling to see us all in the dappled sunlight down some of the lanes. So I let a bigger gap open up and reduce my speed a little futher. That’s it, game over. I wave the neutral service car past. Once the bunch is out of site around the corner I continue at my own pace until I meet another Dynamo who’s been tailed off - he looks very hot and tired. We work together for a bit, just for training really, but I glance back after a couple of minutes and he’s nowhere to be seen. Another few minutes in no-mans land and I can see a small grupetto in the distance of 6 or 7 riders who’ve been dropped by the main bunch. Right, I’ll catch them up if I can, just for the workout prior to going home. A mile or so of work and I’m sitting on the back of them. Elliot is in this group too, so there’s a little company. After a few minutes the rear of the main bunch comes into view. We catch them. I didn’t really want to. Pace seems to have slowed a little as we complete the second lap. But I’ve already given up, I see no point sitting at the back of this bunch for another two laps.
So I do the worst thing, I pack up. It’s the first time I’ve ever voluntarily dropped out of a race and it feels terrible. I need to develop a positive mental attitude towards racing if I’m going to continue…
Tuesday, 25 May 2010
Thursday, 20 May 2010
The Eel
“Most eels prefer to dwell in shallow waters or hide at the bottom layer of the ocean, sometimes in holes. These holes are called eel pits.”
Tonight’s race was a bit of a revelation. I’m pretty much done with Eelmore. Not only does it not really suit me (sprint, coast, corner, sprint, coast) but it is pan-flat and usually allows everyone to hold on in the bunch. Last night was the exception because a group of 7 riders got away and stayed away, but on the whole the race ends in a bunch sprint and in that respect is not unlike Hillingdon (except it is a lot safer). So it is all too easy to sit in my eel pit, hiding in the middle of the bunch and doing very little. Last night I put in one small dig off the front but it was pretty much doomed from the start – two others came across but we had a tiny gap and our legs were burning. The remainder of the bunch (by this stage the race-winning break had got away) were keen to chase down any further breaks, catch them and then slow right down, as is usual in 3/4 races. I don’t know what happened last night, as the pace overall was pretty fast from the off, but looking at the average it seems lower than other races at the same circuit. Irrespective of all that, it felt faster than usual, which might worryingly mean that my fitness is declining at just the wrong time. Either that or I just wasn’t ‘up for it’ – I certainly found myself getting a bit bored and irritated once the break had gone. Oh well, two large glasses of wine afterwards made me feel a bit better…
It’s a shame because Eelmore is a safe circuit, the riding is (generally) of a pretty high standard and the organisation is efficient and very friendly. But I know the difference between turning up with some ambition or turning up to throw another £10 at the organisers, and I have been consistently following the latter option. Maybe I’ll go back later in the season but for now I feel the need for some variety, which I’ll be getting with the Edenbridge SERRL road race this weekend. Well, variety in location in the country anyway, although I’ll probably still be hanging out in the eel pit near the back of the bunch. Have a look for me there and shout at me to move my arse!
Tonight’s race was a bit of a revelation. I’m pretty much done with Eelmore. Not only does it not really suit me (sprint, coast, corner, sprint, coast) but it is pan-flat and usually allows everyone to hold on in the bunch. Last night was the exception because a group of 7 riders got away and stayed away, but on the whole the race ends in a bunch sprint and in that respect is not unlike Hillingdon (except it is a lot safer). So it is all too easy to sit in my eel pit, hiding in the middle of the bunch and doing very little. Last night I put in one small dig off the front but it was pretty much doomed from the start – two others came across but we had a tiny gap and our legs were burning. The remainder of the bunch (by this stage the race-winning break had got away) were keen to chase down any further breaks, catch them and then slow right down, as is usual in 3/4 races. I don’t know what happened last night, as the pace overall was pretty fast from the off, but looking at the average it seems lower than other races at the same circuit. Irrespective of all that, it felt faster than usual, which might worryingly mean that my fitness is declining at just the wrong time. Either that or I just wasn’t ‘up for it’ – I certainly found myself getting a bit bored and irritated once the break had gone. Oh well, two large glasses of wine afterwards made me feel a bit better…
It’s a shame because Eelmore is a safe circuit, the riding is (generally) of a pretty high standard and the organisation is efficient and very friendly. But I know the difference between turning up with some ambition or turning up to throw another £10 at the organisers, and I have been consistently following the latter option. Maybe I’ll go back later in the season but for now I feel the need for some variety, which I’ll be getting with the Edenbridge SERRL road race this weekend. Well, variety in location in the country anyway, although I’ll probably still be hanging out in the eel pit near the back of the bunch. Have a look for me there and shout at me to move my arse!
Thursday, 13 May 2010
Elver race
Eelmore (again) last night. Sometimes I lack the enthusiasm to write a report, so to summarise:
Punctured about halfway through, got a spare wheel, rejoined, finished in the middle of the bunch. Pace felt a little faster but I had the same problem as previous weeks in slipping just a little too far back with 3 laps to go. Annoying. I’m losing patience with the Eelmore circuit and my inability to position myself properly during the end of races. Oh, and the fact that my sprint isn’t that good doesn’t help either.
So second race in a row where I experienced some sort of bike-related problem. I hope this isn’t going to become a pattern.
On a more positive note I managed to pick up a second-hand bike for my daughter on eBay for £10, which I picked up after the race last night. It needs a little TLC, and my daughter also wants the frame painted black. Sounds like I have my work cut out then!
Punctured about halfway through, got a spare wheel, rejoined, finished in the middle of the bunch. Pace felt a little faster but I had the same problem as previous weeks in slipping just a little too far back with 3 laps to go. Annoying. I’m losing patience with the Eelmore circuit and my inability to position myself properly during the end of races. Oh, and the fact that my sprint isn’t that good doesn’t help either.
So second race in a row where I experienced some sort of bike-related problem. I hope this isn’t going to become a pattern.
On a more positive note I managed to pick up a second-hand bike for my daughter on eBay for £10, which I picked up after the race last night. It needs a little TLC, and my daughter also wants the frame painted black. Sounds like I have my work cut out then!
Monday, 10 May 2010
SERRL Lamberhurst race, 9th May 2010
“Hello, taxi please to Wimbledon. What? Seriously, not for 45-50 minutes?”
Not what you want to hear at the end of a party at 10 past midnight the night before a road race! Luckily I hadn’t drunk too much, I thought at 3:30am as I lay in bed desperately trying (and failing) to get to sleep.
“Bzzzzzzzz”.
“Urghh. What? Oh no. 06:50 already? Right, that means it’s time for muesli. Urghh. One more small cup of coffee. Right, gear, bike, bottles, out the door I go. Urghh”.
Describing the lead-up to my arrival at the beginning of my first road race in over a year (Lamberhurst 3/4, 100km) goes some way to excusing my performance. I sucked, big time. Whilst I felt at no point that I was going to get dropped from the main, reasonably pedestrian bunch, I made no attempt to get to the front, did no real work, had no problem on the hills (well, slopes) but equally didn’t make up the places I should have, and retired after 50km with a mechanical. My rear wheel started screaming on one of the descents and it sounded really terminal. My initial reaction was to stop for fear of crashing – I thought the rear axle had collapsed and my wheel was jammed against the frame. I’ve since found out that it is a common issue with Mavic freehubs and it just needs some DIY love. Doh!
The course was good – about 20km per lap, several power climbs, a couple of screaming descents, a decent road surface for the UK after the winter (i.e. loads of potholes and a crap surface but nothing too awful) and excellent marshalling, motorcade and outriding. Good stuff SERRL – very impressive organisation. They even offered some free biscuits at the end (I didn’t take any as I was in self-loathing mode).
I did have the opportunity to watch the final two laps from the comfort of the neutral service car, which was really disheartening somehow. You would see riders in ones and twos slowly going off the back of the bunch, and would start muttering to yourself “come on, come on, stay in there, dig deeper”. Depressingly they usually drifted off the back and we shot past them with a few words of encouragement. One Dulwich Paragon guy was off the back on lap 4 as we went past him in the car but put in a massive effort to get back on over the next couple of km, only to drift off the back again at the next rise – such a shame but, hey, that’s racing I guess.
Anyhow, of my two Dynamo team-mates, Mike came 8th and Mark came nowhere, despite having done loads of work on the front. Next time...
Next road race is Edenbridge in a couple of weeks. Until then more work, more train travel to Bristol, more crits, more eBay bike purchases for the kids (one bike to go) and more sleep!
Not what you want to hear at the end of a party at 10 past midnight the night before a road race! Luckily I hadn’t drunk too much, I thought at 3:30am as I lay in bed desperately trying (and failing) to get to sleep.
“Bzzzzzzzz”.
“Urghh. What? Oh no. 06:50 already? Right, that means it’s time for muesli. Urghh. One more small cup of coffee. Right, gear, bike, bottles, out the door I go. Urghh”.
Describing the lead-up to my arrival at the beginning of my first road race in over a year (Lamberhurst 3/4, 100km) goes some way to excusing my performance. I sucked, big time. Whilst I felt at no point that I was going to get dropped from the main, reasonably pedestrian bunch, I made no attempt to get to the front, did no real work, had no problem on the hills (well, slopes) but equally didn’t make up the places I should have, and retired after 50km with a mechanical. My rear wheel started screaming on one of the descents and it sounded really terminal. My initial reaction was to stop for fear of crashing – I thought the rear axle had collapsed and my wheel was jammed against the frame. I’ve since found out that it is a common issue with Mavic freehubs and it just needs some DIY love. Doh!
The course was good – about 20km per lap, several power climbs, a couple of screaming descents, a decent road surface for the UK after the winter (i.e. loads of potholes and a crap surface but nothing too awful) and excellent marshalling, motorcade and outriding. Good stuff SERRL – very impressive organisation. They even offered some free biscuits at the end (I didn’t take any as I was in self-loathing mode).
I did have the opportunity to watch the final two laps from the comfort of the neutral service car, which was really disheartening somehow. You would see riders in ones and twos slowly going off the back of the bunch, and would start muttering to yourself “come on, come on, stay in there, dig deeper”. Depressingly they usually drifted off the back and we shot past them with a few words of encouragement. One Dulwich Paragon guy was off the back on lap 4 as we went past him in the car but put in a massive effort to get back on over the next couple of km, only to drift off the back again at the next rise – such a shame but, hey, that’s racing I guess.
Anyhow, of my two Dynamo team-mates, Mike came 8th and Mark came nowhere, despite having done loads of work on the front. Next time...
Next road race is Edenbridge in a couple of weeks. Until then more work, more train travel to Bristol, more crits, more eBay bike purchases for the kids (one bike to go) and more sleep!
Thursday, 6 May 2010
‘Eel meet again, don’t know where, don’t know when…
I missed Palace this week due to an emergency call to come home (ill children, luckily nothing too serious) so decided to go to Eelmore on Wednesday night instead. Hmmm, more sprinting out of corners. I did at least manage to get the HR up with a 3 lap breakaway with one other Reading rider, but it was doomed from the start – far too early in the race and no one came across to join us. As usual it seemed to be a slightly negative race, albeit fairly safe and well behaved. I found myself near the back with 3 to go, worked my way up, lost my position too easily and didn’t bother with the sprint, coming in near the back of the bunch.
Annoying for two reasons. 1) I should be able to hold my position in the final few laps far better by now, it certainly isn’t a lack of fitness that is the problem. 2) I hate having to scrub off all the speed going into a corner. And I mean all the speed, right down to crawling pace. I’m so wary of the cornering ability of some other riders and of the dodgy lines they take. One bloke was taking a fairly tight line into corners and then, on the way out when he had slowed a bit, taking a great looping sway across the whole track then swaying back in again. Ridiculous, he’d done the hard bit on the way in!
I think something changes in your attitude to risk as you get older, and it certainly doesn’t help bike racing! I have the SERRL road race this weekend (my first RR in over a year) and I can’t say that I’m looking forward to it. Hopefully the lumpy course will split the bunch early on and make for a slightly safer race than the last one I did, where riders were taking insane risks going round blind bends on the wrong side of the road…
Annoying for two reasons. 1) I should be able to hold my position in the final few laps far better by now, it certainly isn’t a lack of fitness that is the problem. 2) I hate having to scrub off all the speed going into a corner. And I mean all the speed, right down to crawling pace. I’m so wary of the cornering ability of some other riders and of the dodgy lines they take. One bloke was taking a fairly tight line into corners and then, on the way out when he had slowed a bit, taking a great looping sway across the whole track then swaying back in again. Ridiculous, he’d done the hard bit on the way in!
I think something changes in your attitude to risk as you get older, and it certainly doesn’t help bike racing! I have the SERRL road race this weekend (my first RR in over a year) and I can’t say that I’m looking forward to it. Hopefully the lumpy course will split the bunch early on and make for a slightly safer race than the last one I did, where riders were taking insane risks going round blind bends on the wrong side of the road…
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