Surrey League E1234 Handicap, Kirdford circuit, 5th Sept

My first handicap race took place on Sunday on the Kirdford circuit. It’s a great format – try to stay away from the marauding hoards behind whilst trying to catch the group in front! I had the benefit of going off in the second group with about 15 other 3rd Cat vets – the first race I’d done where my age had led to a slight advantage.

Light rain showers before the race made the surface a little greasy on the 10-mile circuit and some of the corners needed to be taken with care. The first three or so laps involved our group trying to work in an effective chaingang, although it became clear early on that we were carrying some ‘baggage’ in the shape of riders who didn’t want to keep the pace high or do too much (or any) work. I can’t really understand this – if you want to be towed round waiting for the E12s to catch up then continue to be towed round to the finish then why enter a handicap?

A Kingston Wheeler (No.19) and I did some long turns on the front, and at times were off the front of the bunch (not breaking away, but trying to keep the pace up) whilst on the long bumpy shallow descent I tried to grab clubmate Robin’s wheel wherever possible and catch a breather. We caught the 4ths up ahead about halfway through the race, then shortly after I sensed a lot of activity behind me in the bunch and lo and behold we had been joined by the chasing E12 bunch. Instantly the pace went up again and the real race began.

My role went from trying to drive the bunch to hanging on, and I found myself slipping futher and further back until I was able to settle and get a bit of a rest behind a Brighton Mitre guy who had been in our original group.

So what happened next? A predictable surge of pace up the hill on the penultimate lap combined with the rider in front of me dropping his bottle (this happens in every bloody race) caused me to slow and swerve, meaning I lost contact with the bunch briefly. I chased back on but the damage had been done – about 12 of us were off the back. We managed to keep the main bunch in sight for a short while but with so few working it meant we never stood much of a chance. The final lap was taken at a reasonable pace but we were loosing a lot of time on the main bunch, especially whenever the road went up, and we ending up rolling over the finish line 4 minutes down on the main bunch.

I enjoyed the race up until the final lap though, and it’s definitely a more interesting format than churning around in a huge bunch where everyone is watching each other. I have two of those types of races coming up though!