Finally - a decent road race!

On Saturday, I headed down to the new Hogs Hill circuit in London to try it out before the season really kicks off. There was a 4th only, then a 3/4 and then an E/1/2/3 race, which was the one I entered. As we lined up, I was surprised and also a tad pleased at how few of us there were; the points in this National B race would go 15 deep, and with 15 starters I therefore would at least get one!

I was fortunate to be racing at all - I left home, planning to arrive two hours early. I got moderately lost in London, and there was loads of traffic. By the time I arrived, I had about an hour... but you can imagine what it would have been like had I followed my usual routine of arriving just one hour early!

I also planned on warming up on rollers, Ipod and race face on, in order to intimidate the opposition. The car park was deep gravel and located on the side of a hill, so to find somewhere to set them up would have meant a several minute walk hence I abandoned this plan pretty quickly.

Immediately as we started someone shot off the front and quickly built up a 400 metre lead. However, I had vowed to myself not to go with foolish breakaways, which is exactly what this looked like... the guy was also a bit old-looking and his bike was a bit crappy so I left him to cook out the front. Indeed, he was eventually reeled in without the bunch increasing its effort at all.

A few others tried to set off on attacks, but they didn't commit themselves enough and were also caught. Following a series of these, a quick-looking guy charged off the front on a very nice bike. I quickly thought to myself 'oh well - this track has always ended in breakaways rather than bunch sprints, and this guy looks faster than most the others', and I sprinted off the front to join him in a 2-up.

We built up a lead without going stupidly hard - we worked well together and the gap was increasing every lap. Finally, with five laps to go, it was obvious we had the race nailed. But, being a crap sprinter, how was I to drop him?

This is where I screwed up. Just as I crested the main hill behind him, I sprinted past hoping to open up a gap around a technical left hander which he had been hesitating around previously. Unfortunately, I just didn't go hard enough and mentally I had already come second. I went hard until we got back to the hill leading up to the finish where I slowed a bit waiting for the inevitable.

About 300 metres from the finish, he accelerated massively hard off to my right.  I swung over and tried to follow, but it was obvious my legs were dead. "Chase him!" Shouted a spectator, such was the crappiness of my sprint.

Overal, I was very pleased. I was second and had received 25 points, meaning I now need just 15 more to move up a category, which also means I can enter the Premier Calendar events which attract big crowds and are on TV! I had no real goals other than getting some points, so this was a delight (and being in a 30 minute break means loads of photos!) However, it was very obvious to me that whilst all the tempo work in the bunch and uphill was very easy, I completely lack an anaerobic form in my cycling toolbox... not surprising since I haven't gone that hard since the lead up to the BUCS hill climb in October.

Driving home was much simpler by the way - it involved two Mars recovery drinks for a start, and I didn't get lost.