The trip to Scotland for the Dumfries bikefest was a bit of a longwinded one; train to Glasgow, hire car back down the country to Dumfries, but it all made sense for the return journey when engineering works weirdly made this the quickest route. Plus, the two national series races in one weekend, the crit race on Friday evening and road race on Sunday morning made it worthwhile.
I’m not a big fan of crit racing, it's always the longer the harder the better for me and the 29 minute race in Dumfries was short and sharp. The route took us through Dumfries town centre including a cobbled climb and I was pleased to be trying out my new bike in a race for the first time. A giant TCR advanced SL kindly on loan from Prologue Bikes in East Sheen - my new sponsors (www.prologuebikes.com). I came in 10th, not a bad result but the real reason I was there was for the hills.
After a big bowl of pasta I was off to find my hotel, which was quirky to say the least; my bedroom sported the world’s biggest collection of corgy cars/trucks etc I have ever seen. All in their very own specially made cabinet looking very unplayed with and standing on boxes.
On the Saturday I reccied the course for Sunday’s race, first driving around it and then biking. The route was about 18 miles and we were due to do 2 full laps and then a shorter third lap which took the length to 42 miles, pretty short for a road race I thought but there was one decent climb which went on for about a k and about 10ks worth of decent rolling so it seemed there would be enough to break the race up a bit. By the end of my ride I’d made my race plan and was all set for the next day… All that was left to do was eat more pasta, be reacquainted with the corgy cars, pray for the torrential rain to stop, oh and watch the Eurovision Song Contest – I’ve said this before but being a cyclist does nothing for your social life!
Fully europopped out, the next morning I was feeling excited about the race as I knew that there were a lot of sprinters riding and judging from other races there was a chance that if the stronger girls among us worked together we should easily be able to lose them on the climb. That was part of my race plan at least. The race started in a big car park in the town and the women were set off just before the Premier Calendar race. There were few sketchy moments as we were lining up, first that the race would start leaving a load of girls in the queue for the one toilet and second that one or more of us would miss the right start and end up in the men’s race, not a mistake I wanted to make especially as to my right in the line out was Ed Clancy – not much chance of sticking to his wheel over 100kms! As if that wasn’t excitement enough, just as we were about to leave for the rolling start the commissaire helpfully announced that the race was actually going to be three large loops of the circuit as there’d been safety concerns about the short loop. At last packing way too many gels in my pocket before a race had paid off, I’d be needing them this time! This was great news for me as it meant an extra time up the big hill, not so good for the girl I heard exclaiming that the additional 12 miles would mean she’d never make it to work on time.
So off we went to the rolling start and within a few ks we arrived at the big climb. I was on the front, this had not been in my plan as I had wanted to see how well the other girls were riding but seeing as I was there I thought I’d put a little kick in and see what happened. If people came round me then there were some good legs about and I’d jump onto them and it would stop me having to do all the work up the hill. I was surprised to find the further and further we got that no one was coming round me and I could hear some heaving breathing from behind, not wanting to push things too early though I let some other girls come through at the top of the climb and was reminded by Kara Chesworth (Dysinni CC) as she came past, ‘keep the pressure on and lets get rid of those sprinters’. This wasn’t part of my race plan but liking her sentiments for the next few miles between myself, Kara and Claire Thomas we kept the pace reasonably high. As the course flattened out in preparation for the second time up the big climb I sat up and took the pace down, wanting to keep the legs fresh for the hill. Kara and I sat on the front, leisurely turning our legs over, both of us with the same idea I think and no one else too willing to come round us.
We were lucky to be racing with a rolling road block and escorted by the police, but turning into the start of the second lap the local drivers seemed a little confused as a land rover ignored the motorbike blocking the exit of a roundabout and carried straight on into the path of the peleton. I was in second wheel at this point behind Cath Williamson (Rapha Condor) and we were as surprised as each other when another rider came from behind us seizing this opportunity to attack! It felt a little off when there was a chance the land rover could cause an accident behind us but in a split second we both had to make the decision to give chase not wanting her to get away.
By the bottom of the climb the main bunch had re grouped luckily without incident and this time up I started to pile the pace on. I had a plan all mapped out (which I won’t divulge, you never know which of the competition are reading!) and just over halfway up a spectator shouted out that there were only eight left in the front group. A quick calculation in my head suggested that eight was too many and there were likely to be a few sprinter types in that eight so I turned the screw a little more, helped by Cath who I think had similar intentions to mine. By the top we were five, Cath, Kara, Claire Thomas (Edinburgh CC), Jane Barr (Stirling CC) and I, a good set of riders to be a break with I thought as with the Scottish National title also up for grabs we all had reason to be committed.
The next lap continued with us all working well together until the demon hill once more when I’d hoped to shell a couple more on the climb. Claire Thomas fell off the pace the third time up it leaving four riders and a battle to not be left off the podium. With a few miles to go we were amazed to hear that we’d gained four and a half minutes on the bunch which was eventually to extend to over five minutes – it was great to ride with the break and for us all be working with each other. When we heard this we all gave each other a few words of congratulation and exchanged a few smiles – then quickly back to the real business of trying to beat each other!
As we got closer to the finish line my ears were continuously pricking up, listening to how the other girls sounded and watching how long it took people to come round in through and off. It’s at this point I have my biggest regret of the race. I had planned a certain point to attack but the head wind was huge and given how well we’d worked together I wasn’t sure if I’d be able to stay away into the wind if the three other girls worked together to pull me back. So I decided to sit in and try my luck at the sprint instead. I really wish I hadn’t but it takes lessons like this to learn from mistakes and I was gutted to miss out on the win by mere cms, especially as I’d come round the other two and was making ground on them – if only the finish line had been a metre further along the road!
So the podium was Kara, myself and Cath with Jane fourth but winning the Scottish National Championships. I was also really pleased that given all the work she’d done to stay with the break Claire Thomas managed to fend off the bunch and came home in fifth. It was a brilliant weekends racing even if having to wait to go up on the podium meant I missed my train home.
Pics and report from the BC website. The photo of the finish line shows just how close it was...
http://new.britishcycling.org.uk/road/article/roa20100530-Report--Dumfries-Premier-Calendar-0
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