A Win at Capernwray, National Women's Series!

Capernwray Road Race was held on a good circuit in Lancashire, especially if like me you like hills. It was a three in one event with the women’s national junior title and the Divisionals also taking place within the national women's series event. I have to admit to being quite nervous as we lined up before the rolling start to find Joanna Rowsell behind me, a rider who I know from the TV and winning world championships! Luckily for me the track is generally a lot flatter than Lancashire.

I think if cycling doesn’t work out I’m going to write a book on random B&Bs and restaurants in Britain. My collection of stories about these is growing by the week and Bolton-le-Sands where my housemate (Rachel Przybylski, Rapha Condor) and I stayed, a few miles from the course, didn’t disappoint. The highlight was definitely the restaurant we ate in which was like going to someone’s front room and eating with a group of their friends. I can’t quite find the words to describe it. The people there were unbelievable friendly though and by the end of the evening the owner had pulled up his chair to sit with us and it felt like everyone there had given us a few words of wisdom on the best possible route to Aughton, the location of the race HQ. I also made the mistake of asking for extra potatoes with my meal with no prior concept of the size of portions offered. It was no wonder the owner was shocked when he heard this and when our meal arrived I was as shocked as he was as it was huge, even by my standards. I packed it all away though and if you’re ever hoping to carb load, this is the place to go.

After yet another early night and a few dreams about not being able to find the race, we made our way to the race HQ. Unfortunately, although the people of Bolton-le-Sands had given us good directions, they hadn’t quite taken into account that we’d also have quite liked the flattest route possible and I think we might have done more climbing on our way there than in the actual race. Not put off though, we labelled it a good thorough warm up and went to sign on.

Rachel and I had hoped to ride the course before the race started but with our epic cycle there we didn’t want to completely tire ourselves out so we had to make do with detailed descriptions from Ali Holland (Max Gear) and Kara Chesworth (Dysinni CC) who both described it in not too friendly terms. There was one main climb at the end of each lap which was about a mile long and another shorter shaper climb in the middle. The rest was rolling although the slight rises seemed to get steeper as the race went on.

I’d managed to position myself well at the start of the race and worked hard to maintain it for the first lap as not knowing the course I wanted to get as clear a view of it as possible, leaving room for error if I picked the wrong gear or was suddenly met with an uphill. This paid off as we turned left into the first corner and I found myself face to face with what looked like a wall but was in the fact the road. A rapid change of gears was needed. There was also some excitement early on when we passed two male cyclists riding side by side. Wanting to give them a bit of a warning I shouted ‘mind your backs’ as we approached. Looking over his shoulder I don’t think the one on the outside was quite expecting to see over thirty women cycling towards him. Wobbling as we went passed I then caught him falling into a ditch out of the corner of my eye – oops! I felt really bad so if anyone happens to know the identity of the stricken rider, please pass on my apologies.

By the time we came into the main climb Anna Fischer (Max Gear) was on the front and knowing she is a good climber I knew I had to stick with her or that would be my race over. I was about third or forth wheel back and was surprised to find at the top that we’d shelled out quite a few girls and were left without about 10 or 11 riders. From the last few races I have done I know that there are girls who are willing to work together and it was good to see some familiar faces in the group. It quickly became clear though that there were also a few in the group who weren’t so willing to work which was disrupting the pace. The last thing I wanted was for the peleton to catch us up. Ali nominated herself to sit on the front and lead us up the hill for a second time and she put in a good pace. I came round her halfway up and between us we managed to whittle the group down to seven, which later reduced to six. It was a good break and once again all the girls were working hard together. Our lead gradually extended which was testament to our common aim and we took it in turns to lead on the climb and then miss out a few turns at the top to recover.

One the third to last time up the climb I had planned to turn the screw a little and see how the other girls responded, nothing too much but just enough to get an idea of what might happen if I attacked. I led up the majority of the climb and kept the pace on as we went over the finishing line. I was pleased to find that my legs weren’t too tired at the top and no one else had come round me. The next lap continued as before until a few miles from the main climb when we were suddenly reduced to four riders, somewhere we’d lost Ali Holland and Laura Trott. Ali’s team mate Anna dropped back and the remaining three of us slowed up a little. It turned out they’d touched wheels and come down. I had no idea what the etiquette is here, perhaps other people wouldn’t have slowed, but before long the other girls had chased us down muttering many words of thanks. The group was all back together at the bottom of the climb and I was suddenly unsure what to do. My race plan had been to attack up the hill before the last lap but with two riders just knocked off and back with us I wasn’t sure if I’d be cashing in on someone else’s misfortune. I decided to hold back until halfway up and make my move there.

I had planned to get out of the saddle and sprint when I made my move but putting more power through my legs as I built up to it I was surprised to look over my shoulder and find out that I had already made a gap. Wanting to retain as much energy as I could I stayed seated and climbed as hard as I could. I knew if I could get over the finish line and round the lefthand bend just afterwards with enough of a gap, the twisty road would hide me from the chasing girls’ view. As I crossed the finish line I dropped into the big ring, put my head down and went hard. I didn’t dare look over my shoulder for quite a long time as whenever I see riders on the TV do this I always think that they’re wasting power when they turn round and I was determined not to. Soon enough my curiosity got the better of me though and I was glad to see that I couldn’t see anyone.

The last thing I wanted to be was complacent and I kept focused on turning the pedals. In my mind I was thinking about how well the group had worked together before and how well they’d be working together now to try and chase me down. I was going to have to pull something out of the bag to stay away from such a strong group of riders. As I approached the bottom of the climb for the last time, just a mile left of pain to the finish line, the lead car slowed down and the driver leaned out to tell me I had a minute and 14 seconds on the group behind adding ‘I think this one’s yours’ with a smile. For a split second I imagined the win but this quickly dissolved into panic as I started to wonder if I could make it up the climb, would my legs keep working? Telling myself to shut up I put my head down and kept going. It was only when I could actually see the finish line and went over it that I truly believed I had won. My bike and I rolled to a standstill and I crawled off it and leant over it breathing unbelievably hard but happy.

Capernwray was a good race and the course was a challenging one but great if you like hills. The rain also held off until afterwards although the torrential downpour made for an interesting ride for Rachel and I back to Carnforth to catch the train home. I haven’t been so wet for a long time. We must have looked so bedraggled that one of the race organisers, passing us on his way home, took our bags in his boot to the station to make our journey a little less painful. Top of my list of things to do this week – buy a car!

Report and pictures on British Cycling
http://new.britishcycling.org.uk/road/article/roa20100612-Report--Ladies-Capernwray-RR-0

Dumfires BikeFest

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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