Arriving in Lancashire a couple of days before the race I was relieved to find the weather was forecast to be a little kinder than when I’d been to reccie the course back in May. Accompanied by 10˚C, rain and fog, the hills and tricky descents had been far more daunting and the conditions so bad it took me hours to warm up once we’d got back to the hotel. This time, with the prospect of a bright summer’s day, there was a high chance the conditions could be against us in the opposite direction and with eight laps, 98k and nearly 2000m of climbing I knew the race was going to be far from easy.
To the grumbles of a lot of girls the race started at 8.30am meaning a very early alarm call. Nevertheless, this wasn’t too painful seeing as I’ve done triathlons that started at 6am and even my parents who had kindly taken me to Lancashire didn’t seem too phased. Plus even the lady at the B&B insisted on getting up as she couldn’t bear the thought of sending me on my way without a cup of tea.
The way the course was set up, the major mile long climb up Pendle Hill began only a couple of hundred metres from the start line, so I was in no doubt that a complete and thorough warm up and good positioning on the line would be key if I was to expect to be at all competitive in the race. With this in mind, I made sure I was outside race HQ for the rider briefing pretty early and sat myself at the end of the road, as close behind the lead cars as I could be. After a very brief briefing, we set off on the 6 mile neutralized trip to the pits to wait again before the final kilometre journey to the start line. My keenness and elbows out tactic to the ride paid off and I had a front row position at the start and the way that we flew up the hill at the gun I was glad of it. The pace was pretty incredible and it seemed the Cervelo girls were keen to ditch as much of the peleton as possible as quickly as possible.
The course was described as having ‘steep and technical descents’ which was certainly true and was even worse being surrounded by other riders. I could see why the Cervelo team had been keen to shell out a few girls. It was round one particularly nasty corner that the first of the crashes in the race happened. The girls went down only a short way in front of me and turning the corner I was forced to pick a line between broken bikes and bodies in the road and crossed my fingers. I’d been lent a pair of lightweight wheels by Bruce from Prologue (www.prologuebikes.com) and all could think was I couldn’t dare break them! It looked pretty awful though and took me aback quite a bit. I then found myself with Corrine Hall (Team Corridori) to chase the front group of about 10 riders. After a short while we caught them and heard that the race had been neutralized. We were told that our group had a 30 second advantage and would be given this time when the race was restarted.
However, as more riders began to join the group, by this time being held in the pits, the true scale of what had gone wrong on the descent began to emerge and it was clear that the race was actually going to be restarted. A following car that had taken place between our front group and the chasers had been unable to pass where the first crash had happened as riders were still lying in the road. The girls in the chase group had then come round the same corner and ploughed straight into the back of the car. There were apparently about 25 casualties in total and it sounded horrific. There wasn’t a girl in the pits that wasn’t concerned about what had happened and about the welfare of those who were being taken off in ambulances.
We had to wait in the pits for over an hour as about 5 ambulances were needed and it took some time for them to reach the course. In the meantime, the girls who were still able to race took places sitting on the floor and on the curb and stretching out the legs. At this point I could have really done with a set of rollers to keep the legs ticking over but at least all the riders were in the same position with legs seizing up everywhere. Eventually we heard the race was imminently going to restart and would be reduced to four laps. A big disappointment as I was relishing the prospect of a long and hard race and I’d eaten a shed load of pasta in preparation! We were given very little warning, no opportunity to re warm up, just grab your bikes and get in line.
My hard work on positioning at the first start was impossible to repeat with the chaos and we were all fighting to get the best position. This time I was about four rows back at the start – far too far back and behind quite a few girls who I knew weren’t climbers. So unfortunately from the outset I seemed to be chasing back on after Pooley and Cooke put in a huge attack up the climb. As soon as the road pitched up my legs felt like lead but I just had to remind myself that I had to get up the road quickly or my race would be over. I somehow managed to overtake over half the field by the summit and was with the third group of riders, consisting of many of girls I have been racing with recently in the national series. In front of us was a smaller group of Helen Wyman, Sarah Storey and Katie Colclough with Pooley, Armistead, Laws, Emma Trott and Cooke in the lead group.
Already I was gutted, I was much further back than I wanted to be and I had some serious work to do. Going up the next climb and down the tricky descents we overtook Helen Wyman but still there was a lot of ground to be made up. Then halfway up the shorter climb on the course, and I’m not sure how it happened, I managed to drop my chain. Not panicking I flicked my gear lever and hey presto it jumped back on. Or at least I thought it was hey presto, until I couldn’t turn the pedals anymore and I started to veer sideways into a bush just in time to see my group disappear over the brow of the hill. Flicking my left foot out I realised in my enthusiasm I had put myself into the big chain ring and had been attempting to ride the steep incline in the 53/21, explaining why I could barely turn the pedals. As quick as possible I set it right and got back on but not before seeing the forth group of girls sail past me. Great! In a race I’d hoped to do well in, I was now behind the fourth group, no longer even in the top 20 and way off the pace of the leaders.
What else could I do but put my head down and hope to goodness that I had strong enough legs on the flat for some solo TT’ing and that the climb was going to be brutal enough to give me an edge on all the girls who’d made it in front of me. I set myself the task of getting back on in half a lap and gradually the fourth group got closer and closer. As we came into Barley and the start finish line I was delighted to see them catch the third group. Now I knew if I could get in front of both groups together I’d be putting myself back in contention for a top 10 finish. As we approached the bottom of the ascent I caught the groups and with a brief 30 seconds of respite I climbed through them. By the top I could see the chase group of Sarah Storey with Emma Trott and Katie Colclough on her wheel in the distance and looking over my shoulder I saw I had only Kara Chesworth for company, the rest of the combined third and fourth groups were nowhere to be seen.
Kara and I worked together, as much as we could with the up and down terrain for the next lap, gaining all the time on the group in front which was no easy task. There were a few people dotted about the course cheering for both of us and it was great to get the encouragement. It was at the main climb that I once again made a move, turning the screw a few notches, eager to catch Trott, Colclough and Storey. By the top I was pretty happy to find I’d not only caught them but we’d lost Sarah Storey and Kara in the process.
At this point I knew we were about 50 seconds behind the lead group, with one and a half laps to go. 50 seconds didn’t feel completely insurmountable and the three of us continued at a pace. At the technical descent Colclough gained some ground on both Trott and I and by the second shorter climb all three of us had separated. Going along the flat section each of us were doing as much work as each other as we raced along separately. Then, at the bottom of the climb for the last time I heard that the gap was now down to just 15 seconds and heard someone shout ‘They’re playing silly buggers, you can catch them!’ This sounded like a great idea and within less than half the distance I began to pass the following cars and I knew I was on their heels. Soon I could see the lead group right in front of me and it seemed to me they were going pretty slowly and I was gaining on them quickly. As I joined the back of the group I suddenly felt incredibly reluctant to have to brake on a climb and in a split second decided to just carry on riding right through them. In retrospect this was a huge mistake, I should have sat in and accepted the rest, as no sooner had I got a gap Cooke attacked, probably not keen on the idea of being beaten by a club rider! I stood up to counter attack and unfortunately just couldn’t answer, no doubt not really helped by all the chasing I’d done, mostly on my own. I continued instead grinding up the hill accompanied by Colclough and Trott who’d been similarly unable to go with the front group.
I was gutted to have joined the leaders and then through my own making have it ripped out from under me but I couldn’t let that distract me and carried on ploughing up the hill instead trying to drop the other two girls. Try as I might I couldn’t get rid of them on the final climb and once again as we came to the tricky descent it was Colclough who showed us an edge at descending and pulled a gap. Trott was just in front of me and I then made another mistake of letting her on my wheel in the final kilometres and she refused to come round and take a turn. A good tactic from her but I was pretty annoyed as I was sure that between the two of us we’d have been able to catch Colclough as by the finish she only had 10 seconds on us. So in the end it came down to a sprint finish between Trott and I which she took by about a wheel and I claimed 7th place at my first nationals. I’m just very disappointed that the race wasn’t the full 8 laps as I relish in the longer harder stuff and would have loved a few more opportunities to climb that hill. Plus, I also feel the results were skewed by riders being involved in the crash and it would have been nice to earn a top 10 from a full field. Next year…
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