British National Road Race Championships

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…

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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