Results tagged “beginners race”

There are many places you can finish in a race but for a lowly 4th cat in a Regional C+ race but I've come to the conclusion that 12= is about the worst of them. guess where I finished on Sunday in the Surrey League Beginners' Race?

It's not quite "dans les et cetera" or "in the bunch", it's much less dignified than that. It says you were outside the points but not quite so far back as to be a straggler. It says "You really shouldn't bother contesting this result because it doesn't matter". It is the ultimate in failing to make it count.

I can tell you exactly where my race fell apart: lap six, on the back straight when i got a twinge of cramp in my left calf. I haven't had cramp for bloody ages so goodness knows why it appeared on Sunday. Up to then I was feeling pretty good and riding fairly well, perhaps a few places further back than I would have liked but well enough positioned to move through in the final two laps.

Coming off the final bend I got a bit boxed but was in the lead group at least and ready to kick up a gear. When I did, there was nothing there. I tried to dig a bit deeper but got nothing back, so decided there was no point sprinting when it would gain me nothing and rolled over the line.

It wasn't a bad start to the season but it left me feeling a bit frustrated. Not as frustrated as watching Warrick Spence effortlessly ghosting through the bunch. He's so classy it hurts to watch when you are as lumpy a rider as I am. If you get a chance this year to see him racing make sure you stand facing the exit from a corner with a view through it. What you'll see when he comes through is someone who makes cornering look beautiful.

Anyway my lungs are still recovering from the freezing cold conditions which never suit me so I might do a little riding tomorrow before work if I feel up to it. I really might have to consider getting a trainer, probably the Tacx Flow, as I'm really not getting out on the bike enough.

A busy weekend with two days of racing, none of which went quite as well as it could. First a quick hello to Paul, a reader who races and who I met on Saturday at Hillingdon. It's good to know there's someone out there reading and finding it useful.

Now to Hillingdon, first race of 2008 for me. January was plagued by illness and holidays and I'm slightly amazed to find I failed to get out and race once in the entire month. I only realised this as we were lining up on a beautiful day - bright sunshine, relatively little wind and dry.

The traditional advice would be "Don't try anything, just sit in and finish in the bunch", but tradition and good advice are rarely to be found anywhere near where I am in a race. So guess who decided an ill-thought-out attempt to bridge up to a two man break in the later stages of the race? I'd managed to close down a couple of breaks earlier in the race and wasn't feeling too bad when I started out across the gap. Halfway there and I was feeling strong. One look over my shoulder later and I was sitting up and waiting for the bunch having decided I wasn't getting anywhere.

At this point I should have just slid back into the pack and admitted I wasn't back to full fitness. Instead, I found myself going out the back rather fast and the taste of blood rising in my throat. Knowing I had another race on Sunday and that my fitness isn't where it should be I packed. No point getting ill again trying to get fit.

Sunday was the London Cyclocross League Team Championship and I was in the B Team, hoping to be more than just making up the numbers. The journey out was simple enough: train from Liverpool St to Romford and a gentle enough ride up to Hainault Forest Country Park. So far so good, helped by unseasonal mild weather which meant not too much mud.

Then things went badly wrong. On a warm-up lap something went clunk into a corner and my rear mech hanger snapped. In and of itself, not a disaster. Except that as it snapped it wrapped the mech itself up into the back wheel, bending it into shapes that I'm fairly certain a rear derailleur isn't meant to be. The positives would be that I can probably recycle the jockey wheels and possibly a couple of other parts. Unless of course I can find a way to replace just the cage bit - unlikely.

Luckily for me Russ had a spare bike and with a little adjustment for my size I could still ride. And ride I did, right into last place of the finishers, 4 laps down. It was such a poor performance I don't even plan to shame myself by describing it.

After the race I managed to cobble together a chainline that would allow me to get back to the station and home again. It worked, albeit very slowly, a fact driven home this morning as I limped across town being passed by everyone and their three-legged dog.

Next weekend marks a year since my first proper race so I'll be making the trip down to Chertsey again for the London Dynamo Beginners Series. If you are looking for a place to dip your toe into the waters of racing then I can't recommend it enough - it's a nice wide circuit and there's plenty of riders on hand to introduce you to riding in a bunch. Come on down, you know you want to.

That's me gasping for air like a fucked pike on dry land at Chertsey. More race pics here:

http://www.londoncyclesport.com/editorialgallery/gallery.asp?uegn=176

That's mainly people not looking quite as riced as me. Still it looks like I'm putting the effort in at least.

Come join me for more of the same this Sunday down at Chertsey for the London Dynamo Surrey League beginners races. There's also a women's race and a E1/2/3 handicap race. And if it's grim weather there's more chance of scoring points cause there'll be fewer people that you'll have to go past to get them.

Unless you are lucky enough to ride your bike professionally or can afford not to have to go to work, fitting in training can prove a real challenge. The more responsibilities you acquire, the harder it becomes to find the time. So, on a sliding scale, it's not as tough for a single chap like myself to find the time as it is for someone who is married with young children.

But, as I occasionally have to work weekends, there are times when I risk missing out on those vital pre-season hours on the bike. So yesterday I hauled myself out of bed and down to training before starting my shift. Turns out I'm starting to feel a bit stronger than last year thanks to the two months I've got under my belt so far. Heck, I can even contemplate making an atempt at sprinting.

I ended up leading a group for the first time, mostly made up of newer riders and those trying to get back to form, apart from Brendan who always seems to be in annoyingly good shape. I'm not sure it serves anyone well to have me trying to lead a through-and-off training drill but it turns out I had plenty enough lung for shouting instructions and pedalling at something between steady and medium.

It would have helped if Brendan hadn't decided we should chase down the mountain biker who came past us, squeaking away. Once we had let him go off and chase we regrouped and managed an fairly disciplined session, although I'm a bit worried that a couple dropped off before the end. We even caught Brendan on the final lap, although he was just pootling and waiting for us.

More importantly I felt like I was riding within myself at a pace I used to struggle with and that I could shift it up a gear when needed without being immediately on my limit. Which is good news for next weekend when there's the beginners' races on Sunday morning (see my previous post on it). Come and have a crack at it. Who knows, we might find ourselves going wheel-to-wheel in a sprint.