Finally back racing after so long out.
First race of this double header was the Old Hutton RR. A pretty grippy course which has one main climb around 4mins long and then the back side of the course is very rolling on a tight little road. The race blew up from the start with the main break of the day going quite literally off the flag drop. Being rusty from not racing pretty much all summer I didn't react fast enough and off they went. It became very nervous in the bunch with people attacking when ever they could. I let all this happen in front of me and waited for them to burn themselves out. A lap or 2 later, there was only 6 of us left in the chase group after most of
the attackers had blow their doors off and probably forgot that there was a 4 min climb on the main part of the course. We worked really well together holding the front of the race at a steady gap until the last lap. Then the attacks started again. A solo rider went with half a lap to go and I thought it was too early to go at this point so i held back and waited for the climb. We hit the bottom of the climb and we pressed on. we distanced 2 riders initially. Then we hit the steep sections and being pretty big like myself it doesn't suit climbing double digit gradients but I gave everything to hold on to the smaller guys. Unfortunately it wasn't enough to hold onto them. I managed to hold off the other 2 riders and came in 12th place. Upon reflection, this was a decent return to racing and one I can be happy with physically but just tactically not there with it. Thing to work on for the next race.
The next race for me was the Pennypot RR. This course used part of the Harrogate 2019 Worlds course so it was set out to be a hard day. After looking at the course in veloviewer I can't lie I did underestimate the course. The climbs weren't steep but the main section on pennypot lane was around a 2% false flat so I imagined that it would go easy on here.
This race it was actually easy from the start, it was downhill though :) Averaging around 62KPH for the first 2-3 miles. I can't really remember what happened in this first lap apart from bridging over to the front group with a conti rider and then being on the limit from there on in. On pennypot our front group of around 15 riders split in two as it wasn't cohesive. I was seeing speckles at this point so I had no chance of getting in the front 5. I settled into a group of 7 for the remainder of the race. We worked really well together to stay away from the bunch. With around 2 laps to go attacks started coming from our group. I was starting to cramp so I was trying to not get involved with them and trying to save everything for the finish. With 0.5 laps to go on one of the kickers Our group blew up and I felt like I hit a wall. I just saw the group slowly slip away from me and then we had to go down pennypot again. It felt like letting a balloon down. The energy in my legs slowly crept down and down. I could feel the group behind who had been minutes down before, coming closer and closer to me. This just shows how much I cracked. After digging in for what felt like an age, I could finally see the finish line. I somehow held off the bunch and came in 13th place. This time much better tactically and I had learnt from previous mistakes from last week
All in All a good return to racing and I'm happy with how I went. Now for me a bit of a break before I focus on next year with hopefully some big plans with the team for the 2025 season.
Finally a big thank you to PedalPotential Withington Physio and Cycle Service Course for their Support this season. I couldn't have done it without them.
Over and Out.
Comments