Imperial Winter Series - Race 6 - 31st Dec 2011

New Year's Eve! Surely the last race on the calendar? Maybe some racers on Boris Bikes in London later on in the evening take that prize. The training beforehand had been a bit interesting - one eighty mile ride with Rich from Durham (now living the dream working for Cycling Weekly) around the North Downs. I'd decided to take on all the big hills nearby: Leith Hill, White Downs Lane, Box Hill. That wasn't the problem so much as the wind and the long false flats into headwinds. Add in the fact that almost all my training has been indoor spin sessions, then this ride was a MASSIVE shock to the system. And on Thursday.

So again with Sophie in support, we made our way to Hillindon, knowing that there would definitely be a nearly full field. That meant that last week's not-so-genius idea was left at home, and this week's tactic was to see how I got on, let the race unfold, wait for the sprint, and hide from the seemingly eternal 10-14mph west/southwesterly breeze.

The race was a pretty normal affair, and even though the breaks often seemed pretty intent on getting away and staying away, they always seemed to come back within a lap or two. I still wonder whether it wouldn't be simpler for the bunch just to let the breakaways dangle for a bit longer, but it never happens. Usually the bunch decides after at most two laps that it's time to swamp the break away. If it's up the finishing straight then the whole field sprints flat out, and if it's down the back straight then half the field sprints while the other half freewheels, chin to handlebars. At some points there was a long line strung out as the pace went high, but the quality of the field has so far meant that there are strong riders throughout the line who make up the metres to form the bunch back up again. There never seems to any real danger of a full-on split - at least not purely on athletic terms.

Which brings us nicely to the decisive moment of the race. With various riders going down in previous racers, there was always some evidence of the risks of fast, bunch racing, but personally I'd never been too close to anything actually happening after from shouting and squeals of carbon brakes. It must've been seven laps to go, and as we came down the back straight there was a group of five off the front. Nick Baker from Zappi's - although I knew him better from his rowing days - had been active all day as usual, but the bunch was flying and looking to bridge the gap. As we flew into the bottom corner - fastest point of the circuit at the end of the longest, and gradually downhill, straight - two riders near the front (but not at the front) and in the very middle of the circuit came together. Classic case of the rider on the outside turning in, the rider on the inside not quite there yet, and everything follows from there. Both riders (I think) came together, wobbled, swerved apart, and fell away from each other. At this stage I was only one rider back from them and directly behind, so I had a pretty 'good' view (didn't feel very good at the time). Fortunately for me, and unfortunately for a lot of riders, by falling away from each other, there was a small gap between the two. Most of the riders who went down seemed to be collected from behind, especially those on the outside of the bend. So in fact most of the riders to go down probably had no idea and very little warning of what was about to hit them, except for the brief moment of unfamiliar scraping of bikes and people along the floor.

Meanwhile, I was full on the brakes and trying very hard to stay upright. I've only had two crashes - both on the same ride, one slow speed onto tarmac when two riders overlapped wheels in front and took me down, one fast when I misjudged the exit angle of a downhill bend and found myself unable to make it at that speed and landing in the soft verge. To be honest, in that split second all I could think off was what I should land on. There were bikes and bodies sliding everywhere, and as I came into the middle of them I was waiting for the inevitable crunch from one side to lay me flat out. But I must've used up all my remaining luck for 2011 because I just made it through unscathed.

The sprint was a fairly simple affair after that, and I was pretty happy to come in 11th overall since I didn't really have the legs to push for anything better. Still some series points, and driving home with my bike intact unlike quite a few of the walking wounded. Lucky that no one was as badly injured as in some of the previous races.

Here's a photo of me and Kat Broadbent, the current Vice-President of DUCC who had come down from Northampton to race at Hillingdon. Great to meet up and have Durham racing 'in force' at Hillingdon :)

Imperial Winter Series - Race 4 - 24th Dec 2011

Christmas Eve, and another visit to Hillingdon. This time my fiancée Sophie drove me out, so everything was much more chilled this time around. Hoping to build on last week's result, but as it turned out these races are far more difficult to predict.

I had been following the online list of entrants closely, and I was convinced that with a smaller field that if the right breakaway went away, then it would have a good chance of succeeding. The only problem with that theory was that it was (a) still windy and (b) not a small field at all.

I started the race with a cheeky burst off the front - I wanted to stretch my legs and I had someone on the sidelines to impress - but there clearly wasn't much point launching a winning attack off the front so early in the race. I took up my usual position about halfway to two-thirds of the way down the bunch. I reckon that if you go any further forward, then you're constantly battling to hold your position with riders coming up from behind. Whereas if you go near the back (but not so near that you're in danger of permanently losing contact through a split or crash) then you can travel in relative comfort and regulated effort.

From about halfway through, I started to look for this race-winning break that I was so convinced would happen. The only problem was that if you make one yourself, then you won't necessarily have the backup to make it stick; if you sprint to catch up to an established break from the front of the pack, then you're effectively bringing the whole field back together; and if you sprint from further pack to bridge the gap, then you've got to travel a long way with a lot of solo effort and no certain hope of a clean break at the end! So. I think I made six flat out sprints to try to make something happen between 30min and 45mins, but to be honest I was so completely shagged by the end that I can't remember exactly. There was one which could've got away, but the pace in the break slowed up and the whole field were sprinting up the hill to make the connection. And that was the end of that.

The only thing left to do was sit in, try to recover (I could feel that sick feeling when you've been on the red line too many times, and any medium-sized acceleration takes your pulse above 185/190 and you feel like death). Just like the previous week, except this time with 5 laps to go, the Redhill rider - Dom Clegg - hared off the front and the bunch (for once) were content to let him dangle. Well, the thing is, he wasn't dangling at all because he was travelling too fast and too far away with too little distance left to be 'dangling'. He clearly timed his effort perfectly and crossed the line this time a short distance ahead of the sprinting pack. Myself, after last week's successful effort, I had a more standard sprint. In two minds how hard to push the effort in the last two laps (feeling so crap at the time was hard to ignore), I let fly from the bottom of the hill about 15-20 back. There was a split from the front 6 riders, and I crossed the line nicely in that gap in 8th. I'd managed to avoid the previous week's hairy moment going through the first kink to the right by just yelling to the riders in front as I came past. Not a bad salvage job in the end, but no early Christmas present. Shame to be missing the next race on Boxing Day, but still well placed for the series so far!

Imperial Winter Series - Race 3 - 17th Dec 2011

Race number 3 and a pretty similar format to the previous two races. Lots of attempted breakaways, but whenever anything got too intense, there always seemed to be riders on hand to chase them down. I had some fun myself at the start - I'd had a long warm up ride and it was pretty cold, so I decided to see whether I could get away with one or two others early on and catch the bunch on the back foot. I'd seen it done before, but Hillingdon, such as it is, just doesn't seem to allow for that kind of attack. The field is just too big, and there doesn't seem to be any real way to get a few people off the front and make the break stick. The bunch has so many riders that the speed just ramps up and up without any one rider necessarily having to bury themselves.

If we were on pro teams, then we'd just let a breakaway dangle off the front and set things up for our dedicated sprinters. But the way these races work, it's just a constant back and forth and attack and chase, attack and chase...

Maybe we could have some primes thrown in so that there's an extra incentive to spice up the middle of the race?? Just a thought.

Anyway, the race bumbled along at about 24-25mph as usual, and I spent most of my time looking for good wheels to follow. People always seemed keen to try to fly past to take up a stronger position. From time to time I did the same, essentially stretching my sprinting legs up the finishing straight, but I always found myself nearer the back than the front after a few laps. So eventually I relaxed, controlled my breathing and heart rate, and thought about trying to sort out my sprint.

The pace ramped up once the bunch saw the lap markers, but the discipline remained (fairly) good. One rider managed to take himself out, but apart from that it was OK. With a couple of laps to go, a Redhill rider - Dom Clegg - zipped off the front and the bunch didn't react. I suppose we were just close enough to the finish that we all thought that we'd rather save our energy than chase a breakaway which surely couldn't stay away, could he...? My problem with the sprint is all in the set up. So having got stuck in the middle/inside on the first two races, I thought I'd do a double sprint, once around the outside on the back straight, fly round the outside of the bottom two corners, and then up the finishing straight sticking to the right hand side. I was about 10 back going into the final corner, which is as good as I've ever managed, and I lit the burners from the bottom. It's only about 25 seconds of effort, so I never see any reason to hang around. We were flying up on the Redhill rider, and after a near miss going through the first kink in the straight, I thought I could be in with a shout. It's hard to judge the right gear for an uphill sprint, and just when I thought about changing down, a Kingston rider - Rob Sharland - flew past my left hand side. He must've been travelling a good 3+mph faster than everyone else at that stage. I flung my bike forwards so hard that my saddle came right through my legs, and I just scraped into 4th.

Great sprint, much much better than before, and it put me in a much better position in the standings. Onwards and upwards!

Imperial Winter Series - Race 2 - 10th Dec 2011

A good week's training under my belt at the gym, came into the race feeling pretty pumped up and excited. Looking to right the previous week's wrongs and actually make it to the sprint, intact and full of beans. The pace was every bit as fast as the previous week, and there were some big attacks off the front despite the cold and the decent breeze. I kept my head down and out of the wind for most of the race, following good wheels and looking to stay out of trouble.

Things got very hairy at one stage when we came up on the 4th Cat race. Their pace was obviously fairly high because they'd been consistently shelling riders throughout the first half hour. A breakaway tried to used the 4th Cats to escape, so everyone was on their toes trying not to be caught out. We flew up the finishing straight, attempting to get past them before we all hit the hairpins as one enormous bunch... Didn't quite make it. This led to some hairy moments on the very inside of the first hairpin, but it all came out right in the end. Had to sprint to keep up with the front runners, but we all came together and got ready for the final sprint.

Only thing was some of the 4th Cats broke away and we had to let them come past within 5 laps to go. After the neutral lap, everyone was feeling pretty refreshed so everything got pretty rapid pretty quickly. There had been some pretty nasty accidents, and for the final laps we were having to skirt round one poor guy who had hurt himself fairly badly on the fast bottom corner at the end of the back straight. The bunch held their nerve though, and we all flew into the final straight. I had to fight through again, and I felt like I was travelling pretty quickly by the end. 10th was a decent result in the circumstances, looking good for the leaderboard and but still looking to actually execute a decent sprint. How exactly does Cav do it???

Imperial Winter Series - Race 1 - 3rd Dec 2011

First race of the series, my first race for since June. Safe to say I was pretty excited! Well nervous excitement at least. Since some long hot summer rides around the Olympic Road Race route through Surrey and Box Hill, the only training I've been able to has been 2-4 spin classes a week at the gym. A good workout, but only 45 minutes of actual work at most. But on the plus side, it's so easy to get stuck into with the music and the loud instructors that I felt able to push my limits good and hard. The heart rate monitor, acquired last Christmas but infrequently used, has become my most important training tool. Managing my mental effort against physical pain is one thing, but being able to do it while staring at what my heart thinks of the effort I'm putting in is something else.

Anyway, the training was good, but I had no idea how it would translate into race pace and I certainly didn't know if my bike handling skills would have deserted me since my last big ride in October. The entry list seemed packed, so I know at the very least that I would be able to hang on to the back of the pack if I wasn't in good enough shape. I'd raced at Hillingdon in April during the Easter holidays in a 4th Cat race. I remember zooming around the hairpin bends, but I was relieved to see that we'd be riding the opposite way around to my earlier race.

The race started strongly, quite a few attacks but I'd raced here once before and I'd never seen a breakaway succeed. The field was clearly quite strong and there were a lot of rapid breaks and rapid catch-ups. There were a few moments when the entire field was in a flat-out sprint to catch up, but usually it was always possible to recover in time. I even tried a cheeky attack for myself, just so Sophie could get a good photo of me in front of the whole field, but I was reeled in just as quickly as everyone else was. The big moment in the race was where there was a six-man breakaway combined two riders having a small coming together. The six riders were strong and all the fight seemed to go out of the bunch, ready to fight for seventh place.

The final sprint was pretty good. Had to come from a decent way back having got boxed in on the inside. I found myself flying up once I'd broken free of the box, but I went behind the wrong rider and had to slow down again to get round. 11th was a decent result all in all, and the best thing was that all the spin classes seem to have got me into pretty decent shape! Bring on round 2.