Imperial Winter Series - Race 10 - 28th Jan 2012

(If anyone has spotted themselves in any of these photos and would like a better resolution copy, put your email in the comment box with the number of the photo (top is 1, bottom is 9) and I'll send it through.)

Another day out at Hillingdon, and living the life of luxury this week with my fiancée Sophie and her Dad driving me out to the circuit in the warm car. Makes a big change from the last two weeks of dodging traffic on my route across North London to Southall (and on that note: when did it become acceptable for pedestrians to berate cyclists going through a crossing when the traffic light is green? I understand when it's red for traffic, but pedestrians should still expect me to hoon through even though there are no cars with me when my light says 'GO'!)

Anyway. I arrived in bags of time, so spent most of the time hiding in the car trying to keep nice and warm. I put the trusty Trek together and gave it a quick check. My Michelin Pro3 tyres are really starting to show a lot of wear, but my new ones should arrive next week. It's amazing how many little holes there are in the tyre now, but thankfully no actual punctures to deal with. I've definitely been lucky there.

Today was the first day that I pulled out my full winter gloves, because after a couple of laps 'warm up' it was obvious that my hands were probably going to be blocks of ice by the end if I didn't change. I haven't had to use them yet in the series, and I don't like using them for races because of the reduced precision in gear changes, but I didn't have a choice. It was f-f-f-f-f-f-freezing!!

Well, it was all right once we got going. The wind from the north was a new one for me, having had a lot of south-westerly, one due westerly and one due easterly. It turned out to have quite a marked impact on the general dynamic of the race. Usually the uphill finishing straight is the favourite place to attack, since the speed of the chasing bunch through the double hairpin is fairly constant, and then the breakaway can push on using the slope of the hill down the back straight. But in this race, an attack up the hill was almost impossible to make unless you were lucky enough to catch the bunch in an unresponsive mood.

Straight from the start, riders went off the front in ones and twos. The most effective break happened right at the beginning of the race, and the rider held on for a good number of laps. But the wind and the distance still left to run were always going to be too much for one rider to contend with. In general, the riding was of a good standard this week, without any serious mishaps. The only dramatic moments were when the bunch slowed down and people were slow to react. Most of the efforts were marshalled efficiently by those up front, often with breaks coming back into the bunch because of a reduction in the break's pace rather than any massive sprint from the bunch. That said, sometimes we absolutely FLEW down the back straight with the hill and tailwind, often touching 32+mph.

The 4th Cat race seemed to be fairly quick this week, and as a result we didn't catch up with them until very late in their race. The organiser seemed to encourage us to make the overtake when they only had three laps left to run, although I had thought he was going to ask us to neutralise for two laps to be honest! Anyway, we made the pass without too much of a kerfuffle, although several of the people around me seemed to be panicking as if the rest of the 3rd Cats would shoot off without us. No such drama, but something else equally predictable.

There was one 4th Cat just ahead of the 3rds, but with so little distance left to run in our own race, no one was keen to make an attack or even generally up the pace. So as we came up the finishing straight (I was about two-thirds of the way back in the pack), there seemed to be a lot of shouting from behind and suddenly 4th Cats started to shoot through gaps that weren't really there. All pretty sketchy stuff, but thankfully no one that I saw went down even though everyone was very tightly bunched together. But there was no time to relax, because the 4th Cats all slowed down (understandably) after crossing the line and turned into moving obstacles for the rest of us. The reason why circuit races work without too many accidents is because everyone is always driving forward, but as soon as you lose the ability to predict what a rider will do, everything turns to shit.

A few near misses later, I was free and flying along near the back of the group. With only a few laps to go, I was conscious of the need to make my way forward but every attempt seemed to come to nothing as everyone else seemed to have the same idea. I wasn't keen to make any stupid grass-based manoeuvres like one person I saw two weeks ago, so I just had to suck it up and see how things panned it. Coming through the bell, I still wasn't well placed. James Walker from High Wycombe had made a strong move off the front, but the bunch had been going fast and a final sprint for the line seemed inevitable. Through the hairpins for the final time everyone held the lines. I was still stuck on the left - good for energy saving (shortest way round) - but no good for breaking through to the front as riders always packed the inside. Coming through the top corner I moved to the middle of the track.

Although the front riders were all on the left hand side, behind them everyone was everywhere. Moving as fast as I dared, I squeezed through, relying on the general principle that an overtaken rider will gladly give you half a bike length if you give him the chance to jump straight onto your wheel and be dragged along. Luckily this worked and by the end of the back straight, I had no one in front of me on the right hand side as everyone hugged the inside, hoping for shelter coming up the hill into the wind for the finish. My max speed was 36.8mph and that probably happened here as I flew round the bottom two corners. If there had been a crash like three weeks ago, or any rider had moved out to overtake someone, my race would have been over. But as it turned out, I had half the race track to myself and plenty of room to lean into the corners and take them at full blast. The wind hit me hard at the bottom of the hill, but I was still flying past riders. As I came to the right-hand kink, I quickly tucked in behind the leading group of about 8. I changed up a gear because of the slower speed, and when they moved left to take the second kink, I took off up the right hand side and buried myself, taking the win by a bike length.

Absolutely over the moon! From the look of the video, the top 15 are only covered by 5 or 6 bike lengths, so there must have been a lot of riders boxed in as the whole pack came through together. I was very lucky to be sure, and there were a lot of moments in that last lap when it could all have gone pear shaped. But it was a fantastic feeling, and one that I'll use for a very long time, especially in the middle of a grotty training session. Keep 'em coming! Onwards and upwards.

Imperial Winter Series - Race 9 - 21st Jan 2012

A really difficult race this week, showing just how much more work I've got to do before I can genuinely say that I am a strong and well-rounded cyclist.

I had a good three spin sessions this week, even if I did cut them short. On the ride out to the circuit, it wasn't too difficult to keep things ticking over, even though the strong westerly wind gave me a big clue about what the race would be like.

There was pretty much a full complement of 50 riders as we set off, and almost all the main contenders throughout the series were there to compete. Right from the off there were small digs as the dominant riders tested out their legs and took it turns to see how strong the wind was through the top corner by the roundabout.

For the first 20 minutes, all of the attacks were gently reeled in by the bunch, who were working in a disciplined and un-twitchy fashion despite the gusting crosswind up and down the long sides of the course. Eight riders then went clear at the start of the back straight where the wind was strongest, and it was obvious pretty much straightaway that the break had a good chance of sticking. In all the races I've been to at Hillingdon, whenever a group larger than 5 riders goes away, the whole bunch essentially sprints flat out to catch them. This time, however, there was no such reaction and the break was evidently determined and starting to build a significant gap over the field.

I made my way forward, and together with several riders (particularly one from Aylesbury who did a heck of a lot of work) the gap started to come down gradually but definitely, with 3 riders coming back to the bunch, leaving 5 in the breakaway. At one stage the reel-in attempt broke away from the front, but our group of four was caught by the bunch as they swept towards the group up the road.

At that point, I was really feeling the pace and needed some respite from the wind so I let myself drift back into the bunch. Unfortunately it was just at this point that a split occurred due to the wind, and nine riders went clear off the front leaving the rest of us chasing their shadows. For a while I helped out, but with the middle group chasing the front group, we never managed to bridge the gap despite some strong solo and group attempts to do so.

Away up the road, the middle group caught the front group, and two riders broke away to seal the one-two and leave the rest fighting for 3rd. I had partially recovered in the back group and decided to test out my sprint tactics for the finish. Again this went very well, coming round the outside of the bottom two corners, tucking into a wheel halfway up the straight, and then jumping out to cross the line. Happily, there were only 14 riders up the road, so I managed a cheeky 15th and 10 more points for the series. Every little helps! And the effectiveness of my sprint tactic certainly cheered me up for the ride home, even if the race had been a nasty, long and brutish one.

Imperial Winter Series - Race 8 - 14th Jan 2012

With the new term starting again, I'd been in the gym for my spin classes as I was before Christmas. Great sessions actually, even if I'd felt a bit rusty on Monday with the big sprints and climbs. A big session on Thursday got me feeling very excited for the race on Saturday, which was all to the good. With the lack of time on the bike, I decided to ride all the way out to Hillingdon, instead of either getting a lift in the car or cycling to Paddington station and taking a train to Southall.

So by the time that I arrived, I'd already been on the bike for an hour (slow riding plus traffic) so I was feeling pretty warm - a bit hot even - by the time that I arrived at the circuit. I sorted myself out in the clubhouse, wearing a lot of thin layers because of the cold and the light easterly breeze. A couple of laps warm up and we were good to go.

Starting this week, I had every intention of seeing what I could at the front of the race. The race started badly with someone squeezing into a gap in front of me as we set off, who then proceeded to try to put his gloves on... A slow start to say the least, but with the lack of wind relative to previous weeks it wasn't too hard to get involved in the bunch and started to watch the other riders.

I managed to get myself further forward in the first five or so laps, making moves round the outside down the long straights, but to be honest it was massively stressful in the middle of the bunch. With people on the front reluctant to do too much work (fair enough) sometimes the whole field would make sudden waves from one side of the track to the other. Pretty sketchy stuff, and nothing gained given that the group never split and the breakaways never stayed away for more than a lap or two.

That meant that for much of the middle of the race I was floating around the back, doing my best to keep alert to any serious breakaway attempts. I've been doing my best to learn who the riders to watch are, which certainly helps from a tactical point of view. We flew past the 4th Cats without incident, but at that point our pace slowed up significantly, which was understandable with still 35 minutes left to race.

From there to the finish, it was all about controlling my efforts and trying to put my last 5 lap routine into place. I'd been thinking about it all week, and I figured that the best idea would be to move forward very assertively (i.e. right to the front of the race) and from there be in a position to stick onto the wheels of any moves that did take off.

Well, that was the plan, but it didn't really work out that way. There had been a proper crash on the finishing straight in the final sprint of the 4th Cat race. Half the racetrack was blocked with 250m to go to the finish line. Needless to say, in laps 6-3 to go it made for some hairy moments as riders who had flown around the outside of the bottom corners tried to barge across into the smaller gap. Not very sensible at all. Lots of close moments between wheels and riders! As we came round with 2 laps to go, an ambulance had appeared! It hadn't pulled up to the side, but from where I was, it seemed to be parked pretty much in the middle (it certainly felt that way, even if we had more room in reality). So as we came up the finishing straight into the bell, I was tucked in on the left hand side, about halfway back in the field. No one had gone away from the front, so we were left with a flat out sprint, with an ambulance creating a bottleneck. Brilliant(!)

What happened after that was all really very very very lucky. I stayed on the left for the hairpins, but managed to make my way over to the right hand side along the short top straight. This was exactly what I wanted to do last week, but went so wrong when I got caught up outside the crash. There were still 15 or so riders in front, with about 6 in a line at the front. I was sheltering from the (gentle) crosswind on the right, when suddenly the line of 6 disintegrated at the start of the back straight. I have no idea why, but they went in all directions across the track and seemed to be watching each other. I was at the back of a little train of 3 on the very right hand side, and we squeezed through, just missing one of the 6 who had veered sharply right. I think one of my train peeled off, and I decided to stay tucked in second wheel since no one seemed to be coming past. My top speed for the race was 34.1 mph, and that could well have been at this point with the final sprint being uphill. Anyway, I rounded 'crash corner' second wheel, absolutely delighted with my luck, and moved out to move past the rider in front.

First wheel into the final corner, I absolutely buried myself. I went clear through the ambulance bottleneck, very relieved, but coming into the two kinks I decided that I was in the wrong gear. Learning from one of my first 4th Cat races last February where I could've won, I sat down, changed down, and then sprinted again. I could see the long shadows of the pursuing riders, I just had to pray that no one came past - and no one did! Hopefully they'll post the photo-finish, as it shows just how close 1,2,3,4 all were, but I was absolutely over the moon with my first ever win. During the summer, even a top 5 finish in any race had seemed beyond me, so this has lit a massive fire in me to do more and get better. If it hadn't been for being in the right place at the right time coming down the back straight, then the result could've easily been a different one, but everything came good in the end and I can't wait for more!

Many thanks to Lucy at Imperial Racing Team for the photo finish! I remember the lunge being a lot less upright.

Imperial Winter Series - Race 7 - 7th Jan 2012

A new year, but the same place for a Saturday afternoon's dash around the hairpins at Hillingdon. Not bad weather for the ride to Paddington to catch the train to Southall, but in the warm up around the course 'that breeze' was still very much, definitely there.

Plan 'A' it was then.

It seemed like a full complement of 50 in both races, so apart from the usual dodgems routine in the bunch behind the breakaways, the potentially deciding moment could have been the overtake manoeuvre around the 4th Cats. Having been blessed with the racetrack to ourselves since Christmas Eve, it felt odd to have another peloton going around the course at the same time. After about 20 minutes, it was clear that our speed was bringing down the gap. One lap, we were on the first hairpin and they were next to us at the top of the back straight; next lap, we were on the hairpin and they were coming round the top corner; next lap, we couldn't even see them because of the greenery/hill between the top straight and the mid-hairpins straight. By that stage, everyone around me kept looking up over the bunch to see if a large/strong group was going to try to break off the front, use the 4th Cats to rest, and then power on and leave the peloton behind. Thankfully that didn't happen this time (I think it was attempted in Race 2?). When I came past them we were on the back straight, and coming into the bottom two corners at the clubhouse. The only real danger came from the odd 4th Cat who was straying across the halfway line in the tarmac. Everyone held their lines round the corners and we could all breathe easily through the hairpins.

The pace ramped up sharply as we hit the final five laps. I had expected it a lap earlier from my timings, but it didn't make much difference. The plan was to keep to the left hand side (shortest way round) and try to find good wheels as I made my way forward. There were some fairly interesting pieces of riding going on, especially up the finishing straight as people looked to sprint up the hill, to the left (outside) of the first kink, and then let themselves come onto a wheel as the bunch went left at the second kink. The thing is, that was pretty difficult at that kind of speed, and one rider even took the grass at the second kink to make it further forward. Bonkers, if you ask me. By two laps to go, I had found my way into the front ten or so, and on the right hand side of the bunch. I'd narrowly avoided a rider with a puncture(?) climbing the hill into the second hairpin and that was when I made my move forwards and to the outside. Had to hold a pretty tight line through the first hairpin, but I was feeling fresh(ish) and hoping for a big one.

Coming through the bell, the pace was high. Climbing the hill into the second hairpin, there was the telltale squeal of brakes and clatter of bikes as some riders got too close. That one was behind me, so I just pushed on. Coming down the back straight, I was on the outside hoping to sprint once for position and then again up to the finish. Apart from a short line on the left hand side, the entire bunch seemed to have massed together, and there was no way through as everyone in front of me seemed to want to get hold of a wheel rather than lead out an opponent. As we came into the bottom corner, the inevitable happened (it had been twitchy in the previous laps) and several riders came together. Being on the outside, I had no choice this time but to go straight on and into the grass as the crash must've happened on my left hand side. One rider somersaulted with his bike, and so I just had to keep going straight and into the long dry grass. Zero chance of any finish now, so I made sure there was no one coming to collect me as I turned, and I made my way slowly up the finishing straight.

To be honest, I was absolutely gutted. I don't think I'm strong enough to win, although I'd be delighted to prove myself wrong, but my big target for the series was to score points consistently and keep learning about bike racing with every race. I know Hillingdon has a reputation among some for being a bit on the wild side, but I've been loving it. So to have a finish taken away from me was a very disappointing feeling, and one that I'll just have to try to do something about next week!

At least me and my bike are still in one piece, and I know that's something that quite a few riders can't say for themselves at the moment.