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.