Orwell Wheelers 2015 Club League Round 11: Mondello Crit; 1 hour + 2 laps.

Long Story Short

• Three faster groups chasing Limit group.
• I don't think Limit worked well together.
• Limit were caught on lap 7 of 13.
• I was the last rider to be caught from Limit.
• I was dropped on the last lap.

View the ride on Strava: Orwell Wheelers 2015 Club League Round 11: Mondello Crit; 1 hour + 2 laps. Last Limit rider to be caught, dropped on the last lap.

Short Story Long

Build Up

I had written off my chances of any sort of result here. I was concentrating on the Time Trial in the next round of the league. My training was focused on longer duration intervals.

I started eating at 17:00. My usual pre-race food, John West Tuna Steam Pot and two bananas. I got changed at 17:45 and was on the road at 18:00. There was some traffic on the way down, inexplicably there was a massive slow down where the speed limit increased. I deduced that Kildare people are idiots.

Pre-Race

I arrived at the circuit at 18:45. I thought I was the second car to arrive, but there was a good few others parked in the Paddock. I removed most of the kit I was wearing, as the weather was nice. I was only wearing the shorts and short sleeve jersey. I did a warm up lap, to get the feel of the course. There was a headwind on three of the straights, it was almost perpendicular to the home straight and blowing into the circuit. I signed on too. Then I did some stretching. I rode another lap, where I was doing one minute intervals in Zone 4, with an easy minute as the rest period.

I went in the pit lane and a took a slash in the bathroom. I ate a gel and was ready to go.

Race

Photographic evidence of me taking a turn on the front.

Start - 5 mins

Limit group took off first. I was very scrappy. I wanted to get the two lines going, people to start working together, after the second corner. This did not happen. This would be a theme of the night for my group. Two lads went off the front, I was fed up of my group now working. I decided to bridge across. But I ended up dragging the rest of the group with me. One of the lads was wearing the old Orwell Kit, the "OYB - On Your Bike" one. He would be prominent for most of the night.

As we neared the home straight, I could see the Scratch group starting. This can be seen in the Strava FlyBy picture below. I enabled Brian, Fionn, Eoin and myself. They represented all the groups. Brian went on to win.

The state of play as Scratch group started.

Semi-Scratch Catching Semi-Limit - 33 mins

I tried to attack a few times. I took Sean and another guy with me and we got a pretty decent gap. But we were recaptured. We were working well, in a Team Time Trial formation. When the Limit group re-captured us, I wanted to continue the TTT formation, but no one would listen. I sat on the back for a while. I suged to the front to take a turn a few times. Then peeled off down the back. One time I noticed, after I took a long hard turn, that I put 50 meters into Semi-Limit. I communicated this success to the others and hoped they would follow suit... but no.

I tried to explain the concept of "sliding room" to one of my break-away compatriots. I was there riding on the front, gesturing wildly... fun times.

The state of play as Semi-Scratch caught Semi-Limit.

The Semi Groups Catching Limit - 40 mins

After I realised that Limit would not work, I just sat down the back and recovered. I had a new plan. Everyone in Limit was just sitting behind the guy in the OYB kit. My view from the back was clear, I could see the Semi groups closing in. The were getting closer corner after corner.

As they got to 100 meters, I made my bid for glory. My plan, mentioned earlier, was to be the last Limit rider to be caught. I drilled it, passed out all of Limit. I held the gap for about a quarter of the lap. I gave up the attack at the end of the home straight.

The state of play as Semi-Scratch and Semi-Limit caught Limit.

Scratch Catching Semi and Limits Group - 48 mins

I sat in the group, and slowly started to go backwards as each corner passed. I could catch on as the corners turned into the headwinds, as the pace slowed. At the back I could take proper lines through the corners and not need to brake.

The state of play as it all came together.

Finish - 60 mins + 2 laps

On the last lap, the pace went up. I could not keep up and I was dropped. Brian held a gap for the last three laps and went onto win.

The state of play as Brian won.

Lap Analysis

You can see the difference in pace between the groups. The pace jumps by nearly 20 seconds per lap as we were caught on lap eight.

Post-Race

Not much happened here. I just took it easy. Garret asked me about the suicide attack he seen me doing. I explained that I wanted to be the last Limit rider caught. Get some red numbers for next week :P.

I went home and had a pizza.

What was learned

• I really enjoyed this race. If I sign up to open race next season, I'll attend a few of the Tuesday night BikeWorx events at Mondello.
• There are not many lads in Limit group who will work. I should probably find out who will work and break with them.