Orwell Wheelers 2015 Club League Round 13: Sally Gap CP

Long Story Short

• Was late to the start, rolled out with Semi-Limit,
• Got shelled, at about 10km, after the catch was made,
• I finished last, of all those who finished. There was a 38 starters and many abandons. So not too shameful.

View the Ride on Strava: Orwell Wheelers 2015 Club League Round 13: Sally Gap. Luke-terne Rouge, Glad I finished.

Flybys Replay

View the Race Replay on Strava Flybys: Sally Gap Replay. Rewind it to -0:2:20 and press play.
I enabled;

• Myself, as I'm the most important :P,
• Dan, he started with Limit and finished near the front,
• Niall, we had a bit of a battle for last place,
• Eoin, he started with Semi-Limit and finished 5th,
• Jamie, started with Semi-Scratch and finished near the front, and
• Patrick, started with Scratch and finished near the front.

Short Story Long

Build-up

I rocked out for some hill repeats on Tuesday. They were on Mount Seskin, which was not steep. I had a big Paella the night before the race, to get extra Glycogen in my body. I checked the weather and packed only the summer kit. It was going to be cloudy, but warm. In other words, "humid as fuck".

Pre-Race

I started eating in the office at 16:30. Standard pre-race meal of John West Steampot and two Bananas. The smell of the Steampot, is pissing other people in the office off, but I think the aroma is lovely. Maybe I'll eat in the Coffee Area in future. I got changed and left the office at 17:20.

I drove to Blessington and arrived at 18:00. I was the first on there. I started unpacking and getting ready. I signed on for the race. My warm-up was the standard stretching and a ride to Rossborough House. I deduced the wind direction. I did five untidy one minute intervals to warm up. I went back to the car to put my saddle bag in, but I got distracted and forgot to remove the saddle bag.

I ensured that I had my arm warmers (for the descent), Nutri-Grain bar and a caffeine gel in my back pocket. The start line was a littly bit further down the road, so I rolled down. Then I remembered that my saddle bag was still on. I didn't want the extra 750g holding me back. I returned to my car and took off the saddle bag. I rolled back to the start line. I didn't notice that my buddies in Limit had started. Stephen, astride his new Tarmac, said "Luke have you missed your group". "Shite, I'll roll with Semi-Limit". I had half my Nutri-Grain eaten, had not consumed my gel and the whistle blew.

Race

So I rolled with Semi-Limit. I took lots of turns on the front, I missed only one turn. The pace was OK. I wasn't under pressure or anything. My turns aligned nicely with the up hills, so I had plenty of sliding room. I was at the front when I seen the Limit group ahead. They looked splintered. Afterwards, it would emerge that they were not working well together. That would've driven me insane. After the catch was made, at the 10km point. I have no idea what happened, I was shelled on a little rise.

I tried hard to get back on, but it wasn't happening. I resolved to ride to the finish by myself. With marshaling next week and wanting to get some good training in, I would press on. I was hoping to mop up some of the riders who were also shelled. I happened acorss Barry, he said that he was going to turn off at the bridge. Semi-Scratch, Scratch and the Ambulance overtook me. This was expected.

Dave was driving the broom wagon. He picked up Jules, as he had a puncture. I next caught sight of Niall. I set about over taking him. I rode at Sweet-Spot, 200 Watts, until I over took him on the flat. I put some time into him. My next conquest was David. I rode again at 200W, but he was holding the gap. The road was going upwards now. Niall had engaged the turbo. He wizzed past me, I tried to hold his wheel, but the elastic broke. I was gaining ground on David. It started to rain. Dave was driving the broom wagon behind David. As I approached, Jules told me that it was now a race between Niall, David and myself. Niall was motoring up the road at this point. But I pulled alongside David. We talked a bit. Then there was a steep ramp. David abandoned. A Scratch rider blew past me too.

So there I was, last rider on the road. I could see the other lads finishing at the top of the hill. I put the head down and tried to hold 200 Watts again, but this didn't work out for long. Woosh! Crosswind. I was nearly blown in the ditch. This was terrible. Trying to pedal up a steep hill, with a 34-28 (I lost a lot of strength from my injury and work schedule), and having to hold my Deep Section rims. More close encounters with the ditch. I had a choke hold on the hoods. Sweat was running into my eyes. Shame and fear were my feelings. I was making slow progress, holding the white line in the middle of the road, as the wind was blowing me to the left. Kilian was coming down and he gave me some encouragement. When I got to the top, there was not many people left, I was fifteen minutes behind the winners. Eddie, or Dave Mc, clapped me over the line.

I exchanged a few words with Jules, who offered me a ride home. But my car was back in Blessington, 20km away. I wiped the sweat out of my eyes, put on the glasses and arm warmers.

Post-Race

I rolled back to where the car was. It was a nice forty minute ride, I was proud that I didn't abandon. The start of the ride was horrible. I was very afraid that I was going to die in the Wicklow mountains and not be found for ages. The cross winds were insane. I'm an extremely confident descender, but I took it slow going down hill. I had my left leg unclipped from the pedal for added ballast on the right side. I had to slow to a crawl twice.

By the time I got back into tree shelter, I was getting really hungry. I was also worried about not having a saddle bag, in case I got a puncture. I went over a bump on my way back to Blessington and realised that I had half a Nutri-Grain bar in my jersey pocket. After I consumed that, I felt a bit better. I reflected that not many other people get to just chill out and be one with nature, like I was at that moment.

I got back to the car, seen that there was still a three riders hanging around. I had a bit of a talk with Sean about how hard it was. I packed up and ate more bars. I seen Kilian was still there, so I checked that everything was OK, and went home to my pizza. I didn't drink enough water before bed and the next day I was dehydrated as shit and my legs were extremely dead. After chugging four liters of water I could feel them again. When they were sore, I promised myself that I would foam roll that evening, but I didn't. I decided to clean my bikes, which lead to a speed link related almost catastrophe.

I'm marshaling next week, so my main goal is the 25 Mile (40km in new money) Time Trial in two weeks. I have ordered a Specialized Evade helmet to aid my quest for a victory.

What was learned

• I need to get stronger on the steep gradients. More turbo (or grinding up Three Rock) and core strength work needed.
• Being 2kg overweight is not optimal. More high carb, less fat meals needed with higher intensity training.
• The Deep Section front wheel is extremely hard to control in high crosswinds. I went up that climb 2:30 faster two days later when there was no wind.