Orwell Wheelers 2015 Club League Round 18: Green Sheds CP.

Long Story Short

• I finished 4th,
• I lead out the Sprint,
• I did loads of work in the group, especially approaching the end,
• Four groups on the road,
• Limit group just stayed away,
• Looks like the handicaps were 6:30, 1:00, 2:30 between the groups.

Strava

View the ride on Strava: Orwell Wheelers 2015 Club League Round 18: Green Sheds CP. 4th after leading the last km.

View the Flybys Replay of the Race. I've enabled;

• Myself, started with Limit Group, finished 4th, not the token Ginger for once,
• Eoin, started with Semi-Limit, finished with the second group,
• Jules, started with Semi-Scratch, finished with the third group,
• Eric, started with Scratch, finished with the second group.

Short Story Long

Build-up

I recovered from my bout of Gastroenteritis on Monday evening. It was risky to have my first bit of Sushi for lunch on Monday, but it all worked out. Doctors would later say that that Gastroenteritis would've killed a normal man. I signed something about donating my body to science.

On Monday in Tesco, I must've looked like sick puppy as I tried to puzzle out the Dried Mango and get the best one. I took it easy in the build up, with an easy ride on the Tuesday and some Pre-Race efforts on the Wednesday.

My goals for this race were, as always, to finish with the front group.

Pre-Race

I had a series of work meetings before the race. I had 30 mins between the meetings, so I got changed and fed in this time. I ate the usual John West Tuna Steam Pot.

In the last meeting, I was staring out the window, I seen a collection of rabbits, with a fox chasing them. The fox didn't catch any of the rabbits. If you've read the books behind the Game of Thrones TV series, or watched Arrested Development a second time, you'll understand foreboding.

I was on the way up to Black Bull at 17:04. Surprisingly, there wasn't a crash at exit 6 on the M50. I was up there at 17:40. I ate the two bananas. Put on the rest of my kit and started the warm up. I went to the start and there was a bit of chat. I consumed a caffeine gel. There was enough Limit riders, nine, to allow a Limit only group, which would be chased by the other three groups.

Race

Out to Circuit

We set out behind the lead car and motorcycle outrider. On the first ramp, at the end of the lay-by, I noticed that my Limit compatriots were all out of the saddle. I was in the small ring spinning fast. I went from last to first in those few meters. All, but one of us, were doing work in this section. James was attending his first race. He picked up the idea of the pace line pretty quickly. Damien, at the back, was on the receiving end of a short burst of expletives from me the first time he didn't come through. I was particularly annoyed, as I though his wheel over lapping mine from the side that I was going to move onto. This would require me to wait for him to move, then close the large gap to the next guy in front.

I was pretty happy at the make-up of the group, lots of honest workers in there. Younger Luke was there too, after his crash at the Junior Tour.

The last time we raced this circuit, I was very upset at the guys not working. This time I decided to just let it go. They race their race and I'll race mine. One thing that I noticed from the Limit group, was the lack of the "last man" calls. Contrast this to Semi-Limit, where you can hear the calls well before it's relevant to you.

We went around the roundabout, there wasn't any massive accelerations, so the pack remained together. We crested the three rises that punctuate the finishing parcours.

Lap One

We kept it together well through the next roundabouts. After the two, where we take the first exit, I seen Dave's face. He looked like he was in a pretty bad way. Would he make it to the finish? When I got to the back I noticed that our passenger wasn't there. I presumed that he had been dropped through the roundabouts. But I was wrong, he was now taking turns. All nine of us were working. To quote Greg Roberts, AKA Bucky, from TheNewBoston; "Pretty Stinking Awesome".

We kept it very tidy through the next roundabout too. Diarmuid shot off the front at the next turn. I followed, but he was just creating space behind him for the other guys and girl. Grouppo Compacto for the long run to the last roundabout of the course. This run has a few rises in it. I was gapping everyone else on these rises. I was feeling insanely strong at this stage. We finished the lap without any problems.

Lap Two

Final lap, and no sign of the other groups. Diarmuid wanted to skyrocket the pace to avoid capture. This dissipated rapidly, as he was out by himself. Nothing major happened until the run to the final roundabout. Only one minor incident, where one person didn't accelerate over the crest of the hill and I almost touched wheels with him. I was giving encouragement by informing the other guy and girl that we were "kicking ass". My only concerns were the sweat and fluid seeping from my nose. This was trickling into my mouth. I regretted shaving the night before, as my mustache (or sorry excuse for one) would've stopped some of this.

As soon as we had exited the second last corner, people started sitting on. It was only myself, Helen, James and Diarmuid working hard. I was feeling super strong and was getting really excited. I was filling in every gap, taking two to three turns. I didn't want us to be caught. Again, I was gapping the shit out of everyone else on the drags. I didn't want to maintain the gap, as I needed the other to work with me.

Finish

I eased up to take a drink out of my bottle. All the other passed me, they knew the roundabout was coming up. Damien was trying to talk tactics with Helen. "No Fucking Tactics" I bellowed. My head was full of thought of winning. So I was pretty antsy to be with Diarmuid as we approached the roundabout. I was no where near his wheel. I slowed down, to get on the outside of the group. Then I smashed it to get with them. There was no gap to slide into, so I maintained my effort around the outside of the roundabout. The image below shows the finish.

I flew past all the others, my pinkies gripping the top of the hoods. The adrenaline was pumping now, I couldn't feel or hear anything. I wasn't really thinking. My legs were turning at 144rpm. I grabbed the drops and started shifting. I was also looking under to see what wheels were there. I could only see Diarmuid. If I took him to the line, he would beat me. But he had worked hard, so he would deserve it. If I stopped and we all started looking at each other, Johnny Scratch would catch us.

After cresting the first ride, Diarmuid passed me out, I took shelter behind him. I was really confident of my ability to ride them all off the wheel. My recent history of gapping them on the short drags would attest to this.

The second crest and I could just about see the people standing at the finish. I had tunnel vision at this point. I was going to win, pure and simple. On the descent, I drew level with Diarmuid. I mentally prepared myself to turn myself inside-out. At the bottom of the hill, I let out a little groan and as I mashed hard on the pedals. I kicked hard to try to get a gap and kept the pace as high as I could. I stayed seated in the saddle, as my sprinting is not great. This was like the last minute of a 20 minute interval on the Turbo, where I would be keeping my power from dropping.

100 meters to go, no one passing me. 50 meters to go, still no one. This was in the bag. 15 meters to go, I seen a wheel fly by me in my peripheral vision. "Fuck", seeing that it was Damien, who hadn't done so much work, I gestured my displeasure. I also eased up, James and Diarmuid also went past. 4th position.

Post Race

Dave had finished 5th, continuing his family's tradition of placing. Peadar had finished 6th. It would've been nice to see Helen get some points for the amount of work she put in, but alas bike racing is a harsh mistress.

I pulled in before where the rest of the group were patting each other on the back. I wanted to mourn my lost victory. After my moments of reflection, I noticed that my heart was pounding hard in my chest. I was a bit scared, but I could feel my left arm. The other group finished pretty soon afterwards.

I congratulated Damien on his race and went to claim my place. The video for the finish showed how tight James and Diarmuid were. James claimed second place on his first race. This was the first time Limit had stayed away since the first race in Brittas.

We had a nice ride back to the cars, I did some stretches so I wouldn't be stiff in the morning. On the drive home, I had the Dried Mango. It was really good, I nearly creamed my paints. I cooked the Tesco Sweet Potato fries to perfection for dinner. I was pretty gutted that I didn't win, but 4th place in a road race was still really good. So I was happy with my evening's adventures.

I'm pretty sure that I avoided an upgrade to Semi-Limit.

What Was Learned

• Don't get excited at guys not working,
• Don't gesture when you've been passed in the Sprint,
• Improve my sprinting. Mainly my transition from going hard in the saddle to a full gas sprint.