Round up of the week's racing

Surrey League Road Race, Kirdford Circuit - 15th July

 

Steph writes...

The last round of the British national MTB XC series was cancelled today because of flooding. It is the worst summer I've ever experienced since I've lived here. I'm loving the cool temperature to race in but I do miss the sun. I hope we get better weather for the Olympics :)

After a quick chat with Steve, I decided to race one of the Surrey league road races. The race was well organised, the route was pleasant and the motorcyclists did a great job in keeping us safe on the open Surrey roads. I have nothing to celebrate about my ride, but I did feel strong up until I was involved in a crash. It all happened in slow motion when with 2 laps to go the rider in front of me from Kingston Wheelers flew in the air. I do usually find a path to escape a crash but this time I was completely blocked. I did manage to stay upright, which was a good thing but when I looked for other riders to work our way back to the bunch there was no one left. I worked hard to cross the finish line solo with couple of minutes behind the bunch. I was super pleased to find out Sarah got 5th. Excellent race by Sarah! Well done mate ;)

Get well soon goes to Maryka from Kingston Wheelers and all those involved in the crash.

Many thanks to the organisers, marshals, motorcyclists and neutral service (i.e. Steve again!)

Our next race is the National Team Series up in Naseby. Looking forward to racing with my fantastic team mates :)

 

Sarah writes...

I could go on about how many shifts I'd worked before Sunday's race and how little sleep I've had in the last 8 weeks but that would be boring! Let's just say I was shattered and I had pretty much decided not to race until I spoke to Steve on Saturday night. The problem was, I actually had some form - having spent the previous week in the Alps, allowed my legs to recover and managed to get some speed back in my legs. Now was a good time to be racing! But it was going to be a very early start to get down to West Sussex for 8:30am on my first day off of the week. But I had been given the day off work specifically to race, so I felt I really ought to go.

I spent the first 2/3 of the journey trying to decide whether or not to turn around and head home. I was struggling to keep my eyes open. Warming up, my legs felt jelly-like and heavy. Not good. But as usual, once the pre-race nerves had settled I actually started to enjoy the race.

This was a better standard of racing than the previous Surrey League Race I had entered. It was also a great course with ups and downs, twists and turns and some good fast sections.

An attack went fairly early on in the race. I bridged across without dragging the whole peloton with me (a bit of an achievement for me) but the other rider sat up and not wishing to spend the next 4 laps riding on my own, I also eased off. I was feeling strong and probably did too much work early on. This was the first time I had raced with deep-section wheels and only the second time on my new bike. I really noticed the speed and acceleration with just a little injection of power. I was also more confident on the corners - must be all that descending at speed around hairpin bends last week.

Helen McKay attacked with 1.5 laps to go. I had a feeling this would be the winning move but I was boxed in and I was getting low on energy, so didn't attempt to bridge across to her. Emily Bagnall then attacked, got a good gap and rode hard to join her. I cracked open the emergency gel, had a good swig of energy drink and got ready to attack. Now was my chance... until I sprinted in the wrong direction, missing a turning! I had to stop and turn around in the middle of the road. I then had to chase for about 0.5 miles to catch them. Thankfully I still had some energy and speed in my legs and it wasn't long until I was back on the Commissaire's car. He signalled for me to pass him. Apologies to the Pearson's rider who came down the road with me and didn't manage to get back onto the bunch.

I had wasted useful energy chasing back on, which was a real shame. I sat on the back of the bunch for most of the last lap, allowing myself to recover and to save myself for the finish, which was at the top of a long drag.

The speed cranked up in the last 2 miles. I was in a great position. The pace eased off a bit and a put the hammer down, gaining a huge gap on the field but unfortunately I had gone too early. One rider caught me with about 50m to go and another was "hot on my heels". I changed into a bigger gear but unfortunately she pipped me to the line.

5th place overall - not a bad result for being so shattered and who knows what could have happened if I hadn't taken the wrong turning...

As always - big thanks to Steve for coming out to support us and thanks to the race organisers for putting on a fantastic race. It was well worth getting up for! 

 

 

Mallory Park closed circuit race - 12th July

 

Linda writes...

22 laps, one crash, rain and 7th place overall. This was my first circuit race in a nutshell. Oh and did I mention the nerves and excitement?

My race plan (again) was to stick to a wheel and finish with the pack. I was quite surprised and pleased to discover I felt quite good on the last lap. (I didn't see the sign telling us how many laps we had left until 3 laps to go...maybe a good thing!) It could also be an indication I need to work harder rather than stay at the back...oh well, I'm learning (!) and it was a great buzz.

Looking forward to the next one already.

Scarborough Cycling Festival Races - 15th July

 

Iona writes...

 Today I made a trip to the seaside, and for once the sun was shining!  I was racing a local Crit on top of St Oliver's Mount, which is the top of a hill next to the sea.  The circuit I would be riding was fairly flat, with only a drag up to the finish, and a slight fast down hill, to a sharp left hand corner at the bottom of the circuit.

There were only 6 of us entered into the women's race, so we were set off with the men's 4th cat race.  Now racing with the 4th cat's can be a bit hairy at times, so I managed to stay up front.  Thankfully too the riding seemed safer than usual, and the standard of the riders stronger, than some 4th cat races.  The drag up to the finish was into a headwind, and there was a sharp left hand bend at the far end of the circuit.

Early on we lost 3 of the girls out the back of bunch.  So it was down to just 3 of us, but for me I wasn't concerned about the women's race and just wanted to get a good result in the men's race, as that way the women's race would take care of itself.  I wanted to split the bunch and attacked of the front early on, but to the men's race I was no threat, and none of the other girls seems to want to join me, so they let me go.  But it didn't last long and I was soon brought back.

With 4 laps to go, the men really pushed the pace on the headwind section and the bunch split.  I heard yells of, 'we've got a gap'!  The bunch sat up, but looking back I saw that we had indeed got a gap, so a took the opportunity and jumped off the front.  One lad came with me, he came flying past me, yelling 'come on'.  I got on the wheel but couldn't help, all I could do was sit on his wheel.  But I lost half a bike length out of the sharp left hand bend, and he rode away.  I went back to the bunch, with still 3 lap's to go.  Ahead I could see the the lad out front was about to be caught, we caught him on the start finish line, with 3 lap's to go.

Bell lap, and I moved up towards the front, hoping to be in the first 5 around the bottom bend.  But the bunch lined out, and I was a little further back than I would have liked, despite there being only about 10 of left in the group.  As we neared the sharp left hand corner, we got mixed up with a couple of lapped riders. The lapped riders pulled over to the right hand side, blocking the line we all wanted to take into the corner!  That didn't help matters, and therefore lost a little speed around that bend.  Into the finishing straight, and up the drag, the bunch of about 6 men ahead kicked and I lost contact with them.  The line seemed a long way off with no wheel to follow.  I knew the only other girl was behind me, and as we neared the line, she came from behind me to win. I came in second, and very disappointed to have lost contact with the bunch!  I still finished 9th out the men's race and second female overall, so not too bad, but still would have liked to have been up there with the bunch sprint.