Sorry Rob but the highlight of my race on Sunday was catching and passing the blue and red stripes of the national champions jersey. (Twice! - since his pitstop was quicker than mine!) Even if he was on a singlespeed it still felt good.
Sheer determination to get to the finish in appalling weather had seen me into the top ten at the previous race. This time however I was going to need some speed if I wanted a similar result. I threw caution to the wind and took no spares with me. Deciding to travel light and take the chance. I took the same attitude with clothing trying to save weight and drag. In my last blog I criticized riders I thought had under dressed for the conditions. That almost came back to haunt me when the un-forecast persistent drizzle started to soak through my clothes. Luckily the weather dried up before it became a serious issue for me. I'll admit however that back in the car at the end I had difficulty pulling socks onto the numb frozen stumps where my feet should have been!
My result at the first round had been a big disappointment to me, but the points I'd earned at round 2 had placed me 11th in the series. I've regularly challenged for a top series position in previous years and if I could get myself into the top 10 overall this season that would be an achievement I could be proud of. So with that aim I had decided to go all in.
I started near the front of the pack instead of my usual policy of loitering mid-field. Historically I've used the midfield congestion to help pace myself early on, before moving forward as the race progresses. On Sunday I went for it right from the starting horn and bombed down the initial blisteringly fast descent. Elbows tangling dangerously with other riders as we fought for grip and for space on the sandy, potholed gravel fireroad.
The track was dry and grippy to start with, the drizzle added a slippery sheen to some sections, but overall the course was flat and fast. As I will tell anybody I need a good hill in a course to really make a difference so I had to make do with really attacking the couple of small short gradients that there were.
Like the first round I seemed to be completely missed by the commentary and so had no idea of my position during the race. All I knew was I felt really good, was eating went well and I needed only one pitstop on lap 4. I dug deeper as the 3rd hour drew on, passing riders, including the national single speed champ! I'd paced it well and was still able to push hard as I began the final lap. There was an open section where I could see a minute or two ahead and there was sadly nobody to chase. Equally glancing behind there was thankfully nobody chasing me either. So I was able to relax. Physically it had felt like a good race, I had same sort of feelings on the bike as previous years when I'd be in the top 5. So the news I'd finished 19th was like a punch in the gut.
Analysing my lap times when I got home, I can see the stamina is still there. I hadn't tired, all my lap times were within a minute of each other. Trouble is that they just weren't fast enough! Those I'm racing are several minutes quicker at the start and then they slow towards the end. Some I catch but others have built up a big enough margin that I can't reel them in. I need more speed!
It's not like the heyday of mountain biking, but there were the most entries I've seen at a XC race for years. Perhaps lured by the better weather some of those ahead of me hadn't competed in the previous races. This meant that when the points were tallied up for the 3 rounds I was 11th. Frustratingly close to my goal.
However, I can't hide the fact that this winters 18th and 19th are two of my worse results in 13 years of Brass Monkeys races.
No comments:
Post a Comment