To quote Gorrick themselves "After a couple of false starts due to the weather, it was so good to be running an event again." After such a rubbish winter it felt fantastic to be back in the familiar surroundings of the Gorrick arena waiting for the start of the Veteran Plus race.
Life and work commitments mean I'm not riding anywhere near as I much as I have in the past 10 years. During January and February I've also missed chunks of time in the saddle due to illness and I've been away on a nice family holiday. Around these breaks I have settled into a new weekly cycling regime, based on 3 solid rides a week. So as well as enjoying the buzz of racing, Sunday was also a great chance to assess where my current performance level is at.
As is normal for the Area 51 venue the course was made up almost entirely of singletrack. Great fun to ride, but horrible to race if you're trying to get past the rider ahead. This was immediately evident from the start. We sprinted away, quickly funneling into singlefile. Gaps quickly opened and split the race into groups as quicker riders got trapped behind slower competitors who'd made better starts. This lead to the need for some fairly rude and savage passing manuevers. The air was full of shouts as riders chopped infront of others and the sound of foliage and twigs being broken as people attempted to cut down the inside of corners into gaps that weren't always there!
The first mile of the course opened with repeated short steep climbs, the type I'm usually perfectly suited to. Frustratingly instead of surging up the slopes, all I could do was stay in line and follow those ahead. Even more annoyingly a West Drayton rider swept around the outside of one bend and I had to take avoiding action as he cut back infront of me! We worked our way to the front of the bunch and I got my revenge as he tried to find a way around the slower rider. As they jostled I managed to shoot past them both on the opposite side of the trail!
I was now able to ride at my own pace much of the time, we just had to wiggle our way past a couple of other riders during the first lap. The guy from West Drayton MBC crossed the line glued to my rear wheel. This is exactly where he stayed for the ENTIRE next lap and the 3rd as well! I think that the narrow course was actually working to my advantage now. For I was aware I was probably stronger on the climbs, but he was frequently buzzing my rear tyre on the decents unable to get by.
Towards the end of the third lap, with 20 minutes of racing left, I did my best to take on a gel to provide an extra boost in preparation for my push to the line. I chose the straightest section of trail I could, but ended up fiddling around in my pocket for longer than I'd hoped. As a result I had to ride several corners one handed! I wandered around, wobbling off the edge of the trail once or twice. I managed somehow (probably my erratic swerving) to keep my racing shadow behind me. Back in control and fueled up I dug in on the final climb of the lap just to test his legs. The gap opened slightly but he soon closed it down.
Into the final lap I pushed as hard as I could on the early climbs, but my legs were beginning to fade and I had to resort to a little coasting on the decents to recover. As the finishline banner came into sight amongst the trees, I felt my rear tyre being rubbed again several times and twice my challenger got his front wheel halfway alongside me. These may not have even been genuine attempts to pass, he was probably just trying to pressurise me into mistake. I held my nerve making myself as wide a possible and defending the inside line at every bend. Then on the sprint (fast crawl!) up the final slope to the finishing line I finally pulled a few bike lengths ahead. We crossed the line further apart than we'd been for the entire 1hr 30min race!
It had been a great battle, one of the closest I've ever been part of. It was just unfortunate it wasn't for a position higher up the field! I'll admit to being very disappointed with 27th. It answers my initial question about where my fitness currently is. No more challenging for podiums, or even it seems the top 10! Yes I know I am better at the longer formats of racing, but with its hilly profile this course played perfectly to my strengths, so it hurts to finish much nearer the back of the field than the front.
