Race Reports 2015
Comments
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Salt Ayre
It's a pan flat
Never feels pan flat to me when I'm riding the TT. Even that little rise from the town end towards the middle seems like an actual hill!
Reckon the perpetual headwind down the tip-to-town long straight is the worst though.
Did my first TT of the season there last night. Made a special effort to turn up as it was barbie night.
Gorgeous weather, apart from that wind... 0 -
Couple more race reports from me including an SL Handicap, Crits at the Park and Richmond Park TT.
https://thomaswhatley.wordpress.com/Blog on first season road racing http://www.twhatley.com/0 -
Great thread, loved reading some of the updates on here so I though Id post mine!
As I don’t live on the mainland UK but in Jersey we have Divisional categories instead of the E/1/2/3/4 Cats in the UK, and as this is my first year back into racing and I have only been cycling again for 10 weeks I am in the lower Div3 category.
This was my second race and after what I felt was a good showing in my first race I had high expectations of a top 3 place or even a win, but what is that saying, “pride comes before a fall!” :roll:
The race is a circuit race on a closed circuit around the fields of one of the Leisure centres, quite open and exposed, very windy, narrow in places but does have a longish wide straight start/finish.
In my first race I placed 12th out of around 25, however was in the front bunch all the way round, had a couple of digs off the front and would have been top 3 if I hadn’t been cut up on the final sprint by a young lad changing his line and pushing me onto the grass as a result, overall I felt really good! So in the second race I thought learn from my mistakes, get into a good position and open it up for the sprint at the end – easy! 8)
Well the race was a lot quicker than the previous week and there were a lot more people entered, it was 35 mins plus 2 laps with Primes around 10 and 25 mins.
As we set off a couple of guys got to the front and pushed the pace up and held it there, and despite a good warm up I never felt comfortable, though just sat in the wheels and tried to hide a bit from the wind until we settled down (usually the first couple of laps are mental apparently and then it slows up), but the pace stayed highish with some of the younger guys trying to break away (lots of accelerations). After 10 mins on the first prime I sprinted from around 6th position on the last corner to 3rd and was narrowly pipped for second, I thought I was going OK but in reality I probably had put myself into the red too much, and as the pace didn’t slow down after the prime the bunch got spread out again and hiding from the wind to recover was not easy.
Come the second prime I decided to not go for it so I could recover for the final sprint, but I did try to keep pace a little bit in case someone decided to try and breakaway from the sprint for the prime which in part worked, I had to sprint quicker than I wanted to stay with the front guys and didn’t recover as much as I wanted to. The front group of which I was still part of got whittled down to around 10-12 riders, the pace remained high and I was around mid-pack, then 3 laps from the end one of the younger guys (15 years of bl00dy age) jumped off the front, the pace went up and I tried my hardest to stay in the wheels but got caught out on the back straight by the wind and let the wheel go and dropped off the back.
I got quickly swept up by the second group who were not far behind and we worked together well over the last 2 laps and limited the gap to about 250 yards, I opened up the sprint early for my group and thought I had dropped everyone with me sheer speed and savage acceleration so sat up 20 yards from the line satisfied with my turn of pace, only to have one of the ladies come off my wheel and pip me into 12th! (another lesson learned)
After the race I got talking to a couple of the guys in my race and we all agreed that it was much faster than the week before with very little in the way of lulls in the action, then we discovered that a couple of lads from the quicker divisions had decided to rock up and race the Div 3 race instead of their own divisions which explains why the pace was a lot higher (although they did not contest the sprints and take points away from the Div 3 riders), still I can’t use that as an excuse as some of the younger riders and some of the fitter Div 3 guys stayed with them till the end.
What did I learn?
1)Don’t be cocky and think that as I had 1 reasonable race I am now going to smash everyone every week!
2)Don’t push myself into the red to early by contesting the primes (until I’m fitter and can recover faster)
3)Work on my recovery more and don’t just do long steady rides, go out with the quicker groups and get my arse whipped more!
4)That I love the feeling of racing, it’s a right laugh Obsessed is a word used by the lazy to describe the dedicated!0 -
Last race I was in I crashed, lost most of the skin on my left leg, broke my nose and cracked my frame.0
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Last divisional race of the season last night at the circuit at Le Quenavias (Jersey) and the weather was at best awful, lots of standing water on the track at certain points and a bit slippery in the final corner onto the finishing straight, the wind also decided to change direction so instead of the usual cross-tailwind on the finishing straight it was now a block headwind!
The weather meant there was not a huge turnout for the DIV3 race with only 11 turning up (the rest must have had more sense than us idiots who did decide to race), and luckily everyone who did race was in DIV3 with no glory hunters from the higher Divisions dropping down to get some wins.
The first couple of laps went ok, I sat in about 3rd wheel and did some turns on the front when the pace dropped a bit, there were a few attacks but the wind meant that they came to nothing and were brought back pretty quickly, after 3 laps 3 of us got a small gap of around 50 yards, but the other 2 wouldn’t work with me so I sat up and we were brought back. Made no sense as we could have driven quite a big gap if we had shared the turns on the front.
After 15 mins the claxon went for the first prime and one of the younger lads jumped off the front straight away, only to take the first corner after the finishing straight to quickly and his wheels went from under him and he ended upon the grass on his backside, the rest of that lap was pretty uneventful and I took 4th in the prime but didn’t really sprint for it. The lad who crashed rejoined after having a lap out and immediately jumped off the front, we pegged him at around 50 yards for the next 6 laps until the claxon went for the next prime. Now my goal before the race was to go after the second prime, so as everyone sat up after the sprint I was going to keep the hammer down and try and get a gap.
The lad off the front took the second prime and as predicted the rest all went balls out for the second prime, I sat about 5th wheel in the saddle and as they all sat up, I kept the pace up and gapped the field and got halfway across the gap to the leader, and that is where I sat until 2 laps from the end when I was caught by a group of 3 riders. As I was caught one of the riders jumped and got about 30 yards on us, I didn’t have the legs to jump after him straight away so settled in at the back of this small group and hid from the wind hoping to recover enough for the sprint at the end.
The other 2 riders towed me around for the last 2 laps about 30 yards behind the second place rider, and about 100 yards behind the lad off the front, going into the final corner I was still at the back of the group and about 30 yards off second place, I opened up my sprint and went past the other 2 riders and was catching the second place ride quickly, unfortunately I ran out of track and he beat me by about a foot on the line so I had to settle for third overall.
I was pretty happy with the race overall, just a bit gutted I couldn’t make my foray off the front of the bunch stick and manage to bridge the gap to the leader as if I did I reckon I would have beaten him in the sprint.
Overall it was a wet and windy night but again very enjoyable and worth getting soaked through to the bone for.Obsessed is a word used by the lazy to describe the dedicated!0 -
My first race- Tameside Cycle Development league- 4th cat only. 21/07/15
With the 2/3/4 race over, we were ushered on to take in a few laps of the circuit before congregating at the start line. It was here that my nerves really started to build, and by the time we had all been gathered by the commissaries for the pre-race briefing, they’d reached fever-pitch. I couldn’t actually believe I was doing it, but here I was, ready for 30 minutes of I’m not quite sure what.
And that was it, we were off. Clipped in, we quickly got up to speed. Nice and easy through the first two bends, into the hairpin, out of the hairpin and holy shit this is fast. I was about 10th wheel, and I had to sprint to close the gap up. Had a quick look around and there was already a sizeable gap behind me.
“Stay in the front third” I thought to myself, remembering the numerous hours I’d spent in YouTube looking at how to race a criterium videos. Except that we were already into the corners at the top end of the track, and then back on to the straight and then back into more corners. Again, coming out of the hairpin I was too far back, and I had to put in a big effort to get across. This carried on for a couple of laps, until four broke clear, with myself and three others chasing on. The rest of the pack had been dropped, and were spread out around the track in twos and threes. The gap between the leaders and my group wasn’t huge, definitely bridgeable, so after recovering from that laps hairpin sprint, I put in a huge effort and bridged across to the leaders. It felt hard, especially the bits that were in to the wind. I made it across, but severely panting and my legs were really aching from the effort.
Self-doubt was beginning to creep in, and worries about being dropped arrived abruptly at the fore front of my mind. A lap or two later, the three that I’d left joined us at the front (rendering my bridge across a bit pointless), but it still felt good to have done a bit of racing. In fact it felt great to have done a bit of racing, which gave me a bit of a boost. The laps ticked by, and just before halfway one guy on a lovely looking Canyon went solo. A few of the bigger, stronger guys tried to up the pace to pull him in, but the six of us weren’t exactly co-operating and so he built up a lead quickly. We weren’t to bring him back for the rest of the race.
It was now that everyone’s minds began to turn to the sprint. A couple of half-arsed attacks went, but never stuck. I even had a go myself with three laps on the board, but still suffering from the repeated braking and accelerating, I never really thought I stood a chance.
The bell rung. The pace quickened, and I realised that in 80 seconds I’d be part of a 6-man sprint for second place. Still unsure as to how my legs were going to react, I followed the wheels only to realise that coming out of the hairpin I was fifth man. Not going to do anything from back here I thought. I managed to move up a place on the back straight, and then another going round the penultimate bend, putting me on the outside coming in to the home straight. Another guy from Manchester Wheelers, Andy, took the racing line, with a big lad in a Chartered Accountancy firms kit wearing an Aero-lid on his wheel, and then me on his right. We flew round the last bend, and I put in a couple of big pedal strokes to get alongside the guy on my left. He moved right, and then moved right a bit more, and then moved right a bit more after that. I was right along the white line at the side of the track, still in the saddle, with the big guy sprinting next to me. We touched. A quick-fire succession of ‘clangs’ echoed around the track as the edge of my left foot caught in his front spokes, and he let out an aggressive scream. Already past him at this point, I got out of the saddle and put in a couple of strong pedal strokes and looked left, to see my front wheel nip past Andy’s for second. It wasn’t the balls out, all over the bike sprint I was expecting, but it was certainly a bit messy. And I wasn’t quite sure that I’d actually got second (I had!).
We slowed, and crawled round the circuit, legs full of pain. It was only now that the full extent of my efforts began to take there toll. I felt sick, properly sick, like I used to get after cross-country races. But at the same time, I felt strong, like I was always in control of my effort, which I've never really experienced before in any sporting endeavour.
I waited for the guy in the Aero-lid whose spokes I almost ended up in, and asked him if he was OK, still unsure as to the etiquette in this kind of situation. He said he was fine, nothing wrong with what happened, and that’s racing. He’d been doing some criteriums up at Lancaster, and we were talking about the differences between the circuits when we approached the start-finish line again. A commissaire, was waiting. Gingerly, we made our way over, only for him to completely ignore me and focus his eyes on my fellow racer. Apparently, he’d been pushing a gear much too big for such a short sprint, causing him to rock and weave his bike from side to side, apparently pushing me far too close to the edge of the track. Unfortunately for him, he was also wearing a jersey and arm warmers which were bearing the marks of a previous crash. The commisaire, didn’t take kindly to that.
So in short, an exciting race and a pretty much perfect start to my racing career. Managed to stay upright, contest the sprint, place for second and take home £15 (which covered my entry fee and train fare there!). Result!0 -
My first race- Tameside Cycle Development league- 4th cat only. 21/07/15
With the 2/3/4 race over, we were ushered on to take in a few laps of the circuit before congregating at the start line. It was here that my nerves really started to build, and by the time we had all been gathered by the commissaries for the pre-race briefing, they’d reached fever-pitch. I couldn’t actually believe I was doing it, but here I was, ready for 30 minutes of I’m not quite sure what.
And that was it, we were off. Clipped in, we quickly got up to speed. Nice and easy through the first two bends, into the hairpin, out of the hairpin and holy shoot this is fast. I was about 10th wheel, and I had to sprint to close the gap up. Had a quick look around and there was already a sizeable gap behind me.
“Stay in the front third” I thought to myself, remembering the numerous hours I’d spent in YouTube looking at how to race a criterium videos. Except that we were already into the corners at the top end of the track, and then back on to the straight and then back into more corners. Again, coming out of the hairpin I was too far back, and I had to put in a big effort to get across. This carried on for a couple of laps, until four broke clear, with myself and three others chasing on. The rest of the pack had been dropped, and were spread out around the track in twos and threes. The gap between the leaders and my group wasn’t huge, definitely bridgeable, so after recovering from that laps hairpin sprint, I put in a huge effort and bridged across to the leaders. It felt hard, especially the bits that were in to the wind. I made it across, but severely panting and my legs were really aching from the effort.
Self-doubt was beginning to creep in, and worries about being dropped arrived abruptly at the fore front of my mind. A lap or two later, the three that I’d left joined us at the front (rendering my bridge across a bit pointless), but it still felt good to have done a bit of racing. In fact it felt great to have done a bit of racing, which gave me a bit of a boost. The laps ticked by, and just before halfway one guy on a lovely looking Canyon went solo. A few of the bigger, stronger guys tried to up the pace to pull him in, but the six of us weren’t exactly co-operating and so he built up a lead quickly. We weren’t to bring him back for the rest of the race.
It was now that everyone’s minds began to turn to the sprint. A couple of half-arsed attacks went, but never stuck. I even had a go myself with three laps on the board, but still suffering from the repeated braking and accelerating, I never really thought I stood a chance.
The bell rung. The pace quickened, and I realised that in 80 seconds I’d be part of a 6-man sprint for second place. Still unsure as to how my legs were going to react, I followed the wheels only to realise that coming out of the hairpin I was fifth man. Not going to do anything from back here I thought. I managed to move up a place on the back straight, and then another going round the penultimate bend, putting me on the outside coming in to the home straight. Another guy from Manchester Wheelers, Andy, took the racing line, with a big lad in a Chartered Accountancy firms kit wearing an Aero-lid on his wheel, and then me on his right. We flew round the last bend, and I put in a couple of big pedal strokes to get alongside the guy on my left. He moved right, and then moved right a bit more, and then moved right a bit more after that. I was right along the white line at the side of the track, still in the saddle, with the big guy sprinting next to me. We touched. A quick-fire succession of ‘clangs’ echoed around the track as the edge of my left foot caught in his front spokes, and he let out an aggressive scream. Already past him at this point, I got out of the saddle and put in a couple of strong pedal strokes and looked left, to see my front wheel nip past Andy’s for second. It wasn’t the balls out, all over the bike sprint I was expecting, but it was certainly a bit messy. And I wasn’t quite sure that I’d actually got second (I had!).
We slowed, and crawled round the circuit, legs full of pain. It was only now that the full extent of my efforts began to take there toll. I felt sick, properly sick, like I used to get after cross-country races. But at the same time, I felt strong, like I was always in control of my effort, which I've never really experienced before in any sporting endeavour.
I waited for the guy in the Aero-lid whose spokes I almost ended up in, and asked him if he was OK, still unsure as to the etiquette in this kind of situation. He said he was fine, nothing wrong with what happened, and that’s racing. He’d been doing some criteriums up at Lancaster, and we were talking about the differences between the circuits when we approached the start-finish line again. A commissaire, was waiting. Gingerly, we made our way over, only for him to completely ignore me and focus his eyes on my fellow racer. Apparently, he’d been pushing a gear much too big for such a short sprint, causing him to rock and weave his bike from side to side, apparently pushing me far too close to the edge of the track. Unfortunately for him, he was also wearing a jersey and arm warmers which were bearing the marks of a previous crash. The commisaire, didn’t take kindly to that.
So in short, an exciting race and a pretty much perfect start to my racing career. Managed to stay upright, contest the sprint, place for second and take home £15 (which covered my entry fee and train fare there!). Result!
Good effort and good report.Obsessed is a word used by the lazy to describe the dedicated!0 -
Race #2 for me- Tameside Cycle Development League- 4th Cat only- 11/08/15
I decided to get to the track about 30 minutes later this week than I did last time out, just to ensure that I spent less time standing around at the start getting cold. It seemed to work as after I’d signed on, put my timing chip on my bike and pinned my numbers on my jersey, I only had a couple of minutes of waiting around before we were ushered on to the track.
I’d had a good warm-up ride to the track from the city centre, and was feeling quite good about the upcoming race, still buoyed from my point scoring finish in my first event.
However, this time out the field was almost twice as large, and was filled with guys on aero bikes and aero helmets. There was definitely a more intense feel to the race, felt much more competitive than last time out.
Warm up laps completed, and we gathered at the start line. I found myself on the fourth row, and quite near the back. One guy on the front row had lost his timing chip, which caused the start to be delayed by five minutes as he scuttled off to the hut to root around on the floor for it. He returned, and eventually we were off.
Immediately, the pace was high and I found myself really far down the pack, just like last week. Kicking myself slightly for not being better positioned at the start, I started to try and move up through the field. I found this really, really tough. I didn’t seem to have the high end power to move up coming out of the hairpin. Each time going in, I was losing metres to the wheel in front, and it was taking me the whole length of the back straight to catch on again.
I swore at myself a lot, and as the laps ticked by my legs began to burn from the efforts. I was in the last two or three wheels of a ~20 man group for the first 8 or so laps, and I was really not enjoying it. Every lap I’d urge myself to give it my all to move up, but I neither had the legs nor the race craft to do so, not when the pace was at this speed anyway.
I did eventually manage to force myself up into about 6th wheel, but this lasted all of half a lap before I was shunted down towards the rear of the group again.
The mood of the group was much more aggressive, as people pushed and jostled for position. There were a number of almost crashes, with people over lapping wheels all of the place, and not leaving enough room for other riders going into and coming out of the bends. Being in a group like this at high speed was quite stressful, and I found myself constantly on edge. Despite being stressful, it’s quite an enthralling feeling to be this switched on and alert, and coupled with the high speed I think I was, deep down, enjoying the fact that I was pushing myself out of my comfort zone, and doing something that I never thought I would.
Into the last five laps, and the legs were really burning now. Far from the strong feeling I had last time out, I was clinging on here. I took comfort from the fact that I was able to hold on to the wheels, and that I hadn’t been dropped like a lot of the field had.
The bell rang, and the pace was sky high now. The group was lined out completely, with people failing to hold on to the wheels all over the place. I dug deep, stayed strong, and focused on my lines through the corners, saving as much energy as possible.
The leaders were long gone by the time I eventually crossed the line, which I did so in 16th place. The last lap had really taken its toll, and I crawled around on a warm down lap, and chatted to another young lad who finished a few places in front of me. Inside, I thought to myself that a big bunch sprint like that probably wasn’t something I wanted to get mixed up in in only my second race, and took comfort from the fact that I held onto the group for the entirety of the race. Yet I cursed my poor positioning at the start, and the fact that I was losing so much momentum through the corners.
All in all, a reasonably positive experience, and a good workout for the legs either way.0 -
Another race report from me, and finally a win!
Blog is now hosted on a new site:
http://www.twhatley.com/Blog on first season road racing http://www.twhatley.com/0 -
Another race report from me, and finally a win!
Blog is now hosted on a new site:
http://www.twhatley.com/
Congrats on the win at Hillingdon on Saturday, Tom. It was my first ever race (I was the bearded man acting like an excited puppy for the first five laps and mainly following wheels for the second half) and the pace felt pretty brutal so props for staying away alone.0 -
Another race report from me, and finally a win!
Blog is now hosted on a new site:
http://www.twhatley.com/
Congrats on the win at Hillingdon on Saturday, Tom. It was my first ever race (I was the bearded man acting like an excited puppy for the first five laps and mainly following wheels for the second half) and the pace felt pretty brutal so props for staying away alone.
Thanks! Really happy to have won, have raced at Hillingdon quite a few times this year, never had a successful break though! Great effort to have stayed with the bunch in your first race considering it was fairly quick! Thats a great place to improve from.Blog on first season road racing http://www.twhatley.com/0 -
This year i PBd at the following distances!
25,50,100,24 hours
Was a fantastic year in terms of performance10: 20.36
25: 55.03
50: 1.54.22
100: 3.55.11
24 hour: 397 miles0 -
But with doing that much racing i really found that my enjoyment of cycling decreased
I no longer felt i was doing this for fun, but rather simply hitting goals
I think next year i will try really hard to re-address the balance between fun and achieving what i set out to10: 20.36
25: 55.03
50: 1.54.22
100: 3.55.11
24 hour: 397 miles0 -
Got 1st cat...no more chipper races for me
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Got 1st cat...no more chipper races for me
I think most folk would class nat b races as chippers wouldn't they?Blog on my first and now second season of proper riding/racing - www.firstseasonracing.com0 -
Got 1st cat...no more chipper races for me
I think most folk would class nat b races as chippers wouldn't they?
Most folk? Most folk can't even hold on to the bunch in a 4ths' only. With Nat B it depends who turns up. I.E One pro were at every early season NAT B I was in. ZzZ
You'd only call Nat B chipper if you're trying to be an elitist dickwad.0 -
I meant most folk who race, I do agree with you but I was always under the impression that chipper was nat b and below, maybe not. Yes One Pro were at the Les Ingman, which was a fairly unpleasant race!
Anyway, maybe you'll enjoy the cat 1 badge, I found it made it a bit less enjoyable, mainly as I would often not be racing with many team mates!Blog on my first and now second season of proper riding/racing - www.firstseasonracing.com0 -
I meant most folk who race, I do agree with you but I was always under the impression that chipper was nat b and below, maybe not. Yes One Pro were at the Les Ingman, which was a fairly unpleasant race!
Anyway, maybe you'll enjoy the cat 1 badge, I found it made it a bit less enjoyable, mainly as I would often not be racing with many team mates!
That was a fun one, cracked my wheel, chased back on, bridged groups with a PH rider to the front then blew hard on the climb and rode 20 miles on my own in between groups...
Pretty fun apart from the broken wheel...my only race in Surrey and reminded me why I avoid it...worst roads ever.0 -
Another race report from me, a 2nd place and my 2nd Cat licence
Also written a review on my season so far. More to come next year hopefully.
Blog linked below
http://www.twhatley.com/Blog on first season road racing http://www.twhatley.com/0 -
Another race report from me, a 2nd place and my 2nd Cat licence
Also written a review on my season so far. More to come next year hopefully.
Blog linked below
http://www.twhatley.com/
Congratulations on the upgrade Tom. Have really enjoyed reading your blog and your progress0 -
Another race report from me, a 2nd place and my 2nd Cat licence
Also written a review on my season so far. More to come next year hopefully.
Blog linked below
http://www.twhatley.com/
Congratulations on the upgrade Tom. Have really enjoyed reading your blog and your progress
Thanks! Glad you've enjoyed, and thanks for reading.Blog on first season road racing http://www.twhatley.com/0
