Race Reports 2014

26-05-2014: Witham Wheelers Road Race

I’m trying to remember whether this goes down as one of the wettest bike races I’ve ever ridden in. It’s gotta be up there with a couple of stages of the Ras De Cymru I did a few years back. Anyway like all very wet amateur bike races (I’m an expert you know!)it was initially characterized by shouts of “Woah” and “Easy”. Excessive amounts of rainfall change not only physical but also the psychological dynamics of a bike race so while brakes and carbon rims renewed their marriage vows signs of giro-wiggins-syndrome began to afflict the back of the bunch. Meanwhile those naughty whip crackers up front started to do their thing and blokes on expensive pieces of equipment were left alone to survey the quiet rain sodden roads of Grantham without the official tour guide group

So with this being my first race of the season my luke warm anaerobic power ensured I didn't quite have the juice when it came to matching surges and attacks. Nevertheless the pace - 39.6 km/ph - felt pretty quick for a 3/4 cat race After an hour of racing I managed to secure a spot for myself in the front 3rd of the bunch and inevitably negotiating the fast 12 mile rolling circuit became a lot less stressful. In fact for the last two laps my greatest battle was trying to remove a nature valley bar from my pocket with soaking wet gloves - a real faff. At least I didn't need to worry about drinking to aid digestion - the spray flicking up from numerous sets of conti 4000’s straight into my mouth did that perfectly.

It wasn't all blokes racing – there was at least one woman and a few juniors all riding well. I remember number 67 from Witham Wheelers, in particular, brilliant positioned amonst a phalanx of big dudes. I bet he averaged less than 120 watts for the whole race. Well...at least the 2 & 3/4 laps he was in the race for. On the penultimate lap his hand went up and we swarmed past him - victim to the puncture Gods!. With no neutral service I didn't envy his 6 mile dredge back to HQ on a flat.

Inevitable we arrived at the bell lap and the attacks began. Nobody was given any rope until the race winner cunningly eased himself of the front and hovered in front of us at 30 meters for ages. Once he rounded a corner he dug in and increased the gap a tad; as we surged,he slowed down. The cat and mouse stuff continued for a few more miles. He had us all hypnotized and rightfully got the win by a few seconds