Of all the weeks so far, tonight’s was the most likely to be scuppered by work. But I decided to pre-enter anyway as a motivator to try and make it happen. As it was, a number of disparate and easily disrupted things fell into place one after the other.

As the day wore on, I knew I was going to be able to go and ironically, if I hadn’t pre-entered, I would have given it a miss anyway. I was toast!

Often, the days when you feel rubbish before a ride can still yield a good performance once the legs get turning and during warmup I felt better and better. Slowly forgetting about work, I thought about the race. With a fair old wind, it was only going to finish up one way tonight but the very thought of sitting in at Z2 and trusting my luck to the sprint filled me with dread. That’s not what brings me down here every week.

I may be making slow progress but I am really enjoying myself and the chance of a bit of excitement off the front- no matter how foolish- was worth the entry fee alone.

Goals? Well, a point of course! But not at any cost. I wasn’t going to throw myself into obvious danger and I wasn’t going to be boring but I still hoped it was possible.

After that, I still had ‘bridge to a break’ in my sights from TiRed’s list to tick off.
I then had a few more lesser goals, or rather ‘objectives’ in mind to tick off. One was to remember to drink this week, two was to ride in the drops more again, even in the draft and three was to practice a cornering move from the Podcast I referred to the other day.

Basically, on approaching a tight corner (not that there really are any at Thruxton but people still slow for the top chicane) you allow a gap to open up to the guy in front, and then accelerate in to the apex so that as he does a several hundred-watt acceleration to get back up to speed, you are already gaining and get sucked along for very little effort.
This worked so well! Later in the race, when I needed to move forward, I employed this really well to go from the very back to third wheel with no more effort than anyone else took to navigate the chicane.

Off we went then and (yeah yeah, I’m getting the excuses in left right and centre this week!) the field was strong! Castelli kid was there, Ben was itching for his Cat 3 points, Skinsuit guy was there looking super composed, Heart Evolution had five or so riders and there were several Thruxton Newbies.

The pace was steady for a lap and then a few attacks started. The wind kept the lap speeds low and average for the race was just under 24. For some reason, everyone at Thruxton seems to attack in the worst possible place- very rarely into the climb or the headwind where you might expect a break to look for an opportunity.
Anyway, as people came in and out, I edged a little closer. Perhaps I could team up with someone for a couple of laps of through and off to keep the pack on their toes.
I approached Skinsuit guy during warm up but he just laughed and said ‘the break never gets away in Cat 4’. Wise words- even if there have been a few exceptions to prove the rule.

Lap three then and I tried my cornering move through the top chicane and moved up to the front train. Just in time to see two guys going well about 50 yards off the front, adhering to the Thruxton ‘always attack in the worst possible place rule’ but still, the gap was slowly creeping out.

So with a rush of blood to the head and the Goal of ticking of another item from the list popping into mind, I decided to go. 900w got me moving and I swept down the sheltered side of the front riders. As I hit the wind, another 1000w got me clear and as I buried myself into the wind and towards the break, 6 and 700 hundred watts flashed up on the Garmin.

Let’s not get too excited, I’m going to have to zoom the Flyby in pretty close but it definitely counts. I made it across to the surprise of the bunch and didn’t bring anyone with me so I’m happy its legit.

Sadly, despite being a gent and rolling straight through for a turn, the effort from the two guys was poor and we got caught by the foot of the climb. Now, if I wanted some training benefit from tonight’s race, this was going to be it. a)Could I hang on to the bunch and b) how quickly could I recover. HR was now 195 and it hasn’t been that for a very long time! This was going to hurt.

Surprisingly, it wasn’t as bad as I expected and I seemed to be floating above the pain rather than wading through it and came through the final chicane not off the back. Sadly, the attacks continued and rest was a little while away but my HR was already coming down and I was safely back on.

By accelerating into and pedalling through the corners again, I was soon in the top third which gave me slipping room when we next took to the climb.

I was actually really pleased with my recovery. One further lap went by and with half a bottle of drink consumed, I was feeling good again.

Three to go then and time to move. Skinsuit guy casually tempo’d down the sheltered side of the bunch and I jumped on. Second wheel, this was a good place to be. I followed casually and was soon on Castelli Kids wheel who was now taking on the work. At the top chicane, I kind of gave away my secret by using my move to bypass them both and soft pedal the front of the race before kicking again to resume my place on a wheel.
I made a bad choice here. I thought Castelli was fading, so I switched to one of the Heart Evolution guys. I figured they would try something, even if just a softener rather than a full-blown lead out. Sadly, he was just out of position and soon started soft pedalling. By this time, Castelli had a train on his wheel and I couldn’t discretely boss my way back in no matter how hard I tried. This meant I took a fair bit of wind when I should have been surfing.

Penultimate climb and a few people attacked for once. This strung it out nicely and my legs felt ok! Into the last lap and a few of the newbies were drilling it. Making up places at the top chicane, I was about third wheel of the bunch I think with a few out in front. I wasn’t sure what I’d have left for a sprint so I started to consider an even longer flier. The pace ramped up and one of the new guys got very excited shouting ‘COME ON!!’ at the top of his voice. We were doing 450w+ so I knew he had a shock coming but I just followed wheels. Into the climb and sure enough, we were swamped by guys going for a medium length flier.
I moved up nicely through the bunch though and could see the top ten just in front- seemingly perfect. With that, one of the new guys stood up without accelerating a little first which meant I had to swerve to avoid him. My momentum was gone but I regrouped quickly and took a great line through the chicane- far better than last week.
I went as deep and hard as I could and at least made over 1000w but I was too far back. I outsprinted some guys but it was obvious there were 20 riders in front so it didn’t mean much.
And that was that. Straight in the car and back to work to check everything was ok.
So one goal achieved, no points as usual, pleased with my fitness, loved playing through the corners at the chicane and well done to Ben who got his Cat 3 points.
He’s also the Cat 4 series points leader (I’m about 12/88 I think) so should scoop some cash.

Well done CH. Those points will come next. But best of all you can see how to use efforts and recover. Soon you’ll be off the front and everyone’s watching your moves.

Vets V50 race tomorrow as no place in the open 25 I entered. Surrey League RR Sunday 100km and about 2000m of climbing 🙁 , going to die!

Nice one Ch! Hoping to be back on the 18th. Shit day at work took the wind out of my sails!
Hopefully will be fresh from Wallingford crit on the 16th….

@TiRed- Wow! Good luck 🙂 Sounds brutal!

I want to make sure I wring every last ounce of experience out of Cat4. I don’t think I’ll really get motivation to fight for points until I feel ‘ready’ for Cat 3.
I certainly have no desire to cling to the back of the Thruxton 2/3 race 😆

Not that one (point) won’t be sweet when it comes 🙂

@Leigh- Cheers!
That Wallingford Crit sounds fun but is fully booked or I’d have joined you 🙁
Remind me on here about it and I’ll ride down and cheer you on!

Thanks for the write up @crosshair – great to get a sense of what it’s like in the mix

Took me 38 races to acquire my Cat 3. My Cat 2 may take even longer! Obviously a sprint would really help. Being known as a safe wheel and a good racer is what matters. Having started rather late, my racing ambitions are to be a helpful team member for my clubmates.

Nice write up CH!

Those points are yours should you want them, you know what to do to get them easily 🙂

@TiRed – it took me 8, although one was a write off as I punctured which ruined my game. I remember you kindly offering to help me get back on to the group – my first time ever rejoining! Highest I’ve ever placed at Hillingdon is 6th!

I’m commuting to work at the moment – definitely getting my group riding skills in!!! I’ll share a video later. It’s weird as I know I’m going to get knocked off, obviously I’m trying all I can to prevent it, but at the same time I know it’s inevitable – just like crit racing! 😆

I’m gonna freshen things up this week. Entered the 3/4 @ Hillingdon 🙂

Great, mixed with the 3’s there’s no pressure for you to ‘do’ anything. Just sit in the pack and unleash those watts in the last 200m! 😀

Whens that CH ?

Tuesday again. So next week really but YKWIM 🙂

It was 26.5mph again this week but Jonny did it @ 260w normalised which would have no doubt been with a few attacks. It’s only 45mins too.

Gameplan is to sit in until 3 to go then cover the front from there until I get dropped 😆

Good luck! https://www.strava.com/activities/1035050112

I’m getting lots of group riding skills in at the moment: https://youtu.be/QoYQH4L4ZsI

😆

My 2x 1L bottles turned up yesterday so I’m thinking I may do another century on Saturday, not sure yet though..at least 75/80 miles….

I could only get to Hillingdon for about 7-7:30 so gutted I’ll miss it. If I manage to get some kit in your size Weeksy I’ll pop down to give it to CH if you’re not there.

I’m picking up some kit for myself and some new carbon shoes which they’ve just ordered in for me 😆

Nath,

If CH was doing Sat i’d have made it as i’m out on the KTM all day and could have passed by Hillingdon. Tues isn’t quite so simple though.

Good Luck CH. Hope it goes better than my 3/4 debut this week 😀

https://www.strava.com/activities/1069484904
(top lesson learned from this race – remember to have a proper warm up)

It’s cool, there’s a big if on whether I can get anything anyway.

I have a feeling it’s all unused pro kit for the king of the mountain etc. For instance my yodel jersey has F&F on it:

😆

Thanks JD- we need gory details please 🙂

I think it was round 1 I did with Nath ❓

https://www.strava.com/activities/938090761

It was indeed round 1.

Along with what felt like 5,000 other people!

I had one of those days today where my workout was hanging over me like a thunder cloud. I had a fairly heavy day at work moving 2.5tons of food around which entails lifting each 25kg bag at least twice although I have a good system so I don’t have to carry them far.

As the evening wore on and it cooled off, I suddenly really wanted to go out on the bike. I thought I would warm up for a bit then either do high cadence spin-ups, form sprints or a few meatier sprints depending on how I felt. Regardless, each 10-15 second burst would be followed by around 5 minutes noodling at minimum power.

With Annie Mac playing some banging tunes on iPlayer, I actually felt great! And yet I could have so easily not gone out at all.

Anyway, really pleased with my set. 10 sprints, all around 1300w. Max was 1413w, Max cadence was 158rpm and my best 15second power was 1064.

Now if only I could get to the 200m line fresh enough to unleash one 😆

Thanks JD- we need gory details please

Desultory warm-up + overccoking the chicane on lap 2 = out the back.

no time to mope though, I’ve got a 3/4 road race tomorrow 😀

Good man! Have fun and let us know what happens 🙂

@TiRed – think I saw you in Bushy park earlier today, there was loads of twick riders!

New bike time for me, the commuter is knackered. So I’m trying to decide if I want a cheap hack of a frame or one that I can do some weekend miles on and leave the racing bike for racing…

Not today. Resting. Saturday is club ride, so plenty will be out I pulled a calf muscle on Wednesday so have been able ff he bike and bail for tomorrow’s 2/3 RR. Will be a long gentle ride instead. It’s a rest week anyway, I think as th regimen has taken a slight tumble.

ORRL time again today.
No warm up, no sighting lap in the week, and probably some other things equalled no chance.
Off the back towards the end of the 1st, then plodded round until the peleton lapped me on their last lap.
I think everyone else who got dropped stopped soon after as I only saw one person to ride with briefly before they pulled out…

Good man! Have fun and let us know what happens

Paramount RR Strava

So, definitely type 2 fun

Was lucky enough to be near the front of the group in the neutralised zone, and was hoping that a break would go straight away (either so I could try to join in, or more realistically, the race would settle down while I was still fresh. however, no-one got away for in the first lap (also I got called a bellend for moving up on the wrongside of the road, fair comment I guess)

At the start of the 2nd lap I was a bit too far back on the inside of the corner, and got spat. luckily, after another 1/2 lap a decent group formed and we worked together nicely and it was great to get to the bell without being lapped. Then I got hip adductor cramp, which made the last half lap a lesson in suffering, but I got round and I wasn’t last on the road 😀

next up – Stourport on Tuesday

Road racing sounds horrific 😆 Well done on getting stuck in both of you!

I have pretty much zero desire to try one at this point 🙂

Sounds brutal!

You can be DQ’d for that as far as I’m aware.

This weekend has been rather expensive! The commuter is shafted so I’ve had to buy a new frameset and all the bits that are required (£550) – but hoping to sell some bits that aren’t transferable and I’ve put in an insurance claim as the bike was damaged in use…

Then today on my 52 miler a latex tube decided it didn’t want to continue the burden of holding some air…

Plan’s still going to erm plan: https://www.strava.com/athletes/8544067/training/log

I’ve lost a bit of weight – actually fluctuating between 67.5kg-69.5kg!
Final build week this week ready for another FTP test on the 23rd 🙂

Road racing sounds horrific Well done on getting stuck in both of you!

I have pretty much zero desire to try one at this point

It wasnt that bad. once I’d got over the dissapointment of getting shelled, it was pretty much like the Wednesday Night chaingang

Sounds brutal!

You can be DQ’d for that as far as I’m aware.

yes, we were told you can be DQ’d, but at the time it was the only way to move up, and you do have to get caught 🙄

I’ve lost a bit of weight – actually fluctuating between 67.5kg-69.5kg!
Final build week this week ready for another FTP test on the 23rd

320W and 67.5kg 😯 get racing young man!

Fair enough haha.

332w FTP & 67.5kg 😛

Pull a sicky tomorrow afternoon and come and play at Hillingdon 😉

yes, we were told you can be DQ’d, but at the time it was the only way to move up, and you do have to get caught

This is what I dislike about road racing – half a road with oncoming traffic with 80 riders, it becomes a game of who’s willing to take the most risks to move up.

Re: crossing the line – A comm at a race once said something along the lines of if it would be safe to do in a car, then it’s ok. Which is probably a fair way to judge it. That said, I still don’t like doing it.

Ha @CH!

You know I can’t do that – day rate innit I don’t get sick pay and need to pay off my new bicycle purchase 😆

At least get on Zwift then, we want to see the fruits of this labour 😆

I will be on Zwift – just not racing 😆

M6 workout tomorrow night – 345w for 40 mins 😯 Need a hilly route ha!

345w for 45 mins Nath 😯

You should do your next 20 min test as part of a club 10 m TT. And probably win the event in the process…

Ha ha, interesting to read someone else’s take on the Paramount CRT road race – I was there too!

It’s fine to move up on the other side of the road, so long as you can see ahead and aren’t crossing a solid white line. If you need to barge your way back in in a hurry then indeed you might get a bit of flak. But if you stay on the wrong side of the road for too long then you’re asking for trouble either from oncoming traffic or the comissaire.

@The Southern Yeti – I’m good thanks, prefer doing the FTP indoors.

Target is 345w for 40 mins, doesn’t mean I actually can do it. Last time I wasn’t feeling it as I’d spent a load of energy traffic light sprinting on my commute home ha: 40 mins @321w

I just think with the numbers you’re doing you’d get some impressive real world results.

I’m surprised if I see an NP >320 in a Cat 2/3.

Southern Yeti- he’s planning to get fit enough to ride off the front of the 3’s next I think 😆

The sight of Rupert Graham doing it has inspired him 😉