In some ways, the timing for today was good! I finished the meaty part of Sweetspot Base 1 on Trainerroad last Sunday and this week was recovery week. However, I had been dodging a cold at work for the previous two weeks and it finally caught up with my wife and then inevitably, me.

I still wanted to race. This was my last chance until February so I wanted it in the bank to fuel my January training. I made the decision to not ride at all and tried to rest as much as work would allow.

Yesterday, I did the bare minimum in the morning and then spent all day chilling and worrying about whether to bother going. Weeksy and Joe both advised against and to be honest, I agreed with them.

But I had been working myself into a frenzy about it too. Every morning I was waking up earlier and earlier and I was craving the bike- a good sign I was hitting some form. Strava agreed and even though my fitness was no higher than the day before my last race, my form score was +5 points.

When I woke up this morning, I lay there and assessed how I felt. Rough was the answer! No better than yesterday but with some dizziness too. I ate breakfast and did the dogs and the morning air perked me up. Perhaps a stuffy day mainly indoors had not been ideal yesterday!

Oh what the heck, I would only end up doing tomorrows work today if I stayed here so I decided to go and give myself the option of bailing at any point.

I’m obviously in a good routine now what with all the practice I’ve had and was able to turn up, sign on and get out on the bike very much on autopilot. I set off with over thirty minutes to go and was surprised how late most people left warm up. I literally ambled around at <200w and only at 13:00 did I open up the legs down the straight. 26mph seemed to take about 500w with my coat on and I quickly put any thoughts of attacking out of my mind.

The Costa was kicking in by now and I went back to the car to ditch my jacket and put my arm warmers on. I felt ok! Not great but certainly not the worst I’ve felt pre-race.

The total entries were close to thirty I think with a strong contingent of 3’s. A couple of brand new racers were out too. I stand by what I said in the summer. 3/4 races are NOT good for beginners and they get sucked along way out of their comfort zone at times. It was much sketchier than the (albeit small field) Cat 4 only race the other week with a few shouts and one or two folks on the grass.

Channelling my off-bike frustration during the week, I read Matt Fitzgeralds “How bad do you want it?” book after all the publicity TR have been giving it. And one thing had given me hope. Whilst certainly not the same league as some of the examples (the lady with a tumour having her calf muscle removed and the guy with one arm) by a factor of about 10,000,000, the idea of ‘workarounds’ by your body had never the less inspired me that whilst I may not be fully fit and healthy, I would have to use every ‘workaround’ in my repertoire to gain an advantage.

I was actively trying not to brake in the bunch at all again but it was much harder than last time and I had to drag the front once or twice to avoid running into smaller guys on the descents. I also utilised tail-gunning at times to shorten the route and move up whilst coasting where ever possible.

So to the race! It started off dull. Boring in fact! I was sitting in around two thirds of the way back and it felt slow. Laps 5 and 6 were 23 and 24mph!
All this meant that the Cat 3 contingent were barely working and would be soon buggering off at pace. I decided to jump the gun and taking a few opportunities to coast to the front, it coincided with a couple of no-name but matching kit guys trying to do some kind of one / two. Crossing the Start line one of them was 30yards off the front and the other bridged then went over the top of him. This neatly coincided with me cruising down the sheltered side of the bunch. So I followed. As we approached Brians, they were already fizzling out so I countered over the top of them both up the hill and kept the power on until half way down the hill. Then I tried to recover whilst maintaining the speed. In some curious daydream, I had no idea what speed or watts or HR this was, I just thought “How bad do I want it?” and pressed on the pedals! (No, honestly, I did think that lol!)

As I reached the end of the start straight, I realised I had a gap. Bugger! Now what! This was my 5 lap to go plan, not my 5th lap plan!! Ah well, keep going but cruise a little. As I rounded Brian’s again, the whoosh of aero wheels could be heard and some optimistic chap shouted “UPUPUP!” to me and somehow, I found the energy to latch on to his wheel. Yes! Break away! Now we’re talking!

Two more guys were there behind me but I found myself having to pull past the clubhouse. Veering off and trying to latch on again, I realised I was out of my depth. Ah well, try and cling on. Nope! Not happening. With that, the winning break of 4 and a nice guy called Nick went up the road. Nick ended up coming back but the rest stayed away until the finish- great work by them!

The bunch came ripping past me. This was bad++. HR was heading towards max and I was literally seeing stars and feeling sick. DO NOT GET DROPPED was now my immediate concern. If the endorphins of a break make you feel invincible, the panic of realising your race could end right here makes you feel stupid! Stupid is as stupid does and I deserved to get dropped for my ridiculous attempt at playing with the big boys.

At that moment, if someone had held up a bottle of milkshake, I would have stopped and downed it and gladly gone home. I have never felt that bad on the bike. But I didn’t quite get dropped! I was ten yards off the back at times and only by taking short lines and moving up to sag back again was I able to cling on.

A tiny glimmer of hope appeared! This was going to have to slow down. As my HR crept down, so my expectations changed once more. From “survive this straight” it became “survive this lap” to “Hmmm, see how you feel at the end”.

Downing drink at every opportunity, I started to feel a bit more normal and after a few laps, consider options! Crazy! The break was holding steady at 30-40 seconds I reckon and at 40minutes in, I started to wonder if I could bridge. Even now, I’m too bad at maths to know how fast I would need to go to close the gap in time so I didn’t even bother trying to work it out, just lurked around waiting to see if a good launch-moment presented itself.
It didn’t! The others started to try and rally. One (Scottish?) guy from TCC (I was joking about them shutting things down!) tried to be a road captain and get all the non-TCC guys pulling. It was chaos.

As I reached the front, I got suckered into pulling rather than launching the attack I was considering but found I dropped everyone by accident! Twice! Hmmm- that’s worth knowing!

Three to go then and things slowed down. Two to go and things sped up! I considered a flier but the pace was too high. Nick decided it was his time so launched past the clubhouse and hard left on the main straight.

Once more, I found myself cruising down the sheltered side and what’s this? A gap on the right!!! The Bell literally spurs people into action so luckily, I went about 20m before it rang for us and gained some surprise. Right, guts or glory now, save nothing for the sprint! Don’t look back! Just head down and go for it.

Reaching Brian’s, I sensed a gap- crap! Attack the hill and still a gap- double crap! Feeling like junk but pressing on down the hill and still a gap!
Once more “How bad do you want it?” popped into mind and I buried myself. Onto the start straight and I still had a gap! Some dude on the bank was shouting “GOGOGO!” and I realised it was close. I couldn’t help but look back. Triple crap! There’s a swarm of angry racers launching their sprints. I have no idea how hard I was going, I could barely steer in a straight line. I just kept pushing on the pedals! However, I sensed I was clear and sat up over the line!

That was epic! I couldn’t believe there were only four in the break so I had to go and ask! Yes! 5th place! And very pleased with that!

One year ago pretty much to the day, my normalised Power was 300w and I got lapped twice! I joked to Weeksy and Joe that if my NP was 300 this year, I would expect to have won! Well it was 294 so that’s why I only got 5th lol!!!!

When I read your numbers I think “hmmmm”. Assuming my turbo is accurate I reckon I can manage 280 for 50 mins. So it all comes down to tactics/skills/technique. Obviously in my world it’s the surges where I’d suffer most with flat power profile I seem to have. But I’m working on that, along with after Xmas working on weight, which using your numbers, means I could potentially hold a pack with you.

@ Weeksy- it’s not about numbers. Or rather, it’s about your numbers. How your numbers relate to your whole package of drafting, aero’s, not braking, reading the race, giving yourself room to sag back etc etc is what decides if you hang or not.

You’d have hung the first six laps today and got dropped when they chased me down- exactly like my first 3/4 race when Nath attacked. Third cats attack, attack and attack whereas 4ths attack and then have a doughnut 😆

Maximising your time in Z1 is as important as how many watts you can do for an hour 😉

(Yes, I’m a guru now 😆 )

Oooh….I might be able to do 28th….!

Yes!!! Congratulations. And so richly deserved. Half way in only two races. Now cast your mind back a full year and think where you were.

I know Sam was racing today for TCC. he finished third last time out. Not sure who else was out. It’s a team sport.

Looks like the 29th is on….. Weeksy, Leigh and myself. Are you around TiRed or MrB?? Or indeed anyone else who fancies it? Minet Ladies have it booked PM from 13:00 so AM weather dependent….

Well it depends how you define ‘race’ 😆

Thanks! I guess so, although I’ve always felt like I’ve been making progress ticking off TiReds list. I’ve also prioritised getting home in one piece and so backed out of many a sprint I could perhaps of challenged for. I’ve only just got the legs to pull off racing the way I want to race.
It’s also cheating as the races are 2mph slower than the equivalent summer ones 😆

As for the book- it’s ok. It’s not what I was expecting. He goes into great descriptive detail about the athletes back story in each chapter to make a relatively simple point. (Hypocrite, moi? 😉 ) The underlying theories of are quite interesting but probably make up less than 1000 words of the book.
It does provoke thought though about what ‘being fitter’ means. Obviously power meters quantify it for us in a way not yet available to runners (as accurately) but still- perceived exertion is usually the barrier, not our physiological limits.
But it’s more of a book of tales about key moments in various athletes careers that illustrate the theory rather than a text book.

well done crosshair – podium next, then !

I think winning is going to take an element of luck. Whereas your 5th has been hard work and determination.

There’s always luck in bunch racing though I guess. The ripple effect means every move anybody makes has a consequence.

I believe I can do it now, especially at Hillingdon. The biggest problem I foresee is trying to win and accidentally getting second or third- then I get 12 points and lose my best chance. A 3/4 win would have to be luck- trying to hang with the break showed me that much..

Apart from the fact I have 9 races pencilled in for Feb and March and they are all Cat 4 only 8) 😉

It’s awesome mentally too as I’m now free to go for it! Every race I can chase exciting breaks and try fliers and forget about the lethal bloody sprint 😆 Literally go for a win or lose trying.

You can still race any races you have pre-entered as a 4th cat. You can’t get any points for your 2nd Cat though. I expect they’ll shift you from the 4ths to E153 FOC. And everyone should try an E123 😈

Thanks TiRed! Yeah, whilst I have them eyed up I haven’t entered anything yet.

I’d love to try a big boys race if I get my points this year! Just for the much needed bump back to earth 😆

Well done on the first points of the year 🙂

It might be allowed but it’s a bit of a dick move racing as a 4th cat if already secured an upgrade. Maybe it varies around the country but the racing community is small enough here that those that do that will get some stick about it rather than given praise for a good race or result.

Nice one!!

So, Rd1 at Abingdon coming up this week. A good showing from team STW last year- I know Leigh is on board but is anyone else entered?

I’ve got a few busy days on my feet coming up- so have jammed some efforts into my legs over the weekend and am going to do nothing on the bike until Friday now, with an early rest week.

55 in Cat 4 I think so avoiding a crash and covering breaks is the plan.