I was reinvigorated for today’s race. After the balls-ups ofthe last few weeks, I was pinning quite a lot of hope on a visit to Odd Down.

At 90mins, it’s the furthest venue yet but actually, not abad run with the M4 light in both directions and Bath not mega busy.

The facilities are quite lively as it is a sports field toobut there was a café and loo’s/changing rooms etc.
This was the final round of their winter series whichcarried points down to 20th place I think and had good cash prizes.

There was quite a bit of banter between the regulars and 38 on the start line.
I warmed up on the Turbo for a change but with only 20mins,I did 170w for five minutes, 225 for five, 275 for two, then 300 for 1 and acouple of 30 sec bursts at 400.

The course is only about 30m wide in a back to front r shape and within that 30m are both lanes around 5m apart. This is actually pretty cool for spectating although it’s half a mile from the top to the bottom with a drop/rise in altitude that looks worse than perhaps the numbers suggest. The wind today was the non-prevailing Easterly which meant the first straight after the top hairpin was a lot tougher than would usually be the case. The two 180’s at the top and bottom required respect as did the uphill, outside corner of the back to front r.

Waiting to get a couple of sighting laps in, the women came tonking into the top hairpin by the gate on their bell lap, and one lady clipped the grass and crashed into another. The assembled Cat 4’s stayed quiet but I did hear a few gulps!

As it turned out, I sabotaged myself before we began but only by making a reasonable assumption. Which was that there would be a split.It has a reputation for being a selective course. Each lap effectively has three sprints out of tight corners- like a classic (American?) city centre course.

With a week’s worth of pent-up dreaming as usual, I burst out onto the warmup lap in fine fettle! Despite being a little tight earlier inthe day, my legs felt great and I found myself whistling down the wind at 26mph.RPE was playing tricks and the only reason for my good progress was way too many watts. I usually laugh at the 350w warm up guy who’s soon flailing in the race but today I was surely him!
Anyway, tight corners safely negotiated, I loved the course and felt great. Lining up in the second row, it was game on.
Being a newbie to the venue and the series was bliss! I hadno idea who the choppers were or even if it’s a crashfest or not. This helped considerably and instead of bracing myself and backing out of situations that looked imminently hairy, I kept my nose in there and held my line well. Mainly because I had too!!

As we set off, I was on or near the pointy end. RPE was still not calibrated and 360w pulls on the front felt like I could do them all day. Carving through the hairpins, I was out-accelerating everyone around me and feeling confident that this kind of pace would help force the inevitable split. A few of us worked together loosely and eventually, someone shouted forward that we had the gap. Feeling vindicated, we all kept drilling it. But the motivation in the bunch was high and not many turns later it seemed, the news that we were back together filtered forwards. Still attacks came and I kept trying to help ramp things up.

On one lap early on, I confidently flung my bike into the bottom hairpin and arrogantly began drilling it halfway through. SCHHHHHHR!!!! I had the biggest pedal strike ever! Thankfully the rear wheel couldn’t dislodge its hefty load but it meant my confidence was a little dented and I didn’t dare accelerate until the bike was stood up after that!
However! This was like nowhere that I had raced before in that three times a lap, a huge acceleration punished my relatively poor w/kg. The efforts out of three corners were 800w a go and that uses up matches at quite a rate. At around 8 miles in, so almost halfway, the group slowly reformed into a blob from the stretched-out line it had been so far and I was cooked!
NP was showing as 340w- so over FTP and the first time I’d ever seen it so high in arace. If the split had gone now, I would have been finished.

Drifting back with my chest heaving, I tried to swallow some sugar and recover. Normally, this is a simple task which, with a few cheeky tail-gunning moves and some care on the brakes can see you settle in at sub Z2 wattage. Not today! Those 3 efforts per lap were just as savage at the back as they were at the front. If not more so as the cornering of those around you was less assured, and by the time we were powering out of the top hairpin, the bunch were so far down the headwind straight that I couldn’t ease off for 30 seconds or more.

I knew I was too far back now but the cost of getting repositioned at the front was going to eat into my sprint reserves for what was surely now going to be a bunch sprint. So, I tried every line on the circuit to gain free places.Nothing doing! I even tried to get a bit fruity in the hairpins again but I couldn’t bring myself to risk another pedal strike.

No use crying over spilt milk- it was time to take responsibility for my poor positioning and early enthusiasm and began keeping the power on a little more out of each corner. Slowly I ticked people off and before I knew it, it was the Cat4 industry standard +3mph final lap! Rounding the bottom hairpin, I vaguely knew in the back of my mind it was a 50 second or so effort to the line. Time to empty the tanks of whatever reserves I had restored!

Making up places, we approached the tricky 90degree corner that is basically,as hard as how many people are going through it at once it seems. I.e. if you are solo, it’s not worth a second thought but with ten people surrounding you, your options and angles are limited.

For probably the one time all race, I was overly cautious here and decided to follow a Bath Uni rider through rather than punt it up the inside and let him deal with the consequences. Whether that cost me tenth place or better, I’ll never know but it certainly meant I opened up the taps from 5yards further back on the leaders.

My sprint wasn’t out of this world in terms of power but it was reeling people in- and fast. It was top 30% of all time for the final 30secs and top 25% of all time for the final 10 seconds but sadly, and like other weeks, it was from too far back and saw me cross the line mid-way along a strung-out pack.

The riders congregated around the Comms eagerly and I wished I was sharing their expectant excitement. “Hey, Red Handlebars!” shouted the Comm, “…come here!”

My mind raced! Was I in the points after all or was I due a bollocking for some unknown misdemeanour? I scooted over and he was busy counting out the places and relative numbers/bike descriptions. With no idea in my fuzzy mind what my number was, I was still none the wiser as he re-counted through the placings.
He had got past ten and not looked back up at me and I had no idea still and said; “So I wasn’t anywhere?” to which he replied “Yes….” and time stood still! I had done it after all. That final surge had brought me into the points and the mounting pressure of poor results and tactical blunders was eased!!!

“… you got 15th!” he finished his sentence! Grrr! He thought I would have been pleased with the series points but of course, they were irrelevant to me. Ah well, it was a nice surprise for a split second!

For some strange reason though, I can’t help but be pleased with the day. It was awesome weather, great to have Joe there, a friendly atmosphere and a cracking if brutal course that was genuinely satisfying to ride in its own right.
It was also a safe race with some of the highest overall riding standards I’ve seen. No crashes and just a tiny bit of grass surfing at one point.

I guess the reason Cat 4 racing is generally negative is that people commit to the bunch sprint. By committing to a different tactic, you of course accept the decreased chance of it paying off.And probably reduce your chances of a crash in the process. Well, I had a plan today and I committed to making it work. In hindsight it was the wrong one but I still recovered and got close to pulling off plan B V’s guys racing their plan A.
Self-justification for another ‘failed’ attempt? Maybe- but I honestly don’t think another point on my license would have trumped the fun few laps at the beginning- and the chance of 10 was worth it at the time.

On the cool down lap, a nice guy rode up alongside and was very complimentary about my bunch skills. He said he looked out for my wheel as I was very safe and very powerful! Beaming with pride,I felt really good to the point that I thought my head may explode. Then he said;“but if I can offer one word of advice- you’d be so much faster if you just bent your elbows!!” 🙂

Nice work crosshair! Sounds like you had fun. One of these days one of these stories will end with a podium, I’m sure!

Ah, the E,1,2 and 3rd Cat only races were run concurrently and the riders were DQ’d for drafting the quicker race.

Abingdon this Saturday but it looks set to be pretty bleak!!

Feb through to Apr are my quietest weekends at work for one thing but it’s still good fun obsessing before and after 🙂

It also helps sharpen your bunch skills in a relatively controlled environment that somehow feels a little safer than doing it on the Sunday club run.

Odd Down was lovely weather though- a glorious day to be out.

Re Hillingdon DQs – 3rd cat race eased to allow the E12 bunch through, then when the E12 group had a 10-15 second gap some riders attacked and sat on the E12 group for a free tow away. Left the rest of the 3rd cat bunch a little confused for the rest of the race!

TiRed’s list?? Completed it mate 😎🤣

You can only beat who turns up! Take the glory and bask in it.

Hush now. You won. That’s it fella. Your record shows

1.

Where’s that one ?

A win is a win!!! It’s the number who pre-entered, not who start on the line. If 10 people registered to race, you get all ten points. If nine registered, it’s only three points. The comm will know.

Congratulations!!!! Delighted for you.

Oh man, you could have entered me and JOe LOL

Wow, well done crosshair! Definitely still a big deal regardless of the field size; I’m impressed and pleased.

950w ain’t bad at all boy ! Nice work !

By making it to lap 2 in the bunch you have my respect 🙂

@Tired – Giant TCRs are ace!  I just built one up for a club mate and he’s chuffed with it!

Agree with all the others, you can only race who turns up!  Its only early season too!

Took nephew to Redbridge (Hog Hill) for his first race. The Alan Rosner memorial races. He loved it, despite being off the back and forced to ride a shortened corse (no bottom circuit due to floods).

I signed on for the National B E12 rather than the later 234 as I wanted a fast getaway. Rain started, pressure up, cold. Warmed up well. Rode a few shortened laps, and bang, the 35 of us are off. Held on for three and a half laps of gritty jet wash. Carbon rims and dual pivots are just fine!

Then  off the back with a few others and race over.  Rain is driving, wind is brutal, and the hill reps are basically 60 sec recovery, then 40 second efforts. For an hour. Attrition starts as hypothermia sets in. I chase riders, try and ride with them, but then they bail. Of course I’m lapped. Five times in total!

Riding consistent laps, with consisten power, but heart rate was declining steadily due to hypothermia. Race finished after 55 minutes and I’m 17. Just off the points, but pretty pleased just to finish.

https://www.strava.com/activities/1480457206/overview

NP 297 W, which is basically a chilled FTP test.

Missed CH yesterday at Hillingdon, where thwarted by a puncture, he narrowly missed out on his third cat points.

Raced the final 234 after. Pace was a little slower off the mark than last week. A few attacks, a lot of towing the pack, and much stringing out for some serious chasing. A group got away, then the juniors start the charge, with a very strong young lady pulling just as hard on the front. I put in a big effort and am almost dropped as a reward for my efforts.

Held on, attacked with five to go into no man’s land thinking oooh TT to the finish as a vet friend blocks the front. Half a lap later, I’m back in the fold and nobody is getting away. Another vet ups the pace to make a long lead out and a safer final lap, but I roll in at the back of the bunch with a Pearl Heaven rider who deserved the win

Great fun and dry! NP 287 W and pleased with that effort. Felt like it to, as legs were sore all evening.

Unlucky CH. Westerley crits are coming soon.

I don’t race on the road, but my little lad (the eldest one) started this weekend in the Welsh Cycling Go-Ride circuit race series. He’s only 6, but he’s been racing ‘cross for 2 1/2 seasons in the North West League U8’s, he came 8th overall this year with a string of top 10’s.

I asked him if he fancied a go at road racing and he jumped on it, so off we headed to Marsh Tracks in Rhyl at the weekend, similarly to Ti’s post up there; they do a one lap time trial followed by a multi-lap race. As we were first there and he was keen to have a go on the circuit the organiser asked if he could do a lap to figure out how fast the little’uns would be to set the number of the laps for the race. So off he rolled, into the first bend and promptly got dive bombed by a seagull, taking him down, ripping his bar tape and a big bit of road rash on his face, plus a couple of rips in his kit. He was startled and upset as you can imagine, but after some magic cream (savlon) and a few sweets he was ready to sign on.

First up was the one lap TT, now he doesn’t know his left from his right too well, so when brief said to to left a the end, he got a tad confused and had a bit of a wander, subsequently he lost 20 seconds of his 30 second gap, probably not helped by having no one to chase down / follow which he’s used to from racing bigger kids at ‘cross, but hey ho, that’s kids for you.

Next up was the main race, 5 laps of the track. They lined up and he got the gist of it this time, he went off with the little group and followed them round the first bend, then onto the back straight he stood up and put his mini hammer down, opening up a gap and extending it right through the 5 laps to take the win by over half a lap.

I worked out his pace after the race and it turns out the little monkey averaged 25.8kph for the race!