Cadence went ok... It could have been a lot better but under the circumstances it wasn't too bad. These circumstances involved me getting a cold half way through the week before the race. I was hoping I'd get over it before race day, but unfortunately I didn't and as a result I had real trouble breathing properly through the race and could not breath through my nose at all as it was completely blocked.
The race was 7 laps of a 9.7 mile circuit, 68 miles in total, which include a steep climb at around 600 metres in length every lap. I have inserted the course profile below. The hill hurt A LOT but I was getting over it quite comfortablely towards the front of the bunch every lap and I could see that the bunch was getting smaller and smaller every time we peaked out over the top of the climb. On the penultimate climb there were 9 riders off the front and bunch went down to about 30 riders, from the 100 starters. Unfortunately team mates Charlie Fawke and Tom Laker got shelled out the back this time along with many other riders, however, in Tom's situation he was also suffering from a cold which has subsequentely turned into a virus since the race. Considering this, he did pretty well to last as long as he did. On the last lap my legs were still feeling pretty strong and I decided to wait for the final cimb, which the finish line lay on top of, before making my big effort. There were already 9 riders away so we were only going for 10th place in the bunch. I was sitting 8th wheel coming onto the foot of the climb and the legs were still good. Annoyingly as soon as the road steepened my legs were filled with the worst cramp I think I've ever had. I tried pushing through the cramp but my legs just seized up and I nearly came to a stand still. I gritted my teeth and struggled to ride thorugh it to the finish, even though I was going very slowly by this point.
By the end of the slow and painful climb to the top I found out that I finished 40th from the100 starters (race results: http://www.cadencecycleracing.co.uk/cjrr_info/cjrr_results.11.pdf) and I was right near the back of the group of 30 odd riders I was in. I was very annoyed with the cramp as I knew if it hadn't happened I would've been up there on the climb. It was ever more frustrating as I knew it could have been easily avoided. This was because I had finished both my bottles on my bike after 1 hour 45 mins and I then took another bottle in the feed zone at the 2 hour mark. Unfortunately, there was Coke in the bottle I was given as one or two of the guys in the team like to have Coke in the last hour of the race. However, I do not and I struggled to drink during the last two laps due to its fizziness and ended up only managing a few mouthfuls before giving the rest to Charlie. This meant that in the last hour and 15 mins of racing I only had a few sips of coke therefore leaving me to get cramp, as the wikipedia page on leg cramps states 'Causes of leg cramp include...dehydration'. I thought I had mentioned previosuly that I don't like Coke in a race, but maybe I didn't make it clear enough and in the future I will make it very clear that I only want energy drinks or water passed up to me in the race.
All in all, the race could have gone much better for me and the team as a whole. However, I can take some positives from the race as I managed to finish well inside the top half of the field in the select bunch, despite being ill and getting cramp in the finale. With this in mind I am very positive about the weekend coming as I am going to Belgium to race both Saturday, with team mate Charlie Fawke, and then on Sunday, with the whole team at the junior Gent-Wevelgem race. I have given myself high expectations as I aim to get top ten in both races. I am also very positive about the next round of the juniors series, the Junior Tour of Bristol.
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| My face clearly shows that the climb was a painful one. |
Despite the dissappointment at Cadence, I am top of my league in the road.cc Fantasy Cycling 2011 game, and 63rd overall out of the 1651 teams on the game and these are the lads that I selected for Milan - San Remo to get me into this position:
And these are the mugs that are behind me, dr_brock, in my league.
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