Beyond Spring Crits and Team MK/23c round 3 race series - March 2014
Fri 11 Apr 2014
Colin Bailey and I placed 5th and 7th respectively at the Beyond Spring Crits at Hillingdon. The starting field was in excess of over 90 riders. All I can say is, ‘Carnage’.
After a warm up lap before the start we found ourselves towards the back of the huge field. It took us both a while to get near the front once racing started. Riding in the pack was not a pleasant experience with some very suspect riding going on. There appeared to be a very broad ability range with the threat of crashing always imminent.
Colin and I decided that it was no place for us and just hammered it off the front in attempt to get a break formed and away from the carnage in the pack. Getting a break formed and getting it to stay away was difficult as we were averaging in excess of 26.5mph. Never the less a bit of team work put in place enabled Colin to get up the road with a couple of strong riders. I constantly sat 2nd wheel of the chasing pack rolling through at ‘tempo’ and easing when I got to the front allowing Colin’s group to extend its lead. When the pack lulled I went solo for lap and bridged to the breakaway group. We held our lead with approx. 5 laps to go when there was a drop in pace which enabled several other riders to bridge across. The break group was now around 12+ riders in size. On the last lap I got caught in 2 minds to go long or to save for the sprint. In the end I did neither and my half-hearted attempt of going long just leads the rest of the group out for the sprint. I would roll over in 7th. Colin got switched by some erratic riding and had to deviate from his line but would end up in 5th. He was on for a podium. Once we crossed the line and took a warm down lap we could see the aftermath of several crashes all over the circuit. It had been hard work getting away but with 2 in the top 10 and with multiple crashes in the pack, it was a good decision.
The following week I would fly the flag solo at the MK Bowl. The thought of battling it out with around 100 riders at Hillingdon trying not to crash did not appeal. Also within 2 minutes of the MK Bowl is Ikea. So the Mrs went shopping for few hours while I got top ride my bike.
There were 61 starters to the race and like Hillingdon the week before I got caught at the back of the group after few warm up laps. It took me couple of laps to get toward the head of the pack. A group of 3 had already formed and had 10 sec lead on the pack. The 3 consisted of Steve Golla (HWCC), Matt Excely (twenty3c) and Andy Marriot (Spirit RT). I had been told by many that it is a very rare occurrence a breakaway stays clear at the Bowl especially if it has formed within the 1st few laps. Knowing the strength of the riders in the group I thought it was worth effort to bridge. It would mean at least 60 mins of hard graft to get to the end but that’s the fun part.
I put a dig in through the technical section and up the drag to the finish and made contact with the leading 3. We worked well setting a fast pace extending our lead to around 45 secs. We held this gap for pretty much the majority of the race. With laps ticking away a couple of riders were feeling the pace and were missing turns which caused a drop in pace. A rider from Team Hargroves Cycles-Specialized had chipped off the pack and was attempting to bridge over. With 5 laps to go he was in sight and with 2 laps to go he was about to make contact. After last week’s indecisive attempt of saving it for the sprint or going long, I had said to myself that if I was going to attack I was to just do it, not think about it and just give it 100% and see what happens.
Just as the Hargroves Cycles –Specialized rider was about to bridge with 2 laps to go I decided to go full gas on the attack as we approached the drag up to the start/finish. I put my head down and went for it and did not look back until I heard the bell with 1 lap to go. On reassessment of my situation I could see that only the twenty3c rider had followed me and we had quite a substantial gap on the chasing 3. A little bit of cat and mouse followed for the remainder of the lap but I couldn’t shake the lad off my wheel. So it came down to 2 up sprint for the line. Which I’m gutted to say I lost on the line by half a wheel. Almost victory. Never the less a good start to the season and hoping for one better at the Chelmer RR.
A few pictures from MK bowl. A good sequence of the closing sprint, Oh so close.