Aug 5, 2011
Having previously won a National road title (Masters 35-39 in 2008), I’m more than aware of just how much focus it takes and how so many factors can determine the outcome. Having been so close to winning the Master’s event in 2005 & 06 (leading a 3 up sprint with 100m to go both times only to get passed by both my poursuvants), it can really begin to get you down, knowing that you’re as good as the rest of the guys your age but not getting the result you want. In 2009, I was able to enter my first Master’s C (Vets) National Champs. With the confidence of doing the job against some younger guys the previous year, I assumed that beating the likes of Roy Chamberlain, Gary Dodd, Andy Tinsley and Rod Hurd on a tough hilly circuit wouldn’t be as much of a task as riding Masters B(35-39) at the age of 39yrs and 8 months. How wrong I was- Having not raced against ex-Pro Hurd for some time, I covered every sinlge attack he made for the first hour, some of which put me in the massive hurt locker. After 90 minutes of the race (still 2 hours of racing remaining), my race was over. Back to the drawing board.
Last year, the Vets Champs were held on a circuit that suited me down to the ground- a real powerman’s circuit on heavy’ish Essex roads, but by virtue of being in Essex, there were no challenging climbs. My season up to that race had been very lacklustre- I had suffered a back/hip injury at work the previous summer and had struggled at times with pain, especially after travelling the length and breadth of the UK with Kuota-Road CC to do 1 hour Crits & Tour Series events. A bad crash in the Div champs had probably aggravated my hip as well as caused plenty of flesh wounds which added to the frustration. By the time the Vets Champs came around, I’d left the team on mutual consent due to not being able to cope with the travelling (700 miles a week) and the increased hip inflexibility it had caused. I’d gone back to riding in Army colours and picked myself up a second hand Sram Red equipped Focus Izalco in Milram colours. The bike was very light & responsive, about 20% better than the Kuota I’d raced until then. I turned up at the race very motivated and somehow, after over 2hrs of racing, I’d kept myself up with the main moves of the day with very little back pain and negligible leg pain- I was on a ‘no chain’ day. The race was mine for the taking. That was until, with barely 10k remaining, whilst I was in the final selection of 8 (only Gary Dodd and Chris Spence to worry about in the gallop), my front wheel hit a pothole, my chain threw off the outer ring; By the time I realised this and stopped pedalling, it was too late. The force generated had pulled the front mech totally off the carbon seat tube. The bike ground to a halt, I climbed off and watched first the break, then 3 minutes later, the bunch, go off into the sunny haze and once again my chance of an “Old Man’s” title was over for another year.
Winter 2010- JJ had been talking to me for ages about joining a new team he was setting up. I’d just come off the back of a very disappointing season- My lowest final position in the rankings, only 3 wins in the season (all circuit races), still with niggling injury issues, on the back of a kicking in the Tour Series, homeless (well, sort of) and without a real focus. After taking November off the bike totally, I twice nearly quit the Sport altogether in December, due to the demons in my head and the pain in my hip. However, with renewed motivation and the hip issue getting slightly less prominent by the week, the motivation was there again, new team, new team mates, new bike (back on a Trek which i’ve always got on well with, going back to when I started road racing in 2001) and new team agendas (No pressures to travel the whole of the UK only to get your butt handed to you on a plate by 50 odd full-time riders).
By the end of June, the team had well and truly established themselves as one of the top amateur teams in the UK and by that points I’d led a 3 Day stage race and won the Green Points jersey in another. However, there was still no confirmation of a Vet’s championships venue or organiser. I raced at the Master National Track Champs, and riders there, who were unlikely to enter the race themselves, being out and out trackies, were whispering of a possible race. A few days later, it transpired that Central region were promoting the event at the end of July on a sporting course based around the Chobham area of Surrey- game on.
My final preparation for the race was brutal, seeing me race on 9 of the first 13 days of the month in 3 separate disciplines. By the end of that, I was nearly in a box. My coach ordered me to rest for 4 days, which I duly did. I then raced on my first day back and found it so tough, it was probably my poorest race in the Monday night local series. A week later, I was flying and on form for a decent ride in the Champs hopefully. However, on getting to the HQ on a very hot Summer’s morning (it was scheduled to be about 27 celsius), I couldn’t get my chosen lightweight Zipp wheel inflated so had to put a clincher wheel on the front with riding a tub on the back still (the clincher wheel had a smaller cassette on and I wanted the range that the 12-26 Sram cassette had to offer). Having never ridden a mix of tyre types before, it did unsettle me a little, but I tried to maintain focus.
The race started on a different format to last year’s event. This one had everyone from 40-60 in it, in every age class, all contesting one lot of cash prizes but 4 National titles, so essentially, 4 races within a race. I had told myself that I wouldn’t get involved in any early forays and when a move containing Ian Rees (Wiler Goselfdrive) and 2 others went, I didn’t panic. Luckily the combined Vet train and lack of team mate cohesion found in most domestic races saw them reeled back in, but not before I’d hit a pothole (Had I not learnt anything from last year??) and lost my bottle number 2 of CNP prohydrate. This meant that on the next feed, I would get handed up from team mate Wayne’s wife, Kerry, my 3rd bottle, which contained a caffeinated drink and some salt, which I would have to drink within the first half of the race- certainly not what I was hoping for. Luckily, after a bit of pitside confusion, I got some water and by the time the race got tougher towards the end, my pre-race bottle plan was back on schedule.
The race was contested over 3 different circuits, the first being the longest and flattest (but full of horse riders!), the second was the toughest and most, including myself, thought that going up over Chobham common 8 times would surely splinter the field and make for a natural selection which I was hoping ot be part of, but it somehow didn’t. Prolific tester Richard Prebble (motorpoint) tried a few times, but had most of the bunch chasing him. Andy Lyons was the rider who I’d identified as probably the most in-form rider, having done the Tour Series and some big domestic races this year (and overseas race experience). With sprinters Rees and Paul Crook not showing their hands at all, I chose to try and conserve what I could to mark what I could. We moved onto the final circuit, 8 laps of a 4km loop with a roller-coaster tree-lined draggy road leading to the finish. I kept amongst anything of any danger until finally a move split with 5 of us in it, including Prebble,Ben Luckwell and his main rival in the D class, Gary Dodd (Southdown Bikes). Unfortunately, we didn’t keep the pressure on, and another group containing Lyons and local evergreen Marcus Brueton (Norwood Paragon) got onto us, closely followed by Paul Holdsworth and one of the Scottish guys.. As there was quite an even split of C and D class, the work was pretty much shared out, although some were being more cagey than others. Gary is a rider, who, with a handful of National podiums titles and podium finishes under his belt, who will always do his share and today was no exception. I continued to mark Lyons and any Prebble- offensives, whilst trying to save my bursts if at all possible. With 2 laps to go, my last ProEnergy Max caffeine gel was consumed and I thought of ways I could try and take the win. In my pre-race visualisation, I had thought that both Reesy and Crooky would be with the selection, so I’d sort of planned to go along with about 6k remaining. However, with Prebble, Lyons & Brueton as the main hurdles for me to negotiate, I had to rethink the strategy. Lyons had been super-strong all race, and I was wondering how much he’d kept in reserve. With 6km to go, my plans went up in the air again as the fiery Scottish rider attacked solo. No-one responded. He was in the C cat, so it was down to one of the 3 of us. No reaction. Hopefully the course would see him float back in. We entered School lane with just over a K to go. He was still away. The pace was kept high, clearly Doddy wanted to win not just his class but the overall race. With barely 400 to go, the Jock was still dangling off the front, he might make it. Lyons jumped, I responded, he sat up straight away. 300 to go, rider still ahead, me riding shotgun. With 250 to go, we somehow caught him with a slight increase in pace. I knew this finish- the last round of the Ottershaw series in 2010 finished on it. I kicked, then moved across to negotiate the flowing, hidden right hander. Sometimes in a sprint, you find yourself wanting to change gear, but with someone right on you, you cannot, knowing that the fraction of a second lost in transmission movement could be costly. I wanted to change gear. No-one on me yet. Up a gear. Still spinning out (why did I jump in that gear?), no-one on me, up another gear and into the 12. I’m motoring now-where has this blast come from? I can do this, it can be mine. On top of the gear now- crowd-lined finish line approaching, no-one is with me. I’ve done it!! I raised first one hand, then after crossing the line , both aloft, with Ricci Pascoe, one of the team’s sponsors, right on the line spectating and sharing my glory. I had beaten Doddy by 2 clear bike lengths (he has always been my nemesis!), and Marcus Brueton had crossed the line in 3rd to get 2nd in my category. I couldn’t believe it. The last road victory under my belt, the South Div Champs in 2009, had been taken off me after a protest regarding the sprint, I was gutted at the time, but another National title(the first for Primal Europe!) had more than made up for it. I’ll happily plug away racing for 2 years to get National titles like this one. Wow, job done. And to think I nearly hung my wheels up 8 months previously…..
Martin Smith
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