Mar 1, 2011
26th of February and it was another entry to the start of my racing season with both the Ludgershall Criterium and the 2nd Springtime Pursuit. With the intention of doing 2 races in one day it meant being organised and making sure things run smoothly.
Sadly it wasn’t to be, with the event being moved from it’s original location at Upavon the start time was moved from 10am to 11.30am, putting paid to making it back in time to race the Springtime Pursuit. A little disappointing but you cannot let anything mentally affect your race, and to make the best of the current situation. With the course being on a military base, and not being allowed onto the course prior to our race due the 3rd/4th cat races being run immediately before, it meant warming up was a difficult affair. Not the best start to my season but there are always new things to learn at every event – turbo next time maybe?
A new course meant a change in racing style, Ludgershall being an extremely flat circuit of only about 1minute 30secs per lap, making for a fast race. Upavon has a solid hill to break things up, but it didn’t take long for the group to split despite the flat course. 3 laps in and already a group of 5 riders had made their escape – myself not being one of them. That will teach me for not being fully warmed up! I spent the next few laps trying to pull back the group with 2 other riders, one from Felt and the other from VC Raphael. The gap of 10 seconds just wasn’t closing due to the tough headwind and slippery corners, and they both soon gave up chase. Without any other riders to help I made a break for it alone, and a lap later my efforts were rewarded by joining onto the back of the breakaway.
The rest of the race was fairly uneventful, with our group lapping the main bunch twice. A strong headwind on the corner into the finish seemed to be getting stronger in the final few laps, and with my big effort in the early stages to get back on the group combined had taken the sting out of my legs somewhat.
Despite this I just gave it what was in the tank for the final sprint finish of the 6 of us, some dodgy positioning on my part gave me a 3rd place to come home with. A decent finish but one always wants to do better! The later finish meant missing out on the Springtime Pursuit, a shame but at least there is still one more next weekend to enjoy.
These early season races are a necessity to iron out all those mistakes the winter has let creep in, the next week will be spent in reflection of what I’ve done wrong. If you want to perform well you have to be organised and act professional!
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