I did this race last year – to see how I fared take a look at the blog. Suffice to say, my goal was to finish the bloody race this time - there, gave the game away didn’t I?
It was a cool morning with a touch of drizzle in the air so I wore detachable sleeves and leggings, rolled up to just below the knees. I kept the sleeves on for the whole race as it didn’t warm up much at all.
Start: About a hundred of us set out to face a heavily undulating course. I managed to stay with the lead group for the first hour or so but was cast adrift after a long climb that was followed by a fast descent and then another long drag. I spent a couple of kilometres on my own cycling through a quiet valley with wooded slopes before I noticed a small group of riders behind me.
I did the clever thing this year; I slowed down a little for them to catch me before latching on to the back wheel of the last man. See? Hit me over the head a few times and I’ll finally get the message - it's easier to cycle with a group than to slog it out on your own.
My new friends were at a very similar level to me – that is to say, average! However, one of them was quite a good climber so I stuck to his wheel on each climb. It turned out that I was a better downhiller than him so he took my wheel for the descents - quid-pro-quo. Our four-man group worked well together and we soon began to sweep up stragglers and our number eventually swelled to ten.
Cows: A herd of cows stopped us in our tracks just like one did last year! It was almost as though the farmer had deliberately planned it. Luckily we were on a straight bit of road and could see them early or we would have run right into them at 35kph. We slowly picked our way past the herd and carried on along some very uneven and badly pitted roads (unusual for Brittany). Then it happened! At exactly the same point in the race as last year I was dropped. Dammit!
Deja vu: We had just crested a long hard uphill climb and I was preparing myself for a nice rest on the downhill when a corner revealed one of those bloody false flats. Instead of levelling off the climb continued, unrelenting. I dropped further and further back. I was absolutely gutted.
This year though, I’m stronger. I dug deep and slowly managed to close the gap. Then, mercifully, just before I my legs were completely fried, the road dropped away into a lovely, long, fast downhill. I let the bike run free, relaxed down on the handlebars and flew down the hill at over 55 kph. I soon went to the front of the group; spinning my legs gently to keep them loose. The next climb soon arrived but my impetus took me most of the way up before I had to work the pedals hard. We even had a tailwind which helped immensely.
After about 60kmps we formed into a chain-gang and really ate up the miles. At one stage we were cruising along the few flats at over 45kph – exhilarating.
Success (of sorts): The rest of the race is a bit of a blur. I started feeling cramp up in my left quadriceps with about fifteen kilometres to go but managed to continue through the pain. Mercifully, it was downhill most of the way home and I survived.
As a group we agreed not to contest the finish and crossed the line in a bunch – all done!
I was tired but quite happy with my performance; a massive improvement on last year. My average speed for this hilly course was 31.9kph – not bad, for me!
No comments:
Post a Comment