Taupont Pass’ Cyclisme – 22nd May 2011 – 5.1kms x 13 Laps

There was absolutely no doubt about it! The course was far too tough for me – a 5.3 kms circuit with a really stiff 1.5 kms climb into the finish.

Overview: Taupont Cyclisme hosted the race and, as always, did a wonderful organizational job on a beautiful sunny Sunday. Much credit for this must go to our excellent President Mickael Crete. It was another great achievement that matched our organisation of the Morbihan Cyclo Cross Championship. “Well done Mickael and everybody else who helped!”  

The race:  Despite my pre-race preparations, I had no idea how hard the other riders would attack the hill on the first lap. They went off like startled bunny-rabbits and I had fallen back to last place before I was even half-way up that first climb.

By the time I reached the top I could just about see club-mate Yves Oger in the distance, but the other racers were already out of sight. I did eventually catch Yves and we stayed together for the next nine laps or so, trying desperately to keep our speed up. We managed to overtake a few desultory souls along the way, but there were not many of them to lift our spirits.

We were caught by the leaders on lap eight and stayed with the main bunch until the next hill. Then guess what happened? Correct - I was dropped again!

Yves managed to stay with the group until the top, but soon dropped away and I managed to haul him in again fairly quickly. We continued our sad little progress for a couple more laps until Yves decided he’d had enough and pulled out at the end of lap ten.

I continued doggedly on (I am an idiot sometimes). Anyway, it was a nice sunny day with a tailwind pushing me up the hill and I resigned myself to treat the race as hard training ride - again.

Other Club riders:

Ian Cushway – As usual, Ian finished way ahead of me, but even he struggled around the course and finished in a group at the end of lap 12.

Old Fart – I stopped at the end of lap 11 when I crossed the finish line just ahead of the leaders at the end of their final lap. I averaged around 32 kph for the 58.3 kms I did complete (not bad considering the hill).

Yves Oger: Finished at the end of lap 10.

Andy Shaw: Entered the ‘big boys’ race as a Category 3 rider. Even Andy struggled and pulled up on lap 13 (of 18). In his defence Andy is busy these days renovating his house so cannot do the training he’d like to.

My apologies to the other TC rider who entered the senior race, I did not catch your name. 


Post Script: It was good to see Loic Guimard a the end of the race - he looks to be recovering well after his spill at Lizio. 

Lizio – 8th May 2011 – 9 x 7km Laps (Pass' Cyclisme)

Lizio – 8^th May 2011 – 9 x 7km Laps

Lizio is a beautiful little place half an hour away from my home. Perched on top of a hill, it has old stone buildings, a magnificent church and a well-maintained cobblestone road wound through it.

Start:  My race started at 10:02; I don’t like early starts. I sat on my bike, shivering in the early morning chill, waiting for the race to begin. Then we were off in a mad dash for the first corner!

The course was quite technical with narrow roads, tight turns and sharp little climbs. To make things worse, early on the roads were damp after the overnight rain and I was a little tentative on the sharper turns. However, the sun soon broke through a blanket of light cloud and the roads dried out enough for me to relax a little after the tricky start.

With three or four tough little uphill climbs, most of which were into a moderate headwind, the Lizio course was a hell of a lot tougher than last week’s event in Penvins.

For the first two laps I found it easy to stay with the main group, which included club-mates, Eric Coué and LoÏc Gouimard. Then there was the inevitable split. It happened on the hill through the village at the start of lap three and it was entirely my own fault. A burst of speed from the pack took me by surprise. I lost the tail for a split-second and the gap formed. 

Accident: The gap continued to grow for half a lap but I did catch up with LoÏc and before long a group of about fifteen had formed around me. After a lap of modest work, our speed began to ratchet up. Each time the road opened up we could see the leaders in the distance not too far away and I genuinely thought we had a chance of catching them. By this time we had even caught a couple of the D1/D2 riders including another club-mate, Jean Bernard Leblay.  It looked to me like our group was large enough to reel in the leaders if we worked as a team. Then disaster struck!

Four riders, one of them the luckless LoÏc, collided and took each other down in a mêlée of arms, legs and bike parts. We were travelling fast at the time, but there was no real reason for the accident. It was a relatively flat and open part of the course and the road surface was now dry.

How I managed to avoid the fall is beyond me. I jammed on the brakes, darted to the right, luckily there was a large enough gap, and ended up on the grass verge. I managed to stay upright though, and soon found myself in the clear alongside Jean Bernard.

I wondered about the fate of my friend and eventually managed to signal to our motorcycle escort who alerted the medical support, so I knew he and the other fallers were being looked after. I had had a lucky escape and was shaken by the experience; narrowly avoiding crashes in successive races can affect you like that.

By the time the group reformed we had no chance of catching the leaders so we settled down to our work. For me, the race had now become a tough training ride.

Finish: By the time we reached the finish my group had been whittled down to three. Along the way, we had even managed to pass a few riders, which lifted my spirits at the time. I eventually finished 20^th out of 31 starters; an adequate result but no more. Eric Coué finished in the main group in a very creditable 13^th place. My English friend Bob Jones finished 9^th, an indication of how tough the race had been; he normally manages a podium spot, but the presence of an aggressive Tandem team caused him some discomfort.

Wrap-up: I caught up with LoÏc after the race and although he was battered and bruised and not at all a happy bunny, no bones were broken and for that he must be thankful.

Race Stats: Distance: 63 kms; Average Speed: 33.5kph (20.9mph); Race Time:  01:53:00 (approx).

Penvins En Sarzeau - 1st May 2011

Penvins En Sarzeau – 1^st May 2011 – 13 x 4.3km Laps

This will surprise my regular readers – a short(ish) blog!  

Photo (Left to right): Cedric Brule; Jean Bernard Leblay; Old Fart

Start:  As promised this was a fast, fairly flat, anti-clockwise seaside course (a ‘Links’ even). A sharp left-hand turn near the start was a little tricky, and caught one rider out towards the end of the race. The middle bit was straight but the surface was lumpy and another left-hander took us onto a long, smooth uphill drag. At 3 kilometres a 270˚ turn at a roundabout pointed us towards a moderate uphill climb into the finish.  Mercifully, the coastal winds were light and only a single shower dampened our spirits during the race.

A bunch of six riders managed to break away from the pack and, despite the fast start, I managed to stay attached to the main chasing group. Our club secretary and former Morbihan sprint champion, Eric Coué, was also with us.

During the race Eric attacked from time to time. His sharp sprints were punishing, but he was never quite able to jump the gap to the leaders who remained resolutely 150 meters ahead.

Accident: Round about lap nine our group suddenly sped up; someone had decided to put the hammer down in a concerted effort to catch the leaders. I dug deep, desperate to stay with the group; I wasn’t going to be dropped this close to the end.

Up front, a couple of riders must have had a ‘coming together’ because two competitors took each other down in a flurry of arms and legs and shouts of warning and pain. I saw the debris late and only just managed to avoid the carnage. I actually rode over a jettisoned water bottle which was really scary!  

Eric skilfully avoided the fallen riders and encouraged me to latch onto his wheel; this way I managed to stay with the pack.

Finish: After the spill, my group settled down a little, and I found it quite easy to stay with the bunch until the end. I even took my regular turn at the front, not wanting to be accused of having a free ride.

On the last lap I even thought about attacking, but I bottled it. I had the chance after the final roundabout but as I considered my move I was swallowed up by the group and lost my opportunity. I regret not having a go now, but there's always next time. I did howeve manage to stick with the bunch in a sprint for the line. 


Positives:  We averaged 38.8 kph (my fastest average speed ever) and I contested the bunch sprint at the end to come 13th. I cannot tell you how pleased I was with my result. 

Wrap-up: “Merci Eric for taking care of me during the accident. Your experience was very helpful.”  
Honourable mentions must go to the other two Taupont Cyclisme riders who competed in the D1/D2 class: Cederic Brule (20th) and Jean Bernard LeBlay (24th). 

Results: The D3/D4 winner finished in a time of 1:26:05, Eric Coue finished at the head of our group in 7th place in a time of 1:26:35. As I finished with the main bunch I was given the same time as Eric.  

Race Stats:
Total distance: 56 kms
Average Speed: 38.8kph (24.3mph)
Time:  01:26:35

Finishing Position:  13^th (D3/D4), of 20 finishers

Next race: Lizio – 8^th May. 

Post Script: Congratulations go to Charlie Cuswhay for another excellent podium finish today (3^rd place). Max Cushway also maintained his fine form finishing 6^th. Both competed in big fields and on a tough course near Pontivy. 

Bignan - 17th April 2011

Bignan – 17^th April 2011 - 9x 7km Laps

Bignan is a small town about 30 minutes south of us. The race start line is half-way up a ruddy steep hill but the rest of the course is fairly flat with four sharp right-had turns. The road surface is pretty good but there is a short stretch at about 5 kms that is a little lumpy and badly patched.

(Picture courtesy of Eric Coué, Club Taupont Cyclisme)

Power to the people: There was a slight kerfuffle at the start; and a good indication of the "French Way". The organisers originally intended to start us all off together but an angry French voice at the rear of the awaiting pack (it wasn’t me, I swear), shouted out that the race had been advertised as a dual start. It was supposed to be the same setup as the Brandivy race (see earlier blog).  The race announcer gave the archetypical Gallic shoulder-shrug and said (something like), “If you want two races, that’s no problem!” 

I love the French; pragmatists to a man.

The reformatted race started bang on 14:30 with the D1/2 group away first. I went off a couple of minutes later with the rest of the D3/4s; including the powerful Englishman Bob Jones who had finished third at Brandivy.

The early laps: After the big climb at the start there was a wonderful non-technical downhill stretch through the town where we reached speeds in excess of 60 kph. The middle third of the course was gently undulating, a little uneven, and into a moderate headwind. At about 6 kms the route turned back towards Bignan and a sharp right turn pointed us to the foot of the horrible climb up to the finish.

I stayed with the group and managed to keep to the front of the pack when we reached the foot of the big climb as per the grand plan. Interestingly, the pack took it easy on the climb and I found no difficulty keeping with the group.

I managed to stay with them, but I was finding it a bit of a struggle at about the half way point after we turned sharply right and hit a long uphill stretch into the wind. It was at this place on lap three that the elastic snapped and I just lost contact. I tried damned hard and I dug deep but I could not stay in touch. I could feel the presence of some riders behind me and waited for them to overtake so I could use them to help pull me back to the fast-disappearing group. 

The trouble was they did not pass! They just hung on to my back wheel and let me do all the work until we were well and truly dropped. It turned out that there were just two of them sucking my wheel. 

Before the next monster climb one guy, whose name I later learned was Eric, pulled alongside and suggested we took it easy up the hill and then work together for the rest of the race. I quickly agreed to this. To be absolutely honest I was happy to have some company for the next 6 laps, as you know, I'm normally alone by this stage. 

Dropped: The three of us worked together as a team. Each taking short turns on front until we reached the bottom of the hill again. Even though we took it steady on the climb, Eric and I soon dropped the other guy. By the time we had crested the hill the other fellow was gone. Imagine that, I’d actually broken someone during a hill climb! Will wonders never cease?

Lapped: Eric and I continued to work together until lap 6 when we were overtaken by the leaders of the D1/2 race. We were then swallowed up by the main group of that race shortly afterwards and I found it quite easy to stay with them until the penultimate lap. They dropped Eric and me at the same stage as I’d been dropped by my race group. Damnit!

The next time we passed the line the race-timer rang a bell; we had started the final lap. I was on the final lap, and what's more, I had company!

Eric and I finished the lap working together. Towards the end Eric said he wouldn’t work on the finish climb; he'd give me the honour as thanks for my having done so much of the work. I accepted the offer, but still drove hard for the line,  in case he tried to beat me in – he didn’t.

Finished: I felt great; I had managed to stay away from my group and I had not finished last! 

Then the other shoe dropped.

A group came in at the gallop and finished with a big sprint to the line. Realisation dawned. It turned out that Eric was a category D2. He had caught me up after starting with the first race. I still had another lap to do! B*gger it!

Off again: I completed the second ‘final’ lap and won a sympathetic round of applause at the finish line. Evidently Eric had told some of his mates about my cock-up and some of the crown seemed to admired my honesty, if not my actual ability!

I really must learn to count my laps while I race. 

Positives: I wasn’t lapped by my group and I take some comfort in that fact. In fact I've just realised Goal 2 has already been reached. I managed to work hard with the help of Eric and the course was tougher than the one at Brandivy. I also met up with Bob Jones after the race and had a beer and a pleasant post-race chat. Bob managed a very impressive third place.

Wrap-up:

This was a longer course than Brandivy, so I had a much better chance of staying away from the pack. Despite everything I think I did quite well considering my perpetual handicap, (me).

Next week it’s my home race at Guilliers. Due to road works in the village, the organisers have had to shorten the route, which means 15 or 16 times up the long hill outside my house as opposed to the 8 times I climbed it last year! Oooo errr!

Race Stats:

Total distance: 65.5 kms (41 miles)

Time: 02:00:05

Average Speed: 32.99 kph (20.5 mph).

Next race: Guilliers 24th April. 

First Race of 2011

Brandivy – 10^th April 2011 - 16 x 4.36km Laps

Brandivy is a tiny village about half an hour south-west of us. The course is fast but not too technical.

15:30 hrs - two races:

Pass’Cyclisme is divided into four groups D1 to D4 (D1 being strongest and D4 weakest). At Brandivy Groups D1 & D2 were sent off first to complete 17 laps. Groups D3 & D4 set off with its own race car a couple of minutes later and was slated to complete 16 laps of the same course. Ian and I, being beginners, are in Group D4.

D3 & D4 - the early laps:

A little over twenty of us gathered at the start.

The first kilometre is a fast downhill and we soon gathered speeds in excess of 40 kph. A sharp left-hander took us along a narrow, bumpy, undulating and twisty 2 kms stretch before the final kilometre up a moderately steep hill. After that came a short gentle uphill stretch to the Finish. My wife, Jan and the Cushways cheered us on from half-way up the final hill.

The first lap was at a rather modest pace and I felt pretty good but I know my limitations when it comes to hill climbing so I pushed to the front of the group as we arrived at the foot of the final climb of the lap. I was following the recommendation of my coach/mentor/mechanic/mate, Andy Shaw. He said that I should get to the front of the group before the hills. He argued that if I were overtaken I’d at least have a chance to remain in touch by the time I reached the top.

Well, it worked, at first.

I passed Jan and the Cushways in second position and could hear them cheering us along. Ian was right behind me and I was feeling really strong at that point. By the time we crested the top of the hill and rounded the corner to the Finish line I had dropped a few places but was still in the middle of the group.

The next two laps continued the much the same vein but I did find it slightly harder getting to the front before that final climb. My quads began to burn a little during each uphill section but I was able to relax during the downhill stretches and the flat bits so I could recover a little.

Then, at the end of the third lap something went wrong.

As we turned the sharp left-hander towards the finish line my breath caught in my chest. I can’t say exactly what happened, but it was like bile had risen in my throat. I might have missed a gear change or something but my quads started to burn and I found myself a couple of bike lengths adrift of the group as we passed the Finish line. It happened in a flash, a second of inattention and by the time I reached the downhill part of the course the group had pulled inexorably away from me.

Anybody who’s not been in a bike race cannot comprehend how hard it is to reattach to a group once you’ve been dropped. Even a small group of riders can generate 20-30% more speed than a singleton; it’s a physics thing to do with wind resistance, and a psychological thing to do with mood affect. That is why in professional road races the peloton almost always catches the breakaways.

I struggled gamely on, my speed dropping all the time. I was back to riding in my own individual Time-Trial and feeling bloody pissed off with it!

Pre-race plan:

Before the race, I had decided to ride as hard as I could and then call it a day if and when I was lapped. Yeah, I know all of you positive thinkers out there are saying I was setting myself up to fail. However, I am a realist. I know that being pretty much a couch potato between 1997 and 2008 had left me fat and unfit. The sedentary lifestyle had done its damage.

True, I have improved significantly in a year, but I still have a long way to go and I am now pushing 54, an old man by many standards. I don’t know if I’ll ever get to a competitive level, but I am going to bloody well keep trying - at least for a while.

On one bright note, I did manage to pass a couple of riders during the middle laps, one of them was from the D1/D2 race so I suppose I could argue that I wasn’t exactly the worst rider on show that day. The other victim was a young woman from my race. According to Jan, loads of riders had packed in before the finish; I could try to take comfort from that.

Lapped:

The D1/D2 racers caught me at the end of the 9^th lap. I knew it would happen, but it was still a punch in the gut. The irony was that I managed to latch on to the group and didn’t have to work too hard to stay with them for a lap and a half until I was dropped again on the same damned hill. By that time though, my heart really wasn’t in it anymore; working alone certainly takes it out of your legs - and you mindset.

Half a lap later I was overtaken by our race car. Seconds later, two cyclists, the race leaders, sped past me. One of them was the 60 year-old Englishman, Bob Jones, who eventually came second. But then again, Bob’s a former elite-level cyclist and has kept cycling more-or-less continuously – rather underlines my earlier point about the benefits of maintaining exercise levels throughout life.

I waited for the inevitable and, sure enough, a few hundred yards later the pack reached and then overtook me. Again, I slid onto the wheel of the last man. Ian, still with the group, dropped back to say hello. I think I just nodded or grunted at him, I can’t really remember.

I actually found it quite easily to stay with them; the drafting effects of riding in a group were really obvious. But as we passed the place where our families watched, I pulled to a stop.

I stood there straddling the bike totally spent. My head rested on the back of my hands and my forearms rested on the handlebars. When I eventually looked up, the expression on Jan’s face hit me like a second blow to the guts; a cross between disappointment and resignation.

She fired questions me: “If you’d stayed with them you’d only have been one lap behind so why did you stop? The Guilliers race is only a fortnight away, what are you going do then? What’s the point of all that training and the money wasted on the new bike.......?”

She didn’t really ask the last question, but I think you get the message.

Ian’s wife, Emma, Bless her, was much more supportive and actually told Jan off! “He can treat this race like a good training ride,” she said, “he’ll be better prepared next time,” she added.

Jan’s response was much more realistic and cutting, “Two weeks more training won’t make that much of a difference.”

Needless to say, my mood at this stage was not exactly positive. I don’t know how long I stopped for, but a few seconds, maybe a couple of minutes passed before a brace of cyclist went by, struggling up the hill behind me. I looked around to discover that they were the ones I had overtaken a few laps earlier.

I got really angry with myself then, bloody mad. I’d passed those two earlier on and they hadn’t given up. In a flash of stupidity and bravado, I clipped my feet back into the pedals and I ground off up the hill again.

Battling back:

Now, if this was a Hollywood movie I would have summoned the ‘Energy of the Gods’ and heroic music would have thundered around me. I would have flown past the two back markers, caught up my race group, sprinted by them and made up the whole lap I’d lost to win a fast sprint and cross the winning line in a blaze of glory (probably filmed in slow-motion).

Of course, this is real life and it didn’t happen that way.

I eventually managed to pass the two back markers and I did complete the race, but that’s about the sum of it really. No heroics, just a limp-flagged finish after everyone else had pretty much packed up and gone home.

Positives (and there are some):

My new bike performed really well - if not the rider. I actually managed to overtake some fellow competitors. I managed to stay with the pack for three laps and I am at least 10% faster than last year – a modest improvement but a move in the right direction.

Wrap-up:

Despite the improvement, I still need to progress by at least as much again! Is that possible? I don’t know really, but I am going to keep on training and working as hard as I can. We’ll see what happens.

Race Stats:

Total race distance 68.8 kms (43 miles)

Race Time: 02:10:00

Average Speed: 31.9 kph (19.9 mph).

Next race: Bignan 17^th April – Gulp, that’s next Sunday!

Epilogue:

Jan and I arrived in Brandivy at midday to cheer on Ian Cushway’s lads: Charlie (9) and Max (6). They were competing in their separate Ecoles du Velo - children’s training races.

Charlie finished a very creditable fourth, despite being baulked at the start and dropping back thirty meters or so (much to his mother’s chagrin – she can be a real vixen when it comes to protecting her family). Charlie has real potential and could do well in the future if he continues this season’s progress.

Max finished sixth, again hugely impressive. Max has been going really well this year but he is so young it is too early to tell just how good he could be. We’ll see.

The Cushway lads are really very good prospects – a triumph of genetics I’d say.