steverob
Guru
- Location
- Buckinghamshire
An odd, but somewhat good race from my perspective. Kept up with the front group out of the pen, did briefly get detached on the slope before the tunnel (as per previous races) but this time managed to sprint my way back on. Just about stayed in touch up the hill to Trafalgar Square, but couldn't keep the power going over the top and got distanced as we headed to Pall Mall.
One other IRL rider was dropped with me, plus I saw that @Marino.g was also just up the road and falling back from the group, so we formed a trio for the next half a lap. At first we started to pull away from the riders behind us as they were scattered all over the road in dribs and drabs, but eventually they formed a larger group and started to catch us, so we all started to soft pedal (or at least I did and the other two didn't pull away from me!) until they caught up and we continued as a group of about 10 or so riders. Apart from the initial sprint to get on the back of their group, I was surprised how easy it was to ride with them - I was only putting out the sorts of power that I would usually to stay in the bunch in a D race, which was good, cause I'm not sure I could have done much more!
Obviously @Ketty has mentioned above about his equipment failure and we all sympathised (been there, done that), but from a totally selfish standpoint I was glad to have another CC'er in the group willing to push the pace! In fact I think he may have got a little frustrated by the slow pace as he launched a mega attack round the back of Harrods that got him a 10 second lead, but the power of the draft eventually brought him back after a few miles.
The pace of the group did eventually start to increase as we approached Tower Bridge and the original three of me, Marino and the IRL rider all got dropped and started the climb together. Now at this point I thought I was really struggling; my legs were feeling weak and as I was the heaviest of the group, felt sure that I was going to come in last, but I managed to gap the IRL rider and was at least able to keep Marino within sight for the first half of the climb. The gap between me and the IRL guy fluctuated between 10 and 20 seconds - every time I saw he was gaining, I put in an extra dig, which was enough to maintain or increase the gap, but despite all this surging, I didn't feel I was on for a particularly good climb time.
As the gradient eased towards the end of the climb, I managed to give a last effort which increased my gap to over a minute and I knew I was finally safe from being overtaken and finished 18th. Despite feeling that it wasn't a great climb all the way up, I was pleasantly surprised to find it that Strava had it as a PR up Keith Hill for me by 40 seconds!
Video now available (note - I started recording a few seconds late, but you don't miss any action):
View: https://youtu.be/HgQMF31dBZU
One other IRL rider was dropped with me, plus I saw that @Marino.g was also just up the road and falling back from the group, so we formed a trio for the next half a lap. At first we started to pull away from the riders behind us as they were scattered all over the road in dribs and drabs, but eventually they formed a larger group and started to catch us, so we all started to soft pedal (or at least I did and the other two didn't pull away from me!) until they caught up and we continued as a group of about 10 or so riders. Apart from the initial sprint to get on the back of their group, I was surprised how easy it was to ride with them - I was only putting out the sorts of power that I would usually to stay in the bunch in a D race, which was good, cause I'm not sure I could have done much more!
Obviously @Ketty has mentioned above about his equipment failure and we all sympathised (been there, done that), but from a totally selfish standpoint I was glad to have another CC'er in the group willing to push the pace! In fact I think he may have got a little frustrated by the slow pace as he launched a mega attack round the back of Harrods that got him a 10 second lead, but the power of the draft eventually brought him back after a few miles.
The pace of the group did eventually start to increase as we approached Tower Bridge and the original three of me, Marino and the IRL rider all got dropped and started the climb together. Now at this point I thought I was really struggling; my legs were feeling weak and as I was the heaviest of the group, felt sure that I was going to come in last, but I managed to gap the IRL rider and was at least able to keep Marino within sight for the first half of the climb. The gap between me and the IRL guy fluctuated between 10 and 20 seconds - every time I saw he was gaining, I put in an extra dig, which was enough to maintain or increase the gap, but despite all this surging, I didn't feel I was on for a particularly good climb time.
As the gradient eased towards the end of the climb, I managed to give a last effort which increased my gap to over a minute and I knew I was finally safe from being overtaken and finished 18th. Despite feeling that it wasn't a great climb all the way up, I was pleasantly surprised to find it that Strava had it as a PR up Keith Hill for me by 40 seconds!
Video now available (note - I started recording a few seconds late, but you don't miss any action):
View: https://youtu.be/HgQMF31dBZU
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It was never going to work but was fun trying 
PBs are always welcome 
Oh well.
