Saturday's race was unusual for a few reasons. It started late, at 10am. The entire length of the route was strewn with potholes. It felt like we were riding against the wind, and once we turned, the wind blasted even stronger.
Maybe it was guilt from training too little, or perhaps just a surplus of energy, but in the first 30km I made two huge leaps over and across the leading pack. One of these leaps occurred just before a long downhill, and there I needed to recover and actually lost touch with the whole pack. At the bottom of the hill the dark green car of the Commissaire whooshed past. I caught the slippery air streams and clawed back a few metres...and then, when it looked like that wasn't enough, a big bus vroomed by, scooping a big gash into the air flow between them and me, and allowing me, after another sustained effort, to slot back into the pack.
But that wasn't lesson enough that I needed to hold back. I'm not sure what my reasoning was - to get a bit of a lead so that by the time they caught me they were tired? From where I'm sitting it doesn't make much sense.
The second break was a big one, and I quickly closed a gap on three riders, but hauled the entire peoloton behind me. Frankly I was surprised the guys had managed to stick on my back wheel.
I'd soon pay for that level of arrogance.
At 30km we turned, and we turned very very slowly. At this point the guys kicked, and I was just very slow to respond. For starters, I went into the turn near the back of the pack. Then, we turned into a strong wind and headed back up a long incline. And I was pushing just about the heaviest gears. And so, the peloton slipped away once more, and this time, the memory of the long uphill ahead, asked me to be conservative in my efforts now. We formed a pack of 4, then 5, then 4, and kept up a moderate pace going up the hills (they proved to be much easier than I'd feared). Then it was the long straight section to the finish. Here I picked up the pace, several times dropping the other 4 riders, who were either tired or riding conservatively.
So in the end it came down to sprint between us, and I launched an opening salvo and everyone quickly responded. Now I left it a little later, knowing a guy in green, who was sticking like glue to my wheel, was the only threat. I jumped just after the corner and when I turned to look back I had a lead of about 10-15metres. I thought that was enough, except around the corner, the finish line was another 100 metres away. Now I launched another effort, but the green machine raced into my slipstream and then edged alongside me. I pulled my momentum up a fraction, and got myself and the machine up to a sort of terminal velocity - quite thrilling - except he edged his wheel maybe 5-10cm in front of mine.
It's a useful lesson - to make sure where the finish is and race until you reach it. On the other hand, I had raced confidently and was perhaps a bit unlucky in a few areas. Nevertheless, I like to race hard, and aggressively, rather than weakly, and relying on everyone elses strength.
The race was far from perfect, but nevertheless a good test, and my best performance this year. Of course it was slightly shorter, at only 60km.
Cycle: 1:40:54
Distance: 62km
Time per kim: 1:37 (best time this year)
Average heart rate: 162/177 (highest average this year by 3 beats)
Calories: 1957 kcal
Average speed: 36.9km (highest this year)
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