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Still learning

Easter weekend. The familiar family gathering and a worrying lack of potential for some bike riding, although I had got an entry into a Surrey League race on the Saturday. This was on a recommendation of a friend who, knowing my love of steep sharp punchy climbs, suggested Milland Hill. I blindly took the advice and signed up. This time I did no streetview reconnaissance preferring the element of surprise.

Before that though I had to get myself from Brighton to Basingstoke to meet up with the family. Luckily blessed with sunny weather I opted to ride. 

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It's very rare that I do a ride that doesn't finish where it started. So the 70 miles or so was a welcome change with the pedals seemingly turning by themselves and happily tapping out a decent rhythm. As is becoming more and more customary I did a little bit of off-piste, spotting a great farm track that just had to be explored.

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It didn't exactly lead nicely back on to my route but I love the drift of road tyres on dry and loose dirt. Thankfully no punctures! There were a few sharp pinches on the route that I seemed to just skip up in the big ring (shhh, don't tell anyone it's a compact) so I was looking forward to seeing how the race the next day would pan out.

Saturday and the lovely clear blue skies were replaced by a damp and overcast morning. The legs were a little stiff from the previous days "commute" but nothing like a 60 mile race to loosen them up, right? My plan for today was not to race like a monkey, like last time. So from the off I made sure I was always sitting in about the top 10 or 15, keeping an eye on things and not to miss the break. What was that? The break has already gone? Shit. Two people had made a move right at the start and were nowhere to be seen!

The course was a cracker and lived up to expectations. Some long fast fast fast downhills, turn left into 'The Climb' which was a beauty. Starting off at about 6% it trundles up and gets progressively narrower, forcing you to keep near the front if you didn't want to be caught behind riders mashing the gears under full load. Which is what they, and I, did when we rounded the corner and saw the road ramp up to 25%! Awesome! It was still greasy so the peloton was wheelspinning it's way up. I opened up the taps keeping it in the Big Ring and mashing the pedals. It wasn't pretty but it did mean that I was first over the hill (excluding the two man break) on 4 of the 6 laps.

Legs were feeling good and I tried numerous times to get away, or at least split the bunch. First time was to set and good pace into the climb and then accelerate up. No effect. Next time was to sit in then sprint on the steep part. Good effect. In fact I got a good gap and looked behind and saw the whole peloton strung out behind. That was cool. In my mind I was giving it the Cancellera.

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In reality I wasn't. See the picture above. Just behind me is the winner of the race and the second place guy. See the effort on my face versus the lack of effort on theirs? That says all you need to know and that's when I was feeling fresher. Come the last couple of laps I tried to get away on the downhill but no success. The penultimate climb my legs were paying the price of Big Ringing and I was slipping down the field. Now it was my turn to be strung out as the pace was forced at the front. After the climb the road joined a dual carriageway that just kept on slowly climbing. Deceivingly brutal, especially at full tilt. We caught the break just before the last ascent. I was gutted for them and unfortunately for me my legs were fading too. So the sprint for glory at the finish line atop of the climb, was more a switch into the small ring and grovel over the top. No more "Cancellera" for me. One last ditch sprint past a couple of guys and I crossed the line 13th.

So still getting better but I learned that I shouldn't get carried away whenever I see I steep climb and that I should save some energy for the finish. But where's the fun in that.

Posted by Morvélo