While I will always have my loyalty to a fantastic coach in Brad Hall and his HCT band of cycling devotees, I have also been warmly accepted (thank you Corey) into a new cycling family in Roues Chaudes Club de Cyclage (RCCC). This has provided me not only with a ticket to ride in open events without having to pay the extra day or three day licence surcharges, but has given me the opportunity to ride with new team mates that might previously have been my rivals. While my race this morning at Technology Park saw me ride for Hall Cycle Training, I look forward to riding with my new RCCC team mates from time-to-time in the near future.
This morning attracted a large field of riders to the first of the SPR/RCCC Summer Criterium Series races held at Technology Park and we were greeted with a reasonable easterly breeze that would have us working all the way around the course. I arrived early to take in the D and C grade races and noted immediately that C grade seemed to be ridden at a cracking pace which indicated that no prisoners would be taken today.
Simon Verona also arrived early and had signed up for B grade so I would be riding with a HCT team mate, although no plans were put into place this morning as Simon was feeling a little tentative so I would allow him to ride his own race in order to gauge how he would go at this level. To make things a little interesting, two riders from Great Britain's Team Sky arrived to take part in the A grade women's race that would be run with the B grade men. The presence of Laura Trott and Dani King somehow managed to have the remainder of the field, dominated by males, eager to ride on their wheel - now why would that be?
I would be the first to say that Laura and Dani are amazing riders. I've had the pleasure of been completely out-ridden by Emma Pooley last Summer and I can now announce that I have been completely out-ridden by these two female monsters of the sport. Somehow, I seem to find myself being smashed by elite company in criterium races here in Perth and they have a habit of originating from Great Britain. A humbling experience once again to be beaten by a three time World Champion and two time Olympic Gold medallist (more info here).
B grade lined up with a strong field of more than 35 riders awaiting the start with 3 women among us and again, I could not pick too many familiar faces but I am beginning to get to know who's who. The pace kicked up from the outset and I managed to find myself in the back half of the field after not being able to obtain a good position at the front of the pack for the starter's gun. I had initially not thought anything of it and would try to ride to the front as soon as I found the opportunity, but the opportunities to do so were not exactly forthcoming and I struggled to find my way through the field for the first 3 laps.
Even when I had managed to get to the front, the constant surging of the peloton would suck you in, chop you up and spit you out the back again within seconds. I found that this would be the lesson for the day and to keep up with this type of riding, ones ability to maintain great position would be thoroughly tested.
The race was going violently fast and the 10 minute intervals at the start/finish line were being peeled off far quicker than I think most of us had anticipated. A sole rider had broken away from the pack and had managed to maintain the break for a good portion of the race before being dragged back by the main field. The surging was unrelenting and Laura and Dani seemed to be two of the culprits responsible for wearing down most of the riders in the field. With too much time spent toward the middle of the field, I was constantly dispensing significant power to maintain touch with the leaders as they powered out of each corner to force the peloton to ribbon out in a long line causing the field to ride strongly to get in touch with the leaders again.
I felt that the combination of surging, constant chasing from mid-pack and recovering from having my line chopped on numerous occasions, my power output was being maintained at or above threshold and beginning to take its toll. I wasn't losing touch with the group (at an average pace of just shy of 40 km/h), but it was difficult to get to the front of the race to maintain a strong enough position where I could try and dictate some terms.
In the last lap of the race, I had my line chopped once again by a stream of riders as we headed to the top of the hill head away from the start/finish line for the last time. The pace was strong at this point and riders were scrambling to ensure they could get a dominate position in the field in the lead up to the final sprint for the line and I could not stem the flow of riders coming around me on the outside of the turn as I was pinned to the kerb. This had put me a significant distance from the front of the now long line of riders and my race had pretty much ended before we hit Sarich Way for the last time. All I could hope to do now is go into damage control and try and recover as many places as I could before the finish.
Quite a number of riders had popped as we headed up Brodie Hall Drive for the last rush to finish and I was able to latch onto the end of what was left of the main field before I crossed the line. My inexperience in this type of racing had certainly shown through after being consistently caught out in the wrong place and the wrong time. I've learned valuable lessons on this course and I certainly hope that I can improve on this performance in the next race of the series should I opt to participate.
While the duration of this morning's race and its average pace slower than that of A grade Masters, it was still a very difficult race to ride with the constant surging and jostling for position. I recall at least once where I was rubbing shoulders with other riders to avoid being squeezed - taking me to the kerb. My average HR was not overly high but my average and normalised power output certainly was which would indicate that while I was fit enough to deal with the race, my positioning was poor which resulting in burning too much energy to maintain the higher power needed to recover positions in the field.
Kudos to Simon for holding his own for the duration of the race. The effect of the surging had taken its toll in him two and he wasn't quite able to maintain touch with the pack during the final sprint but his training and participation in these races will assist with that. Well done Simon.
Next race in the series is next Sunday (16th December) however this also clashes with the last criterium of the year with West Coast Masters at Kewdale so I will take the week to decide where to race.
Thanks for reading and as always, see you out there.
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