I had high ambitions for the back end of this season, targeting Victor Berlemont Nat B and the new, Bourne Cicle Classic Nat A. My body, on the other hand, had other ideas and I injured myself during a race in early July. In order to let it recover I couldn't ride my bike and as the weeks ticked by, it quickly became apparent I was no longer 'targeting' these races as much as I was trying to become healthy enough to ride them.
The week of Victor Berlemont came round (25th) and 4 days before the race I had my first pain free ride in a long time. Not wanting to do anything stupid, I just tried to build intensity and distance with each day before the race. I was apprehensive on race morning because I've never come into a race anywhere near as unprepared I was, having ridden only ~1hour/week for the past 6 weeks. To add insult to injury it was going to be an awfully hot day for bike racing ~ 33'C. The race itself is considered one of the hardest Nat Bs in the country, taking in 108 miles of a hilly circuit. Since it had been a while since I last raced/trained in the heat I was very naive when planning how many bottle I needed. I decided I would only need 2 bottles handed up to me and I devised a cunning plan and froze my bottles the night before to ensure I was drinking ice cold water during the race. Our helper (Sam Hucks) wasn't arriving till 2 hours into the race which we thought would be fine. The race began and all was well in the world, I was content to be back in a peloton, the sun was out and my injury wasn't causing any issues. Time began to tick by and the temperatures rose, before I knew it I had already drank both of my 750ml bottles and at this point we were only 1 hour in! The next hour my throat gradually became increasingly dry to point where breathing starting to hurt. fortunately, after 2 hours, Sam was there to hand us some bottles. My saviour! That was, until my cunning plan of freezing bottles unraveled and I went to take a drink but nothing came out....they were still frozen! It was another lap before I could get a normal bottle and by that point I was already on a downhill trajectory to getting dropped. Sure enough, a lap later at the top of the climb I was distanced from my group of 10 and that was game over. Half the field had already dropped out by this point so it was clear I wasn't the only one struggling. Whilst I was disappointed not to be able to race like I wanted, I was just happy to be back in the mix again and to be riding my bike.
This season has clearly not had the high ending I was planning but I have some exciting projects for this Winter on the track and some very exciting plans for next years road season so stayed tuned!
The week of Victor Berlemont came round (25th) and 4 days before the race I had my first pain free ride in a long time. Not wanting to do anything stupid, I just tried to build intensity and distance with each day before the race. I was apprehensive on race morning because I've never come into a race anywhere near as unprepared I was, having ridden only ~1hour/week for the past 6 weeks. To add insult to injury it was going to be an awfully hot day for bike racing ~ 33'C. The race itself is considered one of the hardest Nat Bs in the country, taking in 108 miles of a hilly circuit. Since it had been a while since I last raced/trained in the heat I was very naive when planning how many bottle I needed. I decided I would only need 2 bottles handed up to me and I devised a cunning plan and froze my bottles the night before to ensure I was drinking ice cold water during the race. Our helper (Sam Hucks) wasn't arriving till 2 hours into the race which we thought would be fine. The race began and all was well in the world, I was content to be back in a peloton, the sun was out and my injury wasn't causing any issues. Time began to tick by and the temperatures rose, before I knew it I had already drank both of my 750ml bottles and at this point we were only 1 hour in! The next hour my throat gradually became increasingly dry to point where breathing starting to hurt. fortunately, after 2 hours, Sam was there to hand us some bottles. My saviour! That was, until my cunning plan of freezing bottles unraveled and I went to take a drink but nothing came out....they were still frozen! It was another lap before I could get a normal bottle and by that point I was already on a downhill trajectory to getting dropped. Sure enough, a lap later at the top of the climb I was distanced from my group of 10 and that was game over. Half the field had already dropped out by this point so it was clear I wasn't the only one struggling. Whilst I was disappointed not to be able to race like I wanted, I was just happy to be back in the mix again and to be riding my bike.
This season has clearly not had the high ending I was planning but I have some exciting projects for this Winter on the track and some very exciting plans for next years road season so stayed tuned!
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