Hog Hill Alan Rosner Memorial 2/3/4

Another day of racing today, I trekked over on the trains to Hog Hill for a 2/3/4 race. Just caught the end of the E12 and saw a rider I rode with a bit in Majorca (Jake Martin) get 2nd amongst a very strong field of UCI teams which made the freezing wind worth it! Almost.

We lined up for our race and I hadn’t actually had a look around to see who else was riding for once, I got there quite early, signed on and just got my stuff together and had a quick warm up as it was very cold up top. We rolled out and it was quickly obvious that the wind was BRUTAL in nearly every direction and only helped you in one section down the bottom of the course, and a slight help up the hill. Which was nice but certainly not compensation for the battering it gave you elsewhere!

On the second lap I noticed 5 riders get off the front, I wanted to be involved in this as they were pulling out a gap quick, and the bunch was almost slowing to a stop when it hit a headwind, so I sprinted to get a gap and began to chase, I quickly got a gap on the bunch, had some company initially but he dropped back. Now what followed was really the decider of my race really, every lap I would get close to catching them, then I’d hit the headwind and they would pull out again because there were 5 to share the work. This continued for about 5 laps, from what I can see, which was me on my limit, slowly I started getting closer but the efforts I had to put in were huge and costing me (the stats say new power pb’s in lots of durations – 11 mins @ 400w sticks out as being very taxing), eventually I got on the back of them. There was Mike Debney who had been in the move on Saturday and came second, and a couple of others I didn’t recognize, but it was quickly obvious they were going well, and I was blowing! At some point another rider had been shelled so the break was down to 4.

I took about a 3/4 of a lap to sit in, but with them sprinting out of every corner I didn’t really recover, I was then told to do a turn, this was my mistake, I should have sat in and recovered properly, instead like a lemon I took my turn, and led them up the hill. At this point one of the riders jumped and everyone could follow just about, everyone accept me, sadly. That was the end of it, this came at about the halfway point in the race. I wondered if I should just accept I was going to get brought back as the wind really was brutal when hitting it solo, or whether I should make the most of my mission over from Kingston and keep going. I opted for the latter, and just dug in, there was a lap where I really was shit which I think was straight after I got gapped, but after that I began to get something back, I had a gel too, and it sounds cliche but I did notice a difference. I spent the next 15 mins not really knowing whether I was going to be brought back or not, so I rode hard but within myself, then the lap board came out displaying 5 to go (around 15 mins riding), and mentally this gave me a boost, the bunch were not gaining on me at this point, every time I went down the steep hill they would be coming up the steep hill on the other side, so I reckon I had probably 20-25 seconds all the time, interestingly the chaps out front initially took a fair lead on me, but I managed to keep that the same too passing them on the opposite side at the same point each lap. I kept going and when it got 2 laps to go the gap to the main bunch had come down, so I started to ride hard again, sprinting out of the corners etc (can’t wait for the pictures, I must have looked horrendous, saliva everywhere!) and on the bell lap I noticed I had pulled out a bit further (probably a bit down to me going faster and them mentally giving up, or saving themselves for the hill sprint as is normal) I knew I would stay away at this point. One last time up the hill and over the line, I must say I felt pretty spent and have easier 5th places in my time!

A race of two halves really, on the one hand I’m annoyed I made such a meal of getting into/over to the break as that 20 mins at 370 or so watts which is about as good as I’ve done (especially considering how much downhill is in this course) and it really took its toll. I’d like to think that if I had made it over earlier or been a bit more Sagan like in not taking a turn I would have got myself under control and made it round with them. However I was pleased that I managed to stay away, and it was a really good hour of hard racing and means after my shoulder woes I’ve got some solid riding in the last 3 days (went out and did 40 miles yesterday) to get my training on track. I also won a tenner 🙂 So not all was lost.

AP – 330w – NP – 370w – 58 mins
Average speed 23 mph vs bunch of 22.5 vs break of 23.8
Weight of chocolate I was carrying – Unconfirmed, rumored to be 1kg 😉