Making progress

The Bad...

The first race after the crash was a scary event. I'd lost abit of confidence and felt that I needed to just get this race out of the way. This was made difficult by the weather which added to the pre race jitters. Following a warm up I noticed a huge flint sticking out of the rear tyre. I was having a terrible day!

It was the wettest ride I've ever done. It seemed as though the course was mostly downhill as if designed by M.C. Escher. I soon found that I went out of the back on every descent, lacking the nerve to go all out and remain in the pack. I had to chase hard to get back on on the flats and ascents. Braking was non existent and I soon felt that all things considered I should just sit up.

I decided that my time in the race was limited. I'd either puncture, crash or fatigue. In light of this I thought I might as well get a good workout while I still could and resolved to attack and get off the front at every opportunity. I got off the front about 6 or 7 times just jumping to see if I could. At one point I was away for a few minutes, but the descents were always eating away any advantage. When I got brought back into the bunch I would go again as soon possible. I started to warm a little and gain confidence. I had a lot of fun. 100km of racing in the bag and I've learnt that I can go deep several times and recover.

The good...

Two weeks later I returned to the UK and emptied about a litre of water from my bike in preparation for another race -SERRL Kenardington.

I started working with a Belgian coach about ten days prior to this race. Looking over the last few weeks of training files he suggested I was doing too much high intensity work and prescribed a period of extensive endurance rides. Mostly these are 5 hours in heart rate zones 1 and 2 and with a cadence of around 100rpm. Other rides have been 3 hours or so with 4 x 10 mins @ 80-86% FTP but with a cadence of 100+. There have also been 2 hour recovery rides in zone 1. The idea is he can assess my aerobic development and I get the benefit of topping up my 'base' while using races to work on speed and power. As a result of these miles I'm seeing more and more of Belgium and finding some great routes. It really is a fantastic country if you're a cyclist.
I arrived at the race having already clocked around 17 hours of riding that week. I had reservations about how would perform. I'd had mixed thoughts about being fresh because of the low intensity work, but maybe lacking some power. Then I'd think maybe I'd be fatigues from all those miles.

In truth, I felt really good. Fresh and with a topped up aerobic endurance. The race started and I new I was going to do ok. I soft pedalled my way round the course and all with an improved pedal stroke. I can already feel the effect of the high cadence work of the last couple of weeeks. With the knowledge that I could go deep and recover, I chased down a couple of breakaways from mid pack. This meant dragging everyone with me rather than making the break, but it meant no one was getting away.

Come the last lap I had a mental image of how I wanted the finish to play out. I was going to move to the top ten places on the last climb, moving stying on the right to catch any wheel coming by. About 500m to go I hooked onto the slipstream of a passing rider and stayed third wheel for about 200m without pedalling. I expected another rider to come by, but with 200m the two riders in front me slowed up I jumped and spun for the line.

At the time I though I was first. I saw my wheel cross the line just before a rider on my right who I could sense closing in the last few metres. The transponder timing system disagreed however and placed me 2nd by .03 of a second! I've since seen a photo of just before the finish and it looks like I was second, so I'll accept that for now. The slight annoyance is that I still had more to give and would have given more if I thought I'd needed to. But I'm still chiffed with the result as it shows I'm making progress and was able to contend in a flat sprint despite my relative low weight and max power.

Next...

One of the key factors in working with a local coach was getting help finding races in Belgium. Be careful what you wish for - I'm now racing a Kermis in Willebringen on Sunday. It's an open race and will have some powerful and experienced riders. It also looks to be flat and windy, so not my forte. My plan is to get there and sign on. I'll call that a success. I'll stick with bunch as long as possible and just have fun, banking the miles and using it as training for priority races in the UK where points are on offer. I'm now nearly half way to my 2nd cat license, so if I get enough UK races, I'll meet my years goal.