#phmas

I was expecting to write an end of season blog after the VCUK-PHMAS event in August (entries are still open) which is a 2 stage race, TT then a road race.  I even put myself through a 20min power test so that I would have idea about how hard I could go in the TT.  However I went to Gisburn for an mtb skills day, took a corner badly and ended up in the ditch.  Only a minor crash but my thumb felt a bit funny, so after some track standing practise I decided to call it a day and head off to Minor Injuries.  Unfortunately I've shattered the thumb and hand joint (Bennetts fracture).  It's still 10weeks until the first of the Cyclocross National Trophy Series, so fingers crossed it's all healed up by then.

Once again I've really enjoyed racing this season and have had great support from Neil Hendry, Nicky Hartle, Velo Champion and Winspace bikes/Jedi Cycle Sport for supplying my race bike which flies along.  I haven't done quite as well in the lower category road races as I was hoping due to my over-tendency to ride near the front and put in the the odd attack.  However I was really pleased to finish with the main bunch at the Tour De Yorkshire and come 5th on the infamous hilly Pennypot Lane circuit.  I much prefer the hillier or rolling courses to the flat courses as I'm definitely not a sprinter. 

One of my aims for the season was to race at the Matrix Tour Series which I achieved at both Motherwell and Peterborough.  The atmosphere at these races is amazing but they are fast and furious.  The pace is high from the gun so you have to be ready to completely bury yourself and hope it lets up before you do.  I haven't managed to hang onto the main bunch yet, but hoping with more experience it could happen.

I had my first win at Malton Crit, which races around the old market square.  I went hard from the start attacking out of the first corner and lapped most of the field.  Malton is a very friendly Crit and makes a good introduction to town centre Crit racing as it usually clashes with a National Road Race meaning the field isn't the usual wide mix of very good cat 2 down to novice cat 4. It also had a very nice gin cocktail stall for after the race!

With Crit season in full swing I once again raced at Ilkley which is a great race to support as they have equal prize money and billing for the men and women, great organisation and a big crowd. The course is brutal, lapping up a steep hill which just as you think you've got to the top keeps on dragging.  An early attack by Henrietta Colbourne stuck and I was in a chasing group which started off with around 10 of us but was soon whittled down to 4 as the hill took its toll. My lack of a sprint left me in 5th at the finish but I was pleased with my ride.

The other really good race of the season was Otley Town Centre Crit which is also in the National Road a Race series.  Otley is just down the road so I knew I would have a lot of support around the course, everyone was great shouting my name and kindly reminding me to stay on the wheels.  It was one of the hottest  nights of the year which made warming up a struggle with sweat appearing as soon as you moved, but then it was to the start line and off.  After a bad start not getting clipped in then my chain dropping onto the small ring I found myself at the back and had to chase hard to get back with the main group.  I hung on in there as the laps counted down making sure I moved up when I could.  Finally it was the last lap and I'd achieved another season goal of staying with the main bunch at Otley. 

I am now looking forward to the CX season as I would really like some more podium finishes in the Vet Women's Trophy Series.  A new bike to match my existing one has been bought and is being built up so I'll have a nice pair of Ridleys.

With the broken thumb there will be a change of plan to turbo training until the bones have healed fully, and some marshaling when I can instead of racing.

Long drag up the M6 for us all Saturday and a spin out round the course with the team of Ralf Hodgson, Rob Scott and Owen Line, then back to the accommodation to rest up with a tough day of racing ahead.  

Race day dawned, sunny and clear which all of us were pleased to see.

Arrived at HQ with plenty of time to spare, sign on, numbers on, chat with the boss and onto the rollers to get warmed up then ready for the off.

We rolled out onto the circuit and it was only about 3 kms before a break of 6 had a very good looking gap, with team mate Ralf in the process of bridging and soon after I was up there with him.

The 8 of us worked well and got a gap of around 40 seconds until the marshals sent us the wrong way, we didn’t lose all of our advantage but at least half of it gone, with all of us panicking and going full gas the gap grew and grew and grew. Around 20kms later had the pleasant surprise of Ralf telling me that Rob had managed to bridge the 1:40 gap by himself!

As the gap had grown we had the pleasure of being joined by a very happy looking team Boss, as 3 of our 4 riders now nearly 2 minutes up the road.

Break still working well but had been reduced down to 7 riders at this point due to the high pace that was being set to try and hold of a pursuing bunch.

The next bit of news we received from the moto coms was a bit of a shock as our gap had been cut down to 40 seconds with group of 25 coming across quickly and the bunch following not far behind. After another few kms and coming round to the final time up the climb on the full circuit I had a quick look behind and thought that is not 40 seconds, soon enough the group was on us and soon after the bunch was also.

Last time up the climb I felt something was wrong with my rear wheel, it wasn’t flat but stopped at the top of the climb to diagnose the problem, my quick release skewer had been knocked by another rider and my wheel was falling out. After sorting it out and with a swift push from Alex and wise words of don’t panic will be back in soon.

On my return to the bunch after a fast 3 km chase I notice that Ralf and Rob are nowhere to be seen, upon my next look up the road I saw a group of 3 or so with a gap of around 20/30 seconds, still coming past the bunch on my way back up to the front I decided to join them.  Bridging to the group about 2 kms later, now  in another break with my 2 team mates and Nathan Draper.  After looking up the road whilst working in the break, seeing Alex Braybrooke with 20 second gap on the 4 of us and the bunch hot on our tail.

After a couple of kms and Alex not getting any closer and the bunch still very close, deciding  to go on the attack and try and bridge across to Alex, after a hard chase of a few kms making it to the lone leader, we work well and keep going at a strong pace with a moto com telling us the good news that our 20 second gap had grown to 58 seconds, this was due to both Alex’s and my team mates blocking the bunch and slowing it right down. Thanks team.

With around 20 kms to go the moto coms are telling me and Alex that there is one rider on his way across to us with the bunch coming back to us slowly.

15kms to go: the chaser which turned out to be Reece Wood has caught me and Alex, as we rapidly approach the last climb the news was starting to get worse from the coms as we learn that a group of 4 riders is at 30 seconds.

10kms to go: the three of us are working well and holding the chase group which had been whittled down to 3 at 30 seconds.

After getting over the top of the final climb which was a lot harder in the race than on the ride the previous day (thanks to the boss for the recce) we descend down off the climb and start heading into the town. The drive from my other companions has started to ease, after realising and being told by the comms that the group of 3 is coming across and has got the gap down to 20 seconds, so saying to the others “3rd is better than 6th lets go come on!!!”

2 kms to go and starting to think that they are going to catch us , we could see them on the long flat road towards the finish, the next sign we see and to my shock was 500 metres to go with me on the front and thinking great got to lead this out.

As we come round the last corner with about 400 metres to go we can see the finish line and realising that we are going to stay away, I keep the pace at a reasonable tempo and keeping my head on a pivot seeing the line getting closer and closer, with around 200metres to go I see Reece start to get out of the saddle to start his sprint so the sprint is opened up and Reece gets round me for the win.  So close.  

Great teammates Ralf and Rob coming in 15th and 16th and Owen coming in 42nd

Massive thanks to Neil and Alex for making the whole weekend work really well.

We will win together this year.

Max.

So this weekend saw 6 of us purple ladies take to the party on the road at Bickerstaffe.

Leading up to the race it was the Easter holidays for me and so the past two weeks I've fitted in a lot more training than usual. For this reason the day before racing I wasn't feeling brilliant! HOWEVER, the same goes for the previous week where I raced at Tameside, again not feeling great and just hoping to stay with the bunch... but somehow found myself taking the win after finding myself in the right position. This was my first ever win and has started my season off nicely...

Image taken by Steve Harper at Tameside

As for Bickerstaffe, on one side of things I was feeling fairly confident after a win the previous weekend. However having never finished a road race yet due to different reasons, but mainly after doing the same race last year and being dropped on the first lap, I was pretty nervous for Bickerstaffe. So a bit of mixed emotions going on!  Last year my first ever race was Pimbo, I was dropped about half way through the race. My second road race was Bickerstaffe where I was dropped on the first lap! The second Pimbo I was feeling stronger and stayed with the bunch but missed out on the sprint due to a crash.

Image from last year talking to the Ph-MAS ladies after Bickerstaffe - when racing for Southport CC

This year, with the awful weather at Pimbo, I pulled out a lap to go with bad cramp in my leg. Due to having never finished a road race and also the speed Bickerstaffe was the previous year... you can see why I was a little nervous! My plan was to finish in the bunch of a road race for the first time! So off we went at an impressive speed that didn't seem to calm down all that much! I found myself looking down at my Garmin having only done 16 miles feeling knackered already!! I won't go into the nitty gritty detail as it wasn't all that exciting for me trying to stay out of trouble and get myself around in the bunch. I knew whose wheels to follow and I constantly found myself on Nicky Butler’s who is a very clever rider and has a lot of experience. On to the last lap... the speed ramped up and it got a little intense on cornering and worrying about oncoming traffic. After the final bend I found myself at the back of the bunch, not where I wanted to be! There was a gap I could squeeze through to the right of me. One of those try it and see how it goes or roll in at the back.... Obviously I may as well try, so off I went for an early sprint! My legs gave in and I had to drop a gear, as two others took off on my left one of which was my teamie Rosa Martin who took 2nd, while I held out for third.

Image from Ellen Isherwood of the finish at Bickerstaffe

A 1st and 3rd under my belt has set me off positively for the season, more to come with the Ph-MAS VCUK girls! Special thanks to all our sponsors.A brilliant event organised by Brian Rigby and St Helens CC. Big thanks to the marshals and everyone who helped out. 

http://www.velouk.net/2015/04/18/results-bickerstaffe-road-races/

An update from me is slightly overdue. After Pimbo our local scene here on the Isle of Man finally kicked off, starting with a 3-up team time trial. I took part with two other lads, both very strong so I knew it would be a good test of the legs coming into the season. We were the first mixed team in, with 25 miles done in a 1.02 making us 7th overall in a field of 20 teams. This gave me a good confidence boost however the legs unfortunately didn't last until the weekend after where I found myself chasing for most of the race up at Capernwray. A tough day out for both myself and Natalie.

More confidence was needed after that performance and this came again in the form of my specialty, the time trial. Unfortunately again my luck seemed to be running out, as I was on for a good PB in difficult, wet & windy conditions - after I'd hit a pothole and had to do the final 6 miles of the 25 with extremely wonky handlebars, leaving me with a 1.11. After leaving HQ in a fairly solemn mood I was to be informed later that I had still won the women's category! It was a slow day for all and I did not expect to finish ahead of the other girls. This was on top of my knowing I was on for a 1hr 5 had my bars not fallen off. Big smiles all round. Great to get a win in my stunning new purple Champ Sys speedsuit, which I'm sure is complementing my power perfectly!

Just need to get myself better, as my bad luck continued even further when the timetrial in dodgy conditions left me with a bad cold - meaning my race with the VCUK ladies at Bickerstaffe was cut short. Next UK race for me will be at Salt Ayre but I hope to be able to update you all with yet more local wins pretty soon.

Laura

It was an early start for me on the Sunday morning, not only had the clocks changed that morning, I had only just returned from the sunny island of Majorca where I had been riding with the team on a ‘training’ camp. I have been training consistently since CX season finished and hadn’t road raced since September therefore I thought it was time to don my purple lycra and see how the legs felt. Capernwray is notoriously a brutal circuit containing a 12% climb and not an inch of flat tarmac, so I knew in this race would be a tough one straight after a training camp. However I really enjoyed the race last year, so thought why not have another crack…? Another eager teamie Laura Morgan had endured storm force 10 weather to make it over on the choppy bateau from the Isle of Man so that made two purple people in the race. A fellow Alba Rosa lady picked me up and we headed West towards grey skies and temperature read a whole 10 degrees colder than Majorca…. Where I had hoped after climbing foreign cols my legs might have been replaced with those of a mountain goat.

As we arrived at HQ I was optimistic the rain would hold out, as I said my hello’s to people I hadn’t seen since last year I was in an optimistic mood (rare for me!) and thought I best get my rollers out ready for a good warm up. That’s when the inevitable happened, the skies turned dark grey and a monsoon started. This meant that mounting the rollers without stabilisers was nearly impossible, as I stood there in awe of Team 22’s Clare Martin’s core/rollering in wet skills I decided I needed to ride around the cul de sac to warm up. After a 9 minute trip around the cul de sac which resembled an urban velodrome, I headed to HQ for the briefing and we waited nervously to roll out in torrential conditions. The neutralized section of this race started quite tentatively, and only 500 m down the road I heard the sound of riders crash on slippy greasy roads, which did nothing to calm my crazy heart rate! Another 1km down the road we ground to a halt, as the one of the men had punctured in front so we had to hang around in the freezing cold whilst they found him a wheel!! Off we trundled again, and came onto part of the course I recognized, and then we did the inaugural climb of Sunnybank, I was well placed mid bunch, and as we crested the top I found we had all ground to a halt again!! It was then the Commisaire told us we had been taken onto the course the wrong way and therefore were going to do a lap less (not sure if I was relieved!) and also we had to wait at the top to let the men’s race pass!!! So another few mins left waiting ensured my legs were far from optimal ready for the impending doom….

As the race got underway I positioned myself in the front half of the bunch and held on for dear life on the swooping descent swallowing lots of rain water I knew the course turned sharply left at bottom and had a steep climb which would involve some big to little ring gear crunching!! We all turned left and climbed out the saddle then BOOM a suicidal tractor nearly took out half the front of the bunch and required us all to slam on our brakes!! This was quite unnerving and caused me to slow up, which led to the inevitable…. Losing touch with the wheels in front!!! And then I suddenly found myself in my favourite position…. On my own!!! Groups of 2/3 girls rode past me, and I tried for dear life to cling on but I suddenly realised I’d left my legs in Alcudia and therefore the next 2 laps turned into a solo effort. I can’t tell you much more about what all the other girls were doing in the race as my only company for the next lap were a few lambs in the field and my stem.

After one lap on my own contemplating why I had left a hot sunny place to come and ride around on my own in apocalyptic conditions, I decided I was going to quit at the top of Sunnybank climb, as my shoes had small lakes forming and I couldn’t feel my fingers. I started recalling a mantra my Alba Rosa friend had told me in car – “in racing you either feel determined or deluded!!” This race I was definitely feeling both!!!! At my low ebb a miracle occurred and a Racing Chance lady Beate Kubitz came along behind me and motivated me to keep going for the last lap!! Thank the lord! We even managed a smile! It was then I realised that even in races when things don’t go to plan, something inside you tells you just to battle on and cross the line knowing that not finishing would feel worse!!! So together we rolled up the climb for the last time, and I finished the race a lowly 29th, however it was a day I learnt I was resilient and that any race after Sunday would feel easier!! I arrived at HQ like a drowned rat and was promptly told my lips were blue! Teamie Laura Morgan rolled into HQ and was equally frozen but we were both happy we had finished!!! Next race thankfully on the flatlands of York Sport with a few more purple teamies!!

Nat.

My 3rd road race of the season kicked off today at Saighton, and the weather was much better than the previous two races…

The course is a relatively flat course with a couple of rises around the course and a kick up to the finish, the race was 8 laps of a 7 mile course, 56 mile total.

The race kicked off and there were attacks coming from everywhere, the first couple of laps were very fast and there were breaks continuously being chased down, myself and Owen Line (one of my team mates) were trying to conserve energy, unfortunately we were both unlucky not to get in to the break, which contained 4 riders and 2 VCUK senior riders. Owen and I were sure that the break would get chased down so we sat in for a while and monitored proceedings.

As the race progressed, there was a mixture of chasing and attacking from various riders, with 3 laps to go I tested the field and put in a dig up towards the finish but was quickly closed down by the bunch.

Later on in the race with just over 1 lap to go, a split was occurring at the front of the bunch. This is when I made my move…I attacked off the front and soon I quickly realised that a break of 4 other riders were bridging across to me. I sat up and waited for the other riders as it was a big ask to bridge the gap to the front group alone.

We came around to the finish line and the bell rang for the last lap. At this point I wasn’t sure whether we would stay away or even bridge across as some other riders were not contributing to the work. We carried on riding and I was putting in some big turns to help stay away, when we were joined by two other riders, one of which was my team mate Owen. This helped us a lot as with only half a lap left we were only 15 seconds behind the front group. As there was not many people contributing to the chase I decided to make an attack to bridge the gap alone… I was followed by another rider and the gap was closed quickly, but we were joined by the rest of the riders shortly after.

With only 2 mile left I positioned myself on second wheel and prepared myself for the finish… The final sprint started with about 500m from the finish up the drag and in the end I managed to get 3rd place overall and first junior. I was happy with this result, especially considering my 5th place yesterday at the Circuit of Ingleborough 27mile time trial!

Thank you to all of the VCUK riders for their support during the race. Also, I would like to thank all of my sponsors for their continued support, particularly Wayne Greenhalgh from VCUK who acted as a great mentor throughout today’s race.