Phoenix Cycling Club
You are here:
The Bann Valley Classic
Coming into the last mile, I had maintained a great position, about
tenth in
line, going over the final rise in the road I had decided that I'd go
going
over the brough of the hill. I put it into the 12 and I lashed it as
hard as
I possibly could up the right hand side of the road, a bit too soon for
the
sprinters I'd hoped and i got a gap no-one on my wheel, I lashed it then
I
got out of the saddle and I lashed it again. Looking over my left hand
shoulder I might get this, I put my head down and I worked hard again
this
time just to get to the line. As I got to the line they just caught me,
4
riders, one phoenix in a line on the left I took 6th.
At the start I was'nt sure how today was gonna go and not really sure
how my
legs were. Not having a handicap, I've got to race from scratch not chasing
anyone no-one chasing me. So Tim was the main man for me and a couple
of the
better vets. Since I wasn't sure how the legs where I guess I gotta go
with
the flow and try to stay up the bunch go with it.
So from the start I stayed near the front, right away on this circuit
there's a couple of tight corners a few would be caught out with the
quick
start. As soon as we where on our way I knew my legs where ok from
yesterday, and so my day of continuos attacking began.
First every hill and incline then going into every tight corner I laid
into
it, but obviously the bunch seemed to come to life everytime I went up
the
road. I guess different people have different styles of racing and this
race
would not be tore apart easily. Lap two and I've managed it, I'm up the
road
with Shaun Gray, Lee Patterson and a couple of others, we busted ourselves
for a lap and I thought we where gonna settle into a nice rythme to get
away
from a dis-organised bunch memories of yesterday coming back to me but
this
was much harder. We managed to stay away for 8miles with an average HR
of
173 (thats 10 pace for me) but they eventually came back to us on the
hardest part of the climb, I'm supposing several hard men were'nt ready
to
let it go Big Jim, Soup, McCall and Lennie were all still there so what
the
heck.
Attack followed attack and the terrain was taking it's toll on my legs.
Tim
told me at one stage to recover for a lap or so but 5 minutes later I
was at
it again. Down the right, I was trying to follow a different style of
attacking, I waited on attacks happening so that when they where brought
back I countered, just waited on the lull then off again. Off-course
it was
hurting but I also managed to attack on the main climb and I guess I
was
enjoying it thoroughly.
About 2/3rds through the race I had decided I wasn't really gonna have
a
chance at the bunch sprint and I would empty myself on the road to try
and
get another gap. And so the last lap I was at it again, going into the
hills
I made another break, this time I was with Big Jim and one or two others.
I
was working very hard on this first of two climbs but the race was chasing
hard. They caught us and I managed to stay close to the front, I would
go
again on the next climb, whether I had the legs or not. Next climb I
went
again this time I went nowhere, but as a result I was in the top ten
going
into the tailwind section 29mph avg for this section of the course I
knew it
would be hard for anyone to come up. Weighing up my options I never set
eyes
on Lennie or McCall, my two favorites for the race so I just went as
I had
planned. On the previous couple of laps I'd thought about where I'd launch
one, I wasn't gonna make it easy for the sprinters.
So coming into the final rise I was perfectly placed, one boy went up
the
road already and now I'd give the rest of what I had in my legs to the
road
and not the sprinters.
Just as I got to the finish line I just managed to look accross in time
to
see a line of riders just pass me at the line one was a phoenix jersey,
Sean
had been one of the 4 along with McCall and Colm Watson. Lennie told
me
later that he'd got out of his saddle to take my wheel but sat down again
when his legs didn't agree with him, I'll take that as a compliment then,
not too many flying around.
6th, I guess I'm a 2nd Cat now !!!!!
Navigation
