16th March 2014: Betty Pharoah Memorial Road Race (cat 3/4)

This was a journey into the unknown. My first competitive bunch race of any kind on tarmac. I've done my share of hill climbs and time trials in the past, but I had no idea what to expect of hammering round in a bunch. So, straight in at the deep end with a 50 mile race on a fairly hilly course - although a better description would be 'rolling' by South Wales standards.

Perfect weather conditions and 15 other Cardiff Ajax team mates starting the race helped to keep spirits high at the start. A neutralised roll through Cowbridge was followed by one of two main climbs on the three-lap, 15 mile course as soon as the flag dropped and the race began for real. I was pleasantly surprised to find myself moving up on the climb, and surprised but slightly panicked to find myself in a group attacking off the front within the first few miles! We didn't get away and I curbed my enthusiasm, reminding myself the aim was just to stay with, and finish with, the bunch. The second climb of the lap was a reminder of this as I found myself drifting inexorably backwards, unable to get on anyone's wheel. I recovered from that and after being towed along at 30mph on rolling roads it was time to start lap 2.



Having found my level and realised I wasn't going to get blown out the back of the bunch immediately, but under no aspirations that I was going to figure in the finish, I tried to move up and make myself useful to my team mates who did have such aspirations. Up the second climb of the lap I found myself near the head of the bunch with the remnants of a break being reeled in - and Kryzsztof, one of our best hopes for the race, doing the work to bring them back. Well I couldn't have him wearing himself out, so it was time to see if I could handle a turn on the front. I dragged the break back and carried on for as long as I could, hoping to do some damage at the back of the bunch and prevent any stragglers on the climb getting straight back on - with the ever-enthusiastic Kryzsztof urging me to go faster! When I peeled off I went back through the pack like a bowling ball as I tried to recover, going from 1st to 60th in as many seconds.

I never got near the front again, learning the valuable lesson that position is everything in a big bunch and moving up is far from easy, even if cyclocross has given you sharp elbows and a willingness to ride through gaps that are a bike plus 6 inches wide. Besides, by the final climb I was starting to run out of steam, and gave up any hopes of being any use to the team (little did I know that by this point Kryzsztof had made it into what would prove to be a successful two man break and earn him second place). As we hit the last kilometre of uphill drag to the finish and everyone geared up for a sprint, I finally went out the back of the bunch and finished about 30 seconds behind. But since I'd come into the race thinking that might happen in the first kilometre, I went home happy enough.

I enjoyed myself a lot and went home relieved to have held my own, but reassured that I haven't missed my true calling in not giving road racing a go until now. Next on the list: a criterium....