Published: 22nd October, 2012
RESULT: 14th in age category/ 40th overall
Written Saturday 13th October
Roc d'Azur is an iconic cycling festival which takes place each year in
Tim Dunford has been raving on for as long as I've know him about how good Roc d'Azur is. With Worlds the weekend before it made perfect sense to make a 2 week trip and drive another 400 miles south to the coast. So it was decided perhaps foolishly that we'd race Worlds, pack the car and drive south that evening... arriving at 2am in Frejus wasn't so glamorous having raced for 5 hours and then driven for just as many (sorry, Tim had driven, I'd just fed the driver with sugary food to keep him going).
Tim had been nursing a cold virus all of last week in Ornans, staying in the same room and travelling with him I'd avoided catching anything but then Tuesday night I had a chesty cough. Otherwise I felt ok so it was a surprise pulling off the line at today's 83km Roc d'Azur marathon when I started wheezing, coughing and had no power. It felt like someone was holding onto my seatpost or someone had let my tyres down. Normally I start well but not today, Tim rode past and asked if I was okay, no was the answer!
I moved up a few places on the first climb but my heart rate wouldn't rise to anywhere near race pace. After the first hour where I'd been loosing places rather than gaining them like usual I admitted to myself that I just needed to finish the race by riding around admiring the view and having fun on the trails. There were some amazing views out there especially in the last hour where you rode back towards the coast and could look out over the beaches to the shiny blue sea. The trails were pretty awesome as well, lots of sweeping twisty sections and even more steep rocky descents.
I'd seen Tim a few times during the race, the final part of the race goes along the beach before following a rocky footpath along the beach front, I was worried Tim would catch me so kept looking behind. Riding along the beach was really good fun, I made it through the first stretch but then on the second my bike got stuck and I fell over still clipped into the pedals much to the amusement of the crowd which had gathered.
I made it to the finish 14th in category and 40th overall which was a pleasant surprise considering the world class level of competition and how ill I was feeling. Now there's just one more race before the end of the season.
Thanks for reading.
Ben Thomas
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