Weekend Double

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BY: Richard Jones

Published: 6th March, 2012

weekend double - train, train, race, race

This week started slowly as I took time to recover from the Thetford Winter Series.  A few slow rides with the odd interval made up most of the week until Thursday evening when it was time for the usual session spent on the turbo trainer in a very hot, cramped garage.  Certainly not the training highlight but two hours later I crawled back into the house feeling utterly exhausted…mission complete! 

Friday evening I headed to the pool for the second week in a row.  I have found that a 40 - 50 minute swim helps in many ways and is good for relaxing after a hard week.

So Saturday was now here and time for the first road race of the year, just a local club handicap race.  These are a local series that consists of six races over the coming weeks and a further six during the summer.  Plenty of rules to get your head round, as with most road races, but basically to race you have to be part of an affiliated club.  Thankfully I have always had the support of my local club Numplumz so this wasn't a problem. 

The course was made up of a 10-mile loop with the odd little slope chucked in. Me, Mike Cowland and fellow elite MTBer Ryan Henry made up the scratch group with an eight minute handicap.  Road races are still a shock to the system and if I'm honest I'm still not sure what I should be doing!  However 40 miles later and the race was over.  A leading group had stayed away and we had rolled in a minute later.  A good work out and finally some lovely weather! 

The test was then to try to recover well in preparation for the following day's Black Park XC race.  I tried to concentrate on drinking plenty and eating the correct foods as well as resting the already aching legs. 

Sunday the blinds were pulled open to find rain lashing down: the weather forecast had predicted this and from what they were saying it was staying with us for the rest of the day.  Me and Hollie made our way down to Slough for what has always been in the past a fantastic race.  It is a very flat course however it still has plenty to keep you entertained, a lot like Sherwood in many ways.  From the moment we arrived at the venue we could see the weather was already causing havoc to the course conditions. 

A pre lap showed that the course was now just one long muddy bog, however with it being so wet it was easy to cut through and there was still grip to be had and some fast racing to be enjoyed, however horrendously muddy!

We where quickly gridded and before we knew it rain jackets were off and the race had begun.  Down the starting straight and into the first section of single track we all went. I thought I saw a group of riders get away at this point however this later turned out not to be the case it was in fact just Jody Crawford. I settled on the wheel of GT rider Jonathan Pybus who seemed to make light work of cutting through the sloppy mud. 

We battled it out over 4 laps however he always seemed to keep riding away from me, a short while later I would make up the gap and re join his wheel but then the gap would open up again.  On the fifth lap my legs started to fade from the previous day's efforts.  I suddenly felt very tired and the demanding conditions became even more apparent.  Jonathan had at this point made a good gap and disappeared into the distance. 

As I rode into the arena to start my final two laps the commentator made me aware that I was in fact third.  That was it then I knew I wanted to hold that position so pushed my legs past their sleepiness and forced them to get working again.  For two laps I pushed as hard as I could and tried to ride the trails to the best of my ability with out slipping or dabbing.  Half way round my final lap and I had caught a glimpse of Jonathan.  I continued to push hard to shorten the gap and with roughly a mile to go joined his wheel again. 

As we entered the final rooty section of single track I made my move and passed Jonathan, I kept the pace high and turned the final corner only to see Jody Crawford just 100 meters away, however there was no more time and the race was finished. 

Two hours later and 8 laps of the 3.5 mile course I had finished second.  Twelve Expert/Elite riders started however only 4 finished, a true testimony to the conditions that the course and weather had thrown at everybody. 

Thank you to the organisers for their hard work, a great shame the weather wasn't kinder.  Anybody that finished this race had done very well! 

Richard Jones

XCRacer.com