First Race Done and Dusted

Today, I did my first road race since last September and the first of 2008. I have to say I didn't set the world on fire. I got back from nine days in Mallorca last Sunday with some renewed strength and a big bag of confidence (reports to follow). I knew there was a women's race at Chertsey on 24th February and had it in the back of my mind while I was away. If someone had said to me 5 weeks ago when I had flu that I would be up for an early season race at Chertsey I would have laughed, but today I got the race bike out and hit the circuit.

An early start for a 10.00 am race as Chris and I set out a bit earlier to collect our DS for the morning, Adam. We arrived at Quinteq just before 9.00 and I signed on for the women's cat 3/4 race and Chris for the men’s 4th cat. It was good to be back at Chertsey again after the fears at the end of last year that the land would be sold and there would be no more racing there. It was good to see people in the car park getting their bikes out and preparing to race. It's only February but soon the season will be in full swing and the familiar faces will be back on the racing circuit. It was also good to see our Surrey League organisers back after a winter break.

There were about 20 ladies in my race. The first couple of laps were just a warm up with some controlled through and offing. Unfortunately, I missed the major move of the race and got detached from the bunch. The group was riding at a reasonable pace but my bunch positioning was poor and when I tried to get back on I'd hit the back straight and a head wind. Positioning is something I'll get used to as time goes by. So as my team mate who won at Upavon last weekend tells me "watch for the gaps to open, look who's strong and who's not. And be on the strong girls' wheels'."

So I wasn't strong enough to bridge the gap and I teamed up with an Agisko Viner rider to work with for the rest of the race. We had about 5 laps to go by now. On the last lap I launched my attack on the Chertsey 'hill' on the back straight. I knew I had been stronger than my competitor on the hill so I went for it. I stayed away for a bit but she eventually caught me on the back straight and I couldn't push the pedals hard enough when it really mattered. She passed me on the line and beat me by a tyre's width.

So, the first race is done and dusted. Work to do, but certainly not a disaster. I need to train to my weaknesses and race to my strengths. It's not something I have done in training so it's not just gonna happen in one race but at least acceleration is something that I can train for. It was great to be racing again and I have two things to think about in the coming weeks.

1. bunch positioning/anticipation

2. acceleration/explosive power

Next weekend I'll be getting down to some serious long rides for "Operation Flanders".