The UCD roadies have been taking part in a race league with a few other clubs over the summer, and on Sunday it was the ‘Christmas hamper’ race. I’ve been threatening to give road racing a try for a while, and as something fairly short and not too serious it seemed like a good opportunity to find out what the fuss is about. John from Think Bike very kindly lent me a ‘real’ road bike since I don’t think mine would have made it round the course.
It was on somewhere out in Meath so riding out with Niall and Gavin was more than enough warm up, especially with slightly tired legs after doing a long timed hill climb the day before. There were loads of people, apparently some pretty good, but I don’t know much about these things! In fact I felt pretty clueless altogether, no idea about road racing or tactics. All I knew was don’t get stuck at the front doing all the work, and don’t get dropped!
We set off at a pretty cruisey pace, the occasionally burst of energy but nothing too hectic at all, and I almost thought it was all too easy. I was a bit concerned beforehand about riding in a bunch since I’ve never been out with more than four of five others, and never riding at speed. It wasn’t as scary as I expected at all – having a bike I could trust made a lot of difference too, made me realise how bad my road bike is! The route was nice, mostly flat with two 20km ish laps, and as smooth roads as you can hope for in Ireland.
Into the second lap the pack was a bit smaller, I’d managed to survive a few attacks and was keeping my eye on another couple of girls who were still up there. The pace was still ok but Gav warned me to watch out for a break coming up. A bit more cruising along with the pace gradually picking up a bit, then as a couple of the ‘A’ category riders came by from behind it suddenly all went a bit mental. Out of the saddle sprint and then head down, legs burning, heart rate racing, powering along to try and hold onto the pack. I was working hard but just sticking to them and hoping it might slow down again.
Unfortunately not! The main bunch of the ‘A’ pack came wizzing by, upping the pace in the process. At that stage I was struggling, hanging off the back – especially frustrating when you know the guy 15 metres ahead is working far less to go the same speed. It was like huge long nasty interval but I was getting know where and eventually had to step off a bit and let them go. In fact probably should have done so sooner since I just ended up wasting energy but I don’t like giving up! Annoying since there wasn’t too long left at all. The last few km was still hard going, I was at the front of group of 4 or 5 trying to keep the pace up till the end. Not sure where I finished but first or second female I reckon.
So a weird experience I have to say, totally and utterly different to a mountain bike race. I’d say about 90% is fairly easy (for a race!), 10% hard but the real key is the 5% that’s ridiculously hard! It wasn’t quite the same buzz as an mtb race, but I did really enjoy it, a nice reminder of the combination of pain and adrenaline that makes racing so great. Might have to do more of them next year, it would help improve my speed on the flat if nothing else.
Thanks very much to John from Think Bike for the loan of his bike, made an incredible difference.
The worst part of the day was a disaster with my garmin but I’m too traumatised to explain. I’ll just say that a big chunk of my fund for a new road bike will wasted on a new garmin. Not happy.