caitelliott.co.uk » road racing

Frühlingscup crits – Brütten

Cait — Sun, 17 Mar 2013 10:10:08 +0000

Racing in Switzerland in February? you’d have to be mad! The Steiner season kicked of with the Frühlings Cup, a local 3 race crit series with a handicapped start. The first race was 40km in sub zero temperature, surrounded by snow and full on winter kit. I forgot my sunglasses and it was so cold I started to get dizzy because my eyeballs froze! After a long break I was reminded that racing is hard work especially when all the categories are mixed together and a little ‘local’ race here involves World champions, pro riders and very fast guys. There is also no hiding or kidding yourself either, racing confirmed what I’ve been trying to deny, my calves are not better. I’ll spare you the rant but I finished with calf explosions, out the back and very annoyed.

By the last race the temperatures had increased and an incredible panorama of the Alps in the background reminded me why its worth putting up with the cold winter here. The distance increased to 17 laps of a 4km circuit and Yves took his 2nd win and the overall series for the Steiner team! Handicapped races are asking for disaster, large pelotons coming together at totally different speeds on narrow roads, erratic riding and questionable bike handling skills. You really had to have your wits about you in there with several crashes and rideres frequently taking detours into the neighbouring fields. Fiola had a nasty crash putting her out of the race when she was well positioned for a great ride, get well soon!

Back to pestering doctors and cycling wise plan B is the focus…

Leinster Road Championships, Bunclody, Co. Wexford

Cait — Tue, 05 Jul 2011 08:37:48 +0000

The Leinster road championships was held in Bunclody on Sunday and with 3 laps of a rolling 26km circuit, it seemed like a good opportunity for some training and speed work. There was no separate women’s race and Mel and I were the only females lining up in A3.

For the first lap I played it sensibly, reminding myself what bunch riding was like and tucking in for most of the time. It was a nice course with some small draggy climbs and a pretty quick descents, but there didn’t seem much chance for anyone to break away – there were guys trying all the time but never looking too threatening.

photo credit: Liam Ruth, Slaney CC

On lap 2 I got up towards the front, left my brain on the side of the road and when a load of attacks started I jumped in on the action. One second pedalling along comfortably and then someone suddenly puts the hammer down and its all go at full gas. They kept piling on one after another with barely chance to recover from the burning legs at the end of each effort. I was happy to feel well able to stick to the guys in the attacks but it was a shame that they were reeled in each time – probably an obvious waste of effort to go with them in the first place but I was there for training and it would have been boring otherwise!

Into lap 3 I got swallowed up by the bunch and questioning the logic behind my earlier efforts I tucked in a bit to conserve energy, hoping I had enough left for some more hard efforts towards the finish. The race winner somehow snuck away out the front but coming up towards the finish it was clearly going to be an uphill sprint for the final positions. I was positioned way too far back in the bunch with Mel just beside me. As the speed increased I was on the inside and totally boxed in but with 7-800m to go half a gap opened in front of me so I got my elbows out and went hard to get as far up as I could. 200m full gas, uh oh can I keep this up? 100m? shit it can’t be that far! Had to turn off the pain-feeling part of my brain and managed to keep going to cross the line. An enjoyable race, even pretty exciting at times. Thanks to Think Bike for the fast race machine. A hot and dusty spin up 3 rock when I got home reminded me where my loyalties are!

Rás Dhun na nGall

Cait — Mon, 06 Jun 2011 19:41:20 +0000

Another weekend another adventure, this time 3 days of road racing in Ardara at the Ras Donegal. Mel and I loaded up the car and drove through a day of rare scorching heat in Ireland on Friday afternoon to find the 1% of the country that was covered in cloud. After seeing a physio during the week my lack of recent form was put down to knots in my calf muscles to be solved by massage and ice baths. The problem was still there but I was told racing shouldn’t do more harm so thought I might as well do it for training.

Stage 1

photo credit: Darragh Maloney

We began on Friday evening with a 60km hilly loop, and with a separate women’s category we had a slightly ridiculous situation of 8 of us setting off 5 minutes in front of the men’s bunch of 140 riders. We coasted along for a while, and with nobody willing to assert themselves on the race it was a case of waiting for the tsunami of the men’s race to catch us. Eventually they did and as soon as one of the girls said ‘I’m going’, we all jumped in. Thank god, I was getting bored and it was suddenly into high pace, close wheeled, rubber smelling bunch racing. With attack after attack going at the front it was tough going at times, and having survived for a while I suddenly found myself badly positioned towards the back on one of the descents, not having done a road race this season I’d forgotten that descents are way harder than climbs and as the bunch slowly pulled away from me my legs couldn’t respond so I was left in no man’s land.

photo credit: Darragh Maloney

I chased for a while but had to give in, riding for 20km alone where I spent a lot of the time questioning what I was doing and making myself suffer through painfully sore calf muscles so that by the end of the day I’d almost decided to quit the race that evening. I always see road races as a chance to prove myself against roadies but my legs felt terrible so there was no hope of that and to be riding way below my abilities was no fun at all.

I was caught from behind by another bunch as we approached the finish making life a lots easier, and since there were a few women in it I resolved to using the race as a bit of tactical practice for bunch finishes. As the pace picked up in the final km’s I got into a good position towards the front and started to sprint towards the finish. Unfortunately there was chaos around the finish line in the village with cars everywhere and I had to jam on the brakes and start again as a car blocked my line. In the end one of the other girls got half a wheel on me and I ended up 4th. It would have been a good race but with legs the way they were and confidence low I didn’t enjoy it much.

Stage 2

photo credit: Marrion Lamb

Stage 2 was a 4km uphill time trial early on Saturday morning. My calves were still sore but no worse than the day before so I decided to do the TT and then decide whether to continue the race. As it turned out it went ok and I only lost 7 seconds to Mel and 20 to winner Heather Wilson so I had to keep going – might have won with a skinsuit, overshoes & carbon wheels . 8 minutes 20 seconds of pain up a steep but spectacular mountain road was pretty horrible at the time but within minutes of finishing I was already thinking I quite enjoyed it.

photo credit: Marrion Lamb

Stage 3

photo credit: Marrion Lamb

After breakfast and a lie down it was back for more on Saturday afternoon with an 80km race, and boosted by the TT I went into it feeling a bit more confident. The women set off in front again, sharing the work until the guys came from behind and we jumped into the bunch. Once again attack after attack came in but I seemed to have cracked bunch riding, feeling confident moving up and getting into a good position. We hit a big climb and I started passing riders and felt good, but once again on the decent got dragged towards the back and straight into another fast paced climb I couldn’t hold on and was shelled out the back. Mel was just behind me and we rode hard with a few other riders for a while until my legs suddenly gave in as they sprinted out of a corner so once again I was out alone. The difference in effort required to ride alone rather than in a group is unbelievable, as they coasted along I was suffering yet going far slower. I spent the last 30km catching guys along the road hoping to find someone I could ride with and share the work until the finish but each time I made it to someone ahead they dropped off and I was out alone again. At least it was sunny and I had time to look at the spectacular scenery. Tough day but much better than yesterday and I was now up to 3rd in the GC.

photo credit: Marrion Lamb

Stage 4

photo: Marian Lamb

Woke up to thick black clouds and pissing rain sliding down the window panes as Donegal lived up to childhood memories of wet family holidays. With a slight sense of dread we dragged ourselves out for the final tough 100km. The women set off in front again but we picked up the pace slightly and after the first hill were reduced to a group of 5 riders, managing to hold off the guys for well over an hour. I think there is a screw loose in my head because as the rain and wind drove into our faces and water sprayed up off the road soaking everything, I was in my element having a great time. My legs were finally feeling pretty good and I was enjoying the hilly course.

photo by Marian Lamb

Eventually a breakaway group of 3 guys caught us and Heather, Mel and I jumped on. I put in flat out effort but there pace was nuts and after a while Mel and I lost it. For the next while loads of small groups caught us and we put in effort after effort to cling on to one of them. Its very difficult to judge the point at which you should give in and sit back rather than wasting energy chasing in the hope that you might just have enough energy to cling on and I don’t think I got it right. On the road you simply have to go at the pace of those around you, meaning you often have to go beyond your own limits and the point where you have nothing left to give can catch you out very suddenly.

photo by Marian Lamb

Mel managed to get onto a group giving a slightly easier route to the finish whereas I couldn’t find enough to hold on and once again was out alone. Until then there had been loads of riders on the road but they turned out to be the last so I had another 35km solo with strong headwinds until 2 guys caught me 8km from the end. The finish was a gruelling 4km climb up the Glengesh pass road, which looked like a wall in front of us. By that stage I was running out of energy and with some of the corners feeling near vertical I was regretting my pre-race decision that a small cassette would make me strong, having to heave pedals around to stick with the guys until the end.

photo credit: Marian Lamb

I made eventually made it, finishing 3rd on the stage and in the GC with Mel 2nd and Heather Wilson 1st. Once we finished the cold and wet quickly got to me and it was suddenly freezing. Huge thanks to Darragh for a lifesaving appearance with hot coffee and a lift back for Mel and I, riding down would definitely have resulted in hypothermia! (why is it that every stage race I’ve done has finished this way?!).

photo credit: Marian Lamb

The scenery and spectacular roads made for a great race, hilly stage races are the only way to go for road racing and if it was a few days longer I might have got my legs up to full speed. Hopefully next year more girls will enter. Thank you to Think Bike for the amazingly light and fast Trek Madone, racing on a nice bike is so much more enjoyable!