NCRA Handicap Road Race Rd 1, 8 Mar 2020

My first road race for two years and my first as a Cat 3, and it didn’t go as planned! I wasn’t feeling 100% before the race and it was clear it was going to be a tough day out with a strong wind across the course and a hill which was longer than it had appeared on Strava! I was put into the third group on the road, and we set off at a brisk pace with two of the group clipping off the front, and no real coordination between the 7 or so of us around the first lap. As we approached the main hill for the first time, I was near the front, and planned to conserve energy up the hill, letting myself drop back towards the back of the group as we went up. A combination of the group going harder than I expected, and probably me also not having as good legs as I would have wanted, meant that I had dropped to the back by the top of the hill. As it levelled off the crosswind hit, and before I knew it there was a bike length gap as we started back down the hill. I never managed to close it down the descent, not helped by the fact I had forgotten I was still in the small ring! the next section turned left with a cross/tailwind, and the group remained tantalisingly not more than 20-30m in front, and at times less, but I was blowing hard to get back, thinking that even if I did get back I was only going to get dropped again. The next group came past and by this time I was too blown to jump onto the back of them as well.

A lesson learned - no matter how many times you know it in your head, it’s amazing how one or two small errors means your race is over before you know it.

Tim Phillips

Photo: Chris Lawrence