NCRA Handicap Road Race Rd 3, 19 Mar 2022

After the first race last weekend I felt more confident going into this one. I was also expecting, as it indeed turned out, that I would be in a later/faster group this time. No dramas before the race this week, and I had a good warmup out on the course and getting a feel for the wind before going to the start.

I was put into group 3, and the first two groups were set off many minutes before us - much larger gaps than last time. When our group of about 12 finally set off we worked well together, with a rotating pace line that changed direction as the wind direction required. The wind was in a different direction to last time, and wasn’t quite as strong, mostly varieties of crosswind on the different parts of the course, with a headwind on the run back towards the finish.

Our group kept working and moving swiftly, but apart from passing some stragglers dropped from the first two groups, we never saw the two groups in front of us. We also never got caught from behind, so our group just kept on working, hoping to catch sight of the groups up ahead. In the last few km of the race there were a few attacks, which I followed, while not being hugely motivated to try and ‘sprint for 20th place’ as one person in the group put it. In the last km one of the bigger riders attacked, and I decided to follow, give it full gas and stay in front for as long as I could (this turned out not to be very long!). A few people passed me in the last uphill section as my legs ran out and I rolled in for 24th place, having had a good hard workout, and decent 1min power at the end, and some more road race fun (although not as much as last week)!

Tim Phillips