Tour of Cambridgeshire Road Race, 4 Jun 2023

I didn’t get off to the best start as all I heard from my cassette were clicks of doom in the warm up. I got off my bike and had a good look, noticing the back wheel hadn’t dropped in properly on the cassette side. Easy fix I thought. Wrong! Despite my best efforts, it stubbornly refused to cooperate. A gentleman, seeing my struggles, came over to try and help but was unable to. He suggested I go over to the race mechanics, so off I trundled, cursing my bike and my lack of warm up. Unfortunately, I had no idea where to find them, and as I searched, I began to get really upset and despondent. I heard my name being called out, and fellow SICC riders came over to say hi. Being in a bit of a panic, I blurted out that my bike wasn’t working, and I didn’t know what to do. Luckily, they didn’t judge my lack of friendly hello, and used their experience to fix it! Success! I could ride! Set off to find my start pen and calm myself down. Stood in the start pen, had a gel and a chat to another lady. Took some calming breaths and reminded myself that the feeling of nervousness was actually excitement and my body getting ready to race!

The start felt quite easy, although in hindsight we were actually moving quite fast. That’s adrenaline for you! I focused on my only goal, stay in the peloton! I kept repeating, hold the wheel, hold the wheel. I was really pleased that all the practise I had put in with the chaingang and in club rides had paid off and I was able to move much more confidently around the group, rather than hanging off the back. I still have a lot of work to do with group riding, but I have already made a lot of progress. And my training made it possible to catch up to a wheel if I lost it or wanted to move up.

Unfortunately, I did go over a few potholes and my saddle was not tightened properly and I noticed I was getting lower and lower. I tried to ignore it, but I began to feel knee and back pain and couldn’t get as much power through the pedals. Not to mention I was horribly uncomfortable! I realised I wasn’t going to be able to carry on and stopped at around 50k. I quickly got my multitool out, tried not to panic as I undid the bolt and raised the saddle. A marshal helped me tighten it up, so I managed to eat some energy blocks and have a good drink.

As I hopped back on, I realised it still wasn’t high enough but it would do. I found a gentleman riding and hopped on his wheel. We got chatting and he was brilliant. Despite being in his 70’s, he was super fit and rode a beautiful Colnago. We took it in turns to pull, but he was very chivalrous and insisted on doing a lot of the work. I couldn’t complain in the windy fens!  We caught up to a few ladies, and our gruppetto grew! We also picked up a few gents and worked together. By the time I got to 95k, I regretted all the time I had spent ‘doing my fair share’ as the ones who hadn’t been as generous with their energy rode away from me up one of the seemingly never ending hills towards the finish. I rode most of the last miles alone, through gritted teeth as big groups of fast gents flew past.

Despite my poor placing, I was so pleased I wasn’t dropped as quickly as in previous races and that I could ride in a group more confidently, it was as good as a higher finish for me! I look forward to entering more races.

Sabrina Crothall