I was super excited to be racing my first international race, Ras Na mBan in Ireland. Not only was this my first international race, but it was also my first ‘big’ stage race where we raced 6 stages over 5 days. The first stage was 90km, then there were 3 stages that were 100-105 km long (excluding the 20 minute neutralised rides) then the final 2 stages were a 2.5KM prologue and a 1 hour + 5 lap crit race. I was also a bit nervous guesting for a new team, AWOL Worx, as I was unsure how they operated. So this week was a week of new experiences, and throwing myself into the deep end. I had no expectations of getting any results and simply went in with the mindset of wanting to learn something new so I could have another proper go next time at getting some results.

Stage 1 was a 90km road race, and it was pretty flat apart from the 3km drag. I knew I may feel a bit off as I had less than 5 hours of sleep as I travelled to the race the night before over 12 hours of travelling!). We had a 20 minute neutralised to wake up. The race started off at a controlled pace, rather than attacks going from the gun which I did find very different to what I am used to. I felt good and my positioning was pretty decent too, consistently staying in the top half of the peloton. I also found it quite strange having metal bollards on the left side of the road to separate the bike lane from the road. I was lucky to be one of the few that didn’t ride into them! It was also really good that we had the ‘Garda’ (police!) to close the roads and stay with us in the convoy, meaning we could use both sides of the road - definitely making it feel safer too. There were no attempts of any breakaways until we hit the 3km climb. The pace was pushed and the bunch split. Although I had a good position in the top half of the bunch, there were still a couple of riders that struggled with the pace up the climb, and unfortunately I was caught behind them. I joined a group of around 10 of us and we were working really well, we were quick to organise a chaingang- again very different to home, having a quicker and more organised method of chasing. Gradually our group enlarged so we had around 15-20 riders. An OnForm rider joined the back of her team car and tried to chase back to the group in front- I was boxed in so I couldn’t follow. The girls eventually decided to chase after her, causing our group to split in half- luckily I was in the top half. We didn’t catch the OnForm rider but we managed to stay away from the girls in the group behind, leaving us 10 riders in our own group. Again, we worked really well to the finish. The finish had a sharp 90° left turn and then it was a 250 metre drag to the finish, which I felt suited me, and I also felt pretty decent as well. Unfortunately going into the left turn, I didn’t have a good position, I think I just overestimated when we were going to reach the corner. As we exited the corner I had a gap on the inside and I managed to overtake quite a few riders, the two Dutch girls from the group powered a bike length from me, and then I was pipped on the line by Lola, literally by an inch- so a 4th place in my group. I was quite satisfied with that ride considering the lack of sleep and the long travel just hours before the race. Lots of food and recovery needed for a hillier stage 2.

Stage 2 was about 104 km long- my longest race yet. It was one of the hilliest stages, lots of short sharp climbs and 2 significant larger climbs. I had a solid 10 hours of sleep, so I felt more awake in this race. The race started the same as stage 1, being more controlled. I stayed in the bunch for much longer than stage 1. The legs also felt good (I thought they would have felt fatigued after stage 1, but they felt the same!). I was also a ‘yo-yo’ at one point, we were racing through a small village and the bunch broke up due to the technical elements of this part of the route. I did lose the group, but a friend of mine from Hutchinson towed me back on to the group. I got back into the group and stayed with them for a bit longer, until we got to the forestry sector. Hutchinson and Team Boompods attacked up the climbs in this sector, again causing the bunch to split. I managed to join a group of 20 riders, all pretty much the same faces from stage 1. There wasn’t much organisation for chasing back on. A few riders suggested a chaingang but the group was far too big for this, so nothing was really working. With 15km to go I sadly lost this group, after eating too many energy gels, I started having some stomach cramps - should probably eat more actual food on the bike rather than gels!! I rode solo until the final 5k where I was joined by another rider, we again worked well together, caught up and dropped a couple of riders who were in front. In the final 1km I had a really good position, sitting on her wheel. I knew I needed to be first to start sprinting as my acceleration isn’t as quick as others. After it felt ages since we rode past the flamme rouge, I attacked on the uphill finish. I saw a sign with 300 metres to go, at that point I realised I went a bit too early but I looked behind and saw I had a gap of a good 5 seconds, so I had to keep pushing to the line- I had visions of her pipping me on the line. Luckily I managed to keep a gap, and finished 28th on the young riders GC. An improvement from stage 1 and a much more enjoyable course, despite the suffering.

Stage 3 was another long race, 102km. The course was slightly flatter but still had a tough 7km climb, that reached to 9%. There was an immediately fast start after the neutralised, most people definitely didn’t expect that. Myself and quite a few others got dropped after the first 15k. I managed to get myself into a small group, including my teammate Jacqui. We were working well until me and Jacqui dropped the other riders. We were so close to the front group, and we were trying to use the cars in the convoy, but eventually the group pulled away and we were left as a pair. We continued working together up to the climb. A comm on the motorbike said to me and Jacqui that we were only 2 minutes behind a group of 10 riders- this was when we was at the bottom of the climb. Shortly after we closed the gap to 1.5 minutes but sadly Jacqui lost my wheel, she told me to keep chasing and get to the group in front. I was doing a massive solo effort all the way up the 7k climb. The road surface was poor so it was hard to go at a faster pace, which didn’t help with my chase. I sadly didn’t catch up with the group in front so I spent over 50k on my own. With 25k to go I eventually had a little bit of company as a solo rider came from behind me and said to get on her wheel so we could work together. By this point I was absolutely exhausted and could only hang on for a few kilometres before she rode away. Back to riding solo for me, until 15k to go where a group of 5 riders, including my teammate Jacqui, caught up with me. I was quite relieved to have found a group to work. With just under 10k to go, 3 of the girls got a tow from a car (not part of the convoy) and me and Jacqui got a tow from the car just behind. This definitely helped with the pacing, but we did lose the other girls in front by a couple of car lengths. Coming into the village where the finish was, it was chaos. Traffic jams and dodging trucks to get to the finish line- definitely something new that was! As Jacqui helped me a lot in that stage, I let her take the better result than me, she did do a lot of the donkey work to help me get to the climb. A few hours later after the race, myself and quite a few others were given an ‘OTL’ (over time limit) beside our name so we actually had no result. This was super frustrating as we were never swept by the broom wagon so no one knows how far behind we actually were - the comms did eventually admit this issue. After the team managers had some discussions with the race comms, the final decision was I could not race due to safety and safeguarding issues. Although I felt disappointed I couldn’t race due to the issue of the comms. Brent and Paul (team staff) allowed me to sit in the team car for 70kms (and swap with my other teammate) so I could get a different perspective of bike racing. It was such a good experience in the team car, getting directions from radio and watching how tense the race is from a team managers view- so I’m very grateful to have experienced two different perspectives from one bike race - that never normally happens. I was also on feed duty too, for teammate Kelly who absolutely smashed it in the breakaway!

Overall, I had such an amazing experience, and I have learnt more over the 3 days than in 6 years I’ve raced on the bike. Super cool to do the racing and team manager duty in the team car. The atmosphere was brilliant and it was a lovely way to start racing internationally too. Very grateful to the AWOL team for the opportunity! :))

Amy Harvey

Ras Na mBan, 6-10 Sep 2023

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