Long Story Short
- Finished 11th.
- First to the base of Pine Forest climb.
- Tried an attack on the run in.
- BBQ was great.
Strava
View the ride on Strava: Orwell Wheelers 2015 Club League Round 21: Golden Balls. 11th. Really enjoyed the season.
For the FlyBys Replay, I enabled the following front group finishers;
- Myslef, started with Limit,
- Paul, started with Semi-Limit,
- Sean, started with Semi-Scratch,
- Eric, started with Scratch.
Short Story Long
Build-Up
After being shown, in no uncertain terms, that I was not able to compete on the steep gradients the previous week, I was keen to make amends. After seeing the initial route, I was feeling pretty confident of a good showing. There were only four sections I would classify as steep. On Greg's Saturday Spin, we went over the Featherbeds. I went very hard there and got a good preview of what it was like to scale and descend with fatigue.Sunday and Monday were spent recovering from a hangover. The only thing I could do was watch Hugh Jackman and Robot movies. Real Steel was on a par with Ricky Hatton's tactics for one-dimensionalism. Chappie was top notch. I polished off the latest audiobook Thriller, "The Girl on the Train". Which I happened across when I was looking for the fourth book in the Millennium Saga.
Tuesday, I went for a recon of the initial route. I didn't enjoy the climb out of the elbow. But the rest of the parcours was really enjoyable. I set a lot of PR's on the climb to Glencree and some second best times for the ascent and descent of the Featherbeds. When I got home, I put in an order for the newly restocked Canyon CX bike. Canyon have a dubious reputation for shipping, so I'll cancel the order if the Giant Store give me my three requirements for a bike; 11-32T, 44cm handlebars and 170mm Shimano crankset. But clearly Giant's Contact function on their website is a Social Experiment inspired by The Dharma Initiative's The Pearl station.
Wednesday I discovered the Motorsport Manager mobile game. I also discovered that I had a shit ton of ironing that had build up. But these fancies took a back seat to my cake creation. I decided on a Maltesers and Mars bar biscuit cake. The website with the recipe had pictures of a child making the cake. I knew that this was right up my Bakers St. SherLuke Holmes investigated the ingredients from Tesco. They don't stock Rolling Pins. So that was one Cluedo scenario out of the equation. The result of the cake making looked pretty good with some Instagram filters.
Pre-Race
Thursday I had a dilemma. Would I go to Enniskerry straight from work, or would I go home and cycle out? I decided to go straight from the office. The traffic from the Luas bridge to my apartment can be harsh. I put my cake in the Office fridge, hoping it would not be raided. A fate endured by my cartons of Almond Milk. Although my latest theft prevention strategy, has seen Almond Milk related crime drop 100%. A few hours of work, couple of Bananas and a Tuna Steampot in a pear tree later, I treated someone to a staredown in the elevator after they admitted looking at my cake in the fridge. I had seen that the route had been changed, this would remove the Devil's Elbow. I was very happy with this change.I got to Golden Ball at 17:45, put my cake in their fridge and started warming up. I went for an easy warm up ride with Robbie. I got back to sign on, chat and ride to Enniskerry.
Race
Glencree Road
Limit group were released. I noted that four of the nine riders were running Power Meters. Niall and better climber Luke got a gap early. Myself and Dan closed them down slowly. This effort seen three riders go out the back on the lower slopes of the hill. Diarmuid, Dave H and Peadar were gone. We were riding up and overs until the road got harder. Dave M was dropped at this point. Before the road leveled off on the approach to the Featherbeds, I was struggling. The last remaining Dave (he probably prefers David), was losing the wheel in front. I was behind him. I asked myself "What would Garret and Jules do?" I put it in the big ring and got out of the saddle. This moved the stress from the cardio system to the muscular one. I grinded past David and rejoined Dan, Niall and other Luke. We were all out of Dave's at this point. At the hairpin leading onto the Featherbeds, there was four Limit riders left. I checked for the approaching Semi-Limit lads, but couldn't see any of them at that point.
Featherbeds
I hate the Featherbeds. I was Chris Frooming. Head down, on the tops, ensuring I didn't drop out of a Zone 4 effort and admiring my stem. My Featherbed fellows were slowly disappearing from my limited view. I was really struggling here, I had a plan. I had been watching some of the Training Peaks Webinars (be prepared for shitty quality audio and computer illiteracy). They had one about "How to Handle the Pain", the presenter put forward Cognitive Disassociation as one of the methods. I started counting my breaths to ten and restarting. I kept motoring. I looked back and seen the back car with it's hazards flashing. Semi-Limit was coming.There's a line where it is clear Dublin and Wicklow converge. The road surface changes from a horrible mess to smooth tarmac. This line is my cue to slam it into the big dog, chuck it in the gutter and put myself into the red. There was a cross tailwind up the Featherbeds. My front wheel was getting light. The wind was tugging the deep section. I positioned myself on the nose of the saddle, jammed my right shoulder into the bars. With most of my weight over the front wheel and the wheel not moving, I was in full control. I looked back I had distanced the Semi-Limit car.
I looked forward, two out of three Limit riders were shitting themselves on the windy descent. I reeled in Niall and Dan very quickly. As good as one Luke is at going upwards, the other Luke's forte is descending like a stone. I loved this chase. Neither of us were sitting on the top tube, it was too windy. I closed a bit of the gap on the first corner into the tree line. I didn't brake, I used a really good line though it. I braced myself for a cross wind at the exposed gateway. Dropped three gears for the next corner, again I didn't brake. I pedalled hard out of the corner and spun out before the Viewing point. I dropped more gears before braking hard. Luke was very close now. I should've dropped two more gears, as I struggled to pedal out of the second hairpin. Luke gained time here. I got over the gear and started building speed again. Two oblivious idiots, were riding side by side on the descent to the tight turn at the bridge. Who the hell rides two abreast downhill? I had to hamper my entry line and speed as I passed them before the corner. I didn't want to leave the pass until after the corner, incase they shit themselves on the bend. After this corner there's lots of places that look like they are the entrance to the Pine forest climb. I don't know if Luke was waiting for this to appear and was going slow. I finally passed him about 500 meters before the turn to the uphill. Nothing quite like risking life and limb for Club League points.
Pine Forest
I wanted to roll onto the Pine Forest climb with lots of speed. I would struggle here. But there was a car, who's indicators weren't being operated. I had to slow. I communicated my urgent desire for them to speed up. They moved into the carpark of the hill walk and I passed. For the second time in a month, I was leading a bike race. As with the last time, this evaporated. As Luke reclaimed the lead. I was going hard up the hill and was mostly ignoring the riders passing me. I just wanted to get over the hill. Luke's chain dropped and I passed him again. But within thirty seconds he was in front of me. Garett, Sean, Stephen B, Dan, Niall, Colin and Robbie also passed me on the hill.As I crested the hill, I tried hard to chase on, and gained a bit of ground. As the road flattened out, Eric and Stephen R passed me. I jumped on their train. The group in front was held up by a van. We caught on. We overtook the van and everyone else jumped on. Garret was most surprised to see me, as he wasn't aware of my Comic Book Villain tendency to not stay dead for long. Stephen and Colin were way up the road. They were going to battle it out for the win. The group did some up and overs, I was at the back. I asked myself "What would Ken O'Neill do?"
I attacked from the back. I got a bit of a gap. I thought that they start looking at each other. Eric closed me down. I wasn't happy. I gave him my best Matt Brammier; "Come on then Eric";
He didn't respond... for a few seconds. Then he attacked. Eric is really strong, he was the only Scratch rider in the front group. But closing the handicap and making this attack was possibly too much to ask. He was followed and swamped for the finish line. The line appeared out of nowhere. I counted the riders who were in front of me, I was 11th. Not a bad way to end the season.
Post-Race
To celebrate the end of the season, there was a BBQ in the Golden Ball pub in Kilternan. The pub was really nice inside and had a great view of the mountains. The BBQ was free, and I had a burger, sausage and a chicken. Sorry animals, I was hungry and it smelt nice. A very well organised event by Ann. Aparently my cake went down pretty well.
There was some left over and I brought it into the office the next day. I cut it a bit smaller and offered it to my team mates. They looked relieved at not having to smell a John West Tuna Steampot for another seven months.
What Was Learned
- Bike racing is only as serious as you take it.
