... via the Craters of Kilmarnock!
This year saw the addition of a Scottish qualifier in the form of the Tour of Ayrshire (ToA) Chrono as well as the now well established Tour of Cambridgeshire (ToC) Chrono, which falls in June. I have historically not done particularly well at ToC, so the opportunity to try not only a different but an early season qualifier was music to my ears! A couple of friends were going up to recce the course as they had family near Kilmarnock, so I joined them. What an eye-opener that turned out to be - let's just say it put a whole new perspective on pot holes, sorry craters! Never have I been so glad to recce a course before as it really was a case of finding the safe line to ride and not the usual fastest racing line! To be honest I was even questioning whether it was a course for a TT bike in that state - did I really want to 'risk' Percy and my race wheels on that course?! Certainly food for thought and a call to the organisers to enquire what the plans were to rectify the surface, which clearly was in need of some attention.
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| May as well enjoy the scenery now as I won't notice it come race day! |
Having recce'd the course numerous times, perfected the art of dodging the pot holes, craters and gravel, it was just a question of getting some more training under my belt and a race to wake my body up to the new season once again. That first race was to be round 1 of the DB Max/Kinetic One series at Castle Combe; the series that I won last year. Unfortunately this didn't quite go to plan, my Di2 battery had decided to discharge itself on the journey down, so that meant only one gear! A couple of laps of the track in the one gear confirmed that conditions were unbelievable; the usual wind wasn't present & it was pretty much a 'float' night. Perfect... if you had the right gears, or just any gears! With ToA less than two weeks away I really didn't want to take any risks and eventually decided that trying to maintain a cadence of 100+ to put out any decent speed/power really wasn't the best preparation for a key race. Sadly, I gave my apologies and got back in the car, for what was to be a seemingly never-ending journey on the A38 due to M5 overnight closures. Do you ever get that feeling sometimes that these things are sent to try us?!!
Having left no stone upturned in my preparation for ToA, I was confident of giving my best come race day - until that dreaded feeling when you wake up at 02:00 am with a raging sore throat and a temperature that is. In my semi-awake state I just decided that all would be fine when I woke up at a more civilised time... No, definitely going down with an ill timed cold! Bother.
The event car park was miles from the start area, literally, by the time we got there I felt like I'd already done my warm up! The warm up tent was busy but there was room for me on the end, the combination of being full of germs and tucked in the corner of the tent certainly led to my temperature soaring. I was rapidly hatching a Plan B race plan - start easy and see how I felt, do not over cook it in the first half; you've got to get back!
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| The rolling section after the main climb |
So, my start time came and I'd convinced myself I could only do my best with what I had on the day. I knew where the, by now infamous, pot holes were, that I had to leave something in the tank for the second half of the course and then give the final run home everything I could muster. What would be would be! I stuck to the plan, carried a little more speed than I'd anticipated into the Z bend as there was a slight tailwind here but managed to keep cool and most importantly keep my focus on where I was going! I'm very glad I did as I later heard that one of my friends had badly overcooked this and parted company with his brand new carbon for a race ending crash. It wasn't a course where you could switch off and just think about measuring your power, there was always something coming up, whether it be keeping the legs in check going up a climb, a tight turn or a dodgy patch of road surface.
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| Coming out of the bend that caught a few out |
With the key sections safely negotiated my focus turned to pressing on to ensure that I was approaching the finish with as much as I had to give. I had been conservative on the first part of the course, feeling under the weather had I been too conservative? If I had I couldn't turn the clock back, I just had to hope I'd done enough... The only results displaying back at Race HQ were the men's but eventually I found the live women's results on the internet - I'd just done it, 6 seconds was the margin between a stripey jumper and the first step of the podium and 2nd place! Phew!
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| My first stripey jumper! |
It was a mixture of relief and excitement rolled into one - mission accomplished, qualification slot achieved in the best way possible in less than ideal conditions. I could enjoy the moment in the knowledge that I could focus on the rest of the season knowing that the most important piece of the jigsaw puzzle - actually qualifying for Albi - was in the bag!
Thanks to Clair and Alan for putting ToA on my radar and taking me to recce the course, Georgia and Richard for being excellent hosts and Paul for braving a long train journey to Scotland to be race support on the day. Thanks to Harry Walker for my #RevolverWheels, courtesy of my complete faith in the performance of both the Asymm disc and 60 front I didn't have that last minute worry that so many others seemed to be wasting energy on of whether they had the right wheels for the windy weather! Any weather is #Revolver weather!! Thanks also to Paul, Craig & Richard of Swinnerton Cycles who did a great job in ensuring that Percy was race ready after our little false start.
Lovely looking blue and green race kit this year courtesy of Pro Vision Clothing and the sponsors behind the team: #GJCFurniture #FortressDistribution #TanitaEurope #ProVision
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