The day of reckoning...
... The moment of truth to eclipse all others; race day at the Worlds! It was set to be another baking hot day in Albi so I was really glad that the women's field were off first. It wasn't cool but it certainly wasn't the high 30's that would be reached by lunchtime to mid-afternoon. I didn't envy my male counterparts who would have to contend with that too.
Each country had been allocated a trackside garage to warm-up in, so having arrived early it was a case of claim the spot most likely to be in the shade for the next couple of hours. In some respects it was just like any other race with familiar faces passing by, except a lot of those faces were from friends made the other side of the world or back in Denmark in 2015. Amanda & Andrew had flown in from Perth to race for Australia, Lori from NZ, Emily from Canada (it was a treat to catch up with Emily for longer as we were sharing the gite) and many other UK friends - some we see on a regular basis, whilst others ride a totally different race circuit all year.
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| Trackside garages for each Country |
I have my own little warm-up routine which I stuck to, albeit we had decided to tweak it somewhat to account for the heat. I prefer to set up somewhere quiet, away from potential distraction and try and find that flow state nice and early on. The shortened routine was over in a flash and it was time to head down to the start for another bike check. The UCI Commissaires were waiting with their jigs, thankfully it was as straightforward as it had been the previous day; Percy got the thumbs up! They were also checking for motors using an iPad - fortunately (or unfortunately!) none such assistance detected on Percy! All that remained was to stand in the queue for the start ramp and try to keep cool...
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| 5 second countdown... |
Eventually it was my turn to hit the ramp and head out onto the Circuit d'Albi. The road surface where the track joined the main road was particularly rough for the first mile or so but I'd picked what I thought would be the best line during my recon. This clearly hadn't factored in the fact that going over the speed bump at full throttle would literally throw me out of the saddle though! Thankfully no damage done and rhythm was gathered once more. The first part of the course was fairly straightforward, a couple of turns but nothing requiring much attention. One of the Moto Commissaires came alongside me around mile 3 - 4 and appeared to be having a good study - I was on my own, pedalling hard, so I just carried on doing just that! I had sight of my '30 second woman' and knew it was just a case of biding my time and ensuring that I was ready to overtake in an appropriate place (bearing in mind the UCI rules of not coming within 25m of a following rider and overtaking with a 2m wide gap). That place was the small climb at roughly halfway. I'd ridden this three times, had studied the GPX file with Paul countless times and felt quite familiar with how best to ride this section.
With the rider in front of me dispatched as soon as we made the turn onto the hill I was able to press on. I then had sight of one of the Australian riders in front of me, she was my 'minute woman'. The hill appeared to have taken some of her energy so I wasted no time in passing her hoping that would give me a clear run towards the descent into Rouffiac. It had indeed and the perfect situation had arisen - a totally clear run down the hill and into the 90 degree left hand turn at the bottom. It was between the top of the climb and the descent that there was a time check. If times were displayed on the roadside I hadn't noticed but I later learnt that the commentary was going mad back at the Circuit as I had gone through the first half in the new fastest time. However, the commentary wasn't translated into English so Paul was hearing my name a lot but wasn't certain whether I'd crashed or was in the lead!!
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| Circuit D'Albi |
In terms of sighting other competitors it was a lonely ride in the second half of the course, with just a runner or two out, one of which was a little ill positioned on my line for the sharp off camber right hander. I'm not sure what was most disconcerting, him being in the way or the ambulance parked ready to rescue any casualties of said turn! With this last technical section negotiated it was full gas towards the finish. Except I was beginning to fatigue. Pushing harder and harder on the pedals and feeling that I was going nowhere fast. I knew I just had to dig in, reminding myself that of course being at the sharp end was going to hurt but if,
if I could make that podium it would all be worthwhile. I had pins and needles in my right arm from the infamous pot-hole incident and they were worsening, so much so I rode the final roundabout like a total novice and cursed myself in the process.
The headwind on the final road section and into the circuit really wasn't welcome but there was only two or three more minutes to endure, maybe less if I could muster some more power from somewhere. Eventually the final chicane was in sight, rounded and the finishing straight being attacked with what little I had left. The finish marshal tried to take my bike off me but I hadn't the energy to stand up. I just about made the conveniently positioned chair and Esther, who I had met at the qualifiers earlier in the year was kind enough to tip some water over me! Paul followed five minutes later with the news that I was in the lead... I couldn't believe it! I knew I couldn't get too excited as there were some strong riders to come, the last of which was the defending World Champion from Sweden. She'd had a commanding ride in Perth and I expected nothing less a year later.
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| When silver feels as good as Gold! |
Yep, she'd successfully defended her title. However, I knew that I'd given that course the best I had to give on that day, so I was absolutely thrilled to have come away with a Silver medal, especially as less than a week before I was having serious doubts as to whether my back/neck would actually be up to riding.
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| It looks like I'm the most pleased with that result... |
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| The culmination of many months of hard work, perseverance & determination |
With many happy memories of Albi that was another World Champs over. In some ways it's a strange feeling; so many months focused on this one goal and it's over so quickly - clearly not as quickly as I'd have liked it to be, otherwise there might have been a gold medal! However, that does leave one nice big goal out there for another year...!
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| Making memories on the Circuit D'Albi |
