Categories: uncategorized
Date: 18 September 2005 20:21:40
oh dear, as usual i'm behind on my blogging.
i now have two race reports to get in and countless musings from my long training runs lately.
so i'm throwing caution to the wind and going all un-chronological on you, objects may appear closer than they are.
a brand spanking new experience for me today. a criterium cycle race in warwick.
here's the deal, a short lapped course round the town on closed roads, for my open/category 4 race it was to be 30minutes + 5laps.
so being up for something new and happy to take some load off my hammered running legs i cycled there & back and did the race.
a pack of 30-40 lined up for the start, all the real quick people should be in other races so this would be a mixed bunch. off and not sure what to expect the course wiggled round the market square and downhill to a narrow 90 degrees left onto the high street which climbed gently before another 90 degree left climbing by the church up back up to the start.
the pack spread out quickly through the turns and it was difficult (or brave) to stay on anyone's wheel too closely.
the one other cov tri member brave enough to take this on was a short way ahead but i found it really tricky to pull out enough speed to catch him.
for a few laps i bettled with no.100 who was slow through the bends but faster than me on the climb. each time onto the high street i'd be faster out of the bend and be able to get aongside, even past before the climb only to be reeled in on the climb, i think he got away in the end, cant quite remember.
at one point coming up to the turn before the climb i heard a squeal of brakes and the scrubbing of tyre on tarmac, i went round to find my club mate wobbling slowly up the side of the road having nearly taken the barrier out.
he slowly caught me over the next few laps and passed with a word of encouragement, i stayed on his wheel as long as possible. i think i passed him on the climb and dont think i saw him again bu he may have sneaked past.
i'd been lapped by the leader and there was a big chain of riders chasing the 2/3 slots i was fortunate to be passed by them at the top of the climb and was pulled along by them for half a lap before they left me again.
one of the pubs on the high street was pumping out cooking smells which made me feel sick every time i passed!
soon enough the 5 lap countdown started and it was over.
quite an experience, maybe something i'd only want to do a couple of times a year, either that or you'd need to train full time for such short sharp bursts.
i hung around a bit and watched some of the junior race, boy are they rapid and some girls not far off the pace too.
a bicycle race indeed, not a great number of fat bottoms, but bottoms nevertheless.
just rested my lactic soaked legs in a bath listening to next doors taste in thrash metal.
sounds like someone's taken a chainsaw to a spectrum computer, i can almost hear the peak of each wave as it passes through my ear. the guitar has a simple lick which forays toward the normally audible. i gradually get tuned in and can make out some of the vocals screaming over the top. stll cant make out any drums.
fair enough.