The easy day

Kingston Wheelers training camp in Mallorca day 4. The easy day..

The EASY day!!!!

We headed south east following a main road, at some point I saw a sign: Artá 11km. It felt to me we were heading there and that was a big sprint opportunity. The green jersey of this training was still up for grabs. Javier, the eagle, was ready.

9 km I sat in the group hoping no one noticed a major sprint was coming. My plan was to go for the sprint from afar to minimize the chances of anyone else to contest it.

Luck had it a “climb” came 3 or 4 km from the sprint line. The group split and it was only Dai, Rupert, Denis and myself on the front. .That simplified things, a few potential contenders eliminated already.

I sat at the back of the group. At 2 km from the sprint I decided to wait until 1km to the sprint. We were going downhill and I figured if I attacked from that afar they would work together and catch me. 

With 1km to go I was getting ready to attack when the Garmin announced a right turn. Wait, what?!!? We never made it to Artá. 11 kms of careful planned strategy wasted. 

That didn’t affect me. I was determined to take any sprint that might come. 

For kilometers to end I rode scouting ahead looking for a sign of a town, a village or even a couple of houses. Nothing!! We didn’t cross a single town sign. 

This sprinter wannabe kept his cool. 

The coffee stop at Petra was approaching. Another climb cleared things. This time it was going to be Rupert, Richard L. and myself. 

No surprise factor though, I’m pretty sure they also knew the sprint sign was coming. 

Giving a masterclass of positioning I stayed at the back of the trio for a couple of kilometers. I knew what I was doing.

A roundabout came and I figured just after the roundabout was the right moment to attack.

And that’s exactly what I did. I attacked as hard as I could. I beat a few of my max power record numbers. I opened a huge gap. I looked back and I saw Rupert and Richard L. coming so I kept pushing. It was clear they were not going to catch me. There was only one problem…

There was not town sign. I found myself in the middle of the town and couldn’t recall having passed a town sign. According to the rest of the group if you didn’t see the town sign the sprint doesn’t count. 

I was a bit disappointed but still not completely demoralized. I still had confidence on how well I was feeling and how tired everyone else looked. A town sign will eventually show up and I’ll take it I was telling myself.

We went back to riding and at some point I saw a town sign. I can’t remember the name of the town. To be honest I was completely lost 90% of the ride. Let’s say for the sake of the report the town was Muro. The sign said: Muro 5km. 

Great!!!! Enough time to get ready. I hope no one noticed the sign. 

My hope survived 2 kilometers. At some point JFW was riding on the front, me on his wheel, he looks back and says: “3km to go”. 

Damn!!! He knew.

I tried to play dumb. “3km for what?” I asked. 

“C’mon, don’t pretend you don’t know” he answered.

Not the best of news for me, but at least he was at the front and I was on his wheel. 

As we were approaching the sprint JFW flicked his right elbow. I didn’t bite.

Then he flicked his left elbow. I didn’t bite.

The man looked like a butterfly moving his elbows but I still didn’t bite. I was going to the front only to take the sprint.

Rupert approached me from the right and said “Go on Javier”.

For some reason I took that as an order and I jumped.

Only to realize I was too far away from the town sign. 

Rupert passed me and had enough time to point me to the town sign as he was taking the sprint.

I wasn’t happy about the result but very quickly I told myself. The sprint that really counts is the sprint to the house. Focus on recover, take that one and you would have done great.

You can bet I didn’t turn a pedal stroke that wasn’t absolutely needed for the rest of the ride. That’s how committed I was.

I was committed but also a bit distracted. In the last roundabout Rupert got a gap with TY following his wheel. Rupert attacked from afar and TY couldn’t follow him. 

I had a big gap to close but I pace myself perfectly. I was getting closer and closer to Rupert knowing I still had power in my legs. 

Rupert looked back and saw me coming but he didn’t accelerate. I kept closing the gap measuring my effort.

As soon as the last ramp started Rupert looked back again, saw me very close and he gave up.

I passed him at the same time I opened the gas attacking the ramp. Made it to the top and kept pushing. I was running out of power but this time I wasn’t going to stop until I got to the door of the house.

Well, that was the intention until I saw Bidders passing me as if he were riding to buy some milk. 

He got to the door of the house first.

If we don’t count the sprints the ride was great.

The ride in Strava: https://www.strava.com/activities/7231477362

Take care

Javier Arias González