A ride that felt harder than the numbers suggest.
Maybe it was starting at 6:30. Maybe it was not having coffee in the morning.
I’m sure that chasing The Pope in the first few hills helped. He normally takes one or two climbs to warm up but today he was on it from the beginning.
I received a small blow to my left knee as a result of a minor fall. Nothing serious, but a small nuisance for the rest of the route. That also contributed to making the ride feel harder than the numbers suggest.
Trying to hold Bidders wheel when he sets himself in full pacing mode is definitively a factor. Made worse by how easy he makes it look like. You, killing yourself to hold his wheel, and him looking like he is going to buy some bread around the corner. That’s psychological torture. Definitively a big contribution to making the ride feel harder than the numbers suggest.
Anther psychological torture was climbing Ditchling Beacon. Bidders went ahead. I was pacing the other three riders. Not feeling great but proud of the work I was doing. A solid work in my mind. Demonstrating, once again, that what goes on in my mind doesn’t necessarily correspond with the reality a few seconds later everyone passed me. I struggled the rest of the climb to not being dropped. Psychological torture.
A very welcome stop at the Regency gave me the opportunity to load in caffeine. A coke and a latte. Caffeine did its thing and the ride started to feel easier than the numbers suggest.
But only until Bidders hitted the front again. 30 seconds later the ride was, again, feeling harder than the numbers suggest. Bidders hitted the front as soon as we got out of Brighton. Fair to say the ride didn’t feel easy for very long.
My performance improved though. I almost held his wheel in every single climb in the return leg. I was so full of myself that climbing Box Hill I was considering outsprint him for the KOM. A bit of a cheeky move if you consider he sat in the front for most of the climb but I have a peculiar honor compass when it comes to taking KOMs. The problem was a rider passed us. A rider positioned in his bike as riding with imaginary aero bars. Well, if you are going to pass Bidders up Box Hill riding imaginary aero bars you better be a very strong rider.
He wasn’t very strong.
But he was strong enough to drop me and kill my chances of getting a very well deserved KOM. I’ll admit feeling some pleasure seeing Bidders passing him at the top. Mainly because that meant I was close enough to see it.
That gave me a moral boost. For me, a moral boost at the top of Box Hill means I fancied my chances of taking the Horton sprint. That’s quite a statement when you have Nick, a real sprinter, in the ride.
Long story short, I was last in the Horton sprint. I was so far back that I couldn't even tell who took it (and I didn't ask so the rest didn't realize how far back I was).
I hope you now understand why this was a ride that felt harder than the numbers suggest.
The ride in Strava: https://www.strava.com/activities/11993086258
Take care of yourself
Javier Arias González
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