KW - Henley

13 signed up for the ride. Add to that JFW that showed up unannounced.

A roster full of sprinters. I knew GC Denis was focused on GC so didn’t have to worry about him. Grant was clearly the most dangerous one, but JFW, Will R., and Nigel also to be considered. Andy L., Oliver and Peter L. were a bit of a question mark. I needed to be clever playing my cards.

For me, being clever in cycling is synonymous of wheel sucking. And that is exactly what I did. 

It helped that five riders DNS’d. Being a group of nine riders I was the odd one at the back of the group.

As always JFW was the protagonist of the first couple of sprints. Grant and Will R. played ball with him. I didn’t. Clever cyclists don’t bother with minor points. That’s a loser's game.

I’m sure they will come with a list of excuses, but the pace was so hard that by the time we got to Windsor we dropped JFW and Will R.. 

Good for me. Although I was still a bit worried about Grant.

He rode steady in the first three “climbs” and I got to experience what riders feel riding next to van der Poel. Happy to be there, almost at your limit, praying to God he doesn’t accelerate.

 

Getting to Henley I got a puncture in my rear wheel. That was my opportunity!!!!

I told them to carry on, I’d catch with them at the coffee stop. 

But I knew Grant was pressed on time. If I took a bit too long to fix my puncture he would have to skip the coffee stop and would DNF the race.

I was riding tubeless and, of course, I didn’t have my saddle bag with me. All part of the plan. Unable to pump up my wheel I was forced to ride very slowly to Henley and find a bike shop in Henley to pump up my wheel (thank you Henley Cycles).

To be on the safe side I lost a bit more time pretending to be trying to find my riding mates in Henley when I knew all too well the race plan was to stop at Twyford for coffee.

My plan worked to perfection. By the time I got to Twyford Grant had DNF’d. 

Not all was ideal though. My riding mates had finished their coffee and cake so I felt compelled to skip mine. 

No caffeine for the critical part of the race is a huge disadvantage but I am always up for a challenge.

At Drift Rd. we agreed to ride through and off. 

Position in a through and off when you ride towards the second most important sprint of the day is critical. 

I decided to sit on Nigel’s wheel. 

My plan was to wait until the last time he would lead me to the front. And as soon as he moved left I’d go for the sprint. The idea was to take everyone by surprise and Nigel was “tired” after his turn. 

I wanted GC Denis on my wheel to make it very difficult for anyone to jump after me as GC riders don’t take part in sprints. Unfortunately it was Andy L. who was on my wheel. Not ideal but not much I could do about it.

I was unlucky because the last time I was hitting the front was a bit too far away from the line but it was then or never so I went for it. 

Boom!!! The plan worked wonders. No one jumped after me. I was leading the points competition.

The problem was that by Virginia Water I knew my legs were empty. Time to play the team card.

I sent Nigel in a suicidal breakaway to force Peter L., Andy L. and Oliver to chase while I took a free ride sitting on their wheel.

When they caught Nigel Andy L. moved to the front preparing the sprint for Peter L. and Oliver. That was the situation for most of the approach to the sprint.

At the right time GC Denis came from the back allowing me to get into position. Only the great GC riders do that.

I had to wait until the last second to launch my sprint and I took it.

Being so heavily competed made the victory even sweeter.

One more proof that I am a master strategist. 

The ride in Strava: https://www.strava.com/activities/16731033762/ 

Take care of yourself

Javier Arias González

"2 hours" of "easy" running in the hills

 That is what I asked for. "2 hours" of "easy" running in the hills.

What JFW delivered was two and a half hours (25% error) of not that easy running (for me anyway).

Definitely not the best run organiser out there. 

Especially if you consider that it was me who told him that we were one hour and a half into the run, time to start thinking of heading to the finish. And now, when I look at the route, I see we were the farthest we got in all day from our finish point. 

And I’m not surprised at all. I suspected it as we were stopping at every crossroads for him to decide our way home. That, inevitably, means running longer and more climbs.

Great training on how to deal with uncertainty. You are running tired, you don’t know which way you are going, you don’t know how many climbs are left, you don’t know for how long you will have to run.

I finally recognised the last climb (“Love lace bridge ascent” in Strava). I knew then there were no more climbs left, I knew exactly how long I’ll have to run for. A shame I was still tired and, somehow, I went for the sprint a bit too hard and a bit too early.

I, obviously, ran out of steam miles away from the top. JFW took the sprint, put country music in the car all the way home and made me pay for the coffee at Cobham.

Proper torture I went through today.

The run in Strava: https://www.strava.com/activities/16674082133/

Take care of yourself

Javier Arias González

KW - Elstead - Normandy

I thought I was doing well riding with GC Denis.

Taking some turns on the front, managing to stay on his wheel on each of the “climbs”. If I am around GC Denis in the climbs I’m doing well.

I noticed, though, that he rode each “climb” on the big chainring while I was on the small one and almost running out of gears. 

But I didn’t think much of it. When I mentioned it to him he admitted he was becoming a bit like JFW. Not exactly the role model I’d have chosen, but, hey, each to its own.

At the coffee stop Bidders showed up.

I welcomed him with a smile, like a friend you are happy to see. The chat over coffee was very nice and relaxed. Nothing indicated to me what was coming.

But it didn’t take long.

Bidders and GC Denis started to ride. I lost a few seconds doing something I can’t remember and when I looked up there was already a gap. Nothing big. Easy to close.

In theory.

In practice it took me a lot longer than I was expecting and by the time I got to GC Denis’ wheel I was already out of breath.

Tough luck because just there a “climb” started.

“Wow! Bidders is pushing it”, I thought. I was finding it hard to stay with them.

Almost immediately came another “climb”. Hogs. Short and sharp. I hate it.

On this one Bidders opened a gap but in my mind I played the “too much traffic” excuse to justify it.

The penny dropped in that section that leads to Fox corner where we normally cycle chaingang. Not today. 

Today Bidders was at the front, followed by GC Denis and I was at the back. No chaingang. I was all tucked in aero position, struggling to stay with them and when I looked up I saw Bidders was completely upright, pedaling very easy. He wasn’t even trying. I knew then I wasn’t doing that well. My form is, for lack of a better word, rubbish.

That emptied my legs. 90km into the ride and my legs were empty!!!

Complete rubbish.

But I’m a lucky man. By pure chance the route passed in front of Bidders house so he abandoned the ride the precise moment I was about to start crying.

I said goodbye with a smile bigger than when I saw him at Elstead and focused on my next problem.

Beating GC Denis in the final sprint having empty legs.

A huge challenge because at some point we turned right, GC Denis said we were heading towards Esher and I was completely lost.

I was “preparing” for a sprint in Hampton Court and suddenly we were heading towards Esher, which, for me, was like at the other corner of the country.

Of course I was second at Esher. GC Denis didn’t even need to sprint. When I finally recognised where we were he was already at the front and stopping at a traffic light.

I thought I was doing well riding with GC Denis but struggling on Bidders wheel when he was just cruising and then losing a sprint to GC Denis is a hard shock of reality. It is going to take me a while to recover from this.

The ride in Strava: https://www.strava.com/activities/16665576388

Take care of yourself

Javier Arias González