Proper new bike day (picture included). What better occasion than riding my first La Doyenne in the sun.
I really liked the route. I still have to ride Flanders, but I suspect this is the ride I like the most from the monuments. Great scenery, lots of hills, and a good atmosphere.
I am, obviously, totally biased, but the bicycle felt amazing. Light and fast. The two things the rider didn’t feel today.
From the beginning I knew my legs were not fresh. A busy week at work, not much sleep during the week, and all the normal excuses apply in this case.
I still managed to stay in the front of the Kingston Wheelers group until kilometre 55. At that point I need a pee stop and take my rain jacket and cap off. By the time I jumped on the bike I was about two minutes behind them. No chance for me to catch them.
At the next feed station I had a quick look to see if I could find them but I couldn’t so I did the clever thing. I decided to ride non-stop. I had enough food to finish the ride without relying on the feed stations so there was nothing really stopping me from doing it, right?
Went very well. Riding on my own meant I was being consistent, riding without spikes. I was also having fun, I was enjoying the day.
A shame that from km 150 my legs started to feel tired. And it is a shame because I still had 100km to go and the last 50km were the hardest. Had to enter survival mode.
Now, I’m not a too competitive person, but the way I managed to survive was playing in my head the race situation. I wasn’t sure where Bidders, GC Denis and Noel were but the way I was thinking was there were three options.
They either were ahead of me and, if so, I wouldn’t catch them, they had stopped for long at the feed stations and so they wouldn’t catch me, or they were coming from behind and eventually they would catch me before the finish.
So, to survive, not because I am too competitive, just as a survival strategy, I imagined I was in a break away and they were the peloton chasing me.
I played the brake away role perfectly. Slowing down as the kilometers were passing. Imaginging the peloton closing up on me.
Being the master strategist I am I decided to start slowing easy, reserving my legs. In my mind, that way, if the peloton caught me, I could stay on their wheel and beat them at the sprint.
It turns out the peloton didn’t catch me. And as we were approaching the finish line I spotted the Belgium champion ahead of me.
I can beat Tim Wellens in Belgium (or some random cyclist that didn’t look particularly fast, dressed as Tim Wellens. Which is, more or less, the same). What a prestigious win that would be.
I played my cards well. Stayed on his wheel the couple of tricky turns before the final straight. The final straight was very short so my sudden sprint took him completely by surprise.
Instead of admiring my race craft he looked at me with that “there is always a stupid rider sprinting for the line in a sportive” expression.
Bad loser, if you ask me.
I was a good winner though. I didn’t celebrate (too embarrassing, even for me). I got my medal, my chocomel, and the victory picture and felt great about myself.
It is the little things…
The ride in Strava: https://www.strava.com/activities/18256331842
Take care of yourself
Javier Arias González
