Oasts and Coast 300 2014

The second we started to ride, it started to rain. It was Gavin, a fellow Kingston Wheeler and me. Starting towards the end of the field, forty odd riders. We rode a good pace so we very quickly passed most of them.

The first café stop was at km 67.4 By that time we had been on the bike for around two hours and a half, we had climbed two decent hills and a bunch of tiny climbs all that in heavy rain and wind in the exposed areas. Normally I wouldn't stop so early in the ride but we were soaked and the idea of a hot chocolate was simply too tempting.

At this café is where finally I met Alex in person. He was arriving when we were about to leave and he was of the idea that it was too early to stop so decided to join us. Not for long though; in the first climb he pushed too hard for us so we let him go a bit later we caught him but very soon we drop him. That was the last time we saw him in the route.

It was still raining at times, we still had to climb two decent hills and another bunch of small climbs and we were still facing wind in the exposed sections until we made it to the point 120k where the flat section started.

A flat section, all exposed, all with head wind so I did the silly thing to do. I pushed and pushed trying to keep the same pace. The problem was I only had gasoline until km 140, around that point I blew up. I had nothing in the tank. My pace dropped so rapidly that Gavin knew I was struggling so he moved to the front and set the pace for me. It was hard to keep up with his pace, but he rescued me. I downed a gel and tried to ride as close to him as possible.

We made it to the control (154km) and there we met Chris, the rider that was in the front. We had lunch with him and another rider in blue jersey (I have seen him in several rides, but never got his name). I devoured my pasta salad and a piece of cake I got at the café. By the time I was ready to go Chris and the blue jersey rider were gone. "They are a puncture away" said Gavin.

We rode slowly. Not only we were digesting our food but also we had to cross Flokestone and Dover, cycle lines shared with pedestrians didn't contribute to speed things up. Not to mention two step climbs that waken our lets.

By the time we were descenting onto Deal we saw Chris repairing a puncture on the left. We asked him if he needed help and as he said he was ok we carried on. Anyway the next control was very close and when we were about to leave he showed up.

From that moment we were three riding together. Still riding easy, chatting and enjoying the sun and the tail wind. It was difficult to believe how grim the conditions were in the morning and how nice the afternoon was. In fact when we made it to Macaris Ice Cream Parlour café (km 227) I ordered a white chocolate ice cream. I think I could afford the extra calories.

Around 10 minutes after us arrived another rider (I don't know his name but he was wearing a yellow jacket so he will be the yellow rider). He was ready to go when we were about to leave so the group of three became a group of four.

Fresh we were and started to pedal. Very soon, after 11 hours working my garmin said it was running low in battery. I stopped to plug it to my dynamo and told the others to carry on, I'd catch them up.

Plugged the GPS and started to pedal full speed without pressing the ok button in the GPS. The problem was I made it to a T intersection and that didn't make sense with the route sheet. Pressed ok in the GPS, looked at the map and figured I had to ride back. By the time I was on route I couldn't see them so I pressed on. And pushed, and pushed, and pushed. In one crossroad Gavin was waiting for me and said the other two were about 30 seconds ahead. He jumped on my wheel and I tried to close the gap. You know when you have a group that is so close that you are almost there but they are still so far away that you can't even shout at them and you push and you push and it seems the gap never closes and you are about to give up and you only keep pushing because you hate giving up. That was me.

Looking at the numbers it took me around 16km and 35 minutes to catch them, the last 13 minutes, the bit that did with Gavin in my wheel, I did an average of 250w Not bad for a chopper like me with 240km in the legs. Now, if I had recovered from the first part of the ride all was gone now. Got a wheel, downed a second gel and took it easy from there.

Luckily there were not surges. We were riding very well together, helping each other with the navigation and with the info controls. A bit of a chat here and there and the kilometers were passing

Still there was another point where I was about to crack. Gavin had stopped for some reason so I told the other two I would stop to wait for him. They kept going.

By the time Gavin appeared they were about a minute ahead of us and we were climbing. Gavin passed me, I tried to jump on his wheel but I couldn't make it. He was in the distance and I shouted "they are too far away we won't bridge the gap" but I think he didn't hear me so we kept pushing it a bit. It was the desire to not riding alone at this point what kept me going.

Chris and the rider in yellow should have eased quite a bit because despite all my struggling we eventually caught them. And that was nice, it gave us the opportunity to keep the group together.

And that was all. The ride finishes with a climb and have way through it the rider in yellow increased the pace with Chris on his wheel. I couldn't bother we were about 5k from the finish and was wasted.

We made it to the hq around 20:00 which means a 14 hours ride, including stops (12:13 riding). Not bad considering the weather in the first half.

The ride in Strava

Notes for future editions:

• You don't need to carry your own food in this event, the controls are set that way that you would stop at a café around 8 (km 67.4) for breakfast, around 12:30 (km 154.5) in another café for lunch and around 16:00 (km 227) for a afternoon snack to make it back to the HQ around 20:00. 
• Take your lunch at the café at km 154.5. You can get hot food and they were fast serving. It is pointless to delay lunch because the following two sections are too slow and the next control is in a small shop. You won't get another café until km 227 and those 72 km will take you more than three hours.
• Because after the café at km 154.5 the sections are slow (cycle lines, crossing Flokestone and Dover, riding the sea front, sharing part of the ride with pedestrians) take it easy to the next café (km 227) it'll give you the opportunity to digest your launch and recover your legs. From this point you will be able to push it again if your want.
• If you want to take this ride as a training ride all out from the start to the control at km 154.5. Have launch there. Take it easy until control 227 and all out again until the end. It will be plenty.

Mi entrevista en Bicisport

 

El amigo Agustín O. colabora con la revista BiciSport lleva la sección de ciclismo de larga distancia. Hace unas semanas se puso en contacto conmigo proponiéndome que le contestara a unas preguntas para incluir la entrevista en esa sección. Con todo el gusto del mundo le contesté lo mejor que pude a sus preguntas.

El resultado ha sido publicado en el número 5 de la revista (Abril 2014). Por cuestiones de espacio la entrevista no se publicó entera por lo que copio y pego aquí las preguntas y respuestas completas.

Conocemos a Javier Arias desde hace muchos años. Este ciclista, aficionado al ultrafondo,  que es metódico, calculador y sobre todo buena persona en el amplio sentido de la palabra, poco a poco va incorporando en su currículum pequeños-grandes logros que llaman la atención del cualquier observador.

Javier, cuéntanos, ¿en qué pruebas has participado en los últimos años? ¿cómo han sido los resultados desde el punto de vista deportivo y también desde el punto de vista humano?

Dos son los tipos de pruebas en las que he participado en los últimos años. La Quebrantahuesos y los eventos de larga distancia. De estos últimos destacaría los 1.200 kilómetros de la Paris-Brest-Paris de 2011 y los 1.400 kilómetros de la Londres-Edimburgo-Londres en Agosto de 2013. 

Desde el punto de vista deportivo los resultados no han estado mal. En la Quebrantahuesos me planteo mejorar mi tiempo año a año; hasta ahora siempre he podido hacerlo, razón más que suficiente para estar contento. En los eventos de larga distancia no me planteo resultados desde el punto de vista deportivo, para mi se trata de vivir experiencias maravillosas sobre la bicicleta. Atravesar un país de norte a sur acompañado de amigos, conocer gente con tu misma pasión, compartir camino con ellos (casi siempre chupando rueda) es algo que une, que se queda grabado.

En este año he probado a competir en carreras ciclistas. En Inglaterra son muy populares. En un radio de una hora desde yo vivo hay cuatro circuitos que todos los fines de semana organizan carreras ciclistas. Son circuitos cerrados al tráfico y las carreras están organizadas por categorías. De momento los resultados no son muy buenos que se diga (dos quintos en trece carreras) pero estoy aprendiendo con rapidez.

¿Vas a volver a participar en esas mismas pruebas? Si tu respuesta es afirmativa ¿qué objetivos te planteas en las mismas?

Si, sin duda. Ya tengo plaza para la Quebrantahuesos de 2014 y mi objetivo será bajar el tiempo del año pasado (6:44:56). No será fácil, pero por ganas de intentarlo no se va a quedar.

En larga distancia haré una serie Super Randoneur (una prueba de 200km, otra de 300, otra de 400 y una de 600) y participaré en la Ronde Aliénor d'Aquitaine, una prueba de 1.200 kilómetros que se celebrará en Francia en el mes de Julio.

Me gustaría seguir corriendo a lo largo de este año; tengo como objetivo ganar una carrera y subir a tercera categoría.

¿Hay otros retos en lo que aún no hayas participado pero que llamen tu atención en la actualidad?

Muchísimos. Soy un glotón de los eventos ciclistas. Cuando me entero de un evento ciclista siempre me dan ganas de participar. En Enero, cuando planifico el año, siempre tengo una lista enorme de eventos en los que quiero participar. Luego, con todo el dolor de mi corazón, empiezo a tachar eventos. Este no puedo por trabajo, este por familia, este se me escapa del presupuesto, para este no me quedan vacaciones, etc, etc. Aun así la lista final es una carta a los reyes magos ciclistas que a final de año no siempre se cumple completamente.

De entre los eventos que tengo en la lista de espera están las cicloturistas europeas. La Marmotte, la Etape del Tour, la Maratona y las que replican las clásicas de primavera (Lieja-Bastonge-Lieja, Tour de Flandes, etc). También le tengo el ojo echado a la Cape Argus en sudafrica, pero estando tan lejos no se yo... 

En larga distancia me gustaría ir probando otros países; los 1.600 km de la Mille Miglia en Italia, por ejemplo. Distancias más largas como la Race Across America o contrarelojes del tipo las 24 horas de Le Mans. 

Sabemos que eres ingeniero y que trabajas en una de las principales empresas del planeta relacionada con el mundo de Internet, de hecho en los últimos años vives en Inglaterra ¿es fácil compatibilizar un trabajo como el tuyo con el ciclismo de larga distancia?  o ,dicho de otra forma, ¿tu actividad profesional influye en la manera de plantearte  tu afición?, ¿la condiciona?, ¿la beneficia o sencillamente buscas la forma de hacerlo todo compatible...?

En ese sentido tengo mucha suerte. Yo voy a trabajar en bici casi todos los días, 26 kilómetros de ida y otros tantos de vuelta. En el edificio de la empresa tenemos un parking vigilado para las bicicletas, taquillas para dejar la ropa y duchas; lo cual viene muy bien si tenemos en cuenta lo mucho que llueve en Londres.

También tengo la suerte de que mi trabajo es relativamente fácil de compatibilizar con la bicicleta, me paso muchas horas delante del ordenador y yo me lo tomo como un descanso a nivel físico. Es más yo creo que la bicicleta me beneficia en mi trabajo. Yo no tomo cafeína, pero cuando por las mañanas me siento delante del ordenador después de una hora de bici tengo la mente fresca y despejada. 

Luego, al salir de trabajar, la hora de bici hasta casa me sirve para desconectar. Multitud de veces me he puesto a pedalear con la cabeza llena de pensamientos relacionados con el trabajo y cuando he llegado a casa había desconectado completamente. Por no mencionar la de veces que he resuelto un problema del trabajo a partir de una idea que se me ha cruzado mientras pedaleaba. Definitivamente montar en bici me es beneficioso en mi trabajo.

¿Qué nos podrías decir del mundo randonneur de las islas británicas?¿Qué te llama la atención?

Lo grande, variado y bien organizado que es el mundo randonneur en el Reino Unido. Audax UK, tiene más de 5.000 miembros, organiza más de 200 eventos de larga distancia al año y edita su propia revista, Arrivee, dedicada exclusivamente al ciclismo de larga distancia. En el calendario te puedes encontrar desde eventos de iniciación de 100 kilómetros a la joya de la corona que es la London-Edimburgo-London distribuidos a lo largo y ancho del país.

También me llamó la atención lo aficionados que son al registro de resultados, clasificaciones y rankings. En la página de Audax UK están registrados todos los eventos completados por sus miembros y existen rankings para todo tipo de variables, número de kilómetros rodados, número de eventos participados, metros de desnivel subidos, etc. 

Por último la fidelidad casi religiosa a determinadas marcas. Brooks para los sillines, Carradice para las bolsas, SON para los dinamos de buje, etc. Las marcas clásicas de larga distancia tienen un gran mercado en el Reino Unido.

Tu blog (www.unbiciorejon.com) cuenta de forma detallada tu quehacer ciclista; Javier ¿por qué escribes?,¿para quién?, ¿acaso tus estupendas crónicas forman parte de algo? ¿de qué?

Empecé a escribir porque cuando iba en bici se me ocurría que lo que acababa de pasar era digno de ser contado. Que Jorge me había ganado un spint en la señal de no se que pueblo, que el abuelito me llevó a rueda toda la mañana, que había subido al Angliru, etc. Escribir la crónica de la salida en bici se convirtió en una forma de contarles a los amigos como había vivido yo la salida.

Por otro lado el ejercicio de escribir me sirve tanto para reflexionar sobre la salida como para revivirla y fijarla en la memoria. Curiosamente me gusta leer de vez en cuando crónicas de salidas de hace años. Me asombra lo mucho que he evolucionado como ciclista y como escritor en poco tiempo.

Si tuvieras que recomendarle a un lector una de tus magníficas crónicas, ¿cuál le recomendarías?

A mi la que más me gusta es en la que cuento mi pedigree ciclista (http://www.unbiciorejon.com/2013/03/mi-pedigree-como-ciclista.html) porque es una confesión sincera de la poca relación que he tenido a lo largo de mi vida con el ciclismo. Me parece gracioso que con esa falta de pedigree ahora sea tan aficionado a la bicicleta.

También me gusta mucho mi crónica de mi primera Quebrantahuesos (http://www.unbiciorejon.com/2010/06/quebrantahuesos-mi-primera-experienca.html) porque fue una aventura épica, seguramente mi mejor día en la bicicleta.

Que me meo (http://www.unbiciorejon.com/2008/04/que-me-meo-o-el-caf-en-tielmes-no-saba.html) me parece graciosa por lo absurdo de la situación. 

Por último mi crónica de la Paris-Brest-Paris (http://www.unbiciorejon.com/2011/12/paris-brest-paris-1200-kilometros-en.html) por lo mucho que me costó escribirla y lo impresionante de la experiencia.

¿Cómo entrenas? ¿Tienes algún plan o metodología? ¿Cómo es? Cuéntanos...

Empecé a “entrenar” en el año 2011. La revista Ciclismo a Fondo publicó un artículo de Chema Argueas sobre entrenamiento con rodillo. Me compre un Tacx I-magic y entrené ese año siguiendo el plan de Chema. 

En el año 2012 me compré el libro de Chema Arguedas, Planifica tus pedaladas, me lo leí y decidí ponerlo en práctica.

A principios de 2013 me compré un medidor de potencia y el libro Training and Racing with a Power Meter (Entrenando y compitieno con un medidor de potencia). Desde entonces planifico todos mis entrenamientos en base a potencia. 

Me encanta analizar los datos de cada salida en bici, tengo registradas en un documento todas las salidas en bicicleta de mi vida. Para analizar las salidas en bici y los entrenamientos uso el WKO+ de TrainingPekas y GoldenCheetah.

Yo soy muy metódico y disciplinado con los entrenamientos. Rara vez la pereza me vence a la hora de hacer una sesión de entrenamiento y no me cuesta nada mantenerme en las zonas de trabajo que tengo planificadas. No se la de veces que me podría haber picado con otro ciclista, siempre de buen rollo, y no caí en la tentación por no salirme de las zonas de entrenamiento.

¿Qué bicicleta usas? ¿Cómo es? 

Tengo una única bici de carretera, una Cannondale Synapse del año 2009. Es una gran bicicleta, ligera y cómoda, lo cual es importante para las largas distancias. 

La bicicleta la uso en dos configuraciones. La primera es la bici tal cual la compré, la segunda es la que yo llamo la Brevetera (http://www.unbiciorejon.com/2011/06/la-brevetera.html) que es la configuración de la bicicleta para larga distancia. En esta configuración le monto a la bici los guardabarros, un portabultos y le pongo la rueda delantera con un dinamo de buje para alimentar la luz de la bicicleta. Se trata de adecuar la bicicleta a las necesidades de los eventos de larga distancia.

Javier , ¿por qué larga distancia?

Porque me gusta mucho montar en bici. La larga distancia es el tipo de prueba que me permite estar más horas montando en bici.

A cuidarse
Javier Arias González

My sixth race at Preston Park

Saturday 9:00 pm. Everything ready for my second audax of the year, The Dean 300km. Last look at my twitter before going to bed and I see this twit

My first thought was "What is that crazy guy doing riding The Dean the day before is meant to be?". My second thought was "Because The Dean is happening tomorrow, right?". And I went and checked, and it turned out The Dean was actually on Saturday!!!

Cool! I had blew up all my cycling plans for the following months (it is not that easy to re-schedule a 300km ride in my already tight calendar). What can I do? Lets go racing. A quick look at the races for today gave the a straight answer, if you want to race today Preston Park again will have to be. Instead 300km I'll ride 30km. Not quite the same, but, hey, I didn't have to wake up at 3:30!!!

Number 1 should be reserved to those that have won at least one race. I haven't

I didn't have to wake up at 3:30 but still I had to wake up one hour earlier to change the bike setup (remove lights, e-werk, mudguards, rack, tyre in the rear wheel, change front wheel and remove handle bag), I can't afford to give the other riders that much of an advantage carrying all that stuff.

Nice day today in Brighton which means lots of riders, some of them faces that I could recognize but to be honest I couldn't tell if they were strong riders or not. Anyway I didn't care, my plan was simple. The wind was not that strong so look out for promising breakaways and try to jump on them, otherwise wait for the likely bunch sprint and try to get it better this time.

And so I did. Well positioned and alert but hidden in the fifth to tenth position in the bunch, a few riders tried to when solo, but I thought they had no chance so I waited for others to bring them back. Apart for some spikes in the pace it felt easy to keep up with it. 

There was one effort that brought me well into the red zone when I jumped into a group that were trying to get away with 20 minutes to go. A solo effort wouldn't make it, a two riders effort, being me one of the riders, would have little chance, but a four or five riders breakaway was another history so I didn't want to miss it. 

Sadly it didn't stick; I guess everyone had the same thought I had. So a bunch sprint was going to be; again.

Fifth, again, as you can see in the picture above; but this time very happy with how I sprinted. My wife had sent me a message reminding me not to stop sprinting until I have crossed the line and I took that as an order. 

The graph below is rather surprising. I thought my maximum heart rate was 184, or at least that is the highest I have seen in the last two years, but today I hit 199. Can I go back to being 21 years old?

BTW is there any price for placing 5th most of the times? Four out of five times I have placed (if I include the Kingston Wheelers 4th cat championship) I came 5th.

Now I have an additional objective for the year. To win a race! 

It will have to wait at least until July now that I had to readjust my Audax calendar and my training for the Quebrantahuesos, but there is plenty of time from July to the end of the year.

Take care
Javier Arias González

Man of Kent 200

[I'll try to keep it short because I'm tired ;-)]

Third year in a raw that I ride Man of Kent 200 as my first Audax of the year. This ride is mostly flat so it is perfect for getting the body used to long distance after six months of not riding anything "long".

8:00 and we are sent off. Very quickly I found myself in the front group. A guy passed me and disappeared up the road, I looked back and there were like six riders on my wheel. No trace of Gavin and Dominic, the other two Wheelers that were riding the event. I kept pedalling at my own pace.

Around Km 28 (I think) we were about to catch the guy in the front. A red traffic light made the task easier. I looked back and recognized Stuart among the riders (we rode together part of the Oats and Coats 300 last year; on that ride he talk me into racing; he is the non-Wheeler more responsible for me trying racing) When the traffic light turned green, he was in the front, Stuart and myself on his wheel chatting and the rest of the riders on our wheel. A hill appeared and the rider that was in the front dropped that quickly that I had to manoeuvre to don't run over him. Not sure why riders push themselves that hard at the beginning of a 200 if they are not that fit.

We arrived to the first control (50k) and there where nobody there. Stuart and myself decided to keep it going. Three other riders came with use.

Second control (79km) was in a café. The three riders decided to stop for a coffee. Stuart and I decided to keep it going.

Not much happened. We were riding fairly hard, sometimes taking turns; which is probably a sacrilege in an Audax event but, hey, we had head wind!!

We kept it going and only stopped at the control that was at km 176. A quick coffee and a banana and back to the road.

We arrived to the head quarters at 16:05, 5 minutes more than 8 hours in total. Not bad, the second pair of riders arrived 30 minutes later and the next riders an hour later, including Gavin that did great in his second 200k

Rice pudding as recovery meal

Great ride, lucky with the weather (we only had a four showers, two of them with hail), nice riding with Stuart and happy with the power 218, which is 6.8% more than last year (204). Good start of the Audax season.

The ride in Strava

Take care
Javier Arias González

My fifth race at Preston Park

The plan was simple, wait for the last lap and sprint with half a lap to go. Win!

Somehow I was convinced that I was going to win this race. Just had to wait patiently all the race for the final sprint.

I was well positioned, but not riding that well. Twice I was called out for not holding my line and twice they were probably right (I had the chance to apologize to the TCC rider during the race, I'm not sure who was the other one).

With two to go a rider in my left got our handlebars tangled. He complained loudly but I think it was his fault. Anyway, luckily we both managed to solve the situation and keep pedalling.

In the final sprint I found myself out of the top positions, sprinting for the seventh. I actually found the time to count them.

And counting them I saw some more riders passing me in the last meters

I had a whole lap to blame myself for such terrible sprint.

When I met my wife at the HQ she was clear "everyone passed you because you stop sprinting too early"; and I know she was right.

My daughter told me I did tenth but I know I was eleventh. Instead of sprinting I was counting and I also counted the four that passed me!!

Still, looking at the numbers it was my hardest, fastest, race and sprint in Preston Park, but I was told there is no price for good numbers.

Will have to do a bit better next time chopper.

The race in Strava

[edit 19/3/2014]
The results are out and it seems my daughter was right and I can't count :-)

Take care
Javier Arias González

Desde San Francisco a Google en bicicleta

Trabajadores de Google hace años que organizan el sf2g (San Francisco to Google). O lo que es lo mismo, 67km de bicicleta para ir desde San Francisco hasta las oficinas centrales de Google.

La iniciativa se ha hecho tan popular que existe una web pública http://sf2g.com/ y ahora se forman pelotones ciclistas de trabajadores de un montón de empresas de Sillicon Valley haciendo distintos recorridos y a distintas velocidades.

Incluso del CFO (el director financiero) de Google, Patrick Pichette, se une a estas rutas.

Foto de Seth Sternberg

Lo de los googlers y el ciclismo es para hacérnoslo mirar...

A cuidarse
Javier Arias González

My second race at CycloPark

The dirtiest bike in the race today (and yes, I forgot to remove the light)

Not sure when or why I decided to ride from home to CycloPark but it was not the best of my ideas. I didn't know the route and Strava gave me one with lots of turns, traffic lights and some off road tracks. I wanted to be as fresh as possible for the race so I rode very slowly. It took me 2h 31m to ride 57km. 

Still arrived with enough time to say hello to my fellow Wheelers, eat a banana, a piece of chocolate and an energy bar, and to sit in the ground to rest a bit while watching the end of the 3rd cat race. It looked a hard race from the outside.

3rd cat race ended late so we only had five minutes to warmup. It was nice to see Nathan, it was him the one that said hello, I couldn't recognized him in his new kit.

Waiting Tranquilo as per rule #80

I don't care about rule #80, this position is more comfortable

This was a 4th cat only race. 70 riders lined up and behind our race a women race, not sure how long after.

I had ridden here in early December and in that race I was dropped in the 8th/15 laps and I knew this is a technical circuit so my plan was to be near the front all race, try to hold on the pace and try to take advantage of a straight home that I think suits me.

I have to say it. That was a great plan. Being near the front means you have more space in the hairpin bends, it also means you have to break less and, therefore, you have to put less power to get out of the bend. Once I experienced that I knew it for a fact, they would have to kill me to get out of that position.

And it was not easy to keep it. Everyone was sprinting out of every corner and everyone was attacking the bunch. As always I was trying to be alert to everything that was happening but I have to admit that around the 3th or 4th lap I had no idea how many riders were ahead. I was lost; but, hey, I had a plan and stuck to it.

Another characteristic of this circuit is there is not such thing as constant pace. The pace is constantly changing. Whether or not we will get out of a corner accelerating like if it were the final sprint looked kind of random to me. This is excellent training for me, because I'm not used to ride that way. I have to confess it killed me but I also loved it. On Monday I'm booking my appointment with the doctors.

At some point it looked like we were all together. I wasn't sure if that was the case but it didn't bother me too much, I was not going to change how I was racing.

Half way through the race we lapped the women race. Another good reason to be at the front in a circuit as many bends as this one. Only a few riders will be able to pass a peloton between two bends, if you are not in the front you will have to break to accommodate your speed to the peloton speed, and that means you'll have to sprint after the bend to catch up with the riders at the front.

In one of the hairpin bends the rider in front of me touched the ground with his right pedal and he fell making a terrible noise. Luckily I manage to go around him and sprint to cover the push the riders on the front took when they heard the crash. That was a close one.

We were passing lots of riders, some of them riding alone, some in pelotons. At some point I looked back for the first time and I was surprised to find out we were 15 or 20 riders. It looked like we had lapped pretty much the whole field.

When the 5 to go sign was up the group accelerated as we were crossing the line and for the next two laps I was at my limit. With 3 to go the group took a rest for two laps. But when we approaching to the bell everyone was sprinting like if we hadn't another lap to ride. I was dying. My wife and my daughter swear they hear me scream "I can't", but I don't recall it.

Last lap was my personal record according to Strava but when we approached the final straight I knew I was not going to win. I pushed but when we were passing under the bridge I was already out of gas. I think I did around 15th, definitively out of the top 10.

Crossed the line and I realized how hard I was riding. It took me ages to get my breath back.

Overall I'm reasonably happy with the race. I'm happy with how I raced and how comfortable felt cornering from the front of the group. 

I was not even close to win but I was there until the last meters. I missed a fresher legs in the final push, but that is fine when looking at the numbers I find the race was hard work for me (96 TSS 0.955 IF in 1h03m) and I remind myself the work I've done during the week and that I had ridden to the course. It'll pay off in the future.

The race in Strava

Take care

Javier Arias González