It's January, a time when most people are recovering from the Christmas madness, settling back into work and getting started on their resolutions. I'm on rollers in a car park on the outskirts of Bath about to race around a 1mile circuit for 30minutes. Each to their own.
Crits are a fantastic way to get into racing. They are held on a closed traffic free ciruit, are often short and it's easy to find 4th Cat only races. In addition to all these benefits they tend to be easier to come by on the women's racing calender.
4th Cat is the racing category that everyone starts in. 4th Cat only races aren't easy but you can often find riders with a similar ability to you to work with.
This Saturday was the 3rd round of the Odd Down Winter Crit Series featuring 3/4 and E1/2/3 races for both women and men. This race often sees a good mix of first time racers and experienced early season point chasers making it an exciting morning for both racers and spectators. I decided to enter the women's 3/4 as an impressive field of 30 meant that the race would be points for the top ten riders, rather than top 3 in races with less than 10 riders.
After a 20 min carpark spin on the rollers (starting out a bit wobbly due to a loose back roller) I moved onto the circuit for 10minutes of corner familiarisation. Going steady round the corners felt fine in the warm up but going fast in the race would be another story. Slowly riders started to gather at the start line eager for a good starting position. Before the race could there was the race briefing and announcement of the most combative rider from the previous week. Mentions like this help keep the women's racing fast and stop lazy tactical racing.
Eventually we were off with a neutralised lap of 24km/h to start us off. I spent this lap midfield concentrating on the corners and trying to suss out which riders would be the ones to go for a break later on. Once the neutralisation bike left the track I quickly made my way up the outside of the group to secure a safer position on the front of the group. The group was spreading out already and as we made our way down the tailwind straight a few riders attacked. I hopped on their wheels as we made a bid to breakaway from the main group. By the time we reach the large bottom corner their was 10 of us powering away from the main bunch.
Then disaster struck. A corner! After a long winter of chill countryside spins it had been a while since I'd got my heart rate into zone 5 on the flat let alone round a corner. I found myself spat out the back and left to face the headwind solo. This was pretty much the theme of the rest of my race. 30 minutes of solo TT effort in an attempt to catch up with the lead bunch. Although sometimes it can be beneficial to ease off and pick up riders to work with from the chase bunch I was rapidly opening up the gap between myself and the chasers so prefered to go solo.
As the race went on a few riders fell off the lead group. I attempted to work with a few of them but always ended up powering onwards solo. By the end of the race the lead bunch of 7 were still only a few seconds ahead and the chasers were almost half a lap down from me. I felt safe that at least I could nab a top 10 and my first points of 2019.
The 3 laps to go board went up and I was joined by another rider. Like me she had spent the race solo in the no-mans land between the main groups. We spent the final 3 laps taking it in turns pulling in the wind and leading round the corners. However on the final lap she had the better legs and took 8th place leaving me with 9th, not bad for the first race of the season.
30minutes of >180bpm heart rate solo with headwinds and corners. Did I enjoy it? Yes! Will I be back soon? Hell yeah! If you fancy a go at racing whether you're a first timer or seasoned racer I would highly reccommend Odd Down Winter Series. With great turn outs of both men and women in all weathers it promises to be worth the journey.
Official Race Report: https://www.avid-sport.co.uk/odd-down-winter-series-round-3-race-report/
Race Results:http://www.avid-sport.co.uk/odd-down-winter-series-results/?fbclid=IwAR3NXjNdKTPW-VuJ--biKBFrsTlBsIkoN2KE5Ax5XTAEUYYp_YYCh7KCqQk
Overall Standings: http://www.avid-sport.co.uk/odd-down-winter-series-overall-standings/?fbclid=IwAR2JslTUQyM2Rew0XGmfgjZzoS9nbT-Z4gz5UIMLdgFbluIO-LnnS6fVHy8
Odd Down Winter Series: http://www.avid-sport.co.uk/odd-down-winter-series-2019/?fbclid=IwAR1zT1QhA5lMQ7DJSSdgjuMU8asl-zSqKrpKBr2zcDtDplzT8ciYrjaN2Ho
Photography by: https://www.1000th.co.uk/f866140114?fbclid=IwAR0gbot22gn2WeKti5mI5F8EIYHBSvkBYpqZx482zXW9ARF7Y2YwBx7YFYQ
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