On Thursday (24th July) I raced in my first Masters Circuit race. It was held at the Hillingdon Cycle Circuit in North London. Hillingdon is famous not least due to Bradley Wiggins racing there as a kid, although the circuit is different now.
My Coach, Roy, had given me a 45 minute warmup to do as I typically don’t warm up hard enough. I did some mental gymnastics to work out how I could do a 45 minute warmup finishing with about 10 minutes to the start and sign-on at 5:40. The maths didn’t work so I decided to split the warmup in two, with sign-on in the middle.
No-one was on the circuit so I started my warmup on it. I did a few laps and then realised I didn’t know which direction we were racing. The marshals weren’t sure but I found the organiser and he advised me that we would be racing clockwise. Hmm, I’d done the laps the other way!
Heading in the right direction, I did some more warming up. The track is not enclosed and sits in Minet Country Park. People were wandering along it, a couple of drunks were sat on the benches and there were loads of rabbits at the track edge.
There are a couple of lumpy parts to the just under a mile circuit and a few twisty bits although you can just about pedal through all of them.
With part 1 of my warmup done, I signed on and got my race number. I went back to the car and was careful to put my number at the bottom left of my jersey. At the Henstridge Cat 4 race recently, I had been told to lower and move left my number as I sat on the start line which was a bit nervy.
I went back on track and started picking the intensity up. After a few laps, the lead marshal stopped me and said my number was in the wrong place. It needed to be in the middle of the shirt AND where was my second number which should be on my right shoulder (to assist photo finishes). Bugger – back to the car and make the changes.
My warmup schedule was now out so I made the best of it. I warmed up okay but not the neat schedule I’d been given.
We sat at the start. I counted 24 racers although that was more than was on the start list. We did one neutralised, slow lap and had a rolling start. The race was 50 minutes, including the neutralised lap.
It was very different to the very fast start at Henstridge and it started slow and cagey. Nobody wanted to take the lead. Then a couple of tentative attacks went off the front. I tried to ensure I responded but in a measured way, trying to follow wheels where I could. This continued for a while with nothing sticking. I had needed to push pretty hard a few times to stay with the break and probably took a bit more wind than I should have. For 90% of the time I was in the front 6 or so which had been my intention.
After about 20 minutes a guy went off the front, solo. Nobody followed. Then a minute or so afterwards, a group of 3/4 went. I didn’t chase, and… neither did anyone else. They slowly eked out their lead. Soon they were out of sight. One of them was a guy who had been at or near the front in the Welland Road Race I did and I guessed this break would now stick. There was no push to get organised and chase them so I began to treat the group I was in as my new race.
There were lots of riders from London Dynamo and they seemed to be working together. They took the front of our group and tried to keep others out. After a few laps, we caught and passed the original escapee but the other 3/4 were nowhere to be seen.
My aim for this race had been to work on positioning – and always looking to move ahead at least energy cost. I was doing this quite well and was pleased with progress in this aspect.
What I am not yet used to in racing is the way it goes really easy then short intense spells – rinse and repeat. I didn’t look at my power or heart race all race, but I did note that my average power was really low.
Then we had the 3 laps to go sign and it felt a bit more intense. I was in 5th or 6th wheel but there was a lot of pressure as other racers tried to take the wheel.
Final lap and still in a decent position. Then just before the 400m sign, one of the London Dynamo guys took off. We all ramped the speed up and then it was all out sprint. My sprint is average at best and as I’ve found in Zwift, it is hard to put out top power when you are already near the limit. A couple of guys came past me and I think I finished 8th in our group which meant 11th or 12th overall.
I enjoyed the race and was pleased with my positioning and bike handling generally. I think I need to do more work on short, hard efforts within periods of tempo/threshold riding and also get my sprint improved.
The next race is the British Cycling National Masters Circuit Race on Saturday 3rd July in Leicester. Presumably that will be even harder as better riders from all over the country will attend. It will be interesting not least because my coach will also be racing and it will be the first time we’ve actually met. Wish me luck.
The link to my Strava Activity is here
EDIT: The final results are now out and the screenshot is below. I did come 12th.
I now see why it is hard to win - the top 3 are all Cat 2 racers and there were 11 Cat 3's with only 4 of us Cat 4's. Oh well, I'd best start improving :)