Rachael's Tour of Cambridgeshire
If you are anything like me when I’m driving and I see a cyclist or 2 I instantly feel envious wishing that I was out there cycling too and the only time I don’t is passing a cyclist when it’s raining or there’s a full-on fen headwind, something I seem to go on about quite a bit, it’s not just relentless but it can sabotage a great Strava average when you hit one which is highly irritating but advantageous as I will explain in a bit.
So, back to my observations of casting a quick roving eye over the passing cyclist, “who is it, do I know them” as I’m checking out the bike and the kit, because let’s face it I can only ever identify my friends these days if they are in Lycra, even with the shades and helmet covering their features. I do however become ridiculously excited when I see another cyclist in Primal especially amongst friends. Another observation I find myself distracted by is ride position or rather, bike fit position! For as long as I can remember a do-it-yourself bike fit was generally based on saddle at hip height and whether you could touch the floor with your toes while sat on the seat, so as long as it felt okay and you weren’t overreaching on the drop bars that was good enough and, if in doubt maybe Googling correct leg position. I had been toying with the idea of having a bike fit for a long while but what sort of bike fit? Would a bike fit really make a difference, tweaking every screw and making miniscule adjustments not just for marginal gains and economic riding but for a more streamlined ride position? I had an image in my head that I would come away from a fitting with my Cannondale resembling a sit up and beg, raised bars and lowered seat post because I’m short, so to hit my curiosity head on I booked myself in for a bike fit with my BC coach and club chairman Matt and now I can honestly say to anyone who will listen, it’s an essential piece of bike kit and can change everything about your ride including your power output. With my bars lowered, seat raised, cleats and pedals adjusted and a go on the Wattbike…what bike? I was able to create a sausage from a walnut (if you Wattbike you will know what I mean).
Making adjustments like this one as well as upgrading my wheel set for deeper rims, replacing and upgrading the tyres (even though I had ridden over 2000 miles without a puncture) and opting for a narrow seat better suited for racing was all done in time for the UCI Closed Road Chrono + Grand Fondo / Tour of Cambridgeshire and as mentioned in my previous blog, The ToC route is actually part of my training ground and for once myself and my team mates were at an advantage, knowing the route, the road surface, the potholes and the points where we would likely suffer the headwinds amongst the most exposed open flats.
I was really looking forward to racing in this event, when I say racing it’s because this event is not a sportive. 10,000 riders take part over the weekend from racing on classic bikes to team and individual chrono time trials, a family fun ride as well as the UCI race and the grand fondo race. There are different start pens depending on your desired average speed including and a separate gate for those with a full race licence in which a few of the CCC guys were in attempting to qualify for the UCI world series in France later this year which they did. After meeting up with 10 of my club mates early morning to register we disappeared off to our cars to get changed into our kit. Being a typical female, I had brought two sets of Primal kit with me as I couldn’t decide which one I wanted to wear, The Hotness or Lucid, so I tried on both, then there was the problem on which socks to wear, it’s not an easy choice to make! It was a comedy of errors trying to get in and out of my lycra while shut in the hot confined boot space of a blacked out MPV while the guys stood oblivious (they tell me) the other side of the tinted glass chatting about moisturiser and leg hair with a mouth full of safety pins helping each other to fasten their race numbers to their club kit! Finally choosing to wear my Lucid jersey I emerged from the boot like Marty Mcfly in Back to the Future clambering out of the DeLorean, grabbed the bike and headed back off to our meeting point among the thousands.
While waiting for the nod to head to our pens we noticed a UCI official being interviewed by ITV, after the interview the reporter turned to us all and asked who wanted to be next so naturally we seized the opportunity, ‘Welcome to the Rachael Show’, however, the ITV story that went out showed me about to answer a question as Fatboy cut in and stole my line and has since then gathered a lot of jovial mileage and ribbing.
Waiting in the pens felt like forever, it must have been 2 hours before we finally got going. The first 45 miles just flew by and we were making great progress as we passed other riders knowing that we were going to be hitting a headwind in all directions as soon as we hit the back roads through Ramsey. We stopped briefly for a sweaty hug with some of Chatteris Cycling Club cheer squad on Puddock Bridge with me pedalling off again in the wrong gear so took me a minute to catch up with the guys along the Forty Foot riverbank and that’s when it hit, the dark clouds came over and the headwinds picked up. At this point we had averaged around 18.8 mph over 50 miles. Pushing through the wind we started passing other riders who were starting to struggle. One rider had been separated from his group and was on his own so offering him our wheel he latched on and we led him through Whittlesey gathering more lone riders and working together as a pack to get them to the next feed station at 65 miles. Once at the feed station one of the riders disappeared for a minute returning with his group to introduce us and thank us for helping him. They had admitted that they assumed the course would be fast, flat and quite easy coming from a hilly area in the south but all agreed the headwinds offered no respite and no opportunity to freewheel. Filling up our water bottles and shoving in one last cookie, Myself, Mark and Fatboy set off for the final 15 miles to the finish line. It soon began to rain as we hit 2 very steep drag ups through Yaxley. The crowds thinned out as we reached the 1st “climb”, spotting one rider looking smug on his electric bike as he sashayed up towards the hill top. Getting through these final climbs actually wasn’t as bad as I thought they would be having ridden up them a few times before. Whether it was the distraction of other riders and the crowd or clocking the camera men along the grassy bank, ‘quick breathe in and look serious’, or the rain cooling us down, either way the hard part was now done and it was 4 miles flat out to the end, 79.3 miles in 4 hours 27 and average of 17.7mph at the finish line where my friends were waiting for us in the rain with an Erdinger beer and my medal.
One thing I noticed about this race was, that even though it was closed roads, everyone still rode on the left, and we didn’t see anyone stop to repair puncture. Female riders received a lot more cheer from the spectators and it is possible to high five all the kids holding their sticky palms out while I’m riding up hill. But the best bit had to be that none of us worked for our own gain, helping each other on a ride is normal but it felt even better to be able to help others who were struggling when it could have been easier for some to pass them by.
I came away from this ride happy I had taken part in it and adding new goals for 2018. If I was to write them all down it would be longer than this month’s blog… so as June ends and the Tour de France begins I am off to tactically work out my dream team for the Primal mini league in the Velogames. July has to be my favourite month of the year!
Until next time…...