This weekend I decided to leave my knobbly tyres at home, missing Round 2 of the British XC Series, and take my Synapse race machine on a 700 mile round trip to the scenic Ayrshire town of Straiton in Scotland for Round 2 of the National Women's Road Race Series.
The race was 71km and after a very slow neutralised start, we climbed out of the town to the very quiet country lanes and the race was on. I tucked in near the front of a reasonably small bunch of 26 women and descended down the roughest roads I've ever ridden, dodging potholes and sailing round sweeping bends that went on for several miles.
The course then took 3 laps round a rolling course, before finally heading back towards Straiton via a 5 mile climb. It felt like there was a lot more descending than climbing during the 3 laps, as the hills were short and the descents very gradual. In the back of my mind during the whole race was the final climb to the finish and I made an effort to ensure I had enough left in the tank to make it up the final climb fast.
From the start there was a constant flow of attacks, particularly from the Max Gear RT team, who were kitted up with team radios and one after another the 4 of them would attack, get reeled in by the bunch, then the next one would go. Other attacks came from Lynn Hamel who made more of an effort to get away than anyone, but the bunch stayed together until the final climb.
There was one steep hill in the lap where inevitably, attacks were made every time, and it came straight after a very fast descent into a right hand bend covered with loose gravel. A lot of my competitors were hesitant descending here, and so I made sure I was at the front of the bunch before the descent to avoid any crashes or get held up. The bunch spread out a lot down this descent so the riders at the back had a lot of work to do to catch back up, and I could see it was taking it's toll on some of them, while I preserved as much energy as possible.
The final 5 mile climb wasn't as severe as I'd anticipated, with my mountain biking legs quite used to climbing. At about the halfway mark an attack went, was chased down, and then the bunch split in two. I felt comfortable up the climb and sat in the front bunch of 12 waiting for the sprint finish which was drawing ever closer.
I knew the finish was along this climb, but it all looked the same to me and I wasn't actually sure where exactly the finish line was. I had assumed we had a couple more minutes climbing to do when the front riders started sprinting. I reacted quickly, picked up the pace and then I saw the chequered flag. I sprinted into 3rd position but let myself down with a poor gear choice; I was under-geared and couldn't accelerate past Ella Sadler-Andrews in 1st and Claire Thomas in 2nd. All too quickly the line rushed under our wheels and I finished in 3rd position. It was frustrating, because my legs had a lot left in them, but I am pleased with the improvements that I've made and the lessons I'm learning in only a handful of races that I've done so far on the road.
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