Warwick Cycle Races

Sunday 6 September 2009
Warwick

Race Report by Jenn O'Connor
Images by Richard Robotham

After nearly five hours of alpine mountain bike racing at the World Champs, I was in the mood for something completely different. The Warwick Cycle Races (aka the Warwick Crits) is a day of town centre street racing, whereby the roads around the centre of Warwick are closed, barriers erected, and cyclists of various ages and specialities get to tear around the streets with impunity. It sounded like fun, so I signed myself up.

Andy was down in London for the weekend doing Coach Education work for British Cycling, so it was just me and Little White Bike (a carbon Cannondale Synapse), with a packed lunch and a train ticket. I put a seat pack with a C02 pump on the bike, put a spare tube and tyre levers in my back pocket for the race, and rode out to Macclesfield train station with a rucksack.

Catching the train with my bike was easy. It took just 1hr45mins to get from Macclesfield to Leamington Spa, then a gentle ride over to Warwick. I got there in plenty of time, and even got to see some of the kids' and club races. The town was heaving, and not just with cyclists. Plenty of local folk were lining the barriers, cheering and shouting, or chilling out at outside tables at the numerous coffee shops lining the track. I was having fun already, it felt like a festival.

The elite women's event was off at 2:30pm, and we got a couple of practice laps to warm up before lining up on the grid. I really had no idea what to expect, as I'd only ever done one circuit race before, which was at Milton Keynes Bowl, and it was nothing like this. There were about 20 of us lined up, and I stayed at the back of the grid, as this was a National Series race, and I had no series points for circuit racing.

We eased off the line in the manner of a road race, but then a couple of girls took off, and the race was on! I moved up to the front of the bunch, not wanting to be left behind in the tight turns, and started chasing the leaders out the front. It took a couple of laps at race speed to get used to the tight corners, and I knocked my cranks a couple of times trying to accelerate out of the corners too soon. I soon got used to it though, and Little White Bike handled beautifully. After about five laps, Nicola Juniper (PCA Ciclos Uno) escaped off the front, and no-one had the legs to chase her down. I stayed with the main bunch, and although there were plenty of strong and willing riders, we weren't really working together - more like taking turns trying to ride away.

About halfway into the race the group started to break apart, and more and more riders were getting dropped, as we started to overtake lapped riders. The gap to Nicola out front hovered between 20 and 25 seconds, but on such a tight circuit we couldn't see her. With just 10 minutes to go, we had formed a small break at the front of the main bunch - myself, Anna Fischer (Max Gear R.T.) and Natalie Creswick (Twickenham CC), but Natalie crashed on a corner with only a few laps to go, which left myself and Anna.

We were both working hard, and we had 2nd and 3rd place in the bag between us, but we knew we'd have to sprint for 2nd. The last couple of laps were ridden at a steady pace, as we both saved our legs for the sprint. Anna led up the last climb and we sprinted for the line. Unfortunately I had to get around a lapped rider in front of me, although she did her best to get out of the way. I nipped around her and up to Anna's elbow on the line, but it wasn't enough and I was beaten into 3rd place. Meanwhile, Nicola had stretched her lead from 25 seconds to nearly a minute during the last two laps while we'd eased the pace, and she lapped the entire field apart from myself and Anna.

It was lung-busting work and much more intense than my slow-cooker body is used to, but it was tremendous fun and great racing. For my third place I won £42, which was precisely the combined cost of my entry fee and train ticket, so I broke even on a day's racing, which is almost impossible in mountain bike racing!

The women's podium (from left) Jenn O'Connor (Altura Patterson Training), Nicola Juniper (PCA Ciclos Uno), Anna Fischer (Max Gear R.T.)

I was even able to secure a large skinny latte and a table with a view to watch the start of the elite men's race, before catching my train home. Warwick and Leamington Spa are lovely little towns, and the races are a wonderful day out. I hope I get the chance to go back.

A full report, results and picture gallery for the Warwick Cycle Races can be found here.

Information about Warwick Cycle Races can be found here.