EV Race Report
1:30pm, Sat Oct 27, 2012
Royce Bennet Handicap
Seymour/Avenel
It must be a couple of years since I’ve competed in a handicap for whatever reason but I do remember what it’s all about – flat out from start to finish! There are 11 of us in 3rd Scratch, 11 minutes head start over scratch and 5 minutes ahead of 2nd scratch. While staying away from those guys we have also got to try to pick up the 4 bunches ahead of us of which Limit have a 20 minute advantage if we want to share the big prizes. The conditions are, well, interesting. A tail wind driving us out 14.5km to the turn and, naturally, a head wind for the 14.5km return trip before doing it all again.
The less than ideal warm up had me worried but fortunately our bunch showed some real smarts by making sure everyone was aboard before we hit the express button. Immediately we took up position with everyone rolling turns. Some of us took a little longer to find the rhythm and sat out occasionally but there was plenty of chatter and encouragement especially for keeping things in check over the small hills along the course. At one point we swapped the direction of rotation almost causing a break up. But some bar biting, for your truly for sure, enabled a reformation and return to cohesion. With this amount of cooperation it is little wonder the average speed for the outward leg was a healthy 41.4kph.
Once around the turn we regrouped and quickly returned to a solid pace. The out and back format enables bunches to asses both how much they may be gaining on the group ahead as well as note the distance to the bunches chasing from behind. It seemed we were definitely gaining on the group ahead while maintaining our gap to the chasers. Despite the head wind we worked solidly back to the start line at an average speed of 36.8kph. What with all the adrenaline flowing it’s hard to recall the exact details however I believe we collected up our first bunch just after rounding the turn and setting off on lap 2. Continuing with a downwind leg averaging 41.2kph ensured the next bunch was also collected up and there were now stragglers all along the course some of whom had the legs to jump into the caboose with other resigned to a lonely ride.
By the time we turned for home for the final time the bunch had swelled considerably and it appeared that there were only 5 riders from Limit who were ahead of us. They had a significant lead however, with some sharing of the load, it still seemed possible to catch them up. However, as so often happens in handicaps – at least the ones I’ve ridden, the big groups become disorganised. With fewer of the stronger riders prepared to drag along the sitters the engine starts to splutter. And worse still, even if riders are prepared to do some of the work they are blocked from getting to the front by the sitting riders. While holding a forward position might seem advantageous to a sitting rider they are actually defeating their own purpose by blocking the work horses from getting up front.
In spite of a few words of encouragement, later to turning to words of despair, the situation didn’t improve and so it became obvious that catching Limit would be out of the question. But at least we were staying away from the chasers behind. For myself, looking back at the data, it was obvious that I was tiring. The HR continued at the same high average but the power output dropped by about 10%. In spite of the reduced engine power the average speed on that last 1/2 lap was the same as previously, a still healthy 36.5kph. And the wind seemed to have picked up a few knots as well.
The long stretches of road out here were a bit mesmerising and a lack of course knowledge had me wondering just where the finish was. The nervousness in the bunch was creating surges and edginess and I hoped everyone would stay upright. Up ahead I could see riders were firing off the front and figured it was time to try to move up. I found a nice wheel in Martin Stalder and managed to get within cooee of the front only to notice that the finish line was almost upon us – or vice versa. A heave out of the saddle had me face on to the wind and accelerating to 47kph but it wasn’t enough to get into the yellow envelope section of the finishers.
The 5 riders who survived grupetto from Limit took out the fat envelopes with the remaining 5 collected mostly by my ‘team’ mates. A top effort by all the placegetters especially my 3rd Scratch bunch who had done so much work throughout. All in all an excellent day out on the bike in some pretty country side (as I noticed after the race!).
Some stats:
Race distance: 58.4km
Time: 1:30:10
Elevation gained: 174m
Average speed: 38.9kph
Time in HR Zone4: 86% (Threshold) OUCH!
Like I said – flat out from go to woe…..
