It was certainly a good weekend and a very hard race for me too.
I arrived late on Friday night after finishing work cycling home and packing all my kit into the car for the long drag over to Liverpool.
To my surprise the hotel the company had booked us all into was actually very nice and I even had a room to myself. This did help also as I had my bike and lots of gear with me so took up loads of space.
On the Saturday I went to watch the Dragon Boat racers have fun literally making a splash down at the docks. I also just spent the day chilling out and relaxing with a little 30 minute workout to ensure my legs were in order for the race.
What I should have really done ( and intend to do next year) is take part in the Time Trial event on the Saturday and then the road race on the Sunday, Oh well, lesson learnt on that one.
Sunday morning came and I was up bright and early for a good hearty breakfast, then made sure I had all my kit together and around 11 made my way back to my car.
Little did I know that Aintree race course had a race circuit. It's a very big and wide track and is even used for motor racing. One of the organisers let us know that one year (sometime in the 50's) it was even used for the F1 Grand Prix! Impressive stuff. However today not many of us would be getting to much above 30mph (50kph) never mind the kinds of speeds you would see in a motor race.
Unlike the Saturday, the Sunday was red hot and a little breezy too. This would hurt a great many people in the race as we were to find out shortly. Turning up early gave me plenty of time to prepare. I made sure my bike was in good working order. I had my phone with me (because if it's not on Strava, it hasn't happened!) had a nice easy run around a few laps and then finally lined up for the start!
About 20 racers in the race I was in started, however ahead of us were about another 100 cyclists of varying abilities and experience. Now I am not saying that was a bad thing as a lot of them were doing this for the first time and had never raced. Most had taken part in a few sportives. One chap I spoke too had only just bought a mountain bike the week before and didn't even cycle to work. So it was going to be carnage! Thankfully it was a big track and we knew who too and how too avoid when we set out at race speed.
And on the whistle GO!
From the very first moment the pace ramped up and we could tell the mix of rider classes throughout the racing field. Cat 4 rider like me got dropped straight away! then the cat 3's, 2's and 1's all seperated out into there own ability groups and various speeds. It was really impressive to see the really fast cat 1 guys go at it, but the rest of us had no chance.
The open air cooker...
As previously mentioned it was a bit hot. When you turned down wind you baked in the heat and on the long (it did seem to go on forever!) back straight, we were into wind on a very gentle incline and it hurt. I saw lots of the less experienced cyclists just drop out and call it a day after a few laps. The race as supposed to be 50 km (20 miles) or 18 laps. I managed about 10 laps at race speed before I felt like I was going to puke then decided to slow down and not totally kill myself as the cat 1 missiles came past me like I was stood still. In all I did 16 laps before the race was finished so they lapped me twice (I think).
I did manage to keep up with most of the riders in my category range and haed great fun with a sprint finish to round it all off with.
This was to be my last planned road race of the season as I not have a far bigger fish to fry.
LE TOUR DE FRANCE
No I wasn't going to be taking part in it but I was going out to watch it.
An old work mate an d cycling friend headed up to Holme Moss very early on Sunday morning to see Stage 2 of Le Tour come right through the area we live in.
The party atmosphere was tremendous. Even by 10am when we arrived it was really busy. The best thing was that no cars meant everyone could safely use the roads. Thousands had made there way up the hill on foot or by bike. Some had camped up on the top to ensure they got the top spot and as the commentators described it, it looked like a refugee camp.
The reality on the ground was so much better!
It was certainly a great day out and the best party ever on the top of the hill!
Next came my first (and only) Time Trial this year.
It was a great atmosphere organised by Glossop Kinder Velo cycling club
It's one of the old "secret" race type TT courses back when road racing in Britain was banned and the only way cyclist could compete was to do it on the quiet by riding a minute apart but still against the clock!
The course started up hill, and continued up hill until your lungs burst and legs drop off.
After a steep and fast descent it is back up hill again to the end of the valley. Now simple physics would say if you have gone uphill to get somewhere and you just simply turn around 180 degrees then it will be downhill on the way back. Nobody mentioned the laws of physics when they designed this course so it is uphill (or that's what it felt like) in both directions! It was so much fun though despite the pouring rain and tired legs from commuting all week. I covered the 9 miles in 28 minutes. Not a world beating time and really no where near the best time going, however when I do it again next year I will be aiming to smash it!
Have a look here for my route I took to ride the final TT of the season. Now that s my racing finished with for the year... Probably!
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