So there are only 46 days to go until the last race of the Pickering Brook series for this season.

Craig put his experience of his first race 2 weeks ago together below, so if you like what you are reading and want to experience it yourself mark the 25^th of August in your calendars for the next event.  SPR should be there with a fairly big crowd and we are planning to take the tent out to the hills too…  So get your training in, your kilometers up, and sign up for your (first) race

 Pickering Brook Rnd#2 C Grade Race Report – First Time Racer Craig Denham

I finally committed to signing up for a proper cycling race after first starting group cycling some 13 years ago as a 16 year old. Having spoken to Pete about this for about 2 years, it seemed like the timing and race format for the Pickering Brook series would be ideal. So I signed up for C grade, ramped up my training a bit, bought a trainer and did some interval sessions, even traded in my grizzly bear look I’ve agonised over for some time. I was ready, but for what?…..

Come race day I must admit I was quite nervous – I’ve always rated myself as a reasonable cyclist but how would I stack up in a race? To make matters worse my folks decided they wanted to watch – great, what if I come last?  Race format for Pickering Brook consists of a 1 lap time trial (7.5km) followed by the road race (5 laps for C grade). Started the time trial fully pumped up to push as hard as I can for the full lap – dear god it was painful. I’m no expert on doing time trials and I now get the impression it’s important to warm up properly and then not go too hard at the start – I did neither. Mr Bonner and the long hills group passed me going in the opposite direction which provided a nice bit of encouragement, but the lap felt horrible and I set a time of 12:32 – good enough for 11^th. Not a bad result. Must admit, it was impressive to watch the likes of J Bolton absolutely smashing it on the home straight, respect.

So onto the road race. Decided to start off towards the rear of the bunch and then if I felt good, work my way forward. Laps 1+2 passed, the legs felt good so I decided to try to move forward from lap 3. Found myself on the front of the group for a fair bit of the last couple laps. I was really keen to hold a position near the front for the last lap as Amanda suggested it was important given the hotdog turn leading up to the final sprint. On the final lap, I held second wheel coming down the main straight leading into an uphill section prior to the hotdog and the guy in front decided to sit up – great, I was faced with leading the group a long, long way out from the sprint – race over. Then Alistair rides past and tells me to grab his wheel – my saviour! Alistair gives me a great tow up the hill towards the hotdog and really stretches out the group. He then pulls off so I’m on my own for the run down the hill then onto the up-hill sprint. This highlighted my complete lack of race craft; leading out the group with about 1km to go, I knew I was going to get swamped at the sprint, should I go flat out downhill and try to hold on to the finish, or go easier downhill and try for the sprint? I went easier downhill, then as the sprint started uphill got passed by what felt like the entire bunch, but I managed to claw back a few places and crossed the line in 5^th place.

Conclusions: not going to lie, the ITT was hard work and I personally didn’t get much enjoyment out of it. The race however was great fun; I really enjoyed the tactics and will be signing up for Round 3. I’m really keen to nominate for domestique/lead-out duties for the next round. Alistair – I think you’d do a great job as nominated sprinter. I think if the SPR C graders work together we can come away with a win.

For those members of the club who haven’t tried racing, I strongly recommend you have a go. It’s great fun and really adds another dimension onto your cycling.

Thanks very much to Pete & Amanda for your advice and encouragement – much appreciated.

Ride Safe,

Craig