An amateur racers musings - frustration at Ludgershall

Sunday 22nd JANUARY 2012 
The learning curveball for Supernova rookie rider David Billings ! 

Frustration at Ludgershall

GAH!

Thats what I have to say about this weeks race at Ludgershall. After finishing 4th last week this week was a disappointing blow.

The wind was a strong westerly, but the sheltered nature of the Ludgershall circuit offered some, but unfortunately not enough respite from the gusts. I arrived as always around 30 minutes early for the race and got my bike set up. It didn't seem as busy as last week and after shooting the breeze with my team mates and my training buddy Alain I went to register for the race.

As I went to ride off my chain came off (I didn't check it after getting it out of the car) and I dismounted to fix it, however, to my irritation the chain had jammed in between the frame and the crankset. Myself and James Wilson (supernovas team captain) tried to get the thing out but it wouldn't budge. My thoughts were probably too rude to post here but needless to say I wasn't happy. Luckily there was a mechanic near the track who hammered out my crankset/BB (a BB30) and released the chain and put it back together with 2 minutes to spare before the race start. THANK YOU! Absolute legend!

Not having time to warm up correctly I did one lap and as I came back around to the start line and the race was about to get under way, still I was thankful just to be able to take part!

The race started much slower and was more steady than last weeks. I attribute this to the 3/4th cats being in one group rather than being split like last week meaning we were effectively in a chasing group for most of the race. There was a good turn out of riders 40+ which is again a fantastic turn out and just goes to show how popular the Ludgershall events are. I started at the back of the group and quickly made my way through to my preferred position near the front of the pack and sat in around 10 riders back. Being at the back increases your changes of being involved in something nasty and I feel strong enough at the moment to stick near the front.

After the first 3/4 laps I had warmed up and the attempted breakaways started. I went with a couple of them but the 3rd Breakaway attempt was a good one. We put a sizeable gap in between us and the peloton. The leading rider came out of position for the next rider to take the front, only he didn't. I offered some vocal incentives for him to take his turn but he simply said "I can't" and pointed for me to take the front. Annoyed, I went through but I looked back and saw the peloton was closing in. It was clear that this group wasn't going to work together. I was frustrated by this because had everyone taken a turn the break away had a good chance of getting some good distance between us and the pack. WHY follow and be involved in an break away attempt if you're too scared to take the front, you're just wasting energy and wasting everyone's time.

I saw a couple of really dodgy moves including someone sprinting (about 15 minutes in) down the inside of the peloton and almost knocking his mate off his bike. I can't understand what people are hoping to gain from these moves and it just puts people in danger of a crash...sure enough after taking the front for 30 seconds he bonked and fell back into the pack...well worth it.

The wind was blowing hard down the back straight of the course but riders continued to try and break away into a 25 MPH headwind, it was bizarre! I just sat near the front of the peloton and watched these efforts get sucked back in. What was even stranger that no one was trying to get away on the front side of the course where there was a strong tail wind.

About 3/4's of the way through the race I was feeling quite bored sat in the peloton, my heart rate was around 125-130. Feeling fresh I did a couple of big efforts down the tail wind side of the course hoping I would get a couple of takers and we could get a group going. Every time I got no takers so took my foot off the gas and let myself get caught, I was getting frustrated!

Around 10 minutes towards the end of the race, a Bristol VC rider kept creeping into my line and I asked him to hold his line to which he replied my line is here (then pointed right in front of me...good job). Now I know that there's some jostling for position and lines are taken and lost but this guy was riding like an idiot. 5 Minutes after that he must have done it to another rider who grabbed onto his arm and held it the entire way round the corner! Queue some amusing hand slapping as he tired to get him off, followed by a heated exchange. I reminded them both that they should perhaps focus on riding straight rather than causing a potential danger with their hissy fits.

All of this amusement meant the last 5 laps came up fast. There were a couple of riders working well together and the peloton kept a similar distance to them for the next 2 laps. I started to get nervous about them when Alain appeared next to me and I asked him if we wanted to chase them down. We got to the front section of the course (with the trusty tail wind) and jumped to catch them up. The peloton promptly followed and we closed the gap.

The pace quickened as the race drew on, but not by much... I was sitting about 7-9 back in the group...heart rate steady. All of a sudden a gap opened up in front of me with about 3/4 of a lap to go. Despite my pre-race tactics to wait till the last corner I had a moment of madness and decided to put in a hard effort in and went off the front...All was going well until I hit the head wind...why, why, why had I forgotten about this headwind, David, you idiot...I'll put it down to a bad snap decision in the heat of the moment. Inevitably, as I hit the head wind I bonked pretty hard, got caught by the peloton and lost several places going into the last corner.

I went for the sprint but my ill timed effort meant I had used what energy I had. I finished 20th and I am very disappointed with that result and disappointed that even though I had some pre-race tactics I ignored them and didn't get to use my sprint again.

All in all I had a decent race up until the last lap and I felt strong. The race almost felt too easy for the most part. It just goes to show you that you can be one of the strongest riders but if your tactics are poor then you won't get anywhere and that's something that I am learning fast!

I need to take my bike to Supernovacycles.co.uk this week to make sure I didn't damage anything with the chain incident then I'll be back next week for more pain and hopefully a better result!

Hopefully see you there!

David Billings