Jean Baker Memorial RR

West Midlands Road Race League Round 6

Clearly the god of good fortune where showing there faces today as the forecasted weather of rain was replaced by warming sun shine and little wind, perfect racing conditions for this, the Jean Baker Memorial Road Race which was held on the same course as the Halesowen RR only a few weeks previously. This was great news for me as I had already raced on the circuit and got one of best results here which was a 4th place in a very long break away which I instigated and established. This is also one of the better courses that the WMRRL use in the series, quite road, twisting lanes, lots of undulations and a few “race shaping” hills, all of which make for a very fun, exciting and unpredictable race.

I was really up for the race today; I had a few easy days prior to the event so my legs and lungs would be fresh and ready, I also decide to use my deep section carbon wheels which were lighter and stiffer than all my other wheels. Yes, I was going in full guns blazing and looking to come away with a good result, top ten is the aim, top 5 would be even better. 9.30 rolled round and the satisfying sound of 90 riders clipping in to the there pedals echoed around the village of Astley, we were off and not just off but off at a fair old pace, we were barley out of the neutralized zone before I was down in my aero tuck looking for wheels to hide in. I didn’t panic though as these races always go off a little enthusiastically, I think some riders forget that they have 70 miles to race, either that or they think that attacking in the first mile could shape the race! Anyhow, the race settled but it was never together during the while race as there was always a rider or group of riders looking to establish a lead. Seeing how, for the first time in while I felt good, I found myself in most of these moves, in fact, I would say I was one of the top 3 most attacking riders in the race. I even manage to get away on my own at one point, even though my intention was to get someone like Matt Gee and Mike Lawton to come cross the gap and establish a strong group. This never happened and I settled back in to the bunch.

Most of the main moves went on the final climb on the lap which was fairly long and had 2 steep kicks to it, this was followed by a small decent and a mile or so of flat before the kick to the finish line. I attacked on the climb on most laps and each time I crested the top I had a little gap and then seemed to form a nice group of riders clear of the main group. This was very frustrating because there was always some one who wasn’t willing to work so we always got dragged back. After 2.5 hrs of racing, the bell lap was upon us and the race was still together, by this point every one had conceded to the fact It was all going to come down the that final climb which would be the last place to really attack before the finish. As everybody had the same idea, the miles before the climb saw riders battling to stay up at the front of the bunch. I was getting good at doing this and held my position at the front as we hit the climb. The pace was high, too high for anyone to attack of the front but not high enough to really split the front of the group. I was still in the first 10 riders or so as we turned on to the final straight, to my right was my team mate Josh Papworth who was one of the favourites for the win and to his right was Matt Gee who WAS the favourite to win. The finish line was at the crest of a small rise, the sprint opened up just at the bottom and this time I didn’t hesitate to go with straight away. I lost a place or 2 in the initial snap but made it back up as the road climbed, I just managed to snap up one more place before the line to finish in a very pleasing 8th place. Josh managed a fantastic 2nd but the win went once again to Matt Gee who once again proved he can do jus about everything.

Another really fun race today and nice to race with good legs and really e able to be apart of the race. Like last week I had the joy of riding 40 miles back home from the event which I was dreading after such a punchy race. I made it back alright but after doing a total of 110 miles at an average speed of 22 mph, I was pretty tired. Tomorrow is a rest day for sure.