Race Report, TLI Sandie Radford Memorial RR

Race Report from Adam Herridge

Another hot April day, well into the mid 20’s, saw the Sandie Radford Memorial road race take place at Nomansland in the New Forest. It was a TLI race so there were no points up for grabs, and had it been further from home I probably wouldn’t have bothered with such exertions on a sunny bank holiday weekend!
The race consisted of two larger loops of around fourteen miles, followed by two smaller five mile loops for a total of 38 hilly big ones, with a nice 15% lump up to the finish line. There were forty four riders at the start line, so not a massive field, but quite a mix of abilities; including what looked like your typical pub cyclist up to a couple of Elite guys from Cannondale Racing.
The pace car set off and so did the riders. It was only my second race of the year, so the legs were still untested to a certain degree, and with no juicy BC points in the running I wasn’t pressured into pulling a top performance out of the bag. So I thought I could have a bit of fun!
Owing to the mix of abilities, the back of the peloton didn’t seem like a sensible place to be, so I made haste for the front and sat in for a bit behind one of the tall figures of Cannondale Racing. There were a few random accelerations but nothing much happened for the first half lap until a guy from Antelope RT went for a break. I think he was only testing people as his effort seemed half-hearted when he was reeled back in. When we began the second loop I decided it was my turn to shoot off the front and he decided to follow. We worked together and stayed away for a few miles but before long the peloton were chomping at our heels.
The effort of these accelerations seemed to have dropped the weaker riders and the peloton now only made up around twenty. I decided to have a second dig about 2/3rds into the course and was on my own for a couple of minutes until two riders bridged the gap. I jumped on their wheels to recover but the two boys from Cannondale racing obviously didn’t want us to stay away so before long they’d bridged the gap too, joined by another two riders.
By now we’d well and truly left the others behind and the seven of us were setting a pretty decent pace...so much so that after my previous efforts I was melting my face off to try and maintain this, and after jamming the brakes on for a sharp left-hander I simply couldn’t match their acceleration out of the corner. Rather than use up every last ounce of blood sugar I opted for easing off and letting the group behind catch me.
By the time the chasing group caught, another rider had dropped from the lead group and so I knew a good sprint up that last hill would catch me Sixth place. I sat in for the last little lap, taking on the last of my water and conserving energy for the finish.
We rounded the last corner a mile or so from the finish line and the pace really dropped...everyone was sussing each other out. Then the hill gradually started to kick in and the breathing got heavier. I was waiting for someone to go but no one did, so I kicked and hoped I hadn’t jumped the gun. The gradient really started to build on the switchback and glancing behind I could see painful faces lapping at my back wheel. The finish line came into view from behind the dense vegetation and slowly the hill levelled off to reveal an abundance of cheering spectators. With my legs burning and my heart rate nudging 210 luckily I didn’t have far to go and made it across the line first (well, 6th!!) by a bike length, before lying in a sweaty heap on the side of the road.
Not a bad result considering I hadn’t gone out to set a staggering performance, and with my earlier efforts pushing me into the red several times, I was surprised I’d made it up to the finish line just outside the top five.