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Surrey League Easter 3 Day 2001 By
Chris Colford
THE 2001 SURREY LEAGUE EASTER THREE DAY
(MORNING) STAGE RACE - A VIEW FROM THE BACK
Coach Tunnell persuaded me that a three day
race at this stage of the season would be ideal preparation for, er, the
rest of the season, so I entered in advance for the Surrey League Three
Day Stage Race for Second, Third and Fourth category riders. These three
races were a curtain raiser for the main Three Day Stage Race (for Elites
etc), which took place in the afternoons of Good Friday, Easter Saturday
and Easter Sunday.
Unlike the main event, there are just three
rules for the morning (234) stage race:
1. You are allowed to do the later stages,
even if you don't finish (or even start) the earlier ones. 2. You don't
really have to be a second, third or fourth cat, if you ask nicely to be
allowed to ride. 3. Don't break any of the rules.
There were four Addiscombe riders entered
for the event: Mark Bayliss, Keith Knight, Coach Tunnell, and Chris
Colford (ie me). This report of the three races is somewhat selective in
its detail, as I saw relatively little of the others, who were mostly up
the road from me. Not a problem for me. My aim for the Easter Three Day
was to finish it, nothing more. I'd never raced two days running, let
alone three, and I'd quite often been too tired to ride to work on the day
after a race, so three races on the run were a big step for me. This is
surely ample justification for concentrating in this report on the only
Addiscombe rider who went off the back in all three stages.
Day One - Cutmill
Coach Tunnell's advance description of the
course: "Very hilly. A mistake to enter."
At Cutmill I stayed on for about 16 miles.
I got dropped at the start/finish line, the third time up the long hill.
It was a blessing in disguise. I was eyeballs out for most of those 16
miles, couldn't drink, couldn't think, kept seeing parts of my past last
life flash before my eyes etc. Once I got dropped, I did the sensible
thing, and pottered along drinking my energy drink until someone else came
along who I could work with. In fact the guy who came along didn't want me
to work, and whenever I went in front, he came back round me. Perhaps he
was training for a time trial. Perhaps he was certifiably insane. He
looked a bit like John Hegley. I wasn't complaining. After a while a
further three riders caught us, and we rode together as a small group.
Oddly, I spent more time on the front with five than with two. But no-one
was pulling very hard, especially not me. I was saving it for the big
sprint for 57th place.
With about three miles to go (of our 44
miles - we knew we would be pulled out before the last lap), I heard a
cheery "Hello Chris". It was Coach Tunnell, who had had a
nightmare on the big hill a lap before my own out-the-back/out-of-body
experience, and been practising his chase/descent technique all afternoon.
He'd brought about four chums with him, so in the end we came in with a
group of about 10. I wasn't too worried about the new joiners in our
group. They'd been chasing us hard for about 20 miles, and there were only
a few miles to go. I was still confident that I could grab 57th. The
finish was half way up the hill that had given us all such trouble, so
everybody started struggling from the bottom. As I had been the last to go
out the back, and had done least work all afternoon, I reckoned I was
strongest, so I just rode off. I blew completely after about 200 metres.
So did everyone else. By the time I got to Keith Butler (who was looking
mildly curious, but not really that interested) I still had my gap. So
that was how I won my first "sprint" (ie at 12 mph). What a
feeling.
The Addiscombe riders not finishing in the
groupe Colford/Tunnell had a mixed day. Keith Knight punctured very near
the start, and Mark Bayliss rode brilliantly for 12th place. Steve Bayliss
didn't get a ride at all. He'd got back from Italy at 1am, and tried to
enter on the line, only to find that there was a full field (80 riders).
Day Two - Staplefields
Coach Tunnell's advance description of the
course: "Just as hilly as Cutmill, but better because the hills are
more broken up with descents. Still a mistake to enter."
At Staplefields I stayed on for about 42
miles. This was much less pleasant than Cutmill. 16 hard miles is one
thing, 42 quite another. I was either knackered (going up) or terrified
(going down). I usually apply my brakes when I reach 35 mph, when I'm
riding on my own. Today I was riding downhill at 40 mph a few feet from
the rider in front. But I was more scared of going out the back than I was
of killing myself, so I kept going. In fact, I made the rookie error of
going through the bell still in the bunch, completely blowing my chance of
getting pulled out for the last lap. Given that it was a 13 mile lap, that
was a big mistake. I did the last ten miles on my own. I must have lost
about 20 minutes in that 10 miles.
In this race I hardly saw the other
Addiscombe riders. I rode behind Steve Bayliss for a while (who had
managed to get in the race, despite another full field, by entering
yesterday). Steve seemed to be making no effort whatsoever. He came in
6th, under orders not to try too hard, because he was "resting".
Coach Tunnell had another nightmare on the hills, while Mark and Keith got
a brilliant 10th and 17th respectively.
I decided to write up the first two days on
Easter Saturday afternoon, in case I died during day three. At 3.45 pm I
found myself at my computer, wondering how I was going to get downstairs
to eat without using my legs. Tomorrow was going to be difficult. I knew
that Goodwood was pretty flat, but that might not be enough. I remembered
that Keith Knight is always saying that racing is training. For me the
third stage might have to be a recovery ride. It occurred to me that, if I
had the brass face to ride around Goodwood at 15 mph for two hours, I
would have finished the Easter Three Day, and achieved my goal. I told
myself that I had too much pride to do that, as I slid myself down the
stairs head first towards the kithchen.
Day Three - Goodwood
Coach Tunnell's advance description of the
course: "Nice and flat for tired legs."
I ran out of energy drink on the morning of
day three, so I stirred 12 spoons of sugar into some cold tea and tried to
drink that. Mark Bayliss caught me, so I had to throw it away and stick to
water. ("Sugar will make you feel good for about 10 mins, and lousy
for two hours. You need slow-burn carbohydrate." "Actually,
Mark, I need a new pair of legs.")
Other excuses: (a) demonstrating its normal
flexibility, the Surrey League decided to let several elite and first
category riders join our race, so it was far too fast for a novice fourth
cat; (b) I had the wrong tyres; (c) I read yesterday's weather forecast by
mistake, so I kept riding on the windy side of the bunch; (d) I'm only
little.
Actually, Goodwood could have been worse.
I'd ridden there once before, so I knew the circuit. It is indeed flat.
Nevertheless, I was genuinely afraid that my legs would be so wrecked that
I would go STRAIGHT out the back (ie the bunch would pull away at the
start, and I would be dropped by the first bend). As it turned out, I
stayed on for 17 miles. This was not easy. Coach Tunnell remarked
cheerfully at one point, "This is a real race." I didn't answer
because I couldn't breathe. Last time we were at Goodwood, he'd said
"I should have brought my pillow." What he meant this time was
that, with at least one elite rider in the race, and lots of second cats,
the Easter Sunday race featured lots of attacks. The changes in pace were
v difficult to cope with. I noticed that we were doing 35 mph down the
(flat) home straight at one point. I very nearly got dropped twice coming
off that straight into a cross wind. The second time I was actually ten
metres adrift, but the bunch slowed at just the right moment, and I fought
my way back on. By the time I was dropped, I was pretty relieved. But I
was glad I stayed on for 17 miles, because I got to see Keith Knight
flying off the front on his own. I've read all his emails about
"having a go", but I'd never seen him do it. Well played. It's
very important, I think, to show the sponsor's name as much as possible.
We should get a sponsor.
Once I'd gone off the back, I should have
had about 30 miles to ride alone, but I was lucky. Keith Butler had
started the field in two groups: the three day group started a couple of
minutes ahead of a second group of riders, who were riding the race as a
single event. I was able to potter along until the second group arrived,
and get on the back. Thankfully, this group was a bit slower (or at least
the changes in pace were less marked) so I managed to stay on, with only a
couple of scares, where I had to max out to keep with it.
All of the other Addiscombe riders did v
well in this race. Keith, Mark and Paul got 14th, 20th and 27th
respectively. I think I'm right in saying that Keith was in a breakaway,
which stayed away. This must have been hard, because the wind was very
strong on the exposed Goodwood course. But I can only speculate about what
happened in the breakaway, because this report is the view from the back.
As I come to the end of this report, I
notice that I have scarcely mentioned the other Addiscombe riders. I will
make a token effort to rectify this, by attaching a summary of results.
Chris Colford 16 April 2001
Summary of Results
Day One - CUTMILL
Mark Bayliss - 12th (hooray)
Keith Knight - punctured
Paul Tunnell - 65th
Chris Colford - 57th
Day Two - STAPLEFIELDS
Mark Bayliss - 10th (hooray)
Keith Knight - 17th (hooray)
Paul Tunnell - 68th
Chris Colford - 53rd
Steve Bayliss - 6th (hooray - Steve is back
in England resting for a while, and was under orders to take it easy,
otherwise he would have finished miles up the road on his own.)
Day Three - GOODWOOD
Mark Bayliss - 20th (hooray)
Keith Knight - 14th (hooray)
Paul Tunnell - 27th (hooray)
Chris Colford - 38th (hip hip hooray)
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