The Elite race mainly consisted of Halfords riders dropping out one-by-one, then the Downing brothers escaping off the front and Dean winning the sprint. The rain did stop halfway through the race by which time I think everyone was too wet to even notice.PhilBixby wrote:I'd intended sticking around to watch the later Elites event but as the next race - the juniors - set off the rain if anything redoubled its efforts. I splashed back to the car, wriggled out of the soggy lycras into the two remaining vaguely dry garments I had with me, and quickly decided I didn't fancy standing in cold rain watching the Rapha Condor squad etc make it all look easy. So I drove home and ate strawberries and cream in the bath. Life has, thankfully, many pleasures beyond cycling.
Weekend Roundup
Moderator: Moderators
Brilliant post Phil and congratulations for hanging in there. Crits are great when you are posting you're entry off but a different proposition when you are actually on the start line! I long since discovered they are the territory of people who have their kit , their bike and their entry paid by someone else, have someone to drive them home and preferably don't have to get up for work the following day after an evening in casualty! But I could be talking about evening road races in general here. Only ridden a handful of crits in my life as I'm rubbish at them - least memorable being 2 laps of the Otley Elite crit in 1997 and most memorable in a field of about 10 including the Irish RR champion in Carrick on Suir when the ill fated Tour was in Ireland in 1998. It rained and I was lapped many times but Sherwen & Liggett were commentating!
Off to ride Wakefield CC's 2/3 cat event Wed night which will probably be like how Phil describes but with cars coming the other way!
Off to ride Wakefield CC's 2/3 cat event Wed night which will probably be like how Phil describes but with cars coming the other way!
Had a fantastic weekend in the Italian Dolomites on the maratona dles dolomites in Corvara.
Did too much on the Saturday and got to the start just in time on Sunday to set off at the back of the field of 9500, and missed the cut off time for the long route by 10 minutes.
Rode the medio route, which had it's first flat bit of road at about 60km in to the course. Long climbs and stunning scenery in hot weather.
Highly recommended, Garmin stats here.
I suspect the maximum speed might be a tad wrong though.
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/8226154
Did too much on the Saturday and got to the start just in time on Sunday to set off at the back of the field of 9500, and missed the cut off time for the long route by 10 minutes.
Rode the medio route, which had it's first flat bit of road at about 60km in to the course. Long climbs and stunning scenery in hot weather.
Highly recommended, Garmin stats here.
I suspect the maximum speed might be a tad wrong though.
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/8226154
Andrew,
Sorry to hear you missed the cut-off, you must have been gutted! I was looking out for you at the start (amongst the 2000+ other riders in that start pen). After some confidence issues all the way to the where the routes split, I bit the bullet and "went long". I got round the full course in a slow 8 hrs 22, plodded up Passo Gaiu (one-in-ten gradient for 9km) and just managed to find shelter at the food station during a torrential rain and hail storm which made the 10km descent pretty nerve-wracking. The 15km descent off of Falzarago and into La Villa was incredible!
This was my first overseas event (although I'd visited the area for walking and climbing holidays in the past and knew what to expect), and I'd thoroughly recommend it!!
Jason.
Sorry to hear you missed the cut-off, you must have been gutted! I was looking out for you at the start (amongst the 2000+ other riders in that start pen). After some confidence issues all the way to the where the routes split, I bit the bullet and "went long". I got round the full course in a slow 8 hrs 22, plodded up Passo Gaiu (one-in-ten gradient for 9km) and just managed to find shelter at the food station during a torrential rain and hail storm which made the 10km descent pretty nerve-wracking. The 15km descent off of Falzarago and into La Villa was incredible!
This was my first overseas event (although I'd visited the area for walking and climbing holidays in the past and knew what to expect), and I'd thoroughly recommend it!!
Jason.
Jason - that final descent was mental as we had a nasty crosswind and there's an absence of safety barriers on the outer lane.
There were a lot of ambulances as well, some folk must have been in a bad way.
I saw a lad's rim explode at the bottom of the Passo Gardena as he had been braking so much - he was a lucky boy that it didn't happen a minute earlier or he'd have been toast.
i'm going back next year, and will be in a hotel closer to the start/finish this time.
There were a lot of ambulances as well, some folk must have been in a bad way.
I saw a lad's rim explode at the bottom of the Passo Gardena as he had been braking so much - he was a lucky boy that it didn't happen a minute earlier or he'd have been toast.
i'm going back next year, and will be in a hotel closer to the start/finish this time.