- Strava details can be found here.
- Average speed: 41kmph
- Average heart rate: 176 bpm
The track
The circuit is a dog leg shape with a sweepeing corner at the north and a very tight ( and tightening) corner that comes back on its self slightly, to the south. Its a drag heading north and then fast down towards the tight southerly corner. Every now and then people try and make up places by diving down the inside of the tight hairpin *tut tut, and then everyone sprints out…. and repeat.
Shrewsbury criterium track
My excuses
As when reporting any race, I open with a barrage of excuses that range from a bike mechanical to a dodgy Banana I consumed on a training ride last week. This time my excuses are: The tail end of a cold, stress with job interviews (stress is always a good one) and “heavy legs” after just returning from holiday.
The race
Unfortunately I don’t have much to report owing to my mediocre performance. For me the race can be divided into three distinct parts.
1) Attacks: Early on I was going a few small attacks with the hope of being out front and getting swept up if and when a major break goes. I felt quite good at this point… but, typically I was just expending energy beyond my endurance abilities. What eventually happened was not so much a break as a split which went in chase of 3 (ish) guys that had a gap. Stupidly I was too cooked to go with this which leads me on to part two.
2) The chase: So now relegated to the back-end of the race I was conflicted as to whether to sit in, chase or bridge. So I did what any great tactician does…. all three, rendering each chosen tactic feeble and ineffective. I put in a few turns, resting between, and put in a few digs only to get closed down. There was were two hopeful points in the race at which there was a glimmer of return to the front group. The first, was when the gap reduced dramatically and I thought to myself “just recover a little longer, then bridge” by the next corner they had tripled the gap, probably thinking “we wont let them recovery and then bridge the gap”… so that was obviously a bad move and should instantly. The second perceived opportunity was when two guys were hovering in between us (at the back) and the larger front group (who were chasing a smaller break). I bridged across and began to recover with the mind of attacking again and bridging to the front group…. within seconds we were back in the group… eugh.
3) Resignation: After trying everything I could to save my race I just sat in the bunch and waited for the finish. This was probably the most painful part of the race, as I was just riding to finish.
All in all a bit of a downer of a race report. strength = no good enough, Tactics = poor. The clocks have changed now so the calendar starts to fill out with races… I hope to have a more positive report soon. I’ll be having a go at my first time trials over the next couple of weeks….potentially against the recommendation of the UCI (see here).
Hurt Box Cycling - Jonathan Dredge 