My first road race ..... ever!

I’ve been really enjoying the road training spins we’ve been doing over the winter so the obvious thing to do was to try a road race ..... or so I thought anyway!
After consulting with Morty I decided to try the race in Clonard on Saturday 12^th March. It was a straight “out and back” race of 70kms on the old Galway road – from Clonard to Kilbeggan and back! It was a handicap which probably wasn’t ideal but at least the road surface would be ok and I could concentrate on getting used to riding in a big group without worrying about gravelly corners!

When I left home the rain had started but I persuaded myself that the weather would improve as the day went on .... it wouldn’t! An easy 45 minute drive, sign on, change and a gentle warm up. A few of the Epic lads were there so that relaxed me a bit. As an A4, I would be starting first, with the A3s following a couple of minutes later, then A2s and A1s etc.



Me, looking fresh before the start!



We gathered in the local school carpark and everybody except me seemed to know exactly what was going on. One of the organisers gave an inspiring pre-race briefing majoring on "oil covered roundabouts" and possible resultant "carnage" which was not what I needed to hear at that stage! And then to add insult to injury just as we rolled out of the carpark the rain started in earnest and the only time it stopped during the race was when it started to snow instead!!

The early pace was fairly reasonable at about 30-35kms per hour and I had no trouble staying in the bunch, chatting to the guys around me .... this road racing lark is pretty easy! I found the constant change of pace a bit disconcerting .... if the guys at the front slowed down, for a roundabout or something, by the time it filtered down to my end of the bunch we were almost stopping and then we’d have to move quickly to bridge a rapidly opening gap!

After about 15kms the A3s caught us and things got a bit frenetic! The speed picked up and there were people passing everywhere and a lot of “chit chat” going on! I got a bit nervous and I think I must have instinctively slowed and moved towards the back of the bunch but I still felt fine! But as we climbed on a bit of a drag out of a small town called Miltownpass the pace picked up again and all of a sudden myself and a couple of other people were “out the back”! It started with a 5 metre gap, then it was 10 and before I knew where I was I was 50mts adrift! It was only then that I realised what was happening but it was too late - I just couldn’t get back on! I felt like the guy in the Western trying to run after a train and watching it disappear into the distance! I was absolutely disgusted with myself, it’s one thing to be dropped because the pace is too fast but I just wasn’t paying attention and should certainly have been able to hang on for at least a while longer!



.... and then it started to snow!



So there I was, 20kms into a 70kms race and I was all on my own with plenty of time to consider my stupidity! And then to add insult to injury it started to sleet and snow. The next 50kms was pretty grim but I pushed on as hard as I could. The A1s and A2s came past and I tried to stay with them but I just couldn’t get up to their speed.



Here I am breaking off the front of the A1s and A2s!!



Towards the end of the race I really got bitterly cold and nearly dropped my water-bottle because my hands were so cold! Still, I finished in a little over 2 hours at an average speed of 33kms per hour, which I was well pleased with, considering I’d been on my own for most of the race. I was absolutely shattered and my legs ached like never before! Can’t say I really enjoyed the experience but I’m fairly sure the next one will be easier and there definitely will be a next time ....