Bristol Regional A - Mike Rutty Memorial Road Race - 2nd June

60 miles

120 Riders

5th place

Average speed: 29 mph

Weather- Sunny, dry, 22 Degrees

New to the team current Slovakian Para-Olympic skier and general adrenaline sports addict Jozef Metelka and I discuss team tactics on route to the race after staying at a friends house in Bristol for the night.

We go through signs we will use to initiate, terminate or aid certain moves in the race,  laboring certain points during the race to take on fuel and fluid especially.

As we got closer to race HQ the weather was getting warmer and was clear that the conditions would benefit a fast paced race over the course that skirted the a sizable reservoir providing excellent  crosswinds provoking the pack to take on a strong echelon spanning the width of the road.

The field,  I noticed boasted several strong looking teams who've raced well together a team in previous races,  24/7 riders in particular.

The course had some great corners in,  my favorite was a snaking left-hander through a small village (West Harptree) that tightened up after entry and 50m later a right angle of corner,  this was an excellent place to deploy an attack as the  rolling hills to follow could provide good opportunity to really push on if the “shady lines” were taken.  I lead Joe out for the prime using this to our advantage,  riding fast and brushing the bush at 40+ mph making it difficult for Joe and even more so for those try follow his wheel.  We attacked approximately 2.5 miles before the finish which was around 60th rider,  to climb to 1st position several minutes later and a collection of surprised faces including Felt rider and several 24/7 and dream riders in a mini break 10 seconds off the peloton.  Following this we kept the pace fairly high in anticipation of the following attack,  which came through strong,  we managed to slot in smoothly enough and proceeded with the last 4 laps.

The last 4 laps saw two crashes,  luckily twenty or so riders behind Jo and myself. The first looked like a rider over-cooked it on the fast chicane (Ham Hill) approaching the descent to the reservoir washed out and low sided into several other riders.  Jo and I attacked at this opportunity however were brought back several minutes later with 5 other riders.  I sprinted up for the last prime of the race and took 3rd,  unfortunately we were not in a place for an overall prime position as Jo took the 1st on the previous rather than me,  but Beeline RT’s presence throughout the race was strong.

The rest of the race saw several attacks launch few staying away for not more than 5 minutes with a maximum gap of 15 seconds.

Last lap approaching I watched moves go through and calculating the break of 7 riders now 20 second gap,  decided I would attack 2 miles to the finish just as we came through West Harptree with my favorite corner.  The rolling hills saw several cars, caravans down the road towards the bunch causing panic bottle-necking of the riders particularly on the 2nd rolling hill on the run down to the finish.  

My maths had gone wrong, I was passing the top 15 sooner than I wanted still with 3/4 mile to go, now with good passing speed I put in another kick and boosted passed the main bunch to follow the edge of the road again brushing the bush.  A quick look confirmed no one had jumped onto my wheel,  I dug deep pushed on until I span out my biggest gear lay across the top tube and tucked into a ball. 

  As I approached the last 500 meters,  those in the bunch were catching,  so I got out of the saddle and sprinted hard,  bringing in the riders from the break and pushing away from those behind, I took the back 3 riders 5 meters from the line feeling fairly worked and very hot! In reflection I only just caught the break, so if I had left any later I would probably have not made it up to the last few of them, I could have gone earlier, food for thought.

Overall a good team performance,  Jo bagged 13th and me taking 5th,  missing 4th by inches.  Work to be done but things are certainly moving in the right direction. Bring on the next week Block!

http://www.britishcycling.org.uk/road/article/roa20130602-road-Road--Dansie-takes-Rutty-Memorial-win-0