Break building

The break climb the Whistlefield on lap2. pic courtesy of PaulH via flickr

I've gone a bit blog tastic recently, but there seems to have been plenty to blog about!  As well as the excitement of mothers day yesterday there was also round 2 of the Super6 at Helensburgh.  2 weeks since my last race and a month on from the black day at Giford, the race at Rosneth was a sucessfuly day out.  I didn't quite win, but pre race the target was a top-ten, so getting on the podium was great.

The race started and finished in Helensburgh with the race involving a run up to Gareloch, the three laps of a circuit taking in Coulport, Cove, Rosneth and the Whistlefield climb back at Gareloch.  So a pretty demanding course to go with the impressive entry list, featuring 4 of the Scottish Commonwealth Delhi Games Road team plus all the other usual big names.

The first lap was pretty full on.  I find the start of races one of the hardest parts.  Everyone is fresh, and determined to get themselves in the break.  The general format for Scottish road race is a break will get away up the road, work together to open a huge gap and its game over for the bunch.  So the presure to get in the break is high.  The first few breaks are often chased down, but that doesn't mean you can just sit in and wait because then you might miss it.  The hope is others will chase and tire faster than you do, which is when you need to strike, making a big gap as fast as possible, therefore discouraging others from trying to bridge.  At the same time you want others to come with you as you cant ride the race alone, you need others to help.  You also need riders from each of the strong teams there, otherwise you can be sure there will be others in the bunch chasing you down.

So the effort getting into the break and making it stick is huge and repeated. Since the first few breaks won't always stick you need to be able to get in there, then recover, and potentially go again several times more, which is why its often called a selection.  Whose the strongest? Are each of the teams represented?  Are the riders willing and able to work together?  Although the course for yesterdays race involved a lot of hills, the breaks weren't made on the uphills.  When the break that finally stuck went the group I'd been in had just been pulled back as we crested a hill on lap 2.  Counter attacking is often a good idea, so myself and a few others who had recovered quickly after the climb nailed it down the decent as fast as we could.  So the break was made on the descent rather than the climb.  The ability to get in the break I think was due to being able to recover quickly.  I think this is partly why doing hill reps helps.  You bury yourself on the way up then get a limited time to recover riding back down, before doing it again.