I raced yesterday in the Betty Darcy memorial A4 in Gorey. I headed down with David C and Derek C, three of us in a car discussing tactics and plans and how to get where we were going.  It was the last race of the season so the pressure was on to get a result of some sort. Derek took a fine second last week in Dunlavin on one of the toughest of circuits. I had been looking good for a top three when two guys hit the deck in front of me 2kms from the finish as we travelled at 60kph. As I stared at the rider now under my wheels I thought that a return to the Honda ward in St. James hospital was on the cards but I managed somehow to stay upright. However I hit the poor fellow so hard with my back wheel that I buckled it and that was the end of my race. Gorey would be the last hurrah of 2011. 

We were late after driving in circles looking for the sign-on. Therefore we had no warm-up. This may have had a hand in my fortunes for the day. We set out on the route that is used for the Gorey 3 day. It’s hilly but nothing like as hard as Dunlavin. As I spun up the first hill I easily reached the head of the bunch. I felt strong. David was riding only his second race. He had stayed with the bunch until the last lap in Dunlavin and was hoping to go one better today. It had been agreed that he would sit in and then sit in some more. I advised Derek to do nothing until the second lap after there had been some sorting out of the riders. This was Ze Masterplan. Success was inevitable, a formality.

Of course Derek ignored me as usual and attacked off the front of the bunch on the first lap on a downhill 2kms before we came onto the main road and a headwind. It still took half a lap before he was caught. I rode up beside him and told him it was the maddest attack I had ever seen. He smiled. It started to rain heavily. I had a little dig myself then, just testing the legs and hoping to hurt a few of the weaker riders. There was KOH prime in the middle of the second lap and a guy from Bray just took it from a Wexford man. I was about sixth over and rode easily to the front as the bunch slowed to recover. Just then Derek went again on a slight upslope before the downhill. I was second back in the middle of the road. There was a lady to my left. She was not able to respond. The guy in front of me did. I let him go with Derek and moved slowly to the right, blocking the others with the help of a marshal’s motorbike. It was a nice move and remarked upon during the post race sambosJ. The two breakaways gapped the group.

 

Derek stayed away with the Waterford rider, a strong vet we rode against in Dunlavin. Four others managed to get across. The bunch got very close to catching them but didn’t. I was in clover. With Derek up the road I simply sucked wheels. If the breakaway was caught I fancied my chances as I was coasting along. David sat in nicely.

The plan was turning out beautifully. All I needed was a cigar and the broom wagon to be driven by Mr. T. to complete the picture. Then the cramp started. I had suffered an attack of it during the Leinster Loop but that was after 110kms of very hard riding. This was different. We had barely covered 50kms and I had done little enough. It was also my hamstrings that were cramping- that has not happened to me before. I guzzled the two bottles on the bike with an energy gel and hoped it would go away.

It didn’t. As we turned left in Gorey to head up the hill for the last lap I peeled off from the bunch with my hand up. I was disgusted. There is an adage that pain ends but quitting doesn’t. Fair enough, very American. But you cannot win a cycling race if you cannot pedal the bike. This was the first time I have not finished a race apart from mechanicals and as I freewheeled to the car as the rain came down heavier in a reflection of my mood. I got changed and drove to the finish so at least the lads could get in out of the weather quicker at the end.

Tension built and then the breakaway group appeared and took the first five places. Derek was missing. Maybe he had done too much and had been dropped. What was left of the bunch- the attrition being high- came in, David riding strongly in the middle of the twenty or so riders. I think he was about 12th overall. Still no sign of Derek as we retire to the car. And then he appears with a wry look and a flat front tire. 2kms from the end and then pop. More gnashing of teeth on my part. So much for Ze Masterplan.{jcomments on}