A BEGINNERS GUIDE TO CRIT RACING:
I was umming and arghing for weeks, possibly months about doing this. A mate from work gave it a try last year as did Paul Nicholas and Neil Poulton. Even though I knew I was some way off as good a cyclist as all of them, it didn't mean I had any less of a competitive gene.
I got there plenty early and whipped the turbo out half an hour before the race started. The guy on his turbo in front of me was cheering his 'bro' on as Mum and Dad were pinning his numbers on his shirt and chucking a hydration tablet in his bottle. I didn't have such an entourage but it made me wonder whether these races were a closed market to the 'cycling families'! At this point the nerves were really starting to kick in...looking at the Cat 2's and 3's in the earlier race smashing round the circuit with 'ease'.
10 mins to go, warm up done, I'll quickly finish kitting up. Is everyone wearing overshoes? Yep, I'll match! All ready, just stick my gloves on. Well there's one of them....where's the other, oh my god, where is the other one, I can't ride with one glove, so amateur, what am I going to do....ah, it's ok, it's on the passenger seat, panic over!!!!
Desperate for the toilet, I see Andy Harries who kindly holds my bike while I dive in, the last bit of calm before the storm. Grab my bike on the way out and I'm straight on the track and this is really happening!!
We do two laps round before stopping at the start line. The 'commisaire' tells us frankly that without failure we have to be off the track by 5pm so if you're not going to race quickly then we'll have to cut the race short! Great for a first timer knowing that everyone will be smashing it from the off! I look down at the hand resting on my thigh and realise it is shaking pretty vigorously...was this the nerves or the Double Espresso caffeine gel I'd necked 10 minutes earlier? Didn't have time to ponder that for long as the whistle went, flicked the Garmin on and we were off.
I made a pretty strong start...well, into the first bend anyway, I was leading after half a lap! Only 24.5 to go! I'd been warned that the first few laps would be frantic so tried to stay close to the front, there were slight lulls in the pace but in the first 10 laps or so I only remember sitting up twice, both for a full 10 seconds before someone Kamikazed off the front and it was all go again. It wasn't necessarily a bad thing, keeping the pace high suited me, I think it would be a constant change in pace that would really ruin me. The wind direction meant that it was easier to move up on the far side straight so I kept trying to do that using the riders on my left to block the wind. Andy was stood on that side of the track which spurred me on to 'show off' down that side and it kept me in contention for longer than I thought I'd be. I think around Lap 17 someone dropped a wheel, and a gap opened up, 10 riders in the break and 4 (including me) had been gapped. The 10th rider couldn't hold on and was left in no mans land, he was my carrot!
I pointed out to the other 3 riders I was with, that the guy in front on his own was worth 1 point for 10th place and if we worked together one of us was in with a shout. No response, so I took it upon myself to try and chase him down. We kept going to pull him back but eventually on the final lap the breakaway were coming round to lap us and we had to move up the track to let them fight out the sprint.
I think I probably came about 12th of 14, which I was more than happy with. My worst fear was getting dropped in the first few laps and it's amazing how much that spurred me on. But in all honesty I've watched a good 4 or 5 of these races now and a few people have dropped out and nobody has batted an eyelid.
It was so much fun and I've finally had a go at a competitive cycling race. There are so many better riders in the club than I am and I would recommend giving it a go to all these people. It is not a crashfest as some 'experienced' crit racers have told me in the past, it's just a group ride but faster. If you would love to give it a go, just try it, what have you got to lose?
I think I'm going to try a few more of them over the next couple of months so if you fancy giving it a go too then you're welcome to have a chat to me or message me on here and I can give you a bit of beginner advice.
Check out the Rowe and King series on the British Cycling events section for when they are.
Nick
