Riding The Tour of Cambridgeshire

In a normal road race, with sixty riders I can usually work my way to the front without too much drama. With something like eight hundred riders in front of me this was not going to happen and to be fair I am in no condition to be up the front with the fastest riders. I was there just to enjoy being able to ride on closed roads and have a go at qualifying for the Worlds and getting a shiny gold UCWT medal!

We had already been informed that the first choke point on the route was less than five kilometres from the start, where the route came off a dual carriageway and turned into a narrow country lane. I was expecting a mad sprint to get into position for this first obstacle, something like you would see on the Tour of Flanders, but everyone handled it well and we made the turn without any dramas.

It wasn’t long before rider’s were battling to drop their fellows, making full use of the closed roads

Looking around it was amazing to see this huge mass of riders strung across the road without a care in the world. We weren’t having to worry about if we were obstructing Mr Jones on his way to garden centre, or slowing down school run mum in her Chelsea tractor. No, we spread ourselves around with abandon. I fully intended to use every inch of the road, just because I could!

But enough of the joys of the closed road. The pace went up after that first turn and the road rolled gently up and down. Riders worked to get into groups that would work and were of the right ability, something that was difficult to gauge with so many riders of mixed ability. Eventually I got into a large group and with a couple of other gobby riders got the front of the group riding through and off.

The Tour of Cambridgshire had support cars following the main bunch, courtesy of Shimano

Time for a little moan about trying to get a group of riders working together. Why is it so hard? Ok our group was probably composed of a mix of 4th and 3rd cat racers and sportive riders, so quite a wide range of abilities and experience. For some of these, especially the sportive riders, riding elbow to elbow in a large fast-moving bunch was probably a first and probably a little intimidating. Nonetheless, can we all just remember that when you hit the front of the group and pull over, you slow down and let the next rider through?

What you don’t do, is hit the front and keep accelerating as if you’re very life depended on it! A couple of times I had to resort to grabbing some jersey and pulling myself forward, while explaining the concept of working together. Ok rant over.

With our group now working almost smoothly, it was time to take in our surroundings. If the Tour of Cambridgeshire were a stage in the Tour de France it would be one of those stages that are guaranteed to end in a big bunch sprint. Long straight roads, broken up by a few small bumps were the order of the day, nothing that would have you reaching for the little ring.

The wind that usually blows over the Fens was thankfully absent, but there were reminders in the background

The dreaded winds that this region are known for weren’t a major factor on the day, but when they did come from the side there was a mad scramble to form echelons. Anyone watching would have been hard pressed to recognise our scraggly attempt for one of those wonderful ordered machines that glide across our screen during the Classics, but we had fun trying. It’s not often that I feel safe enough to ride in a bunch strung out from gutter to gutter.

 
Continued overleaf…
 
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