UWCT Final, Aalborg, Denmark

A lone Frenchman was always pushing hard on the climbs and eventually he pulled hard enough at the hundred and twenty kilometre mark that the elastic broke and I was slipping off the back. What followed was a horrible twenty kilometre chase into a headwind. While I was pulling riders back, I couldn’t find a group to work with. At one point I was pedalling in squares and contemplating sitting up and waiting for the broom wagon, when a Danish police motorcycle pulled alongside. The rider gave me a look, that’s all I needed, I was across the road and on his wheel at a speed that would have done Nibali proud!

Sitting in his wheel, he towed me for a couple of hundred metres, enough to get me up to speed and clear any negative thoughts. All too soon he flicked his throttle and was off, but I was going again. Not long after a group of about thirty riders, containing many of my former group caught me. With the end in sight it’s amazing how your tiredness disappears.

Danish policeman takes on refreshments after towing tired Brit. Photo courtesy of UCI World Cycling Tour

As we hit the main roads back into town, the speed went up and we were all eyeing each other. I was keeping close to an Aussie and a strong-looking Belgian, visions of coming off their wheels, arms in the air… Well in the end I took sixth in our own little sprint, which left me gasping and incapable of stopping without the help of a handy wall to lean on. So, yes I hadn’t won the World’s, but I’d finished and had raced a hundred miles, battling against the wind and a bunch old geezers who, like myself, won’t give up and will keep on racing as long as we can – even if we did finish half an hour behind the winner!

I finally finished in 110th! Not a great result, but a fantastic event. Photo courtesy of Sportstiming

So that’s my World Championships over. It was an amazing experience and has re-kindled my desire to road race again. With 2016’s finals taking place in Perth, Western Australia, I think I’ll miss those out and aim for 2017 which will be in Albi, in the South of France. That gives me two years to get a little closer to the big boys!

I would heartily recommend having a go at the UWCT events. Qualifying is through one of their Gran Fondos, which take place all over the world – our own is the Tour of Cambridgeshire. If you’re not a road racer then I would definitely recommend you join a local club that has a road racing background, get yourself a license and start racking up those miles. The experience and fitness you gain will be invaluable. But don’t let anyone put you off, it’s a fantastic experience and the kind of goal that makes racing in your local 2/3 cat road race pale into insignificance!

UCI World Cycling Tour