Winning - The Stoke Hill Climb

Unforeseen circumstances often arise in bike races. Usually measures can be put it place to prevent these issues, but today I was caught out; my plan was to ride out to the hill climb as a warm up, have a coffee or three, race, then ride home as extra training. Five minutes into the ride the first substantial drops of rain started to fall. No big deal, I thought, skin is waterproof. It was then that I noticed that the temperature was also quite a few degrees cooler than the last few days and the chill was setting in.

Most cyclist's solution to this problem is to ride harder, with the thought of a hot shower at home willing them on, however I needed to save my legs for the race and unfortunately the event HQ consisted of little more than a gazebo and certainly not a hot shower. As I so often do, I convinced myself everything was fine until Ryan, Charlie and I rolled in to HQ. At this point Ryan and Charlie left me in the rain like a couple of parents dropping their child off at a creche. Thanks for the support guys (I would've done the same).

I still maintained the attitude that I was fine until I went to sign on. My hand was too cold to write, but after a while I managed a squiggle which bared a humorous resemblance to a child writing their name for the first time. I was left with two options, continue to pretend I was fine and keep my dignity or admit my mistake and plead for help. I asked the lady serving coffee if there was anywhere inside I could go, but there was not. Instead, she offered me blankets and I couldn't refuse the offer. A few minutes later I was still shivering, so she brought me a cup of tea and a pink hot water bottle...
If you're going to look soft you may as well go all the way! I'm always humbled by how generous strangers can be when someone needs help.

So there I was, half an hour until my start time, unable to think about racing a bike. Fortunately my parents were coming out to watch and they rocked up twenty minutes before I was off, giving me just enough time to raise my core temperature by a couple of degrees and spin my legs on the rollers. At exactly 11:01 I rode to the start knowing I would get there one minute before my race began. As for the race, I don't recall a great deal. I remember my legs still feeling bad from the off, the negative voices started to rise to the surface, but I tried to stick to my plan. When riding a perfect hill climb you don't think much, you almost have to imagine you're in the matrix and 'there is no spoon'. I managed a decent sprint to the finish and stopped the clock at 4:32, three seconds quicker than last year, but a long way off my target of 4:25. After an eager wait for the results I discovered that I had won by nine seconds from Tom Nancarrow. The relief after the mornings suffering was a fitting reward and after copious amounts of hot drinks had been consumed and we finished chatting about our power numbers from the race, it was time to head back to a hot shower.

Thanks to Exeter Wheelers for a great event, the marshals for standing out in the cold and Ann Owens and Chris Godfrey for some cracking photos.