My initial plan on Sunday was to do the London Dynamo road race in Surrey, a course that was pretty rolling with a couple of punchy climbs. This was going to be some “race prep” for my upcoming road national in a couple of weeks, J/U23 Tour of Wales GP! However, a couple of days prior to the road race, we were informed that the race was unfortunately cancelled due to road works. So plan B was to do an hour circuit race at Colchester. There was about 15 of us so this was a decent sized field, especially for how small the course is.

On the first lap myself and my teammate had a good start and we were on the front for the first lap- not really ideal as there was a headwind on pretty much the whole course. Our race was suddenly stopped due to a rider in the race before ours needing medical attention as he had a suspected broken collarbone. When our race resumed my legs didn’t feel as warmed up. Before the race the elastic band on my rollers begun to split so I had to ride around the car park to warm up.

The first 10 minutes into the race was quite attacking though, which helped my legs to warm up. I got into a break of 5 of us but we were quickly brought back. The theme reoccurred a few times until 3 riders broke away and the group weren’t committing to chasing. I attempted a few more times to bridge over the breakaway but the group used that to their advantage to keep me on the front in the headwind. It was clear that our group were not going to chase the breakaway and were going to settle for at least 4th place.

My plan from here was to just sit in until around 5 laps to go, where I was going to sit nearer to the front, ready for the sprint. A couple of riders from the group tried to go off the front but the group just stuck with them. The bunch was then reduced to around 8 of us and then a smaller group of around 5 riders behind us. For the final 20 minutes of the race, nothing was happening - everyone was just waiting for the sprint. With 4 laps to go the group decided to start attacking again. My teammate tried going off the front but the bunch just jumped straight on to her wheel.

My aim was to stay sheltered but follow the attacks and be close to the front for the finish. With 2 laps to go, someone else in our group tried to go off the front but the same thing happened, the group just stuck behind her. At this point I was positioned in the middle of our group, and my plan was to sit second/third wheel from the front in the final 200-300 metres from the finish, as it was still quite windy. On the last lap the pace was increased a bit, and I was happy with how I was positioned, I was making up more places in the 90° corners (normally I’m not the most confident at cornering so it’s nice to see an improvement in my confidence!). On the final corner before the finish I was in third place but I then had a rider undercut me which made me lose some momentum. For the finish I had to go the longer way round but my legs felt good and I managed to make up places. I crossed the line 3rd in our group’s sprint, making 6th overall.

I’m happy with how I rode considering I missed the break. My legs felt good and I’ve seen an improvement in my sprinting which I am also pleased with - sadly I didn’t play my cards quite right which reflected the result. But it was a fun day out nonetheless - and the rain held off too!

Amy Harvey

Colchester Crit, 18 Jun 2023

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