Paracycling | Racing the Nat Champs!

Blog 4 is from the 11th May to the 9th of June and consists of four races, ending with the National Championships for the TT and the National Championships for the Criterium - still feels weird saying I entered the Nat Champs. Those races are both held within the Darley Moor Motor Racing Circuit and therefore the only way to recon the course ahead of race day is to enter a race… so I entered two! That all sounds sensible until you realise I entered the (able-bodied) 4th Cat for 10:45 and the (able-bodied) 3/4 Cat for 15:00 on the same day. In other words, I’ll have around four hours to recover from my first 4th cat race in eight years, so go even quicker in the 3/4 cat. 

The circuit isn’t too complex; I’m sure it’s very fun on a go-kart, but for cyclists, it’s essentially three straights with two quick left-handers and a hairpin. Due to the nature of the course, I’m guessing that the wind could make a massive impact if it goes from the correct direction because you could have a crosswind for two straights and a tailwind for the other straight. But all these questions is why I entered the Haus RT races on the Saturday, 18th May.

I set myself four objectives for the day:

1. I’m hoping to learn my lesson about nutrition from the Paracycling Nat Series Round 2 (Bath) and will likely “over eat” during the day, but I think that’s probably needed due to the two races.

2. Get into front group and survive as long as possible.

3. Make it into the front group for the 1st lap in the Cat 3/4 race.

4. Know the limits of my bike handling skills ahead of the Para Nat Champs

So, how did each objective go?

Objective 1 was completed easily, helped by having a cafe at the circuit. I ate pasta, 4 energy bars, 4 energy gels, 2 sausage baps throughout the day from breakfast to end of race. I also think I could have potentially eaten more but it’s good to know.

The 4th Cat race was a big shock to the system. No one sprints off the start (like in Paracycling), but that could be more related to the group being 5-10 vs 30+ riders in this race. So I lead out the first corner and then when everyone sat up down the main straight (slight uphill and slight headwind), I used that opportunity to put a 5-10 second effort and lead out the hairpin. I, then, got swamped and never saw the front of the race again - but I said at the back, just about surviving. However, I got dropped due to a lack of technical skills combined with my lack of sprint. I then TTed until I decided I was going too much into the red for the 3/4 race later in the day. 

The effort was 15mins 42 secs at 280w average (298w NP) with an VI of 1.07. I think I might be able to certain 300w for 20mins if it is a pure TT, but I put myself into the red too early. This is shown by setting a season-best in 5min (299w to 301w), 6min (288w to 293w), 10min (283w to 291w), 12min (277 to 286w) for average power. This is all compared to Paracycling Nat Series Round 2 in Bath. (Will do a full comparison after analysing the 3/4).

The 3/4 Cat was always going to be more difficult… 1) Cat 3s tend to be a lot quicker, and 2) My legs were not fresh after the effort in the morning. The objective was to survive the first lap, and I did that! Having ridden around the track in the 4th cat race, I was a lot more confident and didn’t get dropped due to technical skills. I just didn’t have the legs to kick when others did out the hairpin. So I did a TT for 22mins to see what I think would be sustainable for the Nat Champs TT (which will be 10 laps of the 2.3km circuit). The pace for that was 266w average (271w NP) so I will go quicker during the Nat Champs, but I was happy. I did a bit of CX when I got lapped, which is always fun (I got caught at the most awkward place). 

So the final objective, which is about understanding my limits on the track… I feel I got close to my limit on the circuit which is 3 left hand corners, my weakness. However, I’m certainly a lot quicker now than I would have been. 

To finish off the race report, the progress I’ve shown over the past 2 weeks I think needs to be put into context. I’m at that awkward ability where I can keep up if I put myself into the red, while everyone else is just in suffering mode and it feels like I’m not making progress. But if I step back, I’ve made a lot of progress. The efforts I’m making aren’t that much higher for around 5mins, but the efforts are much more sustainable over the 10-20min period. This will then increase from 10-20mins to 20-30mins and so on.

Following the race, I took a few days off and joined a slightly postponed chaingang (moved from the Tuesday to Friday due to the weather). This was the start of an intense five days of cycling ahead of the Nat Champs which included the chaingang, 100km ride and a race at Bovingdon Bomber.

I probably put too much into the warm up but that’s another lesson learnt. The chaingang it’s self was a 28min effort at 284w NP (266w average), but I struggled with going into the red too many times. This is a combo of the course which contains three climbs and my technical ability - but mostly the latter. I’m much better than I was, but there is still a long way to go.

I, then, rested a bit and then joined up with someone and paced them along until the end of the lap, this was 15mins at 270w NP. I was surprised that I had the legs to do this, but I got dropped more due to being in the red and not recovering than the actual power output.

For the bank holiday on Monday, I signed up for a club ride, which was meant to be around 3 hours, but it turned out to be slightly longer. That meant that I accidentally did 100km, with the final 25km were solo. While I have previously done an equivalent effort for 7 hours, the fact I held over 200w NP for almost four hours is a really big demonstration of where I am as a rider now compared to only a couple of months ago. This was all done on legs that hadn’t recovered from Friday’s chaingang. I did one semi-proper effort up a climb and while the legs reacted to the “move”, I know I could have gone a lot quicker with that effort being 2mins46seconds at 328w (342w NP).

The final workout within my five days of intensity was the Bovingdon Bomber race, with the race changing from a 4th cat to a 3/4 due to sign-ups. I went in with the same expectations and objectives that I do with every race (survive the first lap in the front group and work on my technical skills).

The circuit is actually really fun mix of technical (one hairpin and one set of chicanes) and power (uphill section). The Women’s race was stacked with Nat A/Nat B riders and I learnt a lot by looking at their lines. Following Louise’s (Davidson racing for LDN Academy) advice on the chicane probably gained me at least a minute over the race, and I still didn’t really nail the corner until the final lap or two. Just knowing and trusting the brakes and your skills that you can brake so late into that set of corners. 

Onto the actual race, I was lined up at the back of the group and failed to clip in… which led to a solo ride for 30mins, which I averaged 263w (276w NP) before I caught another rider.

With around 10mins left in the race, I knew I wasn’t going to drop him due to the climb being into a massive headwind, so we had some fun messing around who is taking turns etc. So, while the power decreased, it was more due to the race situation than the legs. With just under 40mins raced, I started to make my “winning” moves to drop my competitor (for not finishing last) which included taking the corners at higher speed and sprinting more out of the corners. While it didn’t work on the first lap of trying, it meant that I was leading and, therefore, when we got pulled over, I wasn’t last!

The final training session before the Nat Champs was the Paracyling Dev Road Day #3. After the last session about cornering, I knew I didn’t have to be fresh for the day, so I came in after the intense week of training. In the end, we did a fairly intense session. I was joined by Ben (who I raced against on Wednesday) and Josh, who are both quicker than me, so it was good to ride with them.

We did some technical chaingang work and then a TTT work, which I probably did too much work on the front given that I did 294w average (306w NP) for the 10minute effort compared to 228w and 220w! This was followed by cornering and sprint work. Cornering is something that I’ve been working with to help within racing, and I certainly saw an improvement compared to the last session. The sprint work was more focused on technique, which is important, but showed a lot of work is needed. Focusing on aero and not just power is obvious but it’s about finding the balance.

The final thing we did was a 1 lap (1km) TT. The tactic was smash up the climb and then try to maintain until the slight downhill. So the climb was 23 seconds at 575w followed by 25seconds at 427w with the downhill being only 10seconds at 350w. The final part was the flat section to the end 27seconds at 415w.

The National Championships Weekend, the biggest race I've ever done and it's not close. The race featured some of the people who will be aiming for Gold at Paris as well as the people who have featured each week.

The TT was an interesting day, and I want to say thanks to the British Paracycling staff (especially Hannah) for helping me salvage my day. This was my first ever proper TT (Round 1 had some issues with the course, so it was slightly delayed), and I made a rookie error misunderstanding that a sighter lap is only if there is time for one. Anyway, I was allowed to do 8 laps, which allowed for a warm up for Sunday crit. It also helped me understand how the circuit is with the strong headwind. I  never really wanted to compete but learn more about the course and have fun. That said, I paced it really badly…

I gained in the tailwind period to only lose it in the headwind each lap until my final lap against who I was targeting to beat. I think this wasn’t helped by the bike fit but Sajjad did 225w for his 45min effort and I did 270w for my 34min effort, but I only gained 13 seconds across the 8 laps. 

I was happy with my ride, especially given I wasn’t really motivated to race flat out especially into the 26mph headwind. But it did give me an idea of how good I will be for the crit. 

Also I got some really good photos of me, thanks to my dad (AndyRogersPhotography.co.uk) which are below.

Sunday was the Crit Race, where I set out four objectives, and the race almost went too well...

• Survive the start

• Not get dropped due to technique

• Beat Sajjad

• Ride with Millie and Becca

While I struggled to clip in initially, the combination of the group size and tailwind straight meant I got back onto the group immediately. I ran out of gears and had to go 115 rpm for 45 kph (I decided against changing gears ahead of the Nat Champs and will do it the following week) but wasn't affected.

I got onto Millie (one of my three "competitors" I was focusing on) wheel with the other two people I was focusing were on my wheel (Becca and Sajjad) for the first hairpin. When the group sprinted off, Millie couldn't follow but I decided that I was happy to be in this group of four, but when Becca countered, I followed.

This led to 5mins of me going flat out while Becca tried to keep me in her wheel before Millie caught us up. That 5mins was 317w (335w NP) well within my estimate of 350-400w range of a flat out effort, but still a hard effort.

When Millie caught us up, I decided to wait for her while Becca (racing against Millie for the jersey) went up the road. After working well with Becca, Millie and I worked very well and eventually brought Becca back before she countered to go up the road.

All photos by Cavan Walker

While it doesn't make sense looking back, the rhythm was good, so I didn't want to change it, but we had Millie on the front for the block headwind section (17-27mph winds), and I did the rest. Cue the funny photos of me (in the least aero position ever trying to draft Millie being as aero as possible).

That was mainly due to a combination of not being able to pace myself very well into the headwind; I was either going too slow or too hard - there were a couple of occasions where I was trying to get into the right speed and Millie went past me.

If I look back, I could have gone full out on the headwind sections a few more times as I had the legs to do it, but I wasn't sure that was true until the end.

We agreed to sprint it out, and while the sprint wasn't nothing great, it was a decent sprint for me (533w for 18 seconds, peaking at 723w).

Before we go through race objectives and how they went, I think there are a couple of things I would do differently. The first is related to my setup, which is currently far from ideal; as mentioned, I hit 115rpm to go 45kph to start the race as my gearing is too small and (as also mentioned before) the bike fit meant that I lost so much time due to aerodynamics. The second thing is that I could have jumped off Millie's wheel and tried to keep up on the first lap, but I thought they would be going too fast for me. I took the conservative approach, fearing the impact of being solo in the headwind. I think it was the right call for the race, and I would have definitely jumped if not for the wind.

So, yes, I could have done a few things differently, but I think I made the right call. Changing gears before a big race and having a bike fit were not sensible options, even if it did cost me a bit in the race. 

But to return to the four objectives, I achieved all four. Yes, I got lucky that the group was big enough that I was able to get back into it after failing to clip in properly, but it was still a success. 

The other objective in all my races is about technique (mainly about cornering). The technique to do well in paracycling is, unsurprisingly, lower than able-bodied, but it is still a weakness for me. With two corners that you could pedal through, the only time technique was really on show was the hairpin. With the hairpin into the headwind, being able to follow the rider in front as close as possible was critical to not wasting energy. I was delighted with my progress and how I could make two moves around corners (one to catch up to Becca and the second not to waste energy when moving to the front).

Onto results objectives: These two depend on how good the other riders are and how they felt on the day. While it means I’m not entirely in control, I think it makes more sense than saying I want to do 280w for an hour in the race because race situation dedicates power. For example, I did 275w NP but wasn’t flat out for the hour and know I can do at least 280-285w range.

The first result-based objective was to beat Sajjad, with whom we went into the race 1-1 for crit races. We both had a similar start and I pulled us (along with Becca) back into the main group. After the first hairpin, Sajjad was dropped as part of Becca’s attack by both Becca and I went up the road while Millie put in a move to try and follow, meaning that he was solo - which meant a brutal TT with the headwind.

As just mentioned, I followed Becca’s move to go with my objective of racing with Becca and Millie. The purpose of this objective is that both of these riders have similar speed to me when looking at TTs, so I thought I’d see if I could keep up with them in the road race once factoring in TT bike vs road bike. While Becca was clearly stronger than me, I raced with her for 5mins and then I raced with Millie for the rest of the race (55mins) before sprinting with her at the end. 

Which means that I hit all four of my objectives! Also I’ve got some really good photos courtesy of Cavan Walker - as seen above to make for an amazing day on the bike!

To finish up my blogs, I do a fitness review and discuss my next block. To start, I’m doing the Via Criterium 4th Cat and 3/4 on Saturday 22nd June (in between taking photos at the National Champs!). I will then finish off the block by racing Solihull 2/3/4 RR on 14th July (which takes place on the same course and morning of the British Team Cup race) and then Para Nat Series Round 4 in Middlesborough with the crit on the 20th and TT on the 21st. 

My FTP is currently in the 280-285w range, and my weight is 79.3kg (a slight increase during tapering week from a lightest of 77.7kg). That gives me an FTP w/kg of 3.53-3.59w/kg, which means I’m getting close to my 300w FTP goal and my 4w/kg FTP goal!