When you are the fastest rider in the field the 'last man' the 'scratch man' if you will, as I was on Sunday in the North Middlesex & Hertfordshire CA '100' you would expect to win wouldn't you? The extra pressure of expectation on 'the win' is different from that when you are going for a personal best, there is a steady build up of pressure from the time you get a start sheet and your name leaps out 'favourite'. Other riders will say in their mind "If I beat him I will have done a good ride" You put pressure on yourself to do a good ride when you think you can do a PB, but the pressure is yours to control and is used to psyche yourself up for the event, of course the feeling of doing a good ride or even a PB is only experienced in the event as you push yourself to the finish and get the time you want but If your ride does not materialise there is always another event. It's not so simple when you are the favourite, there is a weight of expectation, dealing with this pressure is usually what marks out a good rider from a great rider. Thankfully I am only in this position occasionally, I am usually aiming to beat this or that rider and when I do I know I have done a good ride. Riders who win all the time will say that they expect to win but underneath being a winner is more of a mental battle than a physical one and in sport we prepare our self for the latter and its the rider who has the greatest need or the more experience that is better prepared in the former department and gets the elusive win Sure I've won a few Road Races and I've been close (like 1 second as in the recent Zenith 2Up) but my last and only win in an CTT (RTTC then) 'open' event was over a quarter of a century ago in June 1982. A ride I still consider to be my finest, to win the Hertfordshire Whs '30' on the E72 in 1.4.32 in my diary it said "I used nothing less than 53 x 13 and the ride was effortless" I was supremely fit (read over trained) as is the want of young athletes with dreams of being 'the best' with more energy than they know what to do with. I was mainly riding on the track and put a good one together for the day over the 'testers' ably supported on the day by my brother Phil who would have been the winner himself if I had not been there but a shade under 4 minutes back in second spot. (For the H/c prize the positions were reversed) On that day I was truly storming, I was off number 5 and I had caught everybody in front of me by five miles, and it was a bit of a shock for some of the marshall's who were still sitting in their cars as I sped along the A27 to my destiny. I must have had some form as I broke the Club '50' record a week later. In that event I had a double wheel change at 25 miles for broken spokes (and a slow puncture for the last 5 miles). I remember standing by the side of the road while my dad changed both wheels and cheering Ian Cammish who won that day had not caught me for 3 min at this point, he went on to do a 1.45, I had to be satisfied with a PB of 1.57
On Sunday the course of the winner did not run perfectly, I had to dismount at 12 miles to 'jiggy' my rear mech which the cable had become seized, and as I set off again my chain wedged between the chain rings but I do not think it delayed me much more than a minute and a half. Alan who had come out to help did a magnificent job keeping tabs on the opposition and I was up all the way until the end of the race when he spotted the eventual second Andy Stuart (VC St Raphael) with no previous time to his name somewhat of a 'ringer' and level with 10 miles to go. Fortunately I had kept a bit in the tank knowing that the finish had a sting in the tail and I pulled out my winning margin of 30 seconds here.
When people look back all they remember is the winner, as Paul Alderson reminded me your name goes in next years handbook for a year of posterity but as another 'Champion' always says to me " a win is for all eternity" nobody can take it away like a record or even a PB. And that is the same for a club event or a National Championship, winning is an elusive and fickle sensation and while I have only experienced it occasionally and fleetingly in a time trial I find it very agreeable just now. Next week the National Championship '100' in Wales I shall be back in my customary and more comfortable position
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