North West Youth Tour 2018

The North West Youth Tour moved from May to August bank holiday this year, but the field was as competitive as ever. There were 90 riders in the race, and the race was slightly over subscribed so everyone at the race deserved to be there. My aim was a top 25 and close to or in the top 10 of younger years.

Stage 1

Stage 1 was a 2.3km prologue along Morcambe promenade. The course was an out-and-back, with a U-turn halfway. I didn’t do as well as I wanted last year, so I went into it this year hoping to beat my time by a considerable distance. According to the weather forecast, it was the only day due to be sunny so I had to make the most of the good weather.

Me and Dad set up our rollers right by the start, so I could see when each number was leaving the start ramp. They were running a little bit behind schedule, but I could see the start line so I could stay on the rollers for as long as possible.

By the time I started my TT, about 35 riders had already finished. I made sure I sprinted down the start ramp, but at the bottom my foot unclipped. It wasn’t the worst moment for it to happen though, as I was going slow enough to clip in quickly and continue my race.

I got back up to speed and spent the next 2.2km going as fast as physically possible. Dad thinks I slowed down too much going around the last corner compared to other riders, but on video I look pretty quick to me! I finished 49th, and 23rd out of the younger years. I was pleased with my result, although I knew that I could have gone a few seconds faster. I got 3.24 which was 14 seconds faster than last year, so I had achieved my goal of beating my previous time.

Stage 2

This was the big one, the hilly road stage that I had came for. The course was harder than at Errigal because I raced up a 1km hill 13 times, with only a couple of minutes recovery in between. The climb was never too steep, but extremely windy at the top. The decent had two corners on it, and both a little bit sketchy. It was a summit finish, so perfect for riders like me who like climbing.

The weather forecast was not good. While it didn’t rain before my race, it rained during the race, and the roads became extremely wet. The race started well for me, I was in a reasonably big front group but fairly comfortable in it. On the 3rd and 4th laps the pace started to increase and riders started to get dropped. The main difficulty was that there was little to no recovery between the climbs, so I slowly became more and more fatigued.

On the 7th time up the hill, I was very nearly dropped. By now the group was down to 25 riders and the pace was slowly increasing. I just about managed to stay in contact with the peleton, but when they accelerated at the bottom of the next climb I was dropped. As I was on my own, except for a couple of lapped riders, other riders who had been dropped before me caught me up on the next couple of laps.

 

By the final lap I wasn’t in a good state. My hands were so cold that I couldn’t change gear properly, and my teeth were too cold to rip open a gel. I think that the cold got to my head as well, as I didn’t really think about the fact that I had a nearly full bottle on my bike, which would have given me energy. In the sprint at the end I lost 6 seconds from the chase group, and I was glad to have finished one of the toughest races I have ever done.

I finished 28th on the stage, and 12th younger year, which was where I finished the day on GC. I was pleased with my performance, but knew that I could definitely improve. My main point was that I should have drunk more, with a bit more energy I might have been able to stick with the chase group on the final sprint. I also learnt that even in August I might have to wear full gloves if it is cold.

Stage 3

When the new route for stage 3 was released, it looked pretty good, a few left hand turns and a couple of small undulations. However, when doing course reconnaissance, I found that the course was narrow, bumpy and there was lots of gravel. I wasn’t really looking forward to it but I told myself to enjoy it and try to do the best I could.

I made sure that I was on the front row on the pen, which meant that I was second row on the start line (the front row were the gridded top 10). We had a lap that was neutralised, and I slipped further back then I’d have liked through the group. By the time the actual racing got underway, I was a somewhere in the middle of the field, and I was concerned that if a group of 20 got away I’d have no chance of going with them.

On one of the first few corners a crash occured right next to me. While I had to slow down, I avoided it, and managed to chase back on to the group. The race was a war of attrition, instead of the race splitting up into small group riders were slowly getting dropped. With every lap the group was getting smaller, and on the 6th lap I found myself gapped with a few other riders. Luckily we had Jack Rootkin-Gray, the overall leader, with us, so he towed us back to the leaders.

Strangely enough, I found myself enjoying this stage. I guess it was due to the fact that it was an unusual race, and probably helped that I stayed with the front group, while almost two thirds of the field didn’t. I finished in 33rd place but with no time gap, and I was the most happy I’ve been after a race since I came 3rd at the Dolan series.

 

In the end I finished 21st on GC and 11th younger year, so I had achieved my pre-race aims. The fact that I kept up with the front group meant that I moved up on GC, which was unexpected going into stage 3. This was my final stage race of the year, now really looking forward to next year, with the aim of a top 10 as an older year U16.