Totnes-Vire 2 Day Elite Road Race

Stage races, they are what people think of most when you say road cycling. Most of the general public think of the Tour de France when you ask them about cycling and so do most keen cyclists. Stage races are big business on the continent and are common place in the pro tour. However, they are few and far between in the UK with only a handful of stage races in one year. Even then we’re not talking about big week long events, generally most of them are just 2 days over a weekend with the exception the RAS which is a 5 day stage race which takes place in Wales.

The village of Drewteignton.

The one thing I love about stage races apart from the fact that you get race your bike over a couple of consecutive days, is the fact that in stage racing and rare component comes in to play which doesn’t usually feature in most one day events, Recovery. How one recovers between stages can make or break their race and could be the deciding factor. I would bet that if you ask any Tour de France cyclist what the most important thing is during the gruelling 3 week event, most would says that it’s their ability to recover, to be able to go hard day in day out and not have a bad day no matter what happens. This component can wreak havoc among the bunch and can ultimately mean that a lesser cyclist can win if his ability to recover is better than the strongest guys in the race.

The compact accomodation

Last week end saw Team RPC/SubZero compete in their first multi day event of the year, the Totnes-Vire 2 Day which took place in south Devon not far from Oakhampton.  The layout of the race consisted of a 3.1 mile prologue at 11.00am on Saturday morning followed by a 67.5 mile road race in the afternoon which started a 14.00. Sunday was a single road stage of just over 70 miles. This was an E/1/2/3 category race with some big team present including Primal Europe, Herbal Life-Leisure Lakes, NFTO and Corley Cycles amongst others. This would mean the racing would be fast hard and consistent which would really put everyone’s recovery to the test on Saturday night.

Friday Leave

We decided to head up on the Friday night in order to save us having to get up stupidly early on Saturday morning. Tony arranged the accommodation which was in a pub in a village called Drewsteignton which was around 10 miles from Exeter. Me and Adrian travelled up together in his car whilst mike travelled down on his tod from Bristol. Tony on the other hand managed to borrow an Aston Martin from his place of work so powered down with the privilege of free fuel, lucky devil.
Adrian and myself arrived at the pub at around 7pm and after checking in to our compact room we headed back in to the pub for some grub and very nice it was too. Later on Tony and Mike rolled up who had met at the mother who lives in Taunton; they both had their fill there. At around 11pm we hit the sack and was kept awake most of the night by the sound of the cooling system outside so most of us had a pretty poor night’s sleep but it was enough.

Race Day

Tony and Mike chilling

Saturday was soon upon us and given the terrible weather forecasts that we had all heard leading up to the week end, we were all dreading what the day would be like. After opening the blinds we discovered that it was indeed raining but they had forecast that it would actually stop so we all had our fingers crossed. A bowl of Muesli later and we were all ready to rock and roll so of we went to the HQ which was around 40 minutes away and based the other side of the national park.

The first race was the prologue and no TT bikes were allowed, however, this didn't stop Tony bringing his new 100mm deep rear wheel in an attempt to gain as much time as possible. As we all expected the3.1 miles were savage. Dead straight road, undulating, draggy and in to a head wind, oh it was pretty grim. The good news however was that the rain had stopped and it seemed to be drying up. Tony was the first of the team to go at 20 minutes past, ~I was second at 27 mins past, mike 3rd at 49 minutes and finally 2nd from last was Adrian at 78 mins past.  Tony managed the best time of the team with a 7.36 which put him in 38th spot and in a good contending position for the over all. Adrian was managed a 7.44 and Mike a 7.52. I managed what one would expect from a 58kg climber; a pretty rubbish time! Well it was ok, 8.06, not last bit not far off!

Stage 2

Tony got all his kit in this!!

As 2pm rolled around, we all lined up out side the HQ ready for the road race. The rain was holding off but the wind was picking up and the temperature had dropped. everyone was shivering to death on the start line and desperate to get going. The race was contested over 67 miles and would be races on a loop of which we would complete 6 times in total. After a quick start, the bunch took of down the first couple of lanes which were pretty narrow and full of potholes. The bunch seemed very twitchy and was not helped by the wind . As we hit the fist main descent it seems everyone was pretty cagey so took it easy, it was on the first climb where a touching of wheel occurred and some riders went down. A break if around got away on the first lap and managed to gain around 2 minutes with 3 laps to go. The team was riding well, keeping close to the front and covering what moves we could. Adrian put in an awesome effort on the front on the last lap which he later explained was done to make everyones legs hurt more tomorrow!

As we begun the last lap, the break was a bit bigger after a few rider had bridged the gap. The bunch was now a bit smaller after the savage pace caused a few riders to pack. on the final stretch of road which we all knew well due to having ridden it for the TT, the bunch had the break in sight who now only a handful of seconds up the road. We didn't catch the however so we set ourselves up for the sprint. Tony was looking strong so I tried to help move him in to a better position by driving down the side of the bunch. Unfortunately this just lead to us getting boxed in again but Tony did manage to jump to the other side of the bunch which allowed him and bother Mike to put in great sprint which saw them in the top 10 of the bunch. I got boxed in during the last 250 but still managed about top 20 whilst Adrian came in just a few rider back

Dinner Time.

With the first day of racing out the way, the recovery began. First was the recovery drink, then the compression tights and then........Stomach Cramps! This is something which i seem to get far to often, I was bent over in agony during the drive back to the B&B but thankfully after lying on my stomach for a bout 30 minutes they seemed to disappear. Tony and Mike had decided that they were going to head back up to Taunton and stay over at his folks due to the bad nights sleep they had, this left me and Adrian to fend for ourselves and find some recovery fuel. After a quick drive in to Exeter we came across a Pizza Hut, perfect. A fine dinner of 2 bowls of free salad and a cheese free, thin crust, chicken, mushroom and sweetcorn. Lovely. Back at the room we discussed tomorrow race tactics and then hit the sack at around 10.30 and both of us had a grand night sleep!

Day 3

We awoke to the expected sound of rain, rain, rain as well as an slightly more unexpected chill in the air. This lead to the usual discussion of what to wear for the race; too little and we would freeze, too much and we would cook! Its one of cycling's dilemmas that everyone has been through time and time again. However, as it was we didn't have to worry about because as we arrived at the HQ and met up with Tony and Mike, we were informed that 2 outriders had rode the course and deemed it too unsafe to race on and therefore stage 3 would be cancelled. TO be fair I think most of us expected it and due to the debris and the floods the option of shortening the course wasn't even possible. Most of me was disappointed that it had being cancelled due to the fact that yesterday was so fun but then a very small part of me was relived because the conditions were volatile.

After packing up, saying our goodbyes and watching Tony wheels spin off in the Aston, we headed home and the driving rain and began planning for next weeks stage race. Lets just hope that the conditions are a bit more favorable.









Dan