Hog Hill 24th May - Team work pays off!

Steph reports on her entry into the Cat 3 ranks, with a little help from some pink team mates...


I've decided to do as many of the Hog Hill Summer Series races as I possibly can, partly to get over my fear of the Hoggenberg and partly to get some good experience in a small field to train for larger races. The last time I went, I was spectacularly dropped, then lapped, and spent the rest of the race avoiding the sympathetic looks from spectators and coming up with excuses as to why I was doing so badly. It wasn't a great experience so tonight I was secretly dreading scaling that hill 16 times. Even worse when the 7 of us lined up on the start my team mates were nowhere to be seen and I resigned myself to another day of hill reps.

We set off and for the first lap the pace was high. Fighting my way up the hill I saw 2 pink-clad ladies, Nicole and new teammate Anna, waiting at the top, and realised that reinforcements had arrived (I later found out that they’d time trialled their way from a nearby station after having their train cancelled). Nicole placed herself right in front of me and I spent the next lap focussing on her cassette and pink QR skewer, working to stay on her wheel. At the top of the hill another team Pink member, Coralie, joined the group. Coralie took up residence as my babysitter and Nicole worked her way through the group.

A few laps in and there was a break of 3 which I simply wasn't strong enough to chase so Nicole held the bunch back. As the laps counted up I noticed that Nicole was working to hold the group back while Coralie was working to keep me with them. Realising what was happening, I started grinning. Then I noticed that I was grinning and thought it was a bit smug, so resumed staring at Coralie's cassette and working to ignore the voice in my head telling me to stop.

There were a few close calls when I took corners too wide and lost her wheel but we managed to get a break on the final lap. With one lap to go, Coralie pushed over the Hoggenberg with me right on her wheel and Nicole yelling for us to go, whilst she held up the others. Coralie did a flat-out 1 lap lead out which set me up for a perfect 4th place, which I unfortunately lost due to going too early on the hill but still managed to secure 5th and move up into 3rd category. Anna, doing only her 3rd race ever, also picked up some points, and joined us at the finishing line with a huge grin on her face.

Watching the team tactics play out during the race was fascinating and it was so rewarding to see both hard work and team work pay off. It was an excellent race and I can't wait to do it again!