"Holiday" in Jersey

Our trip to Jersey for the August Bank Holiday weekend was billed by the organisers as a “summer holiday” having been moved from it’s usual slot in May. We were told to bring our bikinis! So, we weren’t too happy to be greeted by rain on arrival to the island. Lots of it. The forecast for the following day was “rain or showers… wind with a risk of gales”. Our only consolation was that the same rubbish weather was also hitting the mainland, so it wasn’t as if we were missing out on anything.

Big Maggy's coffee

The plan was to arrive Friday afternoon and take our bikes out for a spin. However, this plan was soon abandoned to be replaced with afternoon tea in our very nice hotel. I must say, the quality of the cakes was very high, although I seemed to be the only one eating them amongst my disciplined team mates. From there it was straight to Big Maggy’s coffee shop to find Tony Moffa, the race organiser, and have confirmed that sign-on for tomorrow’s time trial was in fact 7am… at a place 30min ride away. I already started to form excuses why I might not be partaking.

Saturday - 15km time trial

When the alarm went off on Saturday morning pre-6am, I had a list of circumstances that would allow me to opt out. One was rain. Two was if my team mates pulled out. I did crawl back into bed when a text arrived from Coralie saying she wasn’t too keen, but Vikki, my room mate for the weekend, got me out of bed by offering coffee. It was literally blowing a gale when we got down to the seafront to meet Tony for the ride over to the start. Definitely not a day for disc wheels, although there were a few brave locals who showed up on them.

Not ideal conditions for a TT

Unsurprisingly, the initial field of 60 had been whittled down to about half of that. It went pretty much as expected. The way out was super-fast, with everyone thinking this wasn’t so bad, only to be hit by a wall of wind and struggling all the way home. It wasn’t a pure head/tail wind either, with most the girls especially, being on the lighter side, having difficulty keeping their bike going in a straight line. I’m not the best time-trialler, probably didn’t try hard enough, and deservedly came second last. As per usual, the Pearson girls finished within about a minute of each other, except for Charmaine, who put in a good performance for 8th. Chris was first “foreigner”, finishing 8th overall.

Refuelling

We arrived back at the hotel in time for a full buffet breakfast, which slightly made up for the early start, as did the post-breakfast nap. Then it was back to Big Maggy’s for more coffee, bike tinkering and sitting around, and a walk around the criterium course, followed again by a nap. Eat, sleep, cycle - just like the pros. The plan for the afternoon was to reccy Monday’s road race course. However, the already gale-force winds had somehow picked-up in the afternoon and a more sensible decision to drive the course was taken instead.

Sunday – Town Criterium

On your drops Stephen!

Sunday was criterium day, starting at the social hour of 11am. With the women’s race not being scheduled until 4.20pm, I decided there was plenty of time for my body to digest another full-English. Thankfully, Jersey put on quite a pleasant day, with the wind dropping, the sun shining, and no sign of rain. After a couple of kids races, Malcolm, Chris and Stephen were up in the support race. We enjoyed cheering from the sidelines, with Malcolm (honorary Pearson in Colourtech RT kit) come in 10^th with the chasing bunch, shortly followed by Chris well and truly in the pain box, but still managing to finish and get a place (lapped riders were pulled out).

Zoom in for Chris' pain face

Team Pink pulling round the chasing group

An original field of 47 was down to 25 for the women’s race, with news that some teams had their ferry cancelled from the UK, and a number of others choosing not to race. Coralie, Vikki and I lined up on the start line at the front, or near the front, as you need to for crit races. It didn’t help me on this occasion, as I had major clip-in issues, going from front row to almost last before the first corner. Normally I’m not so keen on a neutralised lap; it is often more dangerous than the actual race as riders jostle for front position, but this time it worked to my advantage, as I scuttled round as many people as I could before the lead car pulled off, knowing that someone would probably attack as soon as it did. I only managed to get halfway up the field, so didn’t even see the lead group go off the front, but put the hammer down for a few laps and managed to eventually get on to the chasing group, where I found Vikki.

Back straight

I really did enjoy the race. I had been quite nervous about racing this weekend with a 10 week old fractured wrist and another that wasn’t broken but felt like it was. But everyone rode skilfully and safely – there were no elbows, unnecessary braking or cutting in on lines. The course was one mile long with 6 corners, and there was a fair sized crowd cheering you all the way round. The announcer added spot primes for both the leading and chasing groups to keep it interesting, and unlike other balls-out races, the 40min seemed to pass rather quickly. I thought I timed my sprint to perfection, getting right on the wheel of the girl who won the TT yesterday as we hit the finishing straight. However, as I went to pass on the inside, she changed her line slightly and, not wanting to end up in the barriers, I pulled up, and finished 11^th, with Vikki right behind me. Coralie was guilty of a schoolgirl error, not locking in her back wheel properly before the race, had two mechanical stops, and could never really get back on to the group.

Coralie jumps back in after her mechanicals

Monday – Road race

I couldn’t believe it when I found out that the road race was also scheduled for 7.30am! That’s two pre-6am wake up calls on what was supposedly classified as a “holiday”. The wind had picked up again, although not as bad as Saturday, and at least it wasn’t raining. The course was quite nice, with one long-ish drag, a descent, a windy stretch along the seafront, and a few corners, but with lovely road surface the whole way, and not a sign of a pothole. There were slightly more starters for the women’s road race than the crit (although a lot of non-finishers in the 31!), with the 3 pinkies being joined by our team mates Char and Kate. 

I had a typical Nicole road race, getting dropped on the hill when riders attacked, flogging myself to get back on, only to get dropped when the hill came up again (too much cake!). On the 3^rd climb (out of 5) I was out, with no hope of getting back on, leaving me to TT a lap and a half solo, before being picked up by a group containing my two team mates, Vikki and Kate. This made for a much more pleasant final lap, with Kate leading out our sprint train to the finish line. Trouble was, she went quite early for such a strong headwind, and Vikki and I wouldn’t let her off the front as she tried to pull off! I fluffed the sprint, but Vikki managed to hold off the Zappi girl approaching on the outside for 16th. Char and Coralie held on to the lead group almost the whole way, but were unable to “shut the door” over the last climb, coming in 10^th and 12^th. Reports from the men’s support race were that a rabbit sacrificed him/herself along the course, flicking through multiple riders wheels on his way to oblivion (eeuwghh!). Malcolm finished 4^th in the bunch sprint, with Chris visiting the pain box once again with quads cramp on the final lap to roll in for 17th.

Exhausted

All in all, a fantastic weekend of racing and a good team outing. We were thoroughly impressed by the race organiser Tony Moffa’s enthusiasm and helpfulness both before the event and during the weekend. It’s on the calendar again for next year. Could someone arrange better weather please?