Season memories – Chapter II

There we go then and again. It was mid June, when we loaded my trustworthy red devil, which is also known Citroen Berlingo. To clarify my overstatement; it's red at least, if not devil – but arguably the best vehicle for easy bike gear transportation in my opinion. The destination was I southwest Poland in Lower-Silesia. The race, that I really was aiming my top form for was the university world championships held in Jelenia Gora in July. The reason behind going there so early was very much two folded: at the same time it was a summer holiday for my parents. And for me, it served as a solid preparation, which was evidently necessary considering the course.

Cobbles in Krivoklat!

The plan was to get familiar with the course that was used for the time trial and road race. It was basically a 14km lap with an uphill over 5,5km, respective downhill and slight transition. To get any results out, it was beneficial to learn the course with all the hairpins and bends. So that was one factor, another factor was to get some racing in there before and perhaps after, which was I also managed. Before the WUC 2014 actually took place I rode three events in Czech Republic. From which, I managed a fourth, tenth (second in combiresults) and then in Chrudim, I got my first road race win to my surprise. I was strong in each event powerwise and the events were superb with cobbles, hills and all. See some photos!

Slatinany-Monaco.

Last bit of reflection before start.

The WUC time trial was the main event for me. From the start I felt that no matter what, it won't be too bad. Totally different from Mustio. Total of 23 (or so) kilos and the hill in the middle. I rode it well up and pretty felt terrible when I started the descent. My climb was at par, but I'm tempted to think my descending was better despite the rain that showed up. I did my best descent by far and at times found my both wheels drifting a bit. I got the feeling that I used to get at times when I still raced on skis. The feeling, that comes from taking a bend faster than you think you could take and afterwards you realize that ”whoa, that was pretty fast!”. The flat part at the end was very much a fight, but I'd guess it was the very same for everyone.

Ready, set, go...

I finished 11^th with a solid ride and at that time I hadn't found out that the level of competition was pretty decent. In front of me, I had eight professionals from various levels. A detail to get a grasp: the winner rides for OPQS and couple weeks later won a stage in a breakaway and took the leaders jersey for days in Poland. Happy enough, I was. I wasn't in medal pace, but my pacing worked well (so say the splits also) and my ride was on par.

The road race next day was a good for me in terms of my performance level. I managed a solid power throughout the race, but it wasn't enough. I made a mistake in the first ascent, or maybe not a mistake as such, but anyway. I tried to get an early breakaway before the first climb, but it never realized. Thus, I was a bit on the red zone going to the climb and when the strong guys kick in and get rid of some of the crop – it is not good. The mistake; being on 'the red' made me control my pace for sake of not blowing up and it got me eventually dropped. Retrospectively, the smart (yet riskier approach) would have been to hang on and get to the red properly. And then, if I could have hung on, could have managed to the top, could have recovered on the descent and the race could have been far different. Coulda, shoulda, woulda – don't we all love to be smart afterwards. I didn't and I couldn't and that as far as it goes. The race was made interesting by the weather. It was similar as during the training – see the photo.

Bit of rain just makes things more interesting.

The rest of the trip consisted from one start in Kalas Cup (the main thing in Czech Republic), which was hard enough. I didn't get a result, but nontheless, it was good experience. Then couple days of holiday in Szczecin (yes, that is correct spelling, at least almost) during which I managed to get over my fear and persistence of not drive karts. That is another story worth telling, but not in this context.

Kalas Cup in Nove Mesto - Not the freshest one for me.

Then, I made a decision to ride in Malmö, Sweden, which was (in retrospect again!) not a productive one. I simply couldn't breathe, and took early DNF's in both of the races as consequence to rather severe asthma symptoms. I don't think there is a good description for what I sounded like, but yet I managed to tell everyone that everything is fine and under control. It certainly did not sound like that.

Now the trip was over and we travelled back to Finland. The wholeness of it was brilliant. Good races, met bunch of new people and special greetings to Lubomir, if you happen to read this one. Also met Simon, a long time friend, greetings just as well. Mainly good results and lots of miles climbed.

End of Chapter II.