La Fléche Normande

Last Sunday marked the end of a series of cyclosportives I’ve competed in this summer. This last one started and finished in the coastal town of Cabourg in Normandy.

The weekends objective for me was to protect the 5th position I had gained during the Trophée National. It was always going to be tough as 2 of the riders below me were technically stronger than me and without some luck a great result and on the day would leap-frog me in the competion.  

The weekend was a rollercoaster in more ways than one. Initially my friend Graham had to pull out of the sportive due to suffering a hernia. Then en route descending a hill on a rough road the grass verge was littered with cyclists repairing punctures, then guess what happened???….. I joined them!  A few busy few minutes changing the inner tube and seeing two groups of cyclists pass me I was back on the road. Pumped up with adrenalin I chased hard to catch the last group which had passed me moments before. After a few minutes hard work I caught them and then ended up spending the most of the remaining event with these guys.

The group was relatively fast, but I knew it wasn’t as quick as the group I had been in before the puncture. Despite a lot of effort at the front and a few attacks I wasn’t able to entice anybody into the void ahead. The longer the race went on the bigger the gap would become and the more futile any attempt to break free became. I eventually resigned myself to working hard at the front with a few of the others toward the arrivée in Cabourg.

Although still feeling strong when we hit the last hill a few of us ended up going backwards. Maybe I should have saved something in reserve, because I could not do anything about it until we got back to flatter roads. I reeled a few guys back in the closing kilometers, but was a little bit peeved at my tactical ’balls up’ on that final climb.

So, enjoyable as the ride had been the puncture and balls up I thought any chance of glory was gone.  Therefore at the award ceremony I was not expecting the call to the podium to receive what seemed a hard earned, if a little ‘tacky’ Trophy they were handing out to all the top ten finishers.

However ,there is some ambiguity in the results. On the day I was credited with 5th place in the competion and this is true if you take the total points I accumulated in the 7 events. However on the BRS website they have credited me with 6th place based on the best of 5 events. Still either way I’m too concerned. As enjoyable as the event has been it has been a huge commitment. So in a way I’m glad it’s over now I can take life a little bit easier!