Horizon Fitness RT Cheshire Experience

Please take time out to back our "Keep Racing on the Roads" campaign to save Road racing by becoming a fan of our dedicated facebook page

Story posted April 26, 2010; Team Press Release | Photos: Andy May (email)

The Cheshire Classic by Sarah Storey, Hannah Rich and Annie Simpson
Coming off the back of two and a half weeks of unusually great British weather, Horizon Fitness girls were hoping for a dry and sunny race in the heart of Cheshire. We weren’t disappointed, although the heavens did open immediately after we arrived back at the HQ after our warm down! It was a chilly morning as we met in the car park of Weaverham High School and watched some other teams assemble. Rapha Condor were out in force with 6 or 7 riders and Max Gear RT also had about six riders.

Final sprint for Sarah at the Cheshire Classic. Photo: Andy May (email)

In the absence of team mates on international duty in Holland, Belgium and Canada, we were a small but perfectly formed unit and this was the first opportunity for any of us to race in a group where we were all capable of riding as a “team”. Riders present were Annie Simpson, Hannah Rich, Ella Sadler-Andrews and me, Sarah Storey.

With Hannah Rich staying over with me the night before, we’d had the opportunity to catch up with DS, Stef Wyman on the phone and formulate a team plan. The plan made perfect sense and it wasn’t just one plan, we had several different scenarios depending how the race panned out with the other teams. What was great for the four of us, all new to team riding, was that the plans gave us all different, but important, roles to play depending on the race situation and this certainly added to the desire each of us had to make the race a far better spectacle than it had been in recent years. None of us wanted the usual procession of negative women’s racing where big teams don’t work together and take a race to their opposition.

We warmed up together and chatted through our race plan, talked about the course and vowed to each other this race would be a good one! From the start, all four Horizon Fitness Girls were on the front of the 50 strong peloton, keeping the tempo high and making sure that it wasn’t going to be an easy ride. The course at Cheshire Classic is a real mix of terrain and roads, but it can be broken down easily and pacing or attacking strategies can really match the different parts of the course. The start of a lap is a long out and back section on the A49 bypass, up hill into a headwind, turn, down hill with a tailwind. The next left can be a sticky part of the race as everyone fights for position as the road then kicks up quite sharply to a tight S bend at the top. Once the road flattens out it remains quite narrow but can be fast before a sweeping left hander and a draggy section to cross the bridge over the bypass, another sweeping left hander takes the route to a fast descent and after a nasty kick at the end, riders rejoin the bypass again.

With 10 and a half laps making a distance of 80km, the early part of the race is well known for being a procession, but bizarrely it’s the slower speeds that make the race dangerous. With the Horizon Fitness girls showing strongly at the start of the race, there was never a chance for anyone to ease their legs in and it was the high early pace that prevented the usual bunching up and fighting for position at the bottom of the climb. Taking the bunch up the climb at the same fast pace on each of the laps meant that we were able to reduce the size of that starting group and we soon shed about a third of the field.

Each lap the Horizon Fitness Girls came to the front once the pace had settled and each lap they sheltered me to the bottom of the climb to set up a potential breakaway. Our first plan was to put me in a breakaway and let Annie, Hannah and Ella, control the peloton and choose their own chances to attack. We couldn’t possibly tell you Plan’s B, C and D because we may need them in future! After the fourth lap of our effective team riding, the girls set me up perfectly and I was away and flying in a group of eight that quickly reduced to seven. As the breakaway built up a lead, it was inspiring to see the girls controlling the peloton as we crossed paths on the out and back section of the course. They were sat in the bunch enjoying the ride and cheering their own encouragement to me.

The break was strong, really strong and coupled with the Horizon Fitness Girls doing their job brilliantly in the peloton, our lead extended to 3 minutes at one point. As the laps were ticked off and the finish was nearing, I started to try and work out how I might place myself going into that final corner. I knew I’d probably be marked, so didn’t want to find myself with no wheel to ride off. I also wanted to be near the front to get safely round the last corner and managed to place myself in second wheel.

As the road started to rise and with about 200m to go (although it does feel further with the gradient of the road) I started to kick and line myself up for the finish. Coming off the leading wheel, it was not at all as I expected, there was no one either side of me and it certainly wasn’t as crowded going into the finish as I had envisaged. I guess you could describe it as something of a drag race. The road bares to the right, so I had the finish line in sight and was out of the saddle sprinting for the lives of my team mates, when I became aware of someone to my right – a flash of purple.

I tried to dig deeper and out the saddle was bringing my trailing foot through as fast as I could, trying to get the pedals moving faster. I was gutted the line was just slightly too far from me and the flash of purple was Jess Booth, who had timed coming round me to perfection. Second! Ouch! That really hurt….. I fell onto the grass for a brief moment of complete exhaustion and felt gutted I’d not completed the job, before righting myself and watching in earnest for the arrival of my team mates.

It was Hannah I spotted first, streaking away from the rest of the peloton and comfortably taking 8th place. Ella was just behind and then Annie.

Here’s what they had to say:
Hannah; “I was really excited when I woke up to actually be racing in a team and have a team plan which could work so was really looking forward to the race! My legs felt good for the race so I was hoping to be able to pull off the plan for the team. Luckily we did so it was smiles all around at the end! We all put in the effort to make the race fast from the start and let Sarah lead up the hill and one time I think she was trying to drop her team mates she was that strong! Once we managed to get Sarah off the front, we were able to just control the pace!"

"We then got the thumbs up from Barney (Sarah’s husband) to start attacking as they had a big enough gap. Me and Annie got into a move with Corrine (Hall) and thought it was going to stick but soon enough it was back together! We then moved on to plan b of leading me out for the sprint which was to perfection! It was Annie, Ella then me and they timed it perfectly for me and we got the bunch sprint! Then once we had caught our breath we found out Sarah had done amazing and come 2nd. It was an amazing feeling to know how well she had done. She is now making a mark in road racing and couldn't be more excited to race with the team again."

Annie “It has been along time since I’ve finished a British women’s race with such a buzz and for the first time my mum had a peaceful drive home afterwards! I struggle in races to place well in the sprint finish at the end, but it was such a nice feeling to use my strengths to help my other team mates to get their positions! We were on the front from the start and made sure the pace was high which perfectly reduced the size of the bunch. When Sarah got into the break we knew we had to help increase the time gap, so we controlled all the attacks and blocked on the front perfectly!"

"Then it was our turn to start some attacks but we were marked riders by this point and no one would let us go anywhere. We still wanted to take the bunch sprint and so I headed to the front on the last lap and wound it up and up along the by-pass. I knew Hannah was on my wheel and we didn’t want to give the other riders an easy run to the finish. Ella came through and paced the last section into the sprint and Hannah bless her sprinted for her life and got the bunch sprint! I crawled across the line in 19th, spent from my efforts and trying to avoid some painful cramp. Ella even after her efforts managed to put in a great sprint too! Then we found out Sarah had got 2nd! We were very happy girls! To finally be in a positive women’s race with a team around me was the best feeling I’ve had in a long time and now I’m more than excited for next weekend at Bedford!”

"After much scrutiny of the downloaded race computer on my bike, the evidence was staring back at me from the screen, our girls really had screeched round that first few laps! With an average speed of 39.5kph, just a touch under 25 miles an hour, until the break was formed! No wonder we reduced the peloton so quickly! There wasn’t much let up on the speed for the remainder of the race either and we finished over 10 minutes faster than in previous years, with a race average of 38.3kph and the bunch just a couple of minutes down."

www.onthedrops.com