On Saturday Joseph Jenner entered the SERRL Criterium race for Cat 3 & 4 Riders Women & Juniors. A 90 minute race. He did well to finish the race as it was his first criterium which primarily contained men. Joseph decided he wanted to try Road Racing as he has been Time Trialing over the last year and surely it cannot be that different, as you are predominantly in a group rather than on your own. Wrong, it is different and it's not the same as what you see on the tele, and not everybody ends up in the Peloton, and if you are not, then you have one long time trial on your hands. Pre race was easy. Joseph knew which riders to look out for and the pre-race plan was just to sit on their wheel right until the end, then just go for it. Pre-race plans and actually what happens, can be, and in this situation, are completely different. First of all, it was a Category 3 & 4 Criterium with (as we found out quickly) about 6 Cat 3 riders with Cat 2 aspirations. Each rider is allowed a few warm up circuits before the race starts, and then the Commissar requests all riders to form up at the start line. It was at this point that Joseph realised there were no other young riders in this race and looking around found out that the vast majority were men in their mid twenties.
Being the young novice, Jo opted to start at the back (thereby keeping out of trouble). This was I'm afraid a tactical error. Once the starter’s siren had sounded the 6 aspiring Cat 2 riders shot off at great speed catching everyone by surprise. The idea was to break up the field quickly, and give a great deal of open space between these 6 and the rest of the field. Mission accomplished by the first turn. Meanwhile at the back of the peloton (which was now disappearing in front of Joseph) was a young 16 year old trying rapidly to catch up and hold on. It was not to be, and the peloton increased in speed and maintained a distance (always just out of view for Jo). The pre-race plan fell to pieces, and over the next 1 hour and 30 mins Jo ended up doing a 31 mile time trial. He didn't give up, and Dad was spurring him on with, ' you’re closing the gap, well done, keep going'. As the race continued Joseph was not to see the peloton again until the finish, but he did manage to go past a few stragglers who could not keep up as the race continued. Joseph finally finished with a 'well done son at least you continued to the very end' from the Commissar. A very tired teenager fell asleep in the car on the way home, who in the last few hours had learnt a lot, and realised that Road Racing was a completely different experience to Time Trialing. So is Jo put off by this foray into the Road scene? No he is not. In fact he is now spurred on to do better. Two weeks and we will be back for some more.
One word of warning for those venturing to the Cyclopark. It is not yet officially open (opens in about 6 weeks time). Therefore none of the facilities are open. Signing on and toilets are portacabin style. But more importantly there is no drinking water. Make sure you arrive with full water bottles or otherwise it's a trip to the BP Garage (which does have fuel) down the road. It's also very exposed so anyone going to watch needs to wrap up warm. From a spectators point of view it's good as you can walk around the circuit as the race continues.
I have also attached a few pictures of Joe as well.
Reporting by Peter Jenner
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