It’s always nice racing and riding in the Isle of Man: good roads, good friends, good racing.
For this year’s race we travelled up on the Thursday night taking the 7pm ferry from Liverpool which would get us to our accommodation for 11pm. Once on the ferry we met up with Theo Anderson and Ollie Boarer, some fellow Junior racers, for hours of chat and jokes until we eventually made it into the harbour, then drove down to our accommodation in Port St Mary where we were staying in a house with Max and Garry Hinds. When we finally made it to the house, we quickly unpacked the car and stopped for some chat before getting some rest. Tomorrow was the first day’s racing.
In the morning it was up for some breakfast then off for an activation spin to get the journey out of the legs as well as a course recce ahead of tomorrow’s stage. Max, Theo and I set off on the ride and kept it easy, ensuring not to overdo it before the prologue. We went up and round the circuit, before quickly going to sign on, then off to find the café for some coffee and cake. I also ran into my coach Jeremy Gill at the café, and we discussed the plans for the weekend and any final prep before the prologue time trial that evening.
Back at the accommodation we had lunch; prepared the bikes, removing bottle cages and attaching transponders ahead of the nights racing.
The prologue is an interesting race, sometimes feeling a bit pointless: all that prep for less than 2 minutes of effort but it is important for timing, placing and setting a tone for the weekend.
8 o’clock approached and with it my start time came closer. Warm-ups completed, and carbs digested, it was into the holding area. 3, 2, 1 and away we go off for the 1.3km of pain and effort, there’s not much pacing with that sort of effort, just full gas to the corner, turn around and full gas back hoping to go as fast as possible. I finished in a time of 1:43 which at the time of my finish placed me inside the top ten, onto the rollers to warm down as it was a big day tomorrow, I got the chip timing up on my phone and waited. I slowly slipped down to 21st in the end, so close to that top 20 but I had limited my losses and was still close on GC. With that we headed back to the house for an early night, as tomorrow was the first big day.
In the Isle of Man, the Juniors start each race at 3 so luckily, we had a nice lie in in the morning before heading to the start. Yesterday’s warm summery evening seemed a long way off, with cold and rain coming down, the weather certainly reflected the mood. This was always going to be the hardest stage for me: 10 laps of a hilly circuit in the rain. The start was delayed by 20 minutes due to some sort of radio issue, but I managed to start 2nd row and hold my position up the climb first lap and reaching speeds of over 80kph down the wet descent. On the second lap a big attack went, and I just couldn’t follow, I pressed on to limit the time losses but ultimately a disappointing ride today. Back to the accommodation for some dinner and chat, and we created a plan for tomorrow’s stage. Stage 3 consists of 7.75 laps of a flat/slightly undulating circuit followed by the run into and the Tholt-Y-Hill top finish, so the plan was simple: get into the early break and try to hang onto the finish.
Photo credit – @garymanxmanphotos
On the day of stage 3 I did some extra rollers in the morning, I did this last year too and felt it helped to recover/activate my legs a bit before the stage so wanted to do it again. After some lunch we set off for the long drive to the Jurby circuit on the North side of the island. I arrived and signed on before getting a good warm up in, the plan was set, it just had to be executed. This year we had managed to arrange for Max, who was racing in the U16 race before us, and Garry to go to the feed zone so that Dad could go to the finish. Out of HQ we rolled up the circuit where we stopped and got briefed on the racing again.
As the race started there were immediately attacks and some small groups went up the road. I waited, taking it easy toward the front of the peloton until I saw an opportunity. With 50+km to go Archie Fletcher attacked and I managed to follow, and we quickly got a gap with one other. Theo had been up the road for some time now solo, so we were effectively the second “chase” group on the road. As the laps ticked down, we heard from the moto coms that the time was coming down to the lone leader but another chase group of 3 was coming across. Another lap later 3 more caught us soon before we caught Theo giving us a group of 7 as we prepared to leave the circuit to head to the Tholt-Y-Hill top finish. More km’s ticked down, more turns on the front were pulled, and more water drank.
As we left the circuit, we got news that the peloton was close, however a couple more riders, including the eventual winner, bridged across and we quickly extended the gap. As we rode the straight, flat run into the base of the climb my legs began to feel the effort and I realised I hadn’t eaten anything, a rookie mistake. I quickly had a gel, but it was too late, the legs were gone, and I couldn’t hold the pace of the fast-moving break. I kept riding hoping the carbs would eventually reach my legs. More km’s ticked down and I realised how big the gap we had was until eventually the peloton caught me at the base of the climb, straight through it and out the back, my race, and my hopes of a top 10 were done. I rolled up the steep climb to the finish.
No results to shout about from the weekend but a great day in the break and learnt to remember to eat properly during the race as well as drinking carb mix.
Back to the house for another night of chat and Top Gear with Max. Takeaway pizza was on the cards for dinner so whilst I was showering dad went to get it from the local Italian. However unfortunately the restaurant (with no one in it) was too busy to serve us a takeaway so we had to settle for a CO-OP pizza.
Monday morning: after a big weekend racing, you’d hope for a lie in, but we had to be out the accommodation and on the road before 10. Max and I had decided to do a nice easy ride from the house in Port St Mary up to the ferry in Douglas taking in some nice riding and climbs along the way. Riding in the Isle of Man is always lovely, and on one particularly foggy and long climb, we saw more people walking than we did cars. Down the descent, we stopped for some photos as Garry always loves some good photos of Max for the Instagram. Max managed to skid and rip a hole through his tyre. With no phone signal and no idea where the Dads were, we stood there wondering what to do for a moment before we eventually saw them driving down toward us. Max quickly jumped onto his race bike, and I quickly swapped onto training wheels and away we went. Laughing at his newfound skills and how the A1 (a major road at home) was basically a small lane here. A quick bite for lunch and we were onto the ferry. Another weekend away was over.
Tom Adby 