*Chapter 33*
Racing Slick

Something disturbed my slumber and I peered through the wet assailing the camper’s windscreen.

"Hope this wet gives up,” I opined to anyone listening.
"Forecast is better later,” Dad advised, "We’ll have a coffee stop at Spessart.”
"How far’s that Mr B?” Tal queried.
“’Bout ten minutes I think,” he called back.

Of course I've not said have I, the guys came down to Neuweid yesterday to join the BC lot who are in their bus behind us. Without BC tagging along we’d have come down yesterday afternoon but instead here we are on the autobahn this morning after setting off at silly o’clock from home. This is a race I missed last year because I was in Manchester but no such get out for the journey this time.

Where are we off to I hear you ask. Well apparently its about twenty kilometres west of Nürnberg, some place called Dietenhofen, not sure why but it sounds familiar. Anyhow, according to Dad’s notes its four laps of a twenty five K circuit, nothing too spectacular on the climb front, it’s likely to end in a sprint – not good as one M. Cavendish is in the bus behind.

With BC having seven riders and us five we’ve co opted Geth onto the Apollinaris roster, he’s playing cards with Josh in the back somewhere. Who else is here? Well Claire, Laura and Sal, Cav of course as well as Jamie and Daz, then there’s boss lady Caro and Mike’s here as their mechanic. It’ll be interesting to see how things pan out.

We pulled off into Spessart Services a few moments later, Dad managing to get us stopped and parked close to the entrance.

"Half an hour,” Dad advised.
“’Kay.”
"Mine’s a Milch Kaffee,” he suggested.
"Yes Dad,” I sighed slipping into my rain coat.
First things first of course, I followed the others inside and down to the lavs.
 
Sal yawned as she plonked herself down at the next table,” are all the races here this far?”
"Nah, some are further,” Mand gleefully advised.
"What did she say?” Gret queried.
"She was asking if we travel this far to all the races.”
"Coulda been worse if we were based up north,” Tal suggested.
"This one of those series races Bond?” Cav queried as he pulled himself a seat.

I had to think about what he said – oh and translate it!

"Er yeah, the Jungere League, sort of national series, all the top under eighteens ride them.”
"Anyone any good?”
"A few, there’s some good riders coming through,” I hedged, after all I don’t want to spill all my intel, I want to win today.
"If its a series there must be a leader,” Mark pushed.
"I think all the legs have been won by the same rider.”
"They got a name?”

Mand nearly had kittens.

"What’s so funny?” he went on somewhat affronted.
I managed to keep a straight face, "Er nothing.”
"She’s winding you up Man,” Josh interjected, "She hasn’t won all of them quite like.”
"Eh?”
"Weren’t you listening to Caro last night dumb cluck,” Daz asked.
"Sort of.”
"Well think about what she said, ‘we’ll be racing with the best in Germany?’”
"Yeah?”
"She’s sitting in front of you,” Claire put in.

It was like watching a clock change the hour as the cogs finally engaged.

"Bond?”
"That’s me, reigning champeen and current series leader,” I smirked.
"But you’re a...”
"Short arsed sprinter, correctomundo.”
"I was gonna say girl,” he admitted.
"But that would be sexist,” I pointed out.
 
The translation for Tal and Gret had to wait until we were on our way again as thirty minutes in the services slides away oh so quickly. We were of course all awake now and despite the Hymer’s inability to trouble speeds over a hundred K we arrived at the race HQ a mere five hours after leaving home. I guess theses places are much the same the world over, a sports club or school as host, family and coaches outnumbering the competitors and today would be no different.

"Right,” Dad started once Team Apollinaris were all giving him their attention, "First things first, we are not riding as one team with BC. That doesn’t mean you don’t race with them but the idea as far as you guys are concerned is to get one of you over the line first, I'm sure they’ll be having a similar conversation.”

He paused to let that sink in and for Josh to finish translating for Geth.

"So race plan, four laps, feed at start of three, neutral service. Good chance it’ll come down to a sprint if left to itself, Gaby is our sprinter of course but there are a couple of danger men today, that Degenbold lad from Chemnitz and of course the Cavendish lad next door. We need to distance them both if we can, I doubt we can blunt them with a train. So here’s what we’re going to do….”
 
"Is it always like this?” Gethin asked as we waited our turn for the introductions.
"Well we don’t usually have the reigning world champ riding but otherwise, pretty much.” I advised.

Well you didn’t think Cav would miss an opportunity to wear his rainbows, I certainly don’t. Unfortunately you only get to wear them in the discipline you won them in so I'm restricted to time trials but that doesn’t mean I get to wear team strip today. Nope I get singled out with the series leaders jersey making me every bit as much a target as Cav in his stripes.

The usual hullabaloo followed, Commisaire instructions, waffle from sponsors / local dignitary then finally we were away. Spots of damp were not enough to warrant caping up but annoying enough to keep eye wear off the face. The green flag waved as we passed the derestriction sign and we headed out into the countryside.
 
No one in the peloton seemed too keen to make much effort, typical of league events really as everyone is assessing the competition. We rolled on up the valley on a good wide road for a few kilometres before a short sharp climb took us onto a narrower lane that bucked up and down somewhat over the next few K. I guess if you’ve ridden here before you’d be prepared but the next bit of climbing caught more than a few out as it angled steeply upwards.

Up into the village, round a tight corner then a steadier rise towards the head of the valley. It was as we made the turn into Hainklingen that a familiar red, white and blue jersey went off the front. I think it was Jamie making a break for it but Apollinaris aren’t the only ones out to win today so the lone rider barely got twenty metres before a concerted chase followed him into the steepening climb through the village.

Its not long and not really even that steep, maybe ten percent at its steepest but I was still glad when we turned into the main road at the top. The pace picked up quickly on the wider, better surfaced road and although there are a few short climbs is overwhelmingly downhill back to Dietenhofen. I looked for Ron, it was only after a frantic minute not finding her that my brain engaged and I slid alongside Josh instead.

"What you reckon?”
"Has to be that narrow climb man.”
"What I thought,” I agreed.
"Next time then?”
"Aye, best tell the others.”

With no Ron, Josh has taken on the mantle of road captain, oh I'm team leader but the captain is the one tasked with making the plans work.
 
"Alright Bondt?” Innerthausen queried as we bowled back towards the HQ.
"Yeah,” I allowed, "Action?”
"Count me in.”
"Climb on the lane next time.”
He nodded understanding.

We’ve worked together a time or two, he’s a pretty strong rider but no sprinter of course so getting him on side is almost always a plus to our plans. We slipped apart, no point in alerting anyone else to our impending plot, not just yet.
 
The bunch never really thinned out, the speed was good but not uncomfortable, well not until we swung through a roundabout and the road tilted downwards a bit more. It certainly caused us to string out a bit, it was a long ribbon of riders that returned to Dietenhofen where it flattened out enough to keep our speed low enough to take the final corner at a still elevated velocity.

However it was an almost complete peloton that passed through the finish area four hundred metres later. The damp was now just a memory, the roads now mostly dry and the sun requiring the eye protection be broken out. It was pretty clear that the BC lot were being marked quite heavily, anytime they moved forward even Sal had a shadow or six!

For our plan to work we needed to get forward but not too forward, not yet. Around me the rest of the team were well placed, the girls well versed in this sort of thing only Gethin a bit of a wildcard. But Dad had co-opted him from BC for good reason, he’s a terrier and follows instructions, the fact he was on my side added some comfort.

Our plan was almost derailed however as a rider in the strip of Münchener Sport-Club took a flyer on the approach to the lane. However Mand went off like a you know what and got his wheel, he now had a passenger he’d struggle to unload. There was a lot of looking about at the front of the bunch but no one else seemed in any mood to chase them down.
 
They never had more than about a hundred metres lead but they were still out front as the launch site approached. I checked everyone else was in place, yup, Paul was sitting just off Josh’s right shoulder, everyone looking quite relaxed. I took a pull on my bidon and casually checked my shoes, don’t want to pull my foot out do I?

As the road started to ramp I gave a shout, "Beans!”

I know, Dad’s half baked idea, but it did two things, announced launch to my team mates and distracted the rest of the riders, even for just a second. The road was clear ahead, I made good my escape before the gap was closed down and kept the pressure on up into the village, only easing to get around the tight corner near the summit. There was of course a reaction, I was banking on it after all, as I overtook the leaders I had a string of chasers behind me.

Innerthausen came round me, Josh on his wheel, I let a couple more go through before pushing into the line. I allowed myself a check behind, nine of us seem to have clear tarmac on the main bunch, one of which I wryly noted was Daz. Paul and Josh shared the effort across to Hainklingen where I had another dig on the climb up through the village.

Oh I wasn’t trying to get away, no it was to keep the pressure on, it seemed to work. We lost one on the way but once on the top road we reassembled and it didn’t need much encouragement to get a rotation going. The speed increased taking us from comfortable to almost heavy breathing, you know, about ninety percent, a hundred comes later.

Everyone was holding their own so far, Daz was looking strong – I shouldn’t be surprised after the Ryedale trip. I didn’t know the others which I took as a good thing – you’d expect I'd recognise them if I'd crossed wheels with them before. I soon recognised the bypass approach to the traffic island, wow, nearly the end of the lap.

We swept down towards the finish at something around the fifty K speed limit and once again let the flattening road scrub some speed before turning towards the line. Of course this time through its the feed.

"Keep it going!” Dad shouted as I grabbed my musette.
Well duh!
 
It was only on this third pass that I noticed the factory off to the left, there was obviously some sort of event going on there too. The name plate caught my attention, no wonder I’ve heard of Dietenhofen, its home to Herpa, my favourite model company! Cool.

Anyhow, back to business. I quickly finished transferring the contents of my bag to my jersey before selecting the lump of Angela’s flapjack to munch as we started the long climb back out to the top of the circuit.

"Hopefully have the service up in a minute,” Josh suggested the next time we crossed.
“Uh huh.”
"We need to lose any do you think?”
"Not yet at least,” I opined.

No, for now every pair of legs here are an aid to our eventual success.

© Maddy Bell 03.06.17