We'd get close, then come apart, regroup and start reeling them in again. Then come apart, regroup and pull back some distance. So near, yet so far.
So, I was chatting after with John, suggesting shorter pulls and saving something to get back on, when he said he was unclear which side to pull off.
(Mental slap to the forehead) Of course! I'd forgotten to say anything about that at all, and in the cross wind, John got beat up and the guys we should have hunted down and viciously counter-attacked, got away.
So, today's tip is, in cross winds, swing off the front, into the wind. In a strong cross wind, the following rider will shelter to one side of the leader, maybe even almost alongside. If you swing off with the wind, you'll take them out.
And in cross winds, save even more than normal at the end of your turn, because you're fully exposed to the wind as you move back, and will need some extra juice to get on the back. If you come off the front cooked, Cruella De Vent will flick you into oblivion.
We got close enough a couple times to smell their fear, and Paul couldn't resist trying lift the pace and close it a bit sooner. Which was enough to gap John, but not quite enough to get across.
In fact, Mark used classic Flanders tactics to get his group away, by going hard up the right side next to the parked cars (wind was from the left) which meant there was no room for an echelon, and the rest of the B's got death-lined in the cross wind until the line snapped.
Awesome!
Last week's taste 'o' winter left me with a nasty chest cold. How I'd love to have followed that feelthy Belgian up the inside. Maybe next week.
