Gaby Book 28  Balancing Trick by Maddy Bell Copyright© 2023 Madeline Bell

 
Having already made the approach to Lilienthal twice today I’m getting to know the road reasonably well and looking around the peloton, so were my fellow competitors. The difference of course is that whilst they are mostly thinking about the upcoming feed, I’m trying to decide exactly where I’m gonna jump off. There will of course be a bit of a general slowing with riders vying for their musettes, Apollinaris are a bit more organised and experienced with this stuff so my absence from the pickup line won’t seem too odd but it will give me some clear road to make the move.

The finish cum feed zone came into view, the race slowed considerably and I eased myself to the outside, clear of the pickup line. I surreptitiously checked my shoes and gearing then as the feed zone meleé started, I was off. With all the confusion I was almost on the lead car’s bumper before anyone noticed my escape.

I’m sure there was plenty of cursing and name calling going on behind, not least by Daz given it looked like I was usurping his fifteen minutes. There was quickly a couple of hundred metres between me and the rest of the race who were no doubt caught between stowing or abandoning their new supplies in order to give chase. But for me, well what they chose was immaterial, Josh would have my supplies waiting when I return to the pack.

The bike track is well surfaced and straight, I was able to get into a bit of an aero tuck as I churned a big gear around, pushing the lead car ahead of me. I had a quick glance behind as I eased to turn back onto open roads, there was a chase but it was a mess, certainly nothing organised. My plan was simple enough, well I am blonde, make them chase for the next ten kilometres so they are still resting when I’m caught which is precisely when Daz will be making his move.

As always, its a gamble but junior level races aren’t known for much in the way of tactics, more often than not they come down to a big gallop, if that happens today, well as long as I’m there or thereabouts I’ll be happy.

Meanwhile…

"What the hell’s she playing at?” Daz whined.
"No idea, thought she was taking it easy,” Mand opined, stuffing her pockets with the new supplies.
"Coulda said she’d changed her mind,” Daz mumped, "Guess we’ve got to block for her now, Josh?”
"Aye but just me an’ Manda.”
"Eh?”
"Well youse need ta save yourself for the bridge.”
"What’s the point if Bond is up the road?”
"Think about it, I still have her snap?”
"And?”
Mand was quicker to catch on, "So she’s expecting a delivery?”
"Kinda,” Josh allowed.
"So what, we’re her personal delivery service now?” Daz complained.
"Eat your figs and stop complaining,” Mand told him, "Me and Josh have work to not do.”
"Pardon me for breathing.”

Daz was seething, after all the talk Bond was only in it for Bond, stuff the rest of us! Well I’ll show her, nobody double crosses Darren Fox and gets away with it!
 

My lead wasn’t huge, certainly not enough to relax too much otherwise they’ll be on me in a flash. Okay I’ve pegged things back a little after the initial effort but there will be a few miffed riders back there baying for my blood. Which is what I wanted, its not good etiquette to attack at the feed but my reason for doing so today was just because of that, they’ll all think I’m a little shit and they’ll want to bring me back just to prove a point.

Of course Josh knows the score, maybe the others have worked it out too but if I’m right, Daz will be a bit upset by my treachery. Upset enough to get his revenge? Well I hope so.

I sprinted out of the turn onto the bigger road, observers would think I was riding in earnest, all part of the show. How far behind is the chase? Surely its more than thirty seconds so where is the service bike? Not that I hope to need it, one ‘flat’ this weekend is more than enough, even if it was a fake, a bit of gamesmanship.

Then the bike was with me, its always comforting to know you have that cushion. I kept at it, my lead sufficient to keep me largely out of sight as the road switched about. The spread out village of Niederblockland came and went, soon be time to ‘blow up’ but they can chase me for a bit further. Well by my comp, three more kilometres.

A chug from my second bidon emptied it, I could probably get back to the finish, if I got another bottle there, I’d get to the finish but my food store is down to emergency gummy bears, I really could do with the contents of that musette. I slipped one of Haribo’s finest into my maw and pushed just a little harder, they’ll have to work to bring me back. I flashed past the Wummensiede board in no time at all but waited until I reached the village proper before taking my foot off the gas.

Its one thing to decide on a plan but sometimes its hard to follow through, it was oh so tempting to keep going, I’d be lying if I said otherwise. But I have to be honest, the cumulative effect of yesterday afternoon and this morning was having an effect and the thought of forty more kilometres giving it some, well I don’t need to. I sat up, I didn’t need to feign feeling tired, I was.
 

I clearly had more lead than I’d thought, even with my reduced pace I’d almost reached the earlier flood site before the service bike pulled off but then the peloton was sweeping by and I had to sprint to avoid being spat out the back.

"Thought you’d changed your mind like,” Josh suggested sliding alongside.
"Never crossed my mind.”
"You’re a bad liar Bond.”
"Daz all riled up?” I asked as I replaced my spent bidons for fresh out of the musette that now hung from my neck.
"Spittin’ feathers he was,” my trusty lieutenant advised.
"That was the plan.”
"Aye, he’ll get o’er it like.”
"Best get ready for part two,” I suggested stuffing food into pockets.
"Me an’ de Vreen’ll take first watch while yous gets your breath.”
"I’m fine,” I protested.
"Seriously Bond, if it disna work you’ll need your energy for option two. Tek a breather hen, we can cope.”
"If you say so.”

There was no point in arguing more, the big Toon knows his stuff and lets just say that I’ve been known to over state my abilities once or twice! After sweeping me up the bunch had slowed considerably, its only natural, the result was a densely packed field taking up most of the road. Up ahead I spotted a pair of Apollinaris jerseys, at least Daz was in place.

I missed the big event, the bunch slowed even more on the approach to the junction so I was engaged in a game of stay upright as riders in front stalled. I managed to avoid putting a foot down but others didn’t and a clatter with attached cursing suggested at least one rider had ended up on the road. By the time we got moving again the race was in chaos.
 

The next couple of kilometres were quite intense as the peloton struggled to regroup, so much for Josh suggesting I rest up. I eventually made it into what, by the presence of Manda and Josh, I assumed to be the front group.

"Well?” I puffed.
"Mission accomplished, for now at least,” Mand told me.
"Aye, a couple of others got onto him, the service has already gone up.”
"No one dangerous?”
"Ah dinna think so hen.”
"Just need to keep things in hand I guess.”
"Aye,” Josh agreed.
"What happened to you anyway,” Mand asked, "One second you were there, the next the race was in bits.”
"Tell me about it,” I started.
"Later,” Josh interrupted, "Ah reckon yon lad in red is planning something.”

The reduced peloton was still over twenty strong and with just three of us, keeping a lid on things was a bit of a handful. The other escapees had team mates in our group according to Josh but they seemed as keen as anyone else to chase the leaders down. Like I said before, juniors are not known for team riding.

He man tactics will only take you so far though and by the time we took the bell things were more settled.
 

"Minute thirty!” Dad yelled as I chucked my used musette at him.

It sounds a lot but not really having much idea on the actual GC it was certainly as much as I wanted the break to get. I know there’s yesterday to factor in but Daz was only a minute forty seven behind me this morning, if any of the others with him were faster or even close to that, I could still lose out on the overall. Unless something happens beforehand, we really should start our own chase when we get back to the far end of the course, otherwise I, we might lose the GC.

From the end of this mornings time trial the weather has been pretty good but as we started lap four, we could see the bank of dark clouds heading towards us from the west. There was nothing to gauge its progress by, no hills or even spires, the thought of getting another drenching did not appeal.

"Seen that?” I asked Josh, nodding towards the greyness.
"Aye, it doesna seem to be moving that quickly.”
"It wasn’t there last lap,” I pointed out.
"Point taken, fingers crossed eh?”
"And toes,” Mand put in from my shoulder.
"Not much we can do,” our road captain noted.
"Out run it?” I suggested.
"Aye and tha moons made o’ blue cheese.”
"Cheddar,” de Vreen countered.

We were scooting along at a reasonable pace, by their general demeanour, the others in the group were resigned to fighting for the non podium spots. That wasn’t a bad thing for the break but it was potentially a disaster for yours truly’s overall hopes. I stuffed my last bit of flapjack in my mouth, what if the breakaway has increased its lead to two or even three minutes?

I tried to lift the pace each time I hit the front but as soon as I swung off it quickly fell back to where it started. Even my team mates didn’t seem too keen on getting things going a bit quicker, maybe I was being a bit selfish, after all, Daz has as much right to their support today and I did agree to giving him a shot at the win. Doesn’t mean I have to like it.

The greyness was certainly heading towards us, I’m sure there was a flash in the clouds just now. It was several seconds before the distant sound of thunder reached us, if I see another flash I should count the seconds to get the distance. But lightning and thunder is usually accompanied by rain, heavy rain and along the Wümme there is next to no shelter from such an onslaught, I mentally crossed fingers and toes.
 

Despite the looming clouds, it was still dry and sunny where we were and occasional glimpses across the fields suggested it was bright behind the clouds too.

"Ah’ve been thinking,” Josh stated.
"Dangerous.”
"Har, har.”
"So what’ve you been thinking?”
"Get to tha bridge an’ go like stink, we might get ta tha finish before tha rain.”
"Gets my vote.”

Another peal of thunder ensured everyone in the peloton was aware of the imminent dousing so when Josh took point and upped the pace a couple of notches a couple of others stepped up to share the pace making. Of course this potentially put the break under threat. At least on the return leg you can see further ahead, if we look like catching them we could back off, no one says they have to have a huge margin right?

For a moment, as we approached the bridge, I contemplated trying an attack but with the peloton having ramped things up, success at this juncture, was unlikely. Another flash and crash of thunder rent the air as we started the run back to Lilienthal, clearly the front was moving quite quickly as it seemed to be directly above us. Then the rain started.

Or rather it didn’t, well not the deluge I’d been expecting at any rate. Whilst the wet was driven by the associated wind, it wasn’t much more than a quick squall, certainly enough to make us and the roads wet but it quickly overtook us. The wind however remained, pushing us forward at an increased pace before dying back some as the front raced ahead of us. We were soon in sunshine again, from start to finish had been barely five minutes.

There was a sort of collective sigh as the sun hit our backs and the urgency in our progress vanished almost as quickly as the weather front. Of course we were fast approaching the finale, we passed the ten K board as the rain soaked us, twenty minutes and it’ll all be over. I caught a glimpse of the leaders across the fields, I reckon they were a good two minutes up despite our attempt to outrun the rain.

Bum. Bum, bum, bum! Our bedraggled company was looking more than a bit weary, even Josh was looking a bit tired and Mand, well she was going but a change in pace upwards would likely finish her off. As for me, well I reckon I’ve got one more shot left, not enough to bridge to the front, that ship has sailed, but maybe I can close the deficit down a bit?

I searched my memory for a spot to make my last ditch move, of course, that's it, the bit of concrete road before that narrow bridge. There are a few stretches of cement road but that particular one is a bit rougher than the others, short enough to blast over and the last such before the finish. Eating at this stage is rather pointless but nevertheless I fished around in my pocket to retrieve my last gummi bears, stuffed three in my mouth before dropping back to Mand and passing her the remainder.
 

Of course it then seemed to take forever to reach the big restaurant that I knew was shortly, well maybe a kilometre from that last concrete. Josh was slogging along at the front, on the narrow lane, I’ll need to dive past him to make my move. Not of course that it really matters if anyone else follows as long as they don’t become an anchor.

Next farm, there it is, and go!

I hit the turbo, there wasn’t much of a boost but it got me from third wheel to the front before I hit the concrete. It felt like riding through treacle as I just about kept the big gear going, staying out of the saddle right up to the sharp right hander into the bridge. Back out of the saddle across the much smoother surface of the bridge and onto the tarmac.

All I could do now was put everything I had down, I got aero and gave it everything. Five K, come Gabs, anything you can pull back will help, not far now. At least the wind was offering a bit of help, I was holding forty k most of the time but for how much longer?

And then I was taking the last tight, ninety degree turn. Visions of a repeat of the Potsdam finale flashed through my head, no Gab, don’t even think about it. Is that the leaders I can see over there?

One to go, one and a half minutes perhaps, come on girl, come on! It felt like my heart was trying to break free of my chest as I poured every last gram of energy into reaching the line. After yesterdays experience I quickly checked behind, the road was clear, I could hear the PA squealing, see the finish.

At which point my legs simply turned to rubber. Instead of a blast to the line it was more of a wind assisted whimper, I nearly fell off when I tried to put a foot down, luckily Joe was there and caught me. I barely noticed as the rest of the race came in, first the front group but then a seemingly endless string of exhausted bodies streamed past where Joe had seated me on the roadside.
 

"Wit was that all aboot like?” Josh enquired as I took his hand to return to the vertical, "There was no way you were gonna catch them.”
"Agreed,” I um, agreed brushing myself down.
"So?”
"Protecting my GC,” I told him.
"Thought we’d got that covered like.”
"Just making sure.”
"Yer certainly put the cat amongst the pigeons, yer coulda warned us.”
"Soz, it was a bit on the fly.”
"If tha says so.”

Dad’s voice interrupted our conversation, "Come on you two,” he handed us our tracky tops, "You both okay riding back?”
"If you’ve got some flapjack,” I suggested, "I even used my emergency Haribo®!”
"Pretty sure there’s a bit left in the car, come on, Joe’s sorting out Manda.”
"She okay like, she was looking a bit off all day,” Josh mentioned.
"Bad cramp,” Dad advised, "She can ride back with us in the car.”
"How did the finish go?” I asked as we made our way to the Audi.
"Well I didn’t see it going how it did,” Dad admitted, "Oh and I’m pretty sure we’ve got two of you on the podium.”
"Excellent, "Josh allowed zipping his top up.
"Come on, lets get you sorted, they’re doing the presentations at four thirty.”

I checked the time on my bike comp, it was nearly four now and some of us have got to ride back to the HQ!

Dad found us some food when we got to the car, Joe was just stowing Mand's bike in the boot, the girl herself was sat across the rear seats looking very pale and uncomfortable. Daz had already set off back to the campus, Josh and I wasted no time in following, the emergency rations that Dad gave us worked remarkably quickly but their effects wouldn’t last long, two kilometres hopefully!
 
Maddy Bell © 15.06.2023