I looked around me, the field for the Junior women's race was impressively big – well I guess Germany is a fair size. There were all shapes and sizes although at just 1.6m the vast majority tower over me but that hasn’t stopped me in the past. Of course I recognised a few faces – well jerseys really, me being in Apollinaris strip might throw some a bit as i’m usually seen in other colours.

Bit different to my last Nationals at Eastway, for a start, under 14’s race on a closed circuit, both sexes in the same event. Today i’m not just older and a girl but i’m even officially a National of a different country – weird eh?

“Reckon its gonna stay dry,” Tal opined from behind me.
“Yeah,” I agreed scanning the sky, it wasn’t a clear sky but the few bits of cloud were high and wispy.
“Forecast had some rain,” Gret put in.
“Hope not,” I allowed.
“Wish they’d get on with it,” Tal sighed.
“They have a timetable I guess.”

In fact, according to my computer we’re late starting, we had to wait another five minutes before the starters pistol sent us on our way.

With such a big field early positioning is important, a lot of nervous riders, unfamiliar roads – the chances of a race ending clash are quite high. Thank you but i’ve had enough offs already this season, if I can lessen that possibility I will. Clearly my tactic caught a lot out including the officials, I hit the go button as soon as the flag dropped.

It wasn’t intended as a serious attack – who’d go with best part of a hundred kilometres ahead of us? Clearly some of the field thought otherwise, Elise von Stuygen amongst them – maybe they race differently across the Pond? Whatever the thinking I suddenly found myself less than five kilometres into the race in an apparently serious move, the only plus being one of my biggest adversaries is here too.

I hadn’t intended to be in this position at all, I formulated a plan overnight and this has no part in it but here I am, I can’t just press the reset button.

“Didn’t work did it?” von Stuygen opined.
“Was?”
“Don’t come that one, I know you speak English.”
“Und Sie sprecken Deutsch,” I pointed out.
“I’m watching you,” she replied venomously in quite bad German.
“Do I care? like the nails?” I wiggled my hand at her.
“Urgh!”

Well okay maybe winding her up with my red, yellow and black painted nails wasn’t the grown up thing to do but it felt good as she moved away from me.

Looking around there were clearly three groups of riders in the break, real contenders, chancers and the ‘how did I get here’s’. eighteen of us, a look behind suggested we were best part of half a minute up already and we aren’t exactly organised. I wish Gret and Tal were up here but they’re not, i’m on my own with a lot of hostiles and a lot of kilometres to the chequered flag.

I didn’t get in the way of any organisation, nor did I do more than the minimum to advance things, I actually wanted a quick failure. Warning signs suggested we would soon be at the dirt road and our lead was sufficient to garner the neutral service. I guess I need to commit through the rough which means taking the lead like back at Roubaix earlier in the year.

Some careful riding had me well positioned by the time the tarmac gave out, von Stuygen on my tail surprise, surprise – well lets see how she copes with a bit of ‘cross. Dad suggested we run lower pressures than usual to lessen the puncture potential but it also takes out some of the vibration, i charged straight onto the dirt, keeping the same pace. There was some cursing in English, well American behind me, not very ladylike if you ask me, but the clattering suggested a reasonable number of others were with her on my tail.

Well I wasn’t trying to get away, just to stay out of trouble through the forest. I concentrated on my own line, the rest can take their chances. The puddles from Friday night are at least much reduced and for the most part it was a dry ride although a chunk of bar tape on one particularly loose corner suggested there had been an off in the ladies event ahead of us, it wasn’t Apollinaris cream so at least it wasn’t one of ours.

To be honest the group was less decimated by the rough than i’d expected, pretty much everyone emerged together, well as a bunch anyhow. I slacked off my effort and let some of my companions take over the lead, the main thing for me being getting through in one piece.

“Nice try pinky,” von Stuygen spat.
“I wasn’t trying anything.”
“Well its not going to work be-atch.”

There’s no need for that language.

“If you say so Auslander.”

Well she’s getting on my, well you know. She moved away again to be replaced by a lanky girl I kind of recognised.

“What’s her problem?”
“No idea.”
“Isolde by the way, everyone calls me Izzy though.”
“Gaby.”
“Oh we all know who you are Gaby Bond, most of us have crossed wheels with you at some time or other.”
“And you still talk to me?”
“Well you’re talking to me too and anyone who can pull off pink hair gets my vote.”
“The hair was an accident, what about von Stuygen?”
“The American? She has no friends here after last year.”
“Last year?”
“She only won after causing a pile up, she is not nice at all.”
“I’ll try not to do that then Iz.”
“Good, laters.”
“Laters,” I agreed.

We were best part of the way around the first lap before a small group of chasers joined the front of the race, amongst them both of my girls.

“Geez Gab, you coulda warned us,” Gret suggested before taking a tug at her bidon.
“I didn’t plan it.”
“Well whatever, it worked, there won’t be any more coming up.”
“Dang, I was so hoping for a sprint finish too.”
“Like we believe that,” Tali put in.
“I can sprint.”
“But not today, I’ve seen that look before.”
“Someone’s irked her,” Gret offered.
“Let me guess, the American,” Tal surmised.
“Izzy says no one likes her.”
“Izzy?”
“Over in the yellow and green,” I supplied.
“Well she did pull that stunt last year in Regensburg,” Gret confirmed.
“So boss lady, what’s the plan?”

With the additional riders we started lap two twenty five strong and with a lead of over three minutes. Whilst I felt quite confident I could take a sprint, with Miss Gob a lot out for me it probably wouldn’t be a good idea. No, i’ll stick to plan A, show Fraulein Mouthy how its really done and if i’m gonna do it we need to start the action now, time for a word with Izzy.

“Oh I like it.”
“You think the others will play along?”
“Reckon so,” Iz agreed, “anything to stop that braggart winning again.”
“Great, as we go into the rough then.”

Its a simple enough idea, launch an attack that von Stuygen has to cover, wear her out then launch a counter attack. However we’re gonna do it with a twist, Gret and Tali will be the bait, i’ll be the counter attack, all we need for success is for the American based girl to take that bait. There was a bit more than that to it but essentially that's the plan.

I kept myself close to the enemy after that, made sure she knew I was there, just the edge of her view. Meanwhile T & G hid at the back recovering from their chase as best they could, I was actually quite proud of them, there was no hesitation on eithers part in working for me when they could’ve said ‘sod yer’. No, we’re a team through and through and I’m lucky enough to be the leader, I’ll admit that I’m not always exactly a team player but I mean to be, honest.

Iz caught my eye, I gave a small nod in acknowledgement. And then we were there. Tali sprinted forward with Gret on her wheel, von Stuygen gave me a panicked look.

“Well I’m not chasing my team mates,” I told her.

That earnt some more less than lady like expletives before she set off in pursuit – so far so good.

“What now?” Izzy queried as we followed the escape into the woodland.
“The girls’ll go flat out through the forest, she’ll have to follow, one or the other will drop back then we’ll steam roller through next time.”
“Sounds simple,” she said cocking an eye.
“Its a bike race, its never that simple.”

I have to admit that its a bit of a gamble but its not me up the road wasting energy.

Of course a couple of others gave chase too, you can’t get everyone on board, can’t say as I blame them and if anything it adds to the authenticity of the move. Those remaining seemed happy to work together in a loose rotation that kept the leaders mostly in sight, perhaps twenty seconds ahead. We safely negotiated the tracks, I thought I’d blown it when I bottomed my front rim on a rock but my luck held out.
We got a bit more organised once we returned to the tarmac, I took my turn whilst still reserving my energies. It was Gret who sat up and dropped back.

“How goes?”
“She’s pretty committed, nice touch with the others going up.”
“What about you?”
She shrugged, “as long as I can rest a bit.”
“Cool, we’ll wait to the end of the lap.”

And so we are set, the enemy is dangling ahead committed to a move any idiot could see is doomed.

“Sky’s looking a bit ominous,” Iz mentioned as we headed into the bell.
“It was forecast,” I stated passing on Gret’s weather prediction.
“The forest will be a nightmare if it rains.”
“Certainly make some of it interesting,” I agreed.
“I think some of the others are nervous of this working.”
“As long as a few come it’ll work.”
“What about your friend?” she nodded towards Gret.
“She’ll be with us,” I confirmed.

To be honest I was less confident than I appeared, at the moment we’ve got a one in four chance with Tal up the road. If it doesn’t pan out the odds could go out somewhat but if it does – well I’m not counting chickens just yet. I looked at my fellow riders, there were a few pretty strong riders here but its the chancers I’m more concerned with, they won’t be afraid to chase me when I do make my move.

A roll of thunder suddenly brought back memories of last year in Denmark and ‘that’ thunderstorm. This could be worse if the tracks get wet but its not the end of the world, after all its the same for everyone. I dug into my pocket for an energy bar, take out the forest section and its quite an easy circuit, just one sort of decent climb between the tracks and the finish, if I don’t get gobby on one I’ll have her on the other.

There was a lot of cheering when we went through the line, amateur timekeepers offering anything from fifteen to forty seconds gap. Its probably between those two extremes, well I guess its time. I went through with a bit more determination this time, Gret followed and whilst not by particular design, shed a couple more of our number as the pace climbed.

Girls racing isn’t exactly known for its high speed but we picked up to something close to forty on the downhills – where’s Josh when you need him? There was no way that we’d keep that pace for long, oh I know I TT at higher speeds on my own but its not the same. We’d closed most of the gap by the time we approached the forest road, unfortunately the first drops of rain descended too, bum!

Well this is it, I dropped a gear and loosened my grip on the bars as we left the tarmac, powering ahead onto the rough surface. The trees kept some of the wet at bay but not enough to prevent the surface becoming somewhat slimy, a spray of wet flying off my front wheel. I certainly wasn’t alone, but at least I had a chance of seeing where I was going.

The leading group fought on ahead but the gap was reducing quickly, I’ll be on them on the next rise.

“WHOA!” I yelled out as I was confronted by a tangle of bodies and bikes.

I grabbed the brakes and added my squeals to those around me, however wet and muddy rims don’t give great braking and I found myself sliding towards the pileup with nowhere to go. Several girls went down adding to the carnage although I managed to stay on my feet.

“What happened?”
“That cow did it again,” someone in the pile angrily replied.
“Who?” I asked.
“The American, jammed her brakes on as we came over the top.”
“Right! No more games,” I announced quickly dismounting and stepping over the bodies, bike over my head.
“Go get her Gab,” Tal called out as I remounted.
“Don’t worry, she’s toast.”

Some things are acceptable to get an edge, I’ve used some myself in the past, but intentionally causing a crash is not one of them. I had to have a couple of goes to get my left pedal to re engage after my short but muddy walk but then I took off in pursuit of my quarry. The carnage she caused had given her a decent lead again, I spotted her on an open stretch and guessed at about a minute.

If it had been dry I would really have gone for it but the wet tempered my reaction through the rest of the woodland. I lost track of where I was until I popped out onto the real tarmac road again, the surface was treacherous with standing water but that I can cope with. In fact I purposely rode through one long stand to clean the muck off my wheels and brakes – hell i’m already wet and muddy and semi working brakes would be good.

Well nothing for it, I got into a low tuck and hit boost. I could see my quarry’s position by the flashing lights, she wasn’t riding that quickly, no doubt smug with her delaying action. On the other hand I’ve not got an escort of any sort, I’m pretty much invisible to someone looking back down the road.

I kept to the edge of the road, out of sight and on the climb I closed the gap quickly but rather than immediately join her I slowed to catch my breath first. It was actually the reaction of the officials that alerted her to my presence, my hand was effectively tipped for me.

“You!” she spat.

‘Oh yes, meet your nemesis von Stuygen, remember the name, Bond, Gaby Bond!’

Maddy Bell © 28.09.2017