*Chapter 12*
Seven Seeds of Rye

I smiled and gave Wiggo a wink as he sank back through the peloton, I'm sure his impetuous chase wasn’t part of Steve’s team orders this morning. It was a slight headwind on the this northbound leg, I made a point of keeping off the front as much as possible. Of course me and the girls aren’t actually chasing Josh down but at the same time its politic to show our faces near the front of affairs.

The main climbs are on this leg too, a series of short, sharp inclines without any run in and even on the first it was clear that a lot of the bunch aren’t climbers. Useful to know for tomorrow. As we approached the second incline, I called ‘Tempo!’, Ron and Mand pushed the pace with Gret, Tal and me following closely behind. It wasn’t an attack but over the top a quick look back revealed a peloton blown all over the place.

Jamie rode up, "Not exactly Switzerland eh?”
"No Pellini either,” I observed, mention of my Swiss climbing nemesis brought a smile to the Scots face.
“I guess you’ll nae be chasing your man down?”
I gave him a look.
"Well I had tae ask,” he pointed out.

It was no surprise that shortly after the jerseys of Team GB massed at the front and the pace started to lift.
 
A quick count of the blue and white jerseys indicated someone was missing from the GB strength but they were quickly joined in their efforts by maybe a dozen of the more savvy riders. For our part it looks like an interesting time playing sea anchor, we can’t stop their effort but we can interfere with its success. The move pretty much sealed the fate of anyone behind, a few more came up to join in but from almost a hundred starters we were down to less than half that left in contention.

"What do you think?” Ron asked slipping back to talk.
"We should stick to the plan.”
"Feed in about five K,” she noted.
"T and G know? Remember they’ll be on the left.”
“Left? Why?”
“England remember,” I mentioned.
"Funny place,” she mumbled slotting in behind Daz Fox to move forward.
 
The last of these ‘climbs’ was home to the King of the Mountains points for today, clearly Josh has claimed max points but that doesn’t mean others weren’t in the hunt for points. From BC, Gethyn looked to be edging to make a move, he’s not a bad climber but not brilliant however today's point rely more on sprinting ability than climbing.

“Mand, zweiundneunzig!” I called over with a nod forwards.

She replied only with a small nod before starting to filter forward. Its not just the highest point of the circuit at about one seventy metres but its the steepest climb too. Indeed as we approached it looked like a vertical wall but the reality is a max gradient of just ten percent. Geth waited until the speed started to drop before launching but de Vreen was waiting and tailgating before they cleared the front of the bunch.

Of course this encouraged a few other lads to have a bash but it was too late to encourage seventy plus kilos into some speed when the escapees are a good ten kilos lighter – gravity and all that. I found myself dancing my own fifty kilos past the floundering bunch as we reached max gradient, ahead Mand easily out sprinted Geth as the few supporters cheered us through. Of course we aren’t attacking – yet so once over the line we sat up to wait for the bunch.

I caught up to Mand as we started to drop, exchanging a high five, these points might be useful for the KOM competition tomorrow, denying others points today is some insurance. The bunch, well most of them at least, came back to us quite quickly, job done we settled back into the mass of riders – I doubt most of them were even aware of the antics over the summit. However the general increase in pace has made some impact on Josh’s lead, he was clearly closer when I caught sight of the lights over the next small brow.
 
Its a climb up into Oswaldkirk, not steep but enough to slow things, the feed has been placed here with good reason. Ron and I rode wide, T and G collecting musettes for themselves and us, Mand only needed her own as Josh was away.

"Two thirty,” Angela shouted out as she and Sonja passed the bags out.

Pretty cool, he might go all the way if we can sit on any chasers.

Of course part of our supplies pick up strategy was a bit more pragmatic, although its accepted that you don’t attack in the feed zone, its not a rule and there’s always some berk trying to take advantage. And so it fell, a Central Division jersey took a flyer up the white line, narrowly missing Jamie as he moved out of the pickup lane. Tit, oh well, looks like a potential thorn, Ron however beat me to it and jumped onto his wheel.

“Gab’s,” Tali got my attention, “here.”
I grabbed my musette, “cheers.”

I sat up to transfer bottles and bars to cages and pockets before flinging the bag into the kerb. Ron’s missed the zone, we’ll have to pocket feed her. Ron and her motor were a couple of hundred metres away by the time we left the village, energy expended we didn’t need but there was allowance in Dad’s race plan for just such an eventuality. T, A, G and myself gathered towards the front of the reforming peloton which seemed less keen on the racing than their food supplies.
 
Eventually the GB guys got themselves organised, Wogan and Jamie at the forefront of affairs, Apollinaris now have two up the road so even more reason for us not to be too active. However we do need to be towards the front of affairs for those narrow lanes coming up. We were through Ampleforth before a proper rotation got going, the speed shot up, Ron and the bad mannered youth reeled in as we passed that Abbey ruin again.

The narrow lane prevented a great deal of speed which is just as well when we were greeted by a pair of horses – and their riders of course, pretty much blocking the road at the next junction. A squealing of brakes, some cursing and somewhere behind the sound of riders and their steeds parting company startled the already frightened equines even more. The resulting meleé delayed us somewhat but eventually the horses were calmed and the race passed by in less than good humour.

Riders were still chuntering as we returned to wider carriageways at Kilburn and the start of the rolling descent to Easingwold.

“Attack or watch?” Tali asked.

Of course, Easingwold is Dad’s preferred jump off point.

"Watch I guess,” I shrugged.
“Plan B?” Mand suggested.
"The KOM?”
“I'm game,” she informed us.
“You guys okay with that?” I checked.
“Unless anything else happens,” Ron agreed.

Okay, plan made, just wait for the spanner.
 
Clearly Dad wasn’t the only DS who’d picked Easingwold as the key launch point, a number of riders were nervously looking about the still fairly large peloton. With plan B enacted both Mand and myself will sit out any immediate reaction, but it doesn’t mean we don’t keep a watch. When the first shot came, just as we reached the town, I was wedged on the inside but Tali was on it and the BC guys threw some resource into the fray too.

Hmm, danger Will Robinson!.

“Ron?” I got my wing woman's attention.
“hmm?”
"What do you think?”
"That Wogan kid is still sat up there.”
“He’s the danger I think.”
“Best move forward, just in case.”
“Gret, Mand,” I motioned a movement up the bunch.

The first attack was contained by the time we had traversed the town, still a few metres clear but going nowhere fast. It was text book stuff what happened next, Daz however making the amateur mistake of glancing back before hitting the launch button. As a result it wasn’t exactly a clean getaway, the girls in blue aren’t the only ones watching and although it was a theoretically good move I don’t think the half dozen followers were exactly planned on. We however were waiting for part two and we weren’t disappointed when Woggo took the bait so to speak.

All that remains of the bunch quickly became strung out as the pace went up which actually made it easier for the Apollinaris panzer division to move up. Jamie made to jump onto Ron’s wheel, Tali pretty much elbowed him out of the line – not this time me ole mucker. Gret was gamely hanging in still so we are still theoretically in the driving seat.
 
The Wogan escapees had road but only a couple of tens of metres and with others now joining in the chase we didn’t need to invest too much effort. Out onto the main road and the light breeze from last time round felt somewhat stronger – a double edged sword – harder for Josh certainly but with the horse incident we haven’t seen him now since Ampleforth some thirty kilometres ago. The good thing of course is that the small group ahead of us weren’t organised enough to take advantage.

We on the other hand are and we started a fast rotation, a few others joined in including Geth from BC. The connection was made on the first ‘climb’, Woggo looked frustrated and more than a bit tired, for a second time today I preened as I passed him. There didn’t seem to be a lot of enthusiasm to continue chasing, BC have used up two of their now four remaining riders, Gret, still has something left but even without her we have the numbers.

Flashing lights ahead of us on the next climb suggested Josh was coming back quite quickly, bum. Well we’re running out of road now, it’s less than ten K from the KOM sprint to the finish and nearly all downhill. I spotted our car by the roadside, I thought they were behind but I guess they’ve been behind Josh, if they’ve been pulled we must be quite close to him.

As road captain, Ron checked the troops, gave me a curt nod and plan B went into action. Ron and Tal hit the front and started winding up the speed, stretching the remaining twenty or so riders into a tadpole. Geth is so predictable, going at exactly the same point on the climb, ahead I spotted Josh labouring away still some way off the summit. This time however the escape and subsequent chase by Mand and myself was aided by the pace setters immediately coming off the gas.

A bit of a dirty tactic but the effect was immediate, Gethin was really going for it but so was Mand, from twenty metres behind I couldn’t say who got it but after a quick look at the floundering bunch behind I hit boost and quickly joined them on the downslope. Both were breathing hard, not spent but not a lot left in the tank, it won’t need much though, Josh, although going again is less than fifty ahead of us.
 
With me taking the lead in time trial mode we quickly closed the gap to the toon, only easing enough for him to slot in for the small bit of shelter we offered. On the rolling road along to Oswaldkirk Mand came through and we started a rotation, Geth joining in grateful I think that we weren’t doing a number on him.

"Take a flyer when we hit that steep downhill,” I told Josh.
“You go, I'm cream cream-crackered.”
"Not what we agreed,” I told him, "We’ll look after Geth.”
“I dunno man,” he demurred.
“Just do it lummox.”

With BC and ourselves represented up here neither of us are going to give chase so once we joined the B1257 again we could back off slightly. a glance back revealed a German registered MPV a few metres behind, wow, we’ve gained a chunk!

“Madchen?” I called to Mand, “box.”
“Cracked it Geth,” I suggested,” who got the points?”
“Dunno, when did Manda learn to sprint like that?”
“Out training with the seniors I guess.”

I slipped alongside Geth even as de Vreen moved ahead of him, I gave Josh a tiny wave forward with my outside hand.

“You train with your mum and that?” Geth went on, reaching for his bottle.

It was the moment Josh needed, we were a bit early but he hit the blue touch paper.

Geth gave a double take, “shite!”
 
By the time Geth had re-stowed his bidon and extricated himself from our box it was too late, the Toon was gone. And of course Mand and I jumped on the BC rider and did everything within the rules to end his pursuit.

“Alright guys, I give in,” Geth sighed.
“Soz mate,” I allowed.
“Guys?” Mand motioned behind.”
Turns out the bunch were more interested in the finish than I thought, they were back and closing fast.

“Yours Mand!”

And with that she set off in pursuit of Josh – well sort of.

The sprint for third was brutal, I'm glad I stayed out of it! I claimed twelfth in the same time as the rest of the depleted bunch. Josh of course took his well deserved win with Mand ten seconds in arrears, third place, a lad from the Welsh CU, a further thirteen seconds back. Sometimes a plan comes together, sometimes not but with a two nil result so far for the visitors I think I like Dad’s ideas.
 

Maddy Bell © 05.05.17