Round 7 was hosted under the clearest skies of the series so far, and the wind was noticeable by it's total absence. It's always nice to race in these conditions as it removes the need to think about where you need to be for attacks and turns on the front.
This week I was again joined by Andy, as well as Simon and Vince who were racing in my age group for the day.
Things got off to a steady start with a solo rider going soon off the front. he seemed to be staying out front for an age, so rather foolishly I went to the front to reel him in. I had expected another rider to come through after completing a whole lap out front on my own, but no. So I upped it another notch and we started to close on the lone rider.
Then as I/we were about to make contact all hell broke loose. A small group took the opportunity to break away. I managed to hang on to the back of the small group, I counted twelve, but my previous turn had tired me. I thought that if I could stay in this group and keep out of trouble I might get a good position. However a few big efforts had me yo-yo'ing off the back and finally I fell off the back. At 43 minutes I was on my own.
 |
Trying to outrun the bunch |
I looked back to see the main bunch in the far distance so I settled into position to keep away, but the effort of being on my own was starting to tell and pretty soon all the tarmac felt like it was going uphill. I could see Simons green shoulders bearing down, so I eased off a bit to be able to ride the final four laps with company. I sat in where I wanted and recovered a little and then moved up into third in the bunch. Then for some crazy reason I decided to lead out on the bell lap, of all the riders in that bunch I was the least likely to be fresh enough to grab an honour sprint. But off I went and with the flag in sight I climbed out of my saddle to go for the line. As soon as I thought I was close all and sundry came past me.
As they say 'Die trying'
No comments:
Post a Comment