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Hog hill 17th march
Cold and rain: no the best conditions for a road race at hog hill. On the start line Jon Bryn and I stood in the wet, waiting for the commissar to finally start the race. You will race for 40mintes... off you go! I didnt have a great start but after a bit of fumbling I clipped in and joined the group. For those of you that dont know Hog hill, its basically a 2km circuit with a massive hill in it. We got near the bottom of the hill (which leads straight into the finish line) and already a puncture. The conditions made it all the more interesting, for a start it was freezing and wet; the rain soaked the front of my short sleeved jersey, so going down the hill with the wind blowing on it, isnt the most pleasant thing. Then there was visibility, youre going too fast to not wear any glasses, but with glasses the fog up immediately and the dirt road spray goes all over them, at one point I had almost no visibility, on the fastest and hardest corner in the race, all I could see were the bright orange cones either side of the track. Anyway after about 3 laps I managed to lose the group on just after the hill, I did about 2 laps on my own when suddenly I felt a lot stronger. If only I had felt like this in the group, I was catching people up but I couldnt see who, it turned out to be a part of the main group. So me and two other riders set about pursuing the rest of the group. They were pretty tired so I did the work on the front. We were keeping a steady gap of 30 seconds on the group, but after a while we realised that it wasnt going to happen. By this point it was just me and a rider called tom. But at about the furthest point from the finish line tom punctured. I was on my own again, but I wasnt slowing down. A couple of laps later I noticed a strong rider had broken free from the cashing group he was a bit behind but I didnt want to give him any advantage. I was in the clear now I wasnt going to catch the group and nobody would catch me, Just tom who by now should have changed his wheel and got put back in the race. The next lap, sure enough tom gets put into the position he was before he punctured. However the chasing rider also had a mechanical, but when the race organisers but him back in the race (4laps to go) they put him in with me and tom, when he should have been put in miles behind. Luckily it was time for tom to return the favour he went on the front and I held his wheel, by the last lap it was just me and him wed left the chasing rider (Archie). It was coming up to the finish I went for the long run attempt and started racing up the hill. He was behind but as the finish came closer he came nearer and nearer. He was right beside me, I threw my bike over the line but I think he got it. It turned out the group in front only had 4 riders so I came 6th. Quite a fun race, considering the weather.
Comments
The official result has Theo as 5th.
Proud dad.
Theo :5th
Me :15th
Bryn :28th
pretty tough race!