Welcome to the forum
London Phoenix GP (cat 2/3/4) Sunday 26 August
Having ridden the London Phoenix Easter Classic before, as many of us have, I was not disappointed with this similarly well organised race by the same club. A 57 mile race (9 and 3/4 laps) starting and finishing in East Hanningfield, a mercifully pretty flat course, but they still always manage to find an incline to put the finish line on.
I thought the marshalling was excellent which provided the racers the room to move on the twisty circuit and plenty of space on the busy main road on the back side of the circuit, except for the pinch point created by the large agricultural vehicle held stationary by the marshalls on one lap which caused some constriction.
As this was my first category 2/3/4 race, I was not hopeful of staying with the field, for long anyway, and speaking to a Welwyn rider at the start who asked me what category I was, when I stated 4th, he just said 'Ah, err well just stick it in a big gear and hang on to the back'. Good advice it turned out, but after a lap and a half I thought my goose was cooked as the pace was very strong. I kept telling myself to just hang on for another lap as this was only ever going to be speed training for me at my level. But another lap passed and the pace settled and I managed to match the speed but had to dig in when it picked up each time. The 3 sprint laps passed, but I didn't worry about those too much for obvious reasons, and I was relieved to see the lap board count down. With 2 to go, I thought this is it, they will drop me now, but again I managed to hang in. Bell lap, same again, and its weird to say it that I actually felt euphoric that I'd made it this far. Everything was a bonus now and coming around the last twisty section prior to the finish I was still with the field and anything was possible.
Of course the final dash to the line was contested by the very strong men, and I not being in that category was very happy to crawl to the finish line and again take a couple of scalps at the back of the pack. RESULT for me certainly. I believe a 3 man break took the podium.
Final note of the day, having missed Carmelo and Jason as they were on the start sheet but didn't attend, I was amused to discover the reason for Carmelo's no show on the drive home. Listening to Ol' Wogan on Radio 2 (as you do when you're 40+) Who was on the guest spot? none other than his old mate Carmelo on guitar and some singer or other he hangs around with!
I thought the marshalling was excellent which provided the racers the room to move on the twisty circuit and plenty of space on the busy main road on the back side of the circuit, except for the pinch point created by the large agricultural vehicle held stationary by the marshalls on one lap which caused some constriction.
As this was my first category 2/3/4 race, I was not hopeful of staying with the field, for long anyway, and speaking to a Welwyn rider at the start who asked me what category I was, when I stated 4th, he just said 'Ah, err well just stick it in a big gear and hang on to the back'. Good advice it turned out, but after a lap and a half I thought my goose was cooked as the pace was very strong. I kept telling myself to just hang on for another lap as this was only ever going to be speed training for me at my level. But another lap passed and the pace settled and I managed to match the speed but had to dig in when it picked up each time. The 3 sprint laps passed, but I didn't worry about those too much for obvious reasons, and I was relieved to see the lap board count down. With 2 to go, I thought this is it, they will drop me now, but again I managed to hang in. Bell lap, same again, and its weird to say it that I actually felt euphoric that I'd made it this far. Everything was a bonus now and coming around the last twisty section prior to the finish I was still with the field and anything was possible.
Of course the final dash to the line was contested by the very strong men, and I not being in that category was very happy to crawl to the finish line and again take a couple of scalps at the back of the pack. RESULT for me certainly. I believe a 3 man break took the podium.
Final note of the day, having missed Carmelo and Jason as they were on the start sheet but didn't attend, I was amused to discover the reason for Carmelo's no show on the drive home. Listening to Ol' Wogan on Radio 2 (as you do when you're 40+) Who was on the guest spot? none other than his old mate Carmelo on guitar and some singer or other he hangs around with!
Comments
Daniel
46th of 55 finishers.
Not exactly monumental but I'll take that.