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Fl
1st race for me, and a great experience.
From my perspective, it sort of went like this:
Pedal, pedal, pedal, pedal, pedal, pedal, pedal... for about 2 and a half hours.
60 guys out, a full race, lovely sunny morning. Bit of a chill in the air, but that went after the first ascent of the hill outside cardington, funnily enough.
I managed to stay at the front of the group for most of the race, as advised by everybody I'd spoken to about it, and it helped me last it out to finish in the bunch. A great result for me as I was expecting to be hanging out the back and possibly not finishing. A breakaway managed to get away on the second lap for a lap and a bit, but was reeled in by the fresh legs of the main group. All 3 of the guys in this breakaway were in the top 4 at the finish, some very strong riders! Everybody stayed together pretty much till the last lap where a Cambs CC guy went on a solo break, gaining at one point about a minute on the rest of us. It wound up nicely though and although he managed to stay away, he only crossed the line 6 seconds ahead of the 2nd placed rider.
An amazing experience, I feel like I'm at the bottom of a very steep learning curve. It's amazing how much you have to keep focused, even when your body and mind are tiring rapidly. A few judders and scrapes in the pack towards the end and at one point an unfortunately placed horse rider (which could have resulted in a great breakaway, but nobody took advantage of that) but otherwise a very well behaved bunch. I clocked 60 miles at just under 24mph.
Very well placed words of encouragement from Ellis, Anthony and Jason really helped me push right to the end. Ellis and Anthony finishing up near the front and Jason and myself just back a little bit from them. Altogether a great ride and I can't wait for the next race!
Oh, and exceptional marshalling from Josh. Wonderful stuff...
From my perspective, it sort of went like this:
Pedal, pedal, pedal, pedal, pedal, pedal, pedal... for about 2 and a half hours.
60 guys out, a full race, lovely sunny morning. Bit of a chill in the air, but that went after the first ascent of the hill outside cardington, funnily enough.
I managed to stay at the front of the group for most of the race, as advised by everybody I'd spoken to about it, and it helped me last it out to finish in the bunch. A great result for me as I was expecting to be hanging out the back and possibly not finishing. A breakaway managed to get away on the second lap for a lap and a bit, but was reeled in by the fresh legs of the main group. All 3 of the guys in this breakaway were in the top 4 at the finish, some very strong riders! Everybody stayed together pretty much till the last lap where a Cambs CC guy went on a solo break, gaining at one point about a minute on the rest of us. It wound up nicely though and although he managed to stay away, he only crossed the line 6 seconds ahead of the 2nd placed rider.
An amazing experience, I feel like I'm at the bottom of a very steep learning curve. It's amazing how much you have to keep focused, even when your body and mind are tiring rapidly. A few judders and scrapes in the pack towards the end and at one point an unfortunately placed horse rider (which could have resulted in a great breakaway, but nobody took advantage of that) but otherwise a very well behaved bunch. I clocked 60 miles at just under 24mph.
Very well placed words of encouragement from Ellis, Anthony and Jason really helped me push right to the end. Ellis and Anthony finishing up near the front and Jason and myself just back a little bit from them. Altogether a great ride and I can't wait for the next race!
Oh, and exceptional marshalling from Josh. Wonderful stuff...
Comments
The only way to get faster is to race.
Anthony 12th
Ellis 16th
Me 27th
Jason 36th