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Herts Wheeler's Last Chance Points Grabber
Pedalled over to Whitwell this morning with Anthony for the Last Chance Points Grabber, Pete met us there as we rolled out for a 70 mile 2/3/4 race. First lap was pretty sedate, only kicking off towards the end of the lap as we crossed the finish line for the first time. Round the corner onto London road and the pack split, I was in the second group and saw the gap getting bigger with a couple of riders caught between the groups, so I got my head down and bridged over to the riders, picked them up and dragged them to the first group. There were about 30 riders in it, so thought that the effort might have been a bit OTT seeing as there were too many people for it to stay away and after a spate of disorganisation the second group caught us back a couple of laps later.
I'm not sure what happened next as I was up at the front of the bunch, trying not to do too much work. I drifted back into the pack and suddenly realised that there was nobody behind me but one of the cars, so realised we must have split again (something to do with Richard Prebble pushing the pace every now and again). This split stayed away, dropping riders steadily till there were about 20 riders left in the pack. One chap picked up all the primes (tidy). We didn't even realise there were any... But the bunch worked well and kept a fairly steady pace. I spent too much time on the front but still managed to find enough energy in the last sprint to grab 15th place (and the 1 point I needed to get my 3rd cat!) and the prize for 1st 4th cat over the line. Vince Divine won after shooting off the front with half a lap to go, nobody chased him down and as Steve Nunn disappeared after him it was more surprising that still nobody made a move to chase them. They took first and second place (Vince winning) and 3rd onwards was decided in a sprint. Anthony took 7th place (was it 7th? sorry, was too over the moon with my 1 point...) to place 2 CCA riders in the top 15. The rest of the riders came in about 3 minutes after the bunch sprint and were fairly strung out... a tough race!
No dramas and the sun came out, not a bad morning's riding at all. Good to see Jason out for a spin too! Sorry I couldn't stop for a chat...
I'm not sure what happened next as I was up at the front of the bunch, trying not to do too much work. I drifted back into the pack and suddenly realised that there was nobody behind me but one of the cars, so realised we must have split again (something to do with Richard Prebble pushing the pace every now and again). This split stayed away, dropping riders steadily till there were about 20 riders left in the pack. One chap picked up all the primes (tidy). We didn't even realise there were any... But the bunch worked well and kept a fairly steady pace. I spent too much time on the front but still managed to find enough energy in the last sprint to grab 15th place (and the 1 point I needed to get my 3rd cat!) and the prize for 1st 4th cat over the line. Vince Divine won after shooting off the front with half a lap to go, nobody chased him down and as Steve Nunn disappeared after him it was more surprising that still nobody made a move to chase them. They took first and second place (Vince winning) and 3rd onwards was decided in a sprint. Anthony took 7th place (was it 7th? sorry, was too over the moon with my 1 point...) to place 2 CCA riders in the top 15. The rest of the riders came in about 3 minutes after the bunch sprint and were fairly strung out... a tough race!
No dramas and the sun came out, not a bad morning's riding at all. Good to see Jason out for a spin too! Sorry I couldn't stop for a chat...
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