It started out pretty fierce and somehow 4 riders got away who I never saw even pull away from the bunch. There were quite a few long steep drags which by lap 4 had really started to break the bunch apart.
Lots of potholes in the roads and standing water made the bunch slow down at quite a few frustrating points (eg on the downhills just after dropping laggers on the hills). One thing i found quite frustrating was that there was the usual "dont want to be at the back but not sitting at the front either" mentality so on some of the downhills the bunch was right across both lanes of the road despite us at the front yelling "car!", it was only a matter of time before people started getting forced into the rough and i counted at least 5 people stop with punctures and heard two pretty big crashes as well.
Final lap and there were quite a few big attacks, my legs were starting to hurt now and I didnt have enough in the tank to do another stint on the front, Rob was still with the group as well but i couldnt tell how he was feeling, the bunch had split into 3 now so there were only about 12 of us left from a group of ~50. We came out of the final bend and I kept expecting the pace to really wind up, i thought about making a break but i recognised at least 3 people around me who would just trounce me in a sprint. Eventually someone went and I started to wind it up. Immediately there were 4 people who had obviously burnt all their matches and there were about 6 of us sprinting up the hill for the line, i could feel my hamstrings starting to get hot, powertap was reading 550W so I only had a minute at best with my tired legs before I would start slowing down.
I started to reel in the other 5 around me with about 40m to go and then suddenly, the prat in front of me gave up and stopped pedalling. I tried to swerve around him but my wheel clipped his back wheel as I swerved and yelled abuse at him.....
and then i suddenly hit the ground... really hard, i went to pick up my bike but the wheels had shunted and the brakes were jammed on and the bike was in too high a gear to get moving. I watched the rest of the bunch ride past me and by the time i got moving the second bunch had gone past me as well, so i walked/trundled to the finish line.So, almost top 6, but sadly i came home with a few broken ribs, a sprained wrist and a broken thumb
I never found out who stopped in the bunch or whether he was a lagger and realised he was suddenly in the middle of a sprint finish. I spoke to the marshalls and asked at the finish line but amazingly no-one saw it. Rob didn't see it either, he had his head down and just saw me sprawled on the floor, but he got a good finish i believe.So a week on diclofenac and strong codeine for me
Hope that the 123 race was better, although from the pace of the cat3 race and Jamie Newall and Simon Ernest on the start sheet makes me suspect it was probably quite beastly.
