so the race started and i made a bee line for sylv who was already up the front.
after about 3 laps i had made my way up there in the top 3-7. i was pleasantly surprised to not only have sylv up there for company but hal was also up there.
for a good amount of laps us 3 pretty much controlled the race. taking turns on the front, brining back escapees, i thought i was in heaven! could we keep this up the whole race?!?!....no
about mid way through we were joined by about 5 other strong riders. a guy from rapha condor who i have seen a lot recently, a bloke from pearsons, i think 2 duwlich lads and 1 kingston wheelers. they came past us in an attack but we managed to grab on. for the next 6 laps the pace was hot!!
the rapha condor bloke was like an animal just grinding it up the hill lap after lap, making it very uncomfortable. thankfully it started to calm down with about 15 minutes left.
10 minutes to go and i was hurting. i had probably done a bit more work than i should have done and i was finding it tough up the hill. people kept going for long ones which upped the pace even more.
0 minutes to go!! in other words about 3 laps. someone my about my age, and one of his team mates break away. i managed to bridge the gap and we started a through and off. we worked really hard and i thought we could stick it out...but with 2 laps to go we were reeled in....dam now i felt fried!!
we went passed the line for the final lap. i took the wheel of the boy who was in the break before. as we got to the hair pin he suddenly motored and took me by surprise! he had a gap and i gritted my teeth and hammered it over to him. i look back and theres a 30m gap behind up! hes still at it, full on sprinting! it looked like he was trying to drop me!!
i was hurting a lot though and my legs were on fire. then the inevitable happened...as we came out of the corner by the bank he gave it the elbow for me to come round...dam but my legs hurt!. i look back and we had about 40m or so...then out of instinct or something like that, i suddenly find my self sprinting past him!...i look back again and theres still a gap, but theres a long way to the line....go for it i told myself, don’t play it self and save yourself, give it a go!...
i dug deep and kept my head down...my legs were screaming at me to stop. luckily i had been watching some cycling videos on you tube and the song from this video was going through my head... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-CavN620FFQ ...its now or never stu!!
i came to the top of the hill and looked back again, i still have 30 metres!! comon stu 1 more kick to be safe! i truly buried myself into the pedals
. i look up and see its not far, and look back and see i still have a good gap 
. i eased up slightly and absorbed the atmosphere , i could hear the cheers from the crowed lining the finish, and in the corner of m eye saw toks, and some others in addiscombe colours. I had to quickly think of my victory sign… im basically at the line so I just settled for sticking my arms up in the air..i had done it! i won!!!!! it almost seamed to good to be true, and i was just waiting for someone to tell me someone had got away earlier, but the news never came thankfully i think sylv got another 6th! so hes been pretty consistant...its his turn next week! 
average speed 24.5
cheers
stu
