.
That said it was a good day. Watched the womens race with Steve, Phil, Paul (otP), and Sylv before Steve went home to "prepare"
. Had a bucket of coffee with Phil and Paul and Carole who'd been marshalling.
Steve reappeared and we watched the E/1/2s race at a frightening speed, race won by cornering guru Warrick Spence.
Steve and I compared notes on how much we were both bricking it and did a couple of warm up laps.
The circuit: Drag to steepening hill for 400 metres, left and still up a drag for about 50 metres, left and descend for 400, left again to join the bottom of the hill. All bends 90 degrees and the whole circuit tight.
Race started on the finish line which was at the top of the hill, so some had difficulty getting in their pedals at the start and the bloke next to me nearly fell over
.
First lap and up the hill at 26mph
Second lap, eased up and only 24mph up the hill
I couldn't keep that up and was near the back of the pack. I lost touch at the bottom of the descent when some bloke came past on the right and then cut across me and went round the corner far slower than me. Cornering is one of the few things I'm good at so this pissed me off as I could chuck it round the bends as quick as anyone so it was the only chance I had of trying to stay in contact for that little bit longer.
Now it was back to my standard Palace racing of soloing round at a reasonably consistant pace and picking people on the way round. I was fairly happy with the way it went and although the hill was tough it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be.
I was asked to pull out after the race time was up so the final laps could be contested by the leaders. I expect this and normally don't have an issue with it. Here though the field was only about 22 at the start, quite a few had dropped out, the field was scattered all round the circuit with no more than 2 riders together, I'd only been lapped by the leader (who lapped everyone apart from 2nd and 3rd places), and by 2nd and 3rd who were also miles clear of 4th. I don't know where I was in the field but there weren't many left racing so I must have been about 11th or 12th so was a bit pissed off as I was hardly going to get in the way of a bunch sprint.
Steve had had a great race and rode really strongly. He was with another chap and they were in 6th and 7th. With two laps left the leader lapped them but they grabbed his wheel and got a good tow. This pulled them up to 5th place who they caught on the final lap.
Steve sprinted up the hill and got 5th place, well me and most others thought he did. For some unfathomable reason they had put him in 7th, a bit of a "chat" and he was upgraded to 6th. Still mad as he was definately 5th and the bloke he beat said Steve was 5th and he was 6th.
A shame but otherwise a great experience and a big thank you to all the ACC who shouted encouragement, it helped a lot. A good amount of people watching in the High Street as well, certainly the biggest crowd I've raced in front of.
Cheers,
Andrew.
P.S. Also had a chat with Geraldine, who was marshalling, and good to hear she is back on the bike and was as cheerful as ever.
. None of these bends had hidden gravel patches.
. My Mum came up from Turners Hill as well and my Mother in law came along for her first trip outside after her diagnoses and subsequent treatment for cancer. It was good to see her out in the fresh air after a very tough couple of months for everyone. And she enjoyed it 
) and he jumped on my wheel. We didn't have a clue of our race positions , but we took turns in doing work for the last 7? laps. There wasn't anyone behind us so our positions were safe, and it didn't look like we would catch anyone either.
