paul T, marek, george, sylv, dan gee, hal and myself.
on the first lap i attacked because i knew i needed to warm up a bit. to my pleasant surprise sylv came with me, and a dynamo rider. me and sylv started working but the dynamo was doing nothing, then dave kennett came over, but also didnt do anything. i think paragon were just covering the breaks. we stayed away for just under a lap before we got sucked in.
i felt warmed up, but perhaps a little too warmed up! i took a rest in the pack for a lap and a half, then i went up to the front 20 to join sylv and george. whilst i had been hiding a break of about 10 had gone clear. george was sitting on the front so i thought id go help. i casually went in front of him to help, but he had other ideas for me, and let me open up a gap. i looked back and had 25m , and the break was about 350m ahead. i put my head down and started trying to bridge the gap. slowly it was coming down, and by the top of a small hill i only had 50m to go, but i was suffering, even the motor bike out rider was encouraging me. i knew i only needed one more effort to get on.....then all of a sudden we turned a corner and into a nasty headwind. suddenly i was no longer closing the gap, in fact in was slowly increasing. i looked back and i had about 250m on the peleton. i knew i was not going to get onto the break so i sat up, and thankfully by the time i was bought back in i had recovered.
i sat in again for a lap, and then went back to the front with sylv and george. marek then did what i had done and went after the break, a sigma sports rider went after him, but they both got bought back in. by now there was 3 laps to go, about 21 miles. first call of duty was to help bring back the break. i got up the front and we got a through and off going and soon roped them in.
now the attacks came in think and fast and i lost count of how many break aways myself, sylv and george got into. we would establish one, but no one would be willing to work and we would get roped in. with 2.5 laps to go a promising break went. george was in it so i knew i shouldnt chase after it in case i towed the pack. thankfully somone else went after it and i covered his move, and soon we had bridged it over to the break. there were about 15 riders in it, probably too many as it was not smooth. me and george did a fair bit of work- george more than anyone. with 1.5 laps to go we had been chased down. i then made a big mistake....
i let myself drift back too far, and a break went with sylv and george chasing. it was so tempting to go after them but i played the good team mate and just covered other moves,and sat on the front. george managed to get across but sylv was cooked and was back in the pack. i knew i should of, and could of gone with the break but it was too late, and at least george was in. me and sylv sat about 15 places back for the last lap, and discussed if we were going to attack on the climb, but we didnt do it in the end.
up the finishing slope there was a fair bit of jostleing around for the remaining places which i didnt think was worth the risk, as about 10 people were in the break, so i just rode behind the 6 or 7 sprinters making sure i would avoid any crashes. i think i finished top 25 or so, george finished 9th, marek was just behind me, and sylv just behind him. so i think the all 4 of us were inside the top 30. unfortunately paul T, dan gee and hal got dropped (lack of training group over winter)
.the race was 53 miles roughly, but i didnt get the average speed as my speedo stopped working in the rain
cheers
stu
didn't quite have the legs for a sprint but flew over the line for 9th place from the break.
!!!!
