wcra handicaps (sat 20)

[JayneToyne]

what a ridiculous thing to do... racing in 40mph+ winds....
a decent sized field of women turned up despite the gales and thrashed themselves stupid mainly trying to stay alive and on the bike. racing was very hard because of this fact.
It was my first race this season and i felt like i did ok for the first of many. i think I finished around mid field, the results dont show accurately what the finishing field consisted of, Hannah was blown off the circuit twice at least which was frustrating for her as she was in the scratch group making up a time deficit of nearly 4 minutes and she had me in her sights when the 2 lap board came out, Maria was also blown off course, both were lucky not to fall and managed to get back on the tarmac unscathed. I believe it was seeing Hannah coming off for the 2nd time that got the organiser to see sense and cut the race 5 laps short.

the hardest part for me was heading down the fast down hill with the insane side winds gusting blowing large branches off the the trees and I got hit several times with a glancing blow to the head from some flying branches. not funny. was also abit scarey doing nearly 30mph with branches flying at your wheels. also had the wind physically lift my bike up about an inch or so off the ground and plonk me nearly a foot sideways... also not funny.

still, its all character building stuff...

[siwickm]

The only weather when being a fat bxstxrd is advisable, so that you at least keep your bike on the ground.

I agree with your summing up of the racing this weekend, absolute nightmare, but think about the training benefits hey.