SERRL Summer Series 2 - Benenden/Sandhurst

[thomashansell]

Oliver and I rocked up to this 2/3/4 road race not really knowing what to expect - neither of us had raced the course before, and it was Oliver's first race of the season and only my second.

Conditions were cold (hovering around 4C throughout), although dry, with the odd bit of damp on the course.

The first 3 laps were raced at full gas, and the attritional nature of the course (about 600ft climbing per lap) began to show from the gun. Various attempts to break away were made, and eventually, on first of 2 major climbs on lap 3, a group of 11 made it off the front. I was badly positioned - caught on the inside as the road pitched up, and riders flew up the outside - and despite being well in sight of the split, didn't have the legs to get across. The remainder of lap 3 was still quick, and various efforts were made to bridge, but none successful. By the end of lap 4 the gap to the break was up to 1:30 and a truce of sorts was called in the main field.

A couple of riders spent some time off the front of the peleton, but no one got a significant gap, and so the break of 11 were left to fight out the finish. With points on offer to the top 15, the sprint from the main field was hotly contested, but neither Oliver or I had the legs to feature - we rolled in 26th and 27th, respectively. It says a lot about the difficulty of the race that there were only about 30 riders left in the main group by the end. I was very happy to be there, especially given the number of Cat 2 riders in the field.

My ride is here: https://www.strava.com/activities/504429065