Henley LVRC

[Marek]

Decided to try my hand at an LVRC race today after the cancellation of our hosted race. First race for some time so was pretty nervous of whether my recent spate of reasonable form on the club run was going to equate to anything when mixing it up in a proper race.

Race circuit was 14.5km long with 6 laps in store. Keith Lea was present from ACC and a couple of my buddies from Verulam who I have ridden overseas with a few times so was good to see some friendly faces.

Race got off to a pretty frantic start with a few guys trying to get away from the gun. The circuit had a couple of drags on it and one semi hill, although it wasn't too much, so a good circuit for a non hill climber like me.

I went up the front at one point to bring back a small break and it was hard work as quite windy. Then things went into a bit of a lull and one guy from Quest Bike Shop went up the road, he had a bit of a gap and didn't seem to be working that hard, so I thought I may as well join him. I pinged off the front and got onto his wheel and we started to work together.

It wasn't long until we had a pretty good gap on the peleton and then about a lap went and two other riders came up and joined us. They were to be the firepower. These guys were motoring, and I though the pace had been quick but it was nothing when this GC Vecci guy and a guy from Handsling joined in. They were super strong and it took me a few turns to get used to the increased pace but then I sort of settled into it. The Quest guy did seem to be struggling though and he missed quite a few turns.

The laps started to count down and we were working really well together, the pace was tough but manageable due to the lack of hills. Unfortunately the Quest guy was not really pulling that hard, and each time he came through he seemed to be almost soft pedalling, I was unsure whether he was saving himself or just tired.

2 laps to go and we were still going reasonably well although now we could see that there was another chase group coming after us. We tried to keep it going but a couple of the guys were worried now about the other group so were holding back a bit. Me and Handsling guy were trying to keep the pace up especially on the flats but it was not enough and we got caught just by the last lap and we were now a group of around 12 or 13 riders. Keith was in this group which was good to see and he tried to break the group down a bit, as did I on an occasion but it was not to be.

We came thundering to the line and one guy from GS Vecci I think, was one from the Keith group put in a big dig and got a gap. Everyone started to look at each other and no one went after him. I was pretty cooked and didn't really fancy going after him, I think everyone felt the same. He managed to hold us off when we started to wind up for the sprint, I think Keith managed to get in the top 5 and I got 9th. I tried to sprint but my legs were absolutely cooked after all the work in the break.

Average speed for the 90km was just over 40kmph, pretty impressive for a bunch of old blokes. Really enjoyed it, great to be back racing, shame I started just as the season ended.

Cheers

Marek.....

[Dominic]

Nice one Marek. Good to see a good old fashioned race report as well

[Alan M]

Good stuff on your coming of age.

[Keith]

Good to see you back racing Marek

[Toks]

Well done guys!...Still a few more more Sundays to go, keep it up Marek!