Glorious Goodwood...

[-Adam-]

Well maybe next time anyway!

My first outing as a 3rd cat was not as bad as i thought it may have been, so im pleased about that.

Unfortunately a break of 8 riders stayed clear to win, but i got a good top 10 in the bunch sprint. Reckon i was bout 17th/18th over all. Was a shame though, the break that got away was just about the only one i didn't get involved with closing down straight away, every other move that went i chased, but i was having a little rest at the time! Was also a shame how only me and about 6 or 7 riders seemed to have any desire to bring back the break once it became established. Frustrating.

Didn't find the step up to much, was a long time to race for though. After about an hour in the saddle i was thinking shouldn't it be about over by now! And there was still 10/20 laps to go! But after that i had a 'second wind' and began really trying to chase the break. Even ended up going it alone for about half a lap, but just didn't have the legs to make it. Im a sprinter, not a rouleur! Once it became clear with 2 laps to go, that the break was gone, i sat in and waited for the sprint. After mareks advice of staying in the top 5 places coming into the chicane, i made a point of doing so. But since it rained about halfway through the race, the track was still wet. And due to the faster pace we were doing coming into the chicane i lost about 10 places as i braked more than some. Another example of inexperience i suppose, but you gotta learn somehow i guess.

Thus the sprint was going to be for pride, only the top 2 from the bunch would have gained a point, so that went out the window. Sprinted as hard as i could and managed to haul myself up into well inside the top 10 from the bunch.

Thanks to richard munday for more advice and re-assurance before the race.

Richard finished about 4th in the bunch sprint, thus 12th overall. With myself back in about 9th place, 17thish overall.

But for all the aching legs, i enjoyed it, and thats what its all about right!?

Also Dave Kennet was in the surrey league revolutions 5-day, He put in a solid performance in the TT on the race track (as far as i could tell, didn't hear his time, but he looked pretty fast!)

[Nick]

Well done Adam.

Good encouragement to ALL of us newbies preparing for next year.

Sounds like you had the time of your life and even remebering events whilst riding at a high pace.

I think 2 important points have been learned.

1. You can't beat advise.

2.Experince.

[siwickm]

Ah well Adam, never mind. Quite amusing what happened as my advice to you in the other thread kind of panned out to exactly what happened in your race. It is hard to know which break to go with. I always find that it is better to let a break get a reasonable gap and then chase it on your own.

This is the best way of not going with every break which gets doomed to failure. Of course you have to judge it well else you may not catch the break if they are super strong.

Of course you can always try and start your own break but it is hard if no one else strong joins you. Once you get known as being strong and you get to know some of the other riders people will realise that you can hold a break and are more likely to come and help you. Sometime you see people going off the front and you know straight away they have no chance in hell of staying away as you saw them do the same thing the week before, mind you again you never know as people have good and bad days.

When you catch the break you can have a bit of a breather on the back and then start working.

Cheers

Marek....