arrived and chertsey to see paul (on the pearsons) and andrew green, and later joined by george.
before the race andrew said along the lines of 'i will just take it easy today, hang on to the back'...well that is laughable as andrew was up the front, coming through, taking turns at the front, chasing breaks, the works!!
anyways, so the event started by doing 2 laps, through and off warm up, then another 2 laps just going round.
ok so the race started, i was near the front and the pace was slow. one rider hopped off the front which soon got the pack moving. it was pretty steady until about 2 laps in, i suddenly found myself in a small break away with 2 london dynamo chaps. we had 20m on the peleton which was not moving too quickly, so i said 'we should do a through and off to try and get away, work together'... well i don't think that working together and addiscombe cc go in the same sentence when it comes to london dynamo.
i came through for my turn, we had increased the gap, and the 2 dynamo boys just sat there, so slowed right down and we were caught. anyway at some point after that 2 riders got away, but im not sure when. for the next few laps until the last lap i found it very easy to stay up front. at the front the pack was in 2 lines, the line on the right was constantly shifting forward and supplying the front with new riders. however still feeling a bit fatigued i wanted to avoid turns at the front. so what i was doing was going to the right and letting them take me up, then 3 riders from the front i would come across to the left and cut myself in, then slowly i would drift back to about 10th, then the process would repeat.
this was brilliant, it took nearly no energy and kept me well up there.
3 laps in and the spray was un believable and i could not see a thing through my glasses, so i pulled out and took them off...although it helped with my vision, the sudden shock of the wind made me drift towards the middle of the pack, so i had to really fight to get back in.
4 laps in and i was surprised at how slow the pace was so i went to the front up a hill and put in a dig, not to get away but to perhaps tire out some of the competition. up up ahead we saw the womens race, so i lead until we got to them, then took some shelter.
we then came through for the last lap, i was about 4 back, some women were going off the front!! but they soon got caught. around the back of the circuit and some men put in big pushes up the hill, i managed to keep up with them, i was now 3 from the front, with a strong dynamo rider in front of me...perfect! we came to the last straight which is still a looooong way from the finish.
as soon as we hit it however the sprint started at the front, so i went for it. i looked up ahead and my god did we have a long way to go !! 450m!!, i was already going full pelt! 200 m to go and i was dead, but thankfully so was everyone else, so i sat down for a few spins, then got a second wind of life, out the saddle i got and took some places, i was now about 4-5th with 100m or so left, lungs screaming, legs about to melt i nearly gave up. but obviously people were feeling the same as me. well i made it to the line in about 4th or 5th, so 6th or 7th over all because of the 2 that got away....hopefully i got the 6th so i can move up to third cat.
the sprint was a funny one, mr ian can fill you in on the technicals of it as he saw it from the side lines and was busy cheering us all on.
great ride, though very cold and wet. nice to see some addiscombe jerseys out there!
the pace was very manageable this time, legs were hardly ever burning, but the sprint is the longest and hardest i have ever done!
the actual race, not including the warm up laps was only 12 miles, and average 22.9, but it was very flat bar a few short sharp hills. anyone else wanting to start racing chertsey is the place to go- im sure paul and andrew can back that one up!
cheers,
stu
). Oh and Stu's mum and dad.
.
, i tried re-setting the settings and it won't do anything 
...you looked comfortable though!