Was 3rd reserve and GREAT I got a ride, they let me in even without my licence which I didn't want to wait 2 hours for this morning
We had a brief warm up lap but at the start there were already tons of rider lined up, I got in there around mid pack but unfortunately Jon and Adam were right at the back.
As we set off we soon realized that starting from the front is a great advantage, as the course is so tight with lots of tight sharp dangerous corners that the field gets strung out.
From the gun the pace was instantly flat out, every corner you had to take as fast as possible to carry enough speed on the exit to stay on. Out of every-corner you had to be out of the saddle flat out honking which was required also to stay in contention.
I saw at least 4 nasty crashes and I don't mean small gravel rash inducing slip offs, I mean cart-wheeling over the bars and pile-driving into the street furniture straight into the ambulance kind of crashing
Boy was I lucky on a couple of occasions to avoid these guy's who kept hitting the deck right in-front of me.
It was great fun racing through the streets on the closed roads, all the spectators cheering us on really felt good.
The first half of the race I felt pretty rotten, I was struggling to breath and catch breath but luckily for me I seemed to keep getting these second winds after the half way point.
Jon caught up with me after 15 mins or so and I was a little poached at the time which he saw and offered his wheel.
I accepted this for about a lap and then as we were passing some lapped riders Jon shouted "on your left" but someone else shouted "to your right" so the plonkers moved right into Jon's line and boxed him right into the barrier to a standstill. Fortunately for me I wasn't held up and cracked on, but Jon was forced to retire after this.
I was really beginning to enjoy the enforced suffering around the super tight circuit and managed to pick off quite a few riders who were spat out, Marek was really giving some great encouragement.
Ian and Jo were there as well as Paul on the Pearson's and quite a few other agreeables, Hell even the Photographer from Croydon Advertiser was shouting Come on George
I was starting to pass a fair amount of lapped riders and picked them off whooshing round the tight cobbled/Kerb strewn corners. Passed Adam after about 30 mins, I think he was pissed off from starting right at the back.
The surface was well rough with lots of manholes sleeping police man, my bike and wheels were taking one hell of a hammering and so was my cardiovascular system, I must have been maxed out for 45mins!
It wasn't untill after the finish I realized how much effort I had exerted to race round there, I was coughing my lungs up and having difficulty braething, mind you I'd had a cold all week
To be honest I was happy just to finish without visiting the hospital
but was chuffed to get a solid ride in and not drop too far off the lead guy's.
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