Post by Jonny Five on Mar 5, 2011 18:59:30 GMT
So guys, just Andy and I headed over to Darley this morning with Ben pulling out through lack of sleep. Here's my account of how it went, I'm sure Andy will add anything I miss!
Arriving good and early at the Darley Moor race circuit with a descending wet mist it was time for the pre-race rituals (you know what I mean!). Seeing the number of Cervelos and deep section carbons that were being taken out of cars didn’t help with the nerves. Warming up around the circuit I could feel it was going to be a fast one, only a whiff of a breeze…and so it was. Not sure on exact numbers but it was probably averaging in the 26s. Attacks were constant and persistent from the off (just as I had been told it would) and so I positioned myself inside the top 20 and sat there seeing Andy a few times making moves towards the front, only hitting the front once in the first 15 laps, but sitting high enough up so that the kicks out of each corner weren’t too bad. Speaking of corners, there really are some right choppers who cannot corner out there on the racing scene! About halfway through Andy kicked out and put in a solid effort with 1 other guy, maintaining about a 10 second lead over the peloton for a lap or so. Unfortunately there was still a long way to go and the other guy with Andy wasn't prepared to work hard so he slipped back into the bunch to save his energy. With about 7-8 laps to go it looked as if a group of 8 riders had started to get organised a few hundred metres up the road and so I started to move up the pack. Coming into the hairpin I hit the front and when I emerged from the corner there was about 15 metres between myself and the rest of them so decided to keep it going and bridge over to the breakaway. Hit the back of the group before the end of the straight, and it seemed like they were really up for working hard together with lots of shouts of ‘come on lads, we can do this’. So it was then through and off to the finish with lots of camaraderie. As we rounded the final corner it slowed up and it looked like some games were going to be played. After 10 seconds of that, some tired faces, and no sign of anyone making a move I decided to hit out for home with 250 metres to go. This is much further away than I would have liked but established about 15 metres between myself and the then chasing breakaway. Unfortunately I faded a bit in the last 50 allowing one rider who’d made a late jump to just slip past in the last 10 metres to pip me to the win!!!
After meeting up with Andy, the cheeky bugger had tried to reel me in whilst sitting on the front of the bunch for a while haha, but he finished safely in the bunch.
All in all a mint day and cracking first race experience, looking forward to next weekend's race on the same circuit.
Arriving good and early at the Darley Moor race circuit with a descending wet mist it was time for the pre-race rituals (you know what I mean!). Seeing the number of Cervelos and deep section carbons that were being taken out of cars didn’t help with the nerves. Warming up around the circuit I could feel it was going to be a fast one, only a whiff of a breeze…and so it was. Not sure on exact numbers but it was probably averaging in the 26s. Attacks were constant and persistent from the off (just as I had been told it would) and so I positioned myself inside the top 20 and sat there seeing Andy a few times making moves towards the front, only hitting the front once in the first 15 laps, but sitting high enough up so that the kicks out of each corner weren’t too bad. Speaking of corners, there really are some right choppers who cannot corner out there on the racing scene! About halfway through Andy kicked out and put in a solid effort with 1 other guy, maintaining about a 10 second lead over the peloton for a lap or so. Unfortunately there was still a long way to go and the other guy with Andy wasn't prepared to work hard so he slipped back into the bunch to save his energy. With about 7-8 laps to go it looked as if a group of 8 riders had started to get organised a few hundred metres up the road and so I started to move up the pack. Coming into the hairpin I hit the front and when I emerged from the corner there was about 15 metres between myself and the rest of them so decided to keep it going and bridge over to the breakaway. Hit the back of the group before the end of the straight, and it seemed like they were really up for working hard together with lots of shouts of ‘come on lads, we can do this’. So it was then through and off to the finish with lots of camaraderie. As we rounded the final corner it slowed up and it looked like some games were going to be played. After 10 seconds of that, some tired faces, and no sign of anyone making a move I decided to hit out for home with 250 metres to go. This is much further away than I would have liked but established about 15 metres between myself and the then chasing breakaway. Unfortunately I faded a bit in the last 50 allowing one rider who’d made a late jump to just slip past in the last 10 metres to pip me to the win!!!
After meeting up with Andy, the cheeky bugger had tried to reel me in whilst sitting on the front of the bunch for a while haha, but he finished safely in the bunch.
All in all a mint day and cracking first race experience, looking forward to next weekend's race on the same circuit.