Darryl Lusardi and I (Alex Pierce) rode the E123 at Hillingdon on Tuesday, my last race for a few weeks while I finish my exams. The pace was pretty erratic for the first 45 minutes, with no one wanting to let a break form after the clean sweeps Pedal Heaven have had the previous few weeks.
With 15 minutes to go, the heavens opened up and sensing their moment of opportunity 5 riders attacked and opened up a gap (including 2 Pedal Heaven and 1 Catford rider). The gap opened up to 20 seconds, and after a brief attempt by myself and a few others to pull them back we all began to look at each other for the sprint. By this point I was seriously regretting leaving my overshoes and rain cape in the club house…
Darryl and I had positioned ourselves well for the last lap, and were both in the top 10 riders coming out of the S bend. However Darryl was forced to launch his sprint a little too early, leading the bunch out around the final corner before fading in the last 200m. This worked well for me as it stretched out the bunch so the sprint wasn’t too crowded. I launched my sprint at 200m to go, just about squeezing into a gap beside Darryl, taking 3rd in the bunch sprint and 8th overall! Also got some cash for finishing second 3rd cat… A nice note to end on before I take my brief sabbatical!
Alex Pierce
