Hillingdon winter series 26/1
After winning the Willesden Road race trophy at the club dinner I thought it best to do the decent thing and actually race. I’ve had a few weeks away from racing to get some miles in my legs so whilst I wasn’t expecting to be very sharp I was hoping my fitness level would be OK.
It was a very mild January day although very windy, and there was a huge turnout of riders (60+) for the 11th race of the series.
The race started off as it was to continue with several of the top riders trying their best to get away from the bunch. I was trying save my energy for when it mattered, so I tried to keep at the front but out of mischief. This went very well until I got caught out down the back straight and into the wind. I’d not managed to find shelter behind anyone and was losing places quickly. I noticed that Sigma Sport super star Andrew Bye was looking to make a move so I had a split second decision to make! Either try and follow Andrew Bye’s wheel and see if I could get a tow to the front, or stay where I was and lose places all the way down the long back straight.
I decided to follow Andrew who made his way to the front of the pack and was trying everything he could to split up the race. His team mate Steve Golla repeated the move, which left me hanging on for dear life! After taking some time to recover for the finish I moved to the front with15 mins to go. I used loads of energy hoding my place and this was wearing me down for the last 5 laps.
I was in a reasonable place for the finish but by this point two riders, Paul Pickup and Clive Nicholls (who recently won the Willesden CC Cat 3/4 road race) managed to get away and the rest of the bunch was strung out for the finish. I was placed badly for the sprint and had to settle forcoming in 34th place.
I see new member Richard Cooper has starting riding the 4th cat races, if Richard or anyone else would like to get involved with more racing please contact me on richiej1979@hotmail.com
Richard Jerome
