After what feels like forever, it was nice to pin the numbers on for my first race of the 2019 Road Season.
After a long day travelling on Friday, we finally arrived at our accommodation. It was too dark to get out on the road for a pre race ride so opted for a session on the turbo instead. With a few efforts to open up the legs, they soon came back to life after the days travelling & were race ready.
A good nights sleep later, it was finally race day. It was a pretty late start for a UK race, 13:30. I had previously done the Roy Thame RR before so I knew the course fairly well and what to expect. As it was my first race of the season I didn't really know how I was going to go even though training has been going well. You always get those pre race nerves in the first couple of races then you settle in as normal.
The boss set out the plan for the day with a clear goal in mind, WIN. It was a very aggressive first lap with many attacks to say the least. A group of around 8-10 riders crept away with none of our team represented. So myself and one other rider slipped away and bridged the gap. With the main pack looking like they were not committed it looked like this group could stick & could be the winning move. Another 2 riders including a team mate bridged the gap soon after and started working well together for an amount of time. All of a sudden one of the pre race favourites tried bridging with quite a few riders, which the bunch didn't seem to like and all came back together shortly after. As soon as our group was caught there was a counter attack with my brother Tom represented. That was the winning move, but unfortunately if we wanted the win, we needed to have more riders in that move. A couple of the favourites also missed the move to start with but one made a solo effort to get across. We should have covered it in all honesty, myself included but a slight hesitation was all it took and the opportunity was gone. In the end it was all down to Tom to deliver, which he very nearly did. With everyone watching each other on the final lap one of the Giant Sheffield riders clipped away. If another one of our riders were to be there, the situation would have been much different. Tom finished a strong 2nd place.
Personally, I have learnt a huge amount at the weekend and have a complete different mind set going into the next races. It was great to meet the lads on the team & together we will improve as we get to know each other more & keep on building.
There is not much to say about Sunday as the Jock Wadley was cancelled due to the high winds.
My next race on the Calendar will be the Wally Gimber, a tough circuit from what I've heard but I'm very much motivated to redeem myself for myself & the team.
Thanks for reading.
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