Strong and Smooth: First Road Race Points

Strong and smooth??? /\

First goal of this season is to get 10 points and make it up the road race ranks from lowly 4th cat to not quite so lowly 3rd.

This quest has taken me to Hillingdon for the last 3 Saturdays to take part in the Imperial Winter Series. After a couple of "essai"s getting to know the course and other riders I took the last race a bit more seriously.

I went hard on the first lap and broke to do the first half of the race solo. The conditions didnt offer a realistic chance of staying away but this let me get to know the fastest route through the various corners and get a feel for what I could do solo.

After halfway I was caught at which time I applied a lesson learned from previous rides and stayed at the head of the group. There were various badly organised attempts at breakaways before the sprint on the final lap. Another lesson was applied and I stayed in correct part of the course, though I stared my windup a bit late. Some fun and games on the final straight as someones foot came loose and caused some riders to go cross country. I managed to avoid trouble and came in 8th. Not great but first 2 points....

My solo attempt got a mention in the race report:

http://www.imperialracingteam.com/imperialracingteam/results0809.html?

4th cats
Surprisingly a smaller field today lined up for the start than for the freezing artic conditions of last weeks race. Although a strong southerly wind provided a different challenge down the back straight, although helping the riders up the drag to the finish.

The wind was not a deterrent to Martin Sigrist (Newbury RC) who attacked from the gun and quickly gained a gap that at one point was in excess of 30 seconds, and he continued to look smooth and strong as he led for over half the distance. Eventually the bunch woke up, however, and within a few laps his lead was reduced to a few seconds and he was swept up by the bunch half a lap later.

Several more abortive individual attacks were launched from the bunch, but without the safety of numbers they were soon brought back as they entered the headwind into the back straight.
A bunch sprint saw Antony Leeson (Addiscombe CC) take the honours on the line from Charlie Pearch (London Dynamo/Cyclefit)