It seems crash season has decended upon us as quickly as Mr Hushovd down a mountain pass!
After racing twice on the weekend 6th/7th August and having both races stopped, both times while I was off the front on my own leading, I was again left short changed by a crash this Sunday.
Racing for the first time in the Python RT Road race, I was feeling strong and pretty confident and was looking forward to a fast race with a strong field, and more rarely, in the sun! The course was pretty flat with a few undulations, but nothing testing. Breakaways would need a good time advantage, as there were some very long straights that would allow a chasing bunch to keep an eye on their prey. At the start of the race, I stayed up near the front, watching the various moves, and going with anything dangerous. About half way in, a break went that steadily got a larger gap. This one looked dangerous, so I tried to go across. However, the bunch, having seen one group escape, would not let another group go and bridge. typically though, they didn't seem interested in pulling back the real threat. However, one of the strongest teams in the race, Wilier/GoSelfdrive, had missed the break and were getting organised to pull the break back. As a result, I knew the best bet was to drop back and tuck in with the sprinters and let a team do the work to bring back the break - a nice luxury when you spend 99% of a season racing alone! Wilier did a good job and caught the break on the bell lap. However, at this point, the danger started as the pace dropped slightly and everyone fancied a crack at the win. It was hard to stay close to the fron, and you had to constatntly fight to stay uop there as the pace was not high enought to string the bunch out. About 200 meters before the turn onto the finsh straight (and after just shy of 90 miles in the saddle), the inevitable happened - a coming together of riders and a huge smash at the front of the group. With bodies and bike everywhere, I fully expected to go down. Somehow though, I lucked out and picked the right line and missed everyone. The race was runied though, as a group of about twenty or so had gone off into the distance. I managed to get going again, and caught a few to get 17th on the line - should have been much more, but at least I finished in one piece!
On Monday, I wasn't quite so lucky and crashed in the wet at Ludgershall E,1, 2 circuit race. I went down quite hard, hitting my head and picking up some road rash. However, I got up to finish the race (exposing myself to anyone with a sharp eye, thanks to some badly ripped shorts!). 8th place on the night in the end, and again, should have been much more had I stayed on two wheels! That position was enought to give me 9th overall in the series - not too bad considering I only entered four of the rounds!
Time to rest up, patch up, and get ready for my first off road adventure of the year - Brighton Big Dog's 6 hour MTB enduro. What am I doing?!
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