Stuart King Rides his First Road Race - and WINS!
Stuart King Rides his First Road Race - and WINS!I tried in vain, last week, to introduce the concept of the 1497
report. This week’s race, however, changed this
assumption.
As a rarity I arrived in good time for the race this week.
Unfortunately it was a chilly evening and I cooled down too much before
the start. My spirits were lifted when Sandy
King and his brother Stuart
arrived. It was good to see some other TCC shirts. Sandy, of course,
was to ride in the E/1/2/3 race and Stuart
King
joined me in the 4ths.
So to the start.
Feeling the cold for the first few laps and being bombarded with grit
from the damp surface, I was not in my most confident mood.
Nevertheless I stuck to my usual strategy by staying near the front and
keeping out of trouble. I soon started to feel better and never really
felt stretched throughout the race. The theme of the race was ATTACK, as every lap
someone tried to slip away to form a break. The first attempt nearly
worked as six riders got away temporarily and had they worked together
the result might have been different. And so it went on, attack,
capture, attack, capture. In the latter stages of the race Stuart also attacked
with another rider but this too was soon brought back to the main
group.
The 3 laps to go board.
I was determined not to repeat my mistake of last week and worked hard
to get near the front and hold my place there. I achieved this by
taking places on the outside of the right hand hairpin bend. Not a
particularly popular move with my fellow competitors but effective
overall. I regretted not paying more attention to Mr Peck’s advice
about arriving at the front too quickly as my next move through the
group found me sitting in 2nd place heading down the back straight on
the final lap. I had no choice but to stick with it. Unfortunately the
rider in front had been on the front for at least five laps so I knew
he was not a strong wheel to follow. Rounding the bottom bend
I accelerated to hold my position and waited for the sprint for the
line. I was then swarmed as the stronger riders made their moves. Much
weaving, elbows and all out effort then followed and a final dive over
the line. I had given too much on the last lap and as I looked around I
can only guess that I finished around 11th or 12th.
Well done to the youngster.
I met up with Stuart at the finish and asked how he had got on. I knew
that he was ahead of me but I hadn’t realised that he had won! What a fantastic result for
your first road race…
The E/1/2/3.
I only saw the final two laps of the E/1/2/3 race. With one lap to go Sandy
King had formed a small break of 20 metres with another
rider. Unfortunately the break did not survive and Sandy finished
safely in the main group.
