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I didn’t ride race 4 on Boxing Day because I had drunk too much the day before and was still getting over the cold. I did a 30 odd mile ride in the South Downs instead and accidentally went up a hill (just outside South Harting). The 21 sprocket was not big enough and I had to stop twice to ‘admire the view’ (it was a nice view – see right).
I did not have high hope for today’s event (race 5), but I’m getting fed up of missing events, so I rode anyway. It was a much smaller field than race one. By being crafty (not doing a turn) I managed to hang on for 10 miles. I am better at conserving energy than I used to be. The last six miles on me todd were tough: it was a cold, breezy day. The conditions were not conducive to solo efforts. I was lapped before the end but continued to finish 27th out of 28 finishers. The winner was Mark Edwards of Hillingdon Triathletes.
Lance Woodman 
>Lance, keep racing you’ll get there. Are you training during the week? Have you tried some of the Dulwich Paragon chaingangs on Wed nights? R. http://lbrc.org
>Thanks for the encouragement, Richard. I do train during the week, though a cold has hit the recent schedules. The Dulwich rides would be a bit far away for me – most of my group training is at Hillingdon or in the Chilterns. Look forward to seeing you at Hillingdon – LW