>Today’s race went ahead. It was (marginally) warmer than forecast and the Slipstreamers did a great job making the circuit safe in the morning.
There was no super fast start this week and the pack stayed together. The pace was brisk but pretty even, which suits me. There were bursts down the straight, but it’s easy to accelerate and keep up there. I got caught out a couple of times at the shed corner (dropping too far back), but managed to close th
e gaps okay.
I never did get to the front of the race despite trying to move up from tail end Charlie a couple of times. The easy pace meant the bunch was wide and pretty twitchy around the margins. It all came down to a sprint and I was tailed off up the hill again (I was ‘sprinting’, but it felt like reverse gear). Some more short interval work needed this week.
The good news is that the chainset fitted this week didn’t fall off, the gears worked after a bit of in-race adjustment and the bike position is now the same as the training iron.
Race stats: position – 31st of 37 finishers, race distance – 19.2 miles, race time – 48:25, average speed – 23.8mph, average HR – 158bpm, maximum HR – 171bpm, top speed – 29.5mph (the 19th mile), fastest mile (the 19th) – 2:23 (25.2mph), slowest mile (the 17th) – 2:40 (22.5mph).
Winner: Malcolm Dixon of Dulwich Paragon
Lance Woodman 