My First Race

I am reluctant to even mention this first instalment as it shows me up as the sore loser I really am.

The day stared off like any other cycling day; up on the first alarm (no snoozes today), kit all ready laid out, bottles, gels and what not all packed in my kit bag. breakfast down me, quick 'Pre-Game', bike in the boot and we're off.
This is my first race and until now i had never even been to MK Bowl so was unsure of what to expect. I arrived to a clobbering fellow opening one of the gates with his range rover, no direction given as to where to park, go or not to go so have a quick spin round and eventually park on a verge somewhere. I'm already kitted up so I head for the sign on area to get my number and find out what to do!
up to now my Membership has been a BC ride and the race licence hadn't come through yet so I had to convince the guy I was allowed to be there.
a Bit more faffing around deciding what to take from the car and i was on my way. once I found the track I had a few laps, get ready and warmed up. everything was picking up nicely. the course is relatively flat with a bit of an incline before the finish (anti-clockwise). after a bit of warm up and a chat with some friendly faces, people started to congregate up around the start/finish line. one kind chap pointed out that i had pinned my number in the wrong place and if I wanted to "mix it up" I'd need to move it so they would see the number.
"Pants... better move it cos I'm gonna be right up there" (Fool) so anyway, jersey off ready to shift my number then a big shuffle in the group ready to go... no time , jersey back on.
through the pack of 80 riders! a fellow at the front said a few indistiguishable words to the group, blew a whistle and we were away.
click, click, click pedals, wobbles stalls everywhere, how the hell am I gonna get to the front with all these people in my way I thought, no matter, I'll just whizz past them on the first few laps, they wont be going that quick yet.
they WERE going that quick! I spent 3-4 laps just getting up with the lead group, around the outside, squeezing past riders gates and grass verges to make up places.
After catching up, things settled down, pace was high-ish but manageable, some of the surges at the front meant the lead group was minimised to maybe 40 or so. this I can deal with, still around the outside I though I need to get over so I don't end up doing extra mileage and killing myself out in the wind. about 25 minutes in, I was in a nice comfortable position, coming round to complete another lap up the ramp, the pack seemed to open up like the red sea... "ooh look" I though, I could just nip through there and 'll have a jolly good position ready for the end. my jolly good position turned into the slap bang front with not a soul to take cover behind, bugger.
"maybe if I put a bit of effort into it I'll catch that guy up there and I'll be dandy". too much effort and not enough dandy meant i was just getting more and more tired, a quick glance over my shoulder to see how much time I had gained (Yeah right) revealed a hunting group of riders 3mm from my wheel. every one of them thinking who the hell is this mug?
The only thing I could do is relax a bit and get back in the pack, reserve some and then tray again later on. some folks came past, some more folks came past and then no-one else came past. whoops, think i better keep up with them.
I think by this point you have already guessed what happened next, I didn't keep up with them, I got further and further away eventually to the point where they were about to go out of site. there is no way I'm going down like this, I'd rather quit...so I did.
Peeled off next lap stuck my bike in the car and drove home in a sulk like a little girl.
Turns out that my saddle had been dropping all the way through the race and ended up about 2 inches too low. I'm telling myself that was the only reason why I failed so miserably.
people may have had worse days but they weren't me. this was the worst day ever.

Quote of the week: " Just because you don't win, doesn't mean your not a loser"