Race Two at the Bowl

Week 2 at the bowl started on Friday night with the Club ‘Celebration of spring’ Curry night. Not quite perfect timing but we must prioritise and in a club centred around social activities, curry comes first. Quite rightly so. and with curry, one must partake in a beer or two. As I haven’t been drinking all year, other than a gin or two these were my first beers and I don’t think they went down as well as they used to. All this meant I woke up with a bit of a grumbly tumbly.

No bother, we must persist and this week its serious. I cant turn up and crumble like I did last week. People know I’m racing, Amy is coming with me (though going to ASDA rather than cheer on from the start) Dave and Tracy will be there too giving me some support so I gotta at least finish. And that’s todays goal. Get to the end, don’t do anything stupid and stay out of trouble.

After arrival and registering, I had a bit of time to get ready and warm up, not long after, there was a bunch of folks shouting looking for me because my licence was still only a ride and not race. I had to do a little bit of talking and waving of printouts but all was well and I was allowed to race. More importantly (I thought) I could earn points. We all know points mean prizes.

After a quick chat with Dave, I hustled up to the start, thankfully woth a bit more knowhow from last week. Also there were only 45 riders rather than 80 so I was already feeling better about things. The event organiser came up to the start/finish and belted out what was going on. 50 minutes of racing then 5 laps to finish on. I must say the organisation this week was much better than last. I felt much more comfortable also thanks to spotting another Lbrcc rider Simon who has raced quite a few times and gave me a few word of advice before we set off.

And so we were off, nice steady start, not too speedy as there were a few bits of dampness around the bend at the bottom of the track. 20 minutes in, Toby reveals the pace has been 24mph, afterwards I think the pace actually drops and the odd surge means the pack is in constant flux. Inside, outside all over the place. After a while I find myself on the outside with a big gap in front of me, pop myself into it and I’m on the front again. Bollocks! I am not making the same mistake again, just as I do find myself on the front, the 5 lap board goes up, Double bollocks! I decided if I’m on the front, I’m certainly not going to try. Either people will pass and problem solved or everone will slow down too and no worries anyway. 2 and a half laps later someone must have decided that my 15 mph Saturday morning stroll would not do. Perfecy, nice recovery for the last few laps, I’ll just tuck in here and hold for a bit.  I quickly realised that with less than 3 laps to go , no-body was going to let me just ‘tuck in’ after half a lap and a squeeze at the gate I had managed to get back in the group around the middle of the bunch.

2 lap call went out and pace was picking up a little but still manageable. We rounded the bend at the bottom and one fellow thought he would have a little nap, leaned up against someone, sliced across the entire track and finished up in the bush. Luckily, I just got past his back wheel before a jungle of bikes appeared to my right.  I glanced over my shoulder to see half the pack stuck behind the crash, many on the floor and a number of riders in the prickle bush… do we stop? Slow down? Carry on? The riders in front didn’t even turn around, crossed the start/finish for the bell and picked up the pace to what I would expect for a last lap.

Ok then, better get back on them and see what we can do. Around 20 riders were left and the increased pace was thinning out the group. No problem, I can stay with this, bend, downhill, bend, straight, bend, uphill by now we were down to around 8 riders going up the wee hill I though now, surely, is the time to make a move. MOVE, my legs were not as keen as I was to move. Either way, I think I was up front, Legs very quickly failing me. I must get out the saddle and bloody move, nope, legs are definitely spent. Anyway, try your best dig deep and if you need to… shout. As I shouted my way over the finish line, three other equally tired fellows were ahead/beside me. bugger, off the podium but hey ho, fourth aint bad.

Catching up with the others, quite a few had been caught up in the crash, Toby had hit the deck, Simon was right behind with many of the others too. Realistically would I have 4^th if everyone was there? Probably not. I would like to think top 10 as the last lap really spread the group out but who knows? I look forward to finishing with the whole lot see how we manage.

So then back home and get some soup. 

Thanks Dave for the Photos