A brief return to the road...

So after a hectic weekend of racing, I've finally got around to typing up a report kind of thing- hurray!

The weekend started off with the Surrey League 2/3 race at Parham Park in West Sussex, a unique circuit which is partially on public roads and partially on private farm lands- I don't think I've ever ridden over a cattle grid in a race before... Having been warned about the poor road surface quality and the likeliness of punctures, I packed my training bike in the car and off I went!
With it being my first race in about a month, my plan was to take it easy and see how it went. Which is exactly what I didn't do...

Pacemaking on the front. Photo courtesy of Pauline Unwin.

Having had a close run in with some deer on our neutralised lap (I said Parham Park was unique) I attacked as soon as the lead car pulled away. I briefly opened up a small gap over the field before someone counter-attacked and I was pulled back in. But instead of dropping back into the field to recover, I kept grinding away on the front to pull the attacking riders back. After a few minutes of this, I decided to calm down and get out of the wind.

Once again, that's exactly what I didn't do. Two riders had pulled out a lead of about 100m on the field, and looked more and more like they were gaining ground- so on a very narrow, very bumpy road I attacked out of the field, and quickly bridged to the breakaway. However the main bunch didn't seem to be too keen on the idea of three riders away, and the pace picked up and we were swallowed back up. Someone attacked- and there I was, back on the front, dragging them back.

After about an hour of this my legs suddenly went bang- the road kicked uphill and I felt almost like I was going backwards as everyone powered past. So yes, lesson learned- stop racing like an idiot.