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Hog Hill Winter series #8 : 31/01/09
I was apathetic about this race from the start, in fact I was apathetic about it the day before.
Anyway I gave Eryn a lift to the race this week and we were running late from the start, but we made up time in the car and got to the circuit with the Cat 4's already racing.
I went in to sign on and then realised I hadn't packed my base layer, and with it feeling around 0º with the wind chill I was gonna have a cold race. Then a more important issue raised it's head, I had forgotten my race license. Luckily the reception were able to access the internet and get me a printout of my BCF membership which I used as proof of membership and thankfully the commissaire accepted this and I was allowed to race. My next lucky break came when I saw that ELV were selling off base layers along with tyres and sport bars, so I wouldn't have to freeze after all.
Out on the course I had fitted the deep section Reyonlds Attacks but after a couple of warm up laps it became apparent that this may not be the best idea, with crosswinds up to 20 mph I went back and swapped them for my standard Bonty Race X Lites.
This weeks race was pretty dull, there were very few attacks, one after the first lap, but that was reeled in by the start of the next lap. There were a few digs here and there and the pack split in half a few times during the race, but it always came back together. I'm not sure if it was the slow pace or crosswinds but the pack was very twitchy and there were a few riders not holding their line, not a pleasant experience but thankfully no accidents.
I had decided from the off that I wasn't going to make any real effort, I had learned my lesson from a couple of weeks ago where I put in too much effort only to be beaten by half the pack on the final climb. I also thought with with the wind the pack would probably stay together and so I sat in and waited out the sprint.
With 5 laps to go the pace upped as expected and I started to move up through the field and on the last lap the pace really started to splinter, many getting caught out and unable to get back on because of the wind. Thankfully on the final climb there were a few twitches ahead of me and a few riders lost their momentum, I tried to wind it up a bit earlier than usual and went past quite a few riders to eventually come in 7th. Not a bad result considering I wasn't even going to turn up the night before.
Due to swapping wheels I don't have any data on todays race.
On a separate note, Eryn's first race back after 5 months off the bike did well by toasting the field and breaking from Charlie Blackman with 3 laps to go to win convincingly.
Anyway I gave Eryn a lift to the race this week and we were running late from the start, but we made up time in the car and got to the circuit with the Cat 4's already racing.
I went in to sign on and then realised I hadn't packed my base layer, and with it feeling around 0º with the wind chill I was gonna have a cold race. Then a more important issue raised it's head, I had forgotten my race license. Luckily the reception were able to access the internet and get me a printout of my BCF membership which I used as proof of membership and thankfully the commissaire accepted this and I was allowed to race. My next lucky break came when I saw that ELV were selling off base layers along with tyres and sport bars, so I wouldn't have to freeze after all.
Out on the course I had fitted the deep section Reyonlds Attacks but after a couple of warm up laps it became apparent that this may not be the best idea, with crosswinds up to 20 mph I went back and swapped them for my standard Bonty Race X Lites.
This weeks race was pretty dull, there were very few attacks, one after the first lap, but that was reeled in by the start of the next lap. There were a few digs here and there and the pack split in half a few times during the race, but it always came back together. I'm not sure if it was the slow pace or crosswinds but the pack was very twitchy and there were a few riders not holding their line, not a pleasant experience but thankfully no accidents.
I had decided from the off that I wasn't going to make any real effort, I had learned my lesson from a couple of weeks ago where I put in too much effort only to be beaten by half the pack on the final climb. I also thought with with the wind the pack would probably stay together and so I sat in and waited out the sprint.
With 5 laps to go the pace upped as expected and I started to move up through the field and on the last lap the pace really started to splinter, many getting caught out and unable to get back on because of the wind. Thankfully on the final climb there were a few twitches ahead of me and a few riders lost their momentum, I tried to wind it up a bit earlier than usual and went past quite a few riders to eventually come in 7th. Not a bad result considering I wasn't even going to turn up the night before.
Due to swapping wheels I don't have any data on todays race.
On a separate note, Eryn's first race back after 5 months off the bike did well by toasting the field and breaking from Charlie Blackman with 3 laps to go to win convincingly.
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