I hate British weather. It teases us with some beautiful sunshine on Friday, but then when I arrive at the race on Saturday it is freezing cold and extreme wind. After feeling a little cold (which included a trip to the cafe), I composed myself and warmed up. After all, I had 2 races to complete, one 20 lap race and one 7 lap race. The course was narrow and round a park, with a tailwind finish and one section which was into brutal crosswinds, which was instantly followed by a hairpin turn. After a 35 minute warm up, I lined up and prepared for the pain that was to come.
Race 1
It nearly didn’t come at all. One rider couldn’t clip in and swerved straight into me, which forced me off the course and caused me to unclip my left foot. I didn’t crash, and managed to keep up with the front group over the first few laps. Unfortunately it didn’t last, and I was dropped and in a chase group. The tailwind made it difficult, as drafting gave no very little benefit, meaning that the front was the best place to be. On the final lap, that’s where I was, and entered the finishing straight in 4th. The tailwind made it a bizarre sprint as we were turning our legs at ridiculous speed as we had U16 gearing on. After a push to the line I overtook 1 rider on the line,and came 22nd.
Race 2
This time I had a much better start, but again got dropped after a few laps. As the race was only 7 laps long, it was flat out the entire time. I closed a gap to a rider off the front in the headwind section and felt strong, almost too strong, and there were three of us who were the stronger riders in the group. I entered the finishing straight in 2nd, but one rider overtook me, but I cam 19th, and had one of the best circuit races I’ve had in a long time.
Overall I was happy with my performance, hopefully it will be a little warmer next week!