I won’t go on for too long about this, it was just a 1 hour crit afterall. However it was slightly noteable as I felt like I rode better than usual, and maybe a sign of racing a bit smarter than I previously have.
I actually didn’t expect there to be much of a field as there was another few larger races the following day. But on arrival I noticed a couple of lads from Pedalheaven, Rob Moore and rapid finisher Lewis Atkins who has got the better of me in two other occasions in the last year in a sprint. Also Wouter Sybrandy who is fast on the road to recovery after his crash in the TOB some time back, Lawrence Carpenter of Catford, Chris Morrison from Cadence, a couple of the CSE racing lot, and a load of other clubs with ones and twos. I think the total field was around 35 riders, perhaps a bit more. But clearly not short of strong riders, so I was skeptical of my chances a bit.
We got off to a quick start and it was obvious that this was not going to stay together, a few attacks came and went, I followed all the ones I thought looked good. Then about 20 mins in a few of us went away, it was initially3 or so riders, but soon Lewis and Rob came over, and we were 7 I think. We worked fairly well (with a few people dropping turns/pace here and there) and kept it going for the next 40 or so minutes, eventually we had a minute gap on the bunch so it was going to be between us. A few attacks started to happen at this point, literally everyone had a go at some point I think, I chased over to Wouter on one occasion and thought we might get away with Lewis in tow, but no. I then attacked with 4 to go, Lewis again came with but to no avail, Lawrence then had a dig but was brought back with 3 to go. Eventually it came to the last lap, Rob Moore led it out, I was 4th wheel behind Wouter with Lewis in Rob’s wheel, onto the final straight I waited for Lewis to launch and when he did I was hot in pursuit, I passed Wouter, but was never gaining or losing ground on Lewis and he took the win and me 2nd. I think next time I am in that situation I will jump first, that is likely my only shot at beating him in a sprint. I think I only need 4 points more to retain first category, which is something I would like to do, got a few races left so shouldn’t be an issue really, that said I have kept an eye on the October races just incase it doesn’t pan out, I’ve had to miss a few races to concentrate on TT’s in Aug/Sept so we’ll see!
First Season Racing 
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