Took a bold decision to cycle out all the way - 13.6 miles - but although I wasn't sure how much I'd heat up after the first couple of miles, by the time I reached Ealing I was toasty warm. All the credit goes to my Altura jacket. Once it creates my own internal fug, it could be any temperature outside :) My nose didn't agree, but there's not a lot we can do about that. So yes, by the time I arrived, I was nicely warmed up and ready to go.
Entries were slightly down on previous weeks (perhaps the cold weather kept away those who didn't fancy rolling around in the bunch) but on the startline everyone who was there or thereabouts in the series was racing today, so it was probably going to be a fast one. Much of the race was fairly straightforward. Quite often the bunch was strung out in a single line across the top of the course and down the back straight. The wind coming from the south had a pretty savage bite to it, so there wasn't a constant stream of riders moving forward from the back as we went down the hill.
Several people made strong breakaway attempts through the middle part of the race. The best one was Werner van der Merwe, who timed it sweetly to use the 4th Cats to help his solo effort. I had moved forward at that point, trying to make sure that no one would use the potential confusion as we passed the 4th Cats to split the field. Fortunately we went past without much difficulty, and once that move was complete, there wasn't any need to shoulder too much work so I let the bunch slip back past.
I have to say that today with the slightly smaller group, and perhaps the more keen cyclists(?), the quality of riding was particularly high. Very little shouting and squealing of brakes, and no crashes that I saw. Towards the latter stages of the race, several riders formed groups on the front that tried to up the pace, but usually there were riders chasing hard behind, even when strung out in a line, and the peloton stayed together. I think the wind and the cold were just too much for a breakaway to succeed today.
So, into the last 5 laps I was nicely positioned on the inside. With less riders than in previous racers, there wasn't too much chance of missing out completely on a significant move, so I was happy to follow some good wheels, suck in some freezing air, and see what I could do. Coming down the back straight on the penultimate lap, I saw a chance to move up on the left. This is usually impossible, but all the riders were crowding the right hand side, so I took up a nice position about 5th wheel back. The pace was high coming into the bell, but I knew that my job was fairly straightforward: if anyone starts to come past, merge into their train as much as possible. Safely through the hairpins, there was a big move on the right but annoyingly I found myself without a wheel to follow and had to suck it up into the headwind.
Two riders launched themselves off the front coming into the first corner, and coming into the second I was about fifth. I took off once we were straight, but just felt that the speed wasn't quite there to carry me all the way to the top. Probably a bad decision. I tucked in behind one rider briefly, and then with the two riders out front contesting the win, I found myself side by side with Tim Benham going for 3rd. He had me by a fraction with 50 metres to go, but had the strength to pull away to about a wheel over the line. Great fun though :)
All in all, 4th was a great result in what was quite a testing race overall. Still feeling the cold at the back of my throat now. Sets me up for a good shot at the overall series at the last race next week. Really looking forward to it, especially if Rich from Durham manages to come along too. It should be a blast!
