After taking last week off to play with the puppies I was eager to race today. Not so sure it was really eager to race but excited to ride my bike in general. I headed to Hog Hill early this morning just in case I had to deal with a train debacle like last time. No such issues and we were ready to go for a 12 30 start. I think winter is pretty much behind us now here, its been about 50 all week (don't hate me, we had our fair share of cold). It rained last night but cleared up and actually got to see the sun for a bit while we were racing.
Everything was good today, I say good but not great, and no mechanicals to speak of. 26 3s to start the race but that didn't last long. Probably 15 minutes into the hour plus 5 laps someone put in an attack on the climb and that was pretty much the story of the race. A group of 11 of us went away and never came close to coming back. That is pretty much how it stayed for the rest of the race. There were 2 guys in the group who everyone was marking so there wasn't much excitement until the finish. I found out today how the points system for British Cycling works and now it makes a lot of sense why there are always freaks dominating the 3 races. You essentially have to prove your category every year or you are automatically catted down. So if you are a 2 you have so score like 30 points just to stay as a 2 or you get bumped. So in the break today were 3 2s from last year and some pro Mtb guy who has won the last 4 races in a row. Will be nice not to have to race with him any more. Anyway everything stayed together till the last time up the climb and then everyone sprinted it out for the finish. Ended up 7th, just didn't have they legs for it I guess.
Since I was already there I signed up for the 2\3 race which started exactly 10 minutes after our finish. In all reality I just did it to get more miles but man it was hard. Not that it was so much faster but that I was so tired. Literally split right from the gun. I think two guys went on the second lap and never came back. They did have teammates that made up like half of the field but impressive none the less. It was actually probably slower on a whole than the 3 race since there was a lot of soft pedaling but everyone in a while it would pick up and I would go cross eyed. There ended up being 6 or 7 dnfs ,d then I brought up the rear. Turned out there were on 3 3s in the race out of 30 so I didn't feel that bad.
Good day as a whole I am still out of shape and have no snap in my legs but apparently its the same for everyone else. No racing next weekend stay tuned for our exciting trip and big news about my new team!
Oh and I almost forgot....I got kicked out of the underground on the way home. I guess I had just been sneaky before but there was no getting around this one. No less than 3 underground workers asked me to leave. Apparently on certain lines are bike friendly. Fine if that is how you are going to be I will just ride my bike there and you won't get your 5 pounds.
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